Phil said in the voice over that at the end of the 12th leg, the first team to cross the finish line will win. With a non-elim this week, and a double next week, that means there will be 4 more non-elim legs, as long as there aren't additional double elim legs (and it's a final 3 in the end city). That seems like more than previous seasons, but I'd have to look up the statistic.

Too bad Jenna and Ethan won't be able to stay off the radar. People recognized them right away, so they're going to have to work hard, I think.

It's going to be interesting to (hopefully) find out exactly how many hours behind the older couple was when they start racing next week.

If I'd gotten that Hazard, I'd have been eliminated. No way in heck I'd bungee jump indoors in a mall with only a concrete landing surface if anything went wrong.

deb

 

I'm still not sure if I believe the passport story and how it got delivered to the airport by those two guys. I might need go back and watch that part again.

 

I'm still not sure if I believe the passport story and how it got delivered to the airport by those two guys. I might need go back and watch that part again.

Apparently the story will be in tomorrow's NY Times. Phil tweeted that.

deb

 

Pretty dull episode, especially for a season premiere. Not every episode can have large wheels of cheese rolling down hills, but still.

If Ethan and Jenna wanted to go unnoticed, I'm surprised that they didn't take more steps to alter their appearance, particularly since they were going on a reality show amongst other contestants who presumably are reality show enthusiasts and would likely know them. He could have shaved his head, she could have dyed her hair, or something similar. Assuming they could get through under the radar like that was a fatally flawed strategy.

Did the passport story make news when it first happened (if not in mainstream outlets, then in forums or reality blogs)? If not, I don't believe it for a second.

And finally, I can't believe it took that many teams so long to correctly recite the Confucius proverb.

 

And finally, I can't believe it took that many teams so long to correctly recite the Confucius proverb.

I can. It used to be customary for kids to memorize and recite poetry in school. But now? I doubt people do it much anymore.

So it's a skill that few people practice.

The grandmother is more likely to have come up in a school system where the students had to memorize stuff. I don't know if she actually got it on the first pass (the show made it look that way, but that could be editing), but I wouldn't be surprised if it took her fewer tries than the younger folks on the other teams.

 

I don't get the "Don't let people find out I was in the NFL" or "Don't let people find out we were on Survivor". The theoretical reasoning being they'll see you as a threat?

I think the benefits of teams wanting to team up with you outweigh the perceived drawbacks of them, uh, just racing you. If I'm on the race, I'm going to race hard. If I found out another team had an NFL player or something, I'm not going to race harder, but I would attempt to team up with them.

 

I don't get the "Don't let people find out I was in the NFL" or "Don't let people find out we were on Survivor". The theoretical reasoning being they'll see you as a threat? ...

This. I totally didn't get it either. I found myself very distracted during the entire show, so it must have been pretty boring. None of the teams "grabbed" me...

 

Way to impress everyone with your brains on the first leg, showgirls!

I laughed during their introduction video when the girl said something like, "I'm guessing that the others are only going to be paying attention to us from here *points to shoulders* up. But we've got it going on up here *points to head*, too."

I know what she was trying to say but her head was in the range of the initial gesture.

 

Exactly who took the pictures of the password lying on the ground as the air-heads pulled away if it wasn't a setup?

 

Exactly who took the pictures of the password lying on the ground as the air-heads pulled away if it wasn't a setup?

At no point do we see the passport lying on the ground with the showgirls in the same shot. There are only two shots of the passport on the ground: the first, the passport is on the ground with the Explorer in the foreground and the door of the vehicle is closed; the second, the passport is lying on the ground as the Explorer pulls away. In neither shot are any identifiable people seen.

It would have been an easy pick-up shot for them to get after the fact.

Because the guy who found the passport had been asked for directions by one of the other teams, he likely had to sign a release form for his face to be shown, which means he would have known that they were shooting the Amazing Race. He also knew the teams were heading to LAX, so it's not a huge leap to think that he would have decided to go there and try to find her.

 

Because the guy who found the passport had been asked for directions by one of the other teams, he likely had to sign a release form for his face to be shown, which means he would have known that they were shooting the Amazing Race. He also knew the teams were heading to LAX, so it's not a huge leap to think that he would have decided to go there and try to find her.

I spent like 5 minutes trying to explain this to my SO at the end of the show. He doesn't really watch the show but his computer is in the living room so he's usually half paying attention to things I watch. He just kept asking, "But why would he know to go to LAX? They could have been going anywhere..."

 

At no point do we see the passport lying on the ground with the showgirls in the same shot. There are only two shots of the passport on the ground: the first, the passport is on the ground with the Explorer in the foreground and the door of the vehicle is closed; the second, the passport is lying on the ground as the Explorer pulls away. In neither shot are any identifiable people seen.

It would have been an easy pick-up shot for them to get after the fact.

Because the guy who found the passport had been asked for directions by one of the other teams, he likely had to sign a release form for his face to be shown, which means he would have known that they were shooting the Amazing Race. He also knew the teams were heading to LAX, so it's not a huge leap to think that he would have decided to go there and try to find her.

plus having a picture of a smoking hot woman on the passport didn't hurt. I buy it.

 

Except, as Omnibus said, who was filming the shot of the passport on the ground? Weren't these girls the last team to stop at that gas station? Their camera crew would have gone with them in their car, right? There would have been no other camera crews coming after them unless maybe one of the crews filming the opening sequence with Phil came along. Maybe the crews text each other and Phil too to point out weird happenings like that.

 

On the one hand I agree that trying to hide the fact you were on Survivor or an NFL player is silly because teams aren't going to race harder because of that but it could come into play at some point if a team is deciding who to U-turn. Unlikely but possible.

 

Except, as Omnibus said, who was filming the shot of the passport on the ground? Weren't these girls the last team to stop at that gas station? Their camera crew would have gone with them in their car, right? There would have been no other camera crews coming after them unless maybe one of the crews filming the opening sequence with Phil came along. Maybe the crews text each other and Phil too to point out weird happenings like that.

Article about the whole passport situation. Apparently, Phil had gone to the airport to eliminate them since there was no way they could travel, when producers in Taiwan who had been monitoring Twitter alerted the people in LA to the online exchange and that there might be hope for them after all:
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/twitters-amazing-race-assist/

I think it was misleading about who was at the gas station when. The snowboarders left first, but they didn't get to the airport until 7th, so I don't think we can necessarily assume that they or anyone else weren't at the gas station near when the girls were, especially since they highlighted the guy who turned in the passport as the guy who had given the snowboarders directions as well. The blog article mentions that the same guy had given directions to the showgirls, so either he was at the gas station for a long time, or the snowboarders and the showgirls were there at about the same time. It could have been the snowboarders' camera crew that filmed it.

 

If I were on Amazing Race I'd be constantly listening for the gong sound, and when I heard it I'd look at where my cameraman had his camera pointed

 

Why wouldn't there be an extra crew? Considering they were still in LA, they probably e had extra camera peeps following the cars to get the car diriving shots if needed or other miscelaneous things. I don't see much of a conspiracy here.

 

Article about the whole passport situation. Apparently, Phil had gone to the airport to eliminate them since there was no way they could travel, when producers in Taiwan who had been monitoring Twitter alerted the people in LA to the online exchange and that there might be hope for them after all:
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/twitters-amazing-race-assist/

I think it was misleading about who was at the gas station when. The snowboarders left first, but they didn't get to the airport until 7th, so I don't think we can necessarily assume that they or anyone else weren't at the gas station near when the girls were, especially since they highlighted the guy who turned in the passport as the guy who had given the snowboarders directions as well. The blog article mentions that the same guy had given directions to the showgirls, so either he was at the gas station for a long time, or the snowboarders and the showgirls were there at about the same time. It could have been the snowboarders' camera crew that filmed it.

Ok, the blog explains that the girls were saved by an "anonymous 'uber fan' " twitter follower in Georgia of all places. My head is totally (not) clear now. I'll give Phil and TAR the benefit of any doubts I have, strange things do happen.

 

Wow, I guess the production crew needs to watch their use of twitter if they don't want outside interference. Although in this case it lead to some drama.

 

Wow, I guess the production crew needs to watch their use of twitter if they don't want outside interference.

I am not following this... the production crew was only monitoring it, not tweeting.

 

I am not following this... the production crew was only monitoring it, not tweeting.

Guess I misread. The tweets were only between the "uberfan" and the guy who found the passport?

 

Guess I misread. The tweets were only between the "uberfan" and the guy who found the passport?

That is my understanding of it. The production crew in Taiwan was monitoring AR chatter like the uberfan was, and picked up on the exchange, and then let the production crew in LA know that they might not need to perform the elimination after all.

 

What a crazy thing. So the AR production crew in Taiwan was monitoring twitter because.... I'm not sure why. For leaks while the L.A. scenes were being filmed?

The whole thing is just bizarre.

 

I don't think that it's that bizarre... they are running a hugely popular tv show that is supposed to be secret until it airs. They probably just have some custom searches set up to see if any TAR traffic is going on.

 

I'm not sure why the Uberfan even needed to get involved for it to turn out as it did. Here's the exchange from the POV of the guy at the gas station:
- Two girls with film crew stop by, ask for directions to LAX.
- Guy signs release - by now he knows what's going on.
- Passport on ground with photo matching one of the travelers.

The most Uberfan did was talk the guy into it.