EP 9: "I Just Hope He Doesn't Croak On Us"

[Mrs Shrek]

PM coming Mrs Shrek!

Thank you very much!

Goes away to a nice quiet corner to get TAR fix for the week

[Chateau d If]

Apskip:

It is not for certain, but about 90% that World Race Productions could not live with the damage to future legs from having Phil needing to stay around for Uchenna and Joyce to complete their legs about a half day behind the other teams. So a decision was made on the fly to change the Kuala Lumpur leg to elimination from the original NEL so it wouldn't be a problem.

Here is one thing that is for certain:  The FCC

Any game show producer who rigs the game to to favor certain contestants will be fined/sanctioned.  I think that WRP would not risk having provable testimony come forward that Uchenna & Joyce were greeted with elimination when the NEL schedule of record (set up in advance) showed there was supposed to be an NEL.

You mention that WRP "could not live with the damage to future legs from having Phil needing to stay around for Uchenna and Joyce to complete their legs about a half day behind the other teams".  Well, there could be no damage from that due to the timeline that shows there was a 36 hour Pit Stop between Kuala Lumper and Hong Kong.

So I stand by my belief that nothing unusual happened at Uchenna & Joyce's elimination.  Editing left out their completion of all the tasks and presented viewers with the illusion that they got a mercy clue.  Phil was physically present at the mat when they arrived.  Go frame by frame to see for yourself.

Two NELs together?  So what?  I would rather have back to back NELs than get fined by the FCC!   

[apskip]

CHATEAU, I beg to differ with you. You are not understanding the "damage" issue. It has nothing to do with Kuala LumpUr. It had to do with producer perceptions of what would happen in Hong Kong, Macau, and Guam. Given the timing of events there, there was no catchup possible for Uchenna and Joyce and they would always be close to 12 hours behind. The producers did not want that for Phil AND for the production crew. It was so much easier to alter the race slightly. Who says that is illegal? Van Munster and Doganieri decide what is legal and what is not; they invented the Amazing Race. All it is is one more instance of lying, which we know to be fairly common. We know that alteration of that race to move the pitstop back from Arusha Tanzaia to Zanaibar was necessary, so obviously alterations of the race are OK.

[Chateau d If]

I understand that alterations of the race are needed as they go (Zanzibar Pit Stop move affected all contestants the same way).  But the big deal of what is a legal alteration and what is an illegal one is determined by asking if any particular contestant is unfairly affected by the alteration.  I would say that stepping onto the mat and being eliminated versus NEL'ed is a strong effect on a contestant's standing in the race.  If you are correct that the NEL was changed from Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong then I would say that it was unfairly applied on the grounds that the original predetermined list of NEL legs was changed.  And that it was changed based on which team was going to get it. 

I think the problem of the 12 hour difference in Uchenna & Joyce's position and the other teams could be more fairly treated by the activation Hours of Operation stop points. 

Van Munster and Doganieri decide what is legal and what is not; they invented the Amazing Race.

My understanding is that the role of the FCC's authority on Game Shows is to prevent exactly what you just said.  If that is your belief (the powers of van Munster and Doganieri) then I can understand how you would conclude that production would change the NEL/elimination status of a leg.

Here is an example of what happened in Survivor when the issue of rigging came up.

[TARAsia Fan]

Not that anyone remembers, but the rigging of game shows goes back to the 1950's when NBC rigged "Twenty One" and that's when Congress got involved. The FCC does have oversight in claims of rigging and all producers have to be very careful. They just cannot make up rules willy-nilly and say that's that. They all must adhere to strict rules put in place by all of the networks.