Topic: The Best Race Legs: One By One

[woden]

Just because I need a time-waster. If you were putting together a race out of the best legs of all time, what would it look like? For example, what's the best Leg 1 we've had? Leg 2? Etc. I watch primarily for the locations, so great destinations often trump tasks, drama, and so on for me. Here's what I came up with:

Leg 1: Chicago, IL (USA) to Reykjavik, Iceland (Season 6)
Runner up is Season 1 (New York (USA) to Songwe Village, Zambia) and all-in-all it probably is a better leg, but sleeping on the glacier gave the edge to Iceland for me. There's been no better eye-popping first destination than Iceland.

Leg 2: Mexico (Season 3)
I'm a sucker for Mexican archaeological sites and think Central America has been vastly undervisited by the Race. Runner up would be Season 10 (China to Mongolia).

Leg 3: Voss, Norway to Stockholm, Sweden (Season 6)
Like I said, drama doesn't impress me much, but I could have watched the hay-digging go on another hour.

Leg 4: San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina to Pushkin, Russia (Season 5)
First visit to Russia (at night in the dead of winter, no less) for fever-inducing caviar binging. Runner up is the Marseilles to Tunis leg in Season 1.

Leg 5: Tunisia (Season 1)
Pit stop in the Sahara, duh. Runner up is New Orleans, LA (USA) to Panama City, Panama (Season 8 ) just because of Ma Paolo's "FINALLY!" Amen.

Leg 6: Chennai, India to Kuwait City, Kuwait (Season 10)
Not much to choose from here, and Kuwait was a great destination. Even though the tasks there were pretty forgettable.

Leg 7: Champagne-Ardenne, France to Praslin, Seychelles (Season 16)
Best leg in years. Plenty of lead changes, decent tasks, and a great location.

Leg 8: Bel Ombre, Mauritius to Antananarivo, Madagascar (Season 10)
Again, not much to choose from here, so I'll stick with the cow lips.

Leg 9: Antananarivo, Madagascar to Helsinki, Finland to Kiev, Ukraine (Season 10)
Season 10 gets a lot of tie-breakers because of its stellar route. This was the ultimate uber-leg.

Leg 10: Kolkata, India to Paengaroa, New Zealand (Season 5)
The episode that introduced the world to Zorbing.

Leg 11: London, England to Montego Bay, Jamaica (Season 7)
Another area (the Caribbean) virtually untouched by the Race. Didn't Phil say he wanted to go there more? Anyway, loved the location and Uchenna & Joyce's crawl out of last place.

Leg 12: Montego Bay, Jamaica to Fort Lauderdale, FL (USA) (Season 7)
A great finale. Ray de los Habanos. Uchenna and the cab driver. Also-rans would be Season 9 (Yamanakako, Japan to Denver, CO (USA)) -- still think the flag task is the best end-of-race-memory task we've seen. And Season 5 (Philippines) for the great tasks and the unfortunate demise of the bowling moms. And Season 6 (Xi'an, China to Chicago, IL (USA)) with Kris & Jon and the train was decent as well.

Leg 13: Maui, HI (USA) to Sausalito, CA (USA) (Season 2)
Foot race to the mat. Probably won't ever see it happen again.

There you go. Did I forget a great episode? How would you rank them?

[Hooky]

I like most of your choices, but I hated Legs 8 and 9 of TAR 10. Leg 9 was boooooorrrrrrinngg.

For me I would go with Leg 9 of TAR 6. I loved Sri Lanka.

And for Leg 8 I would do TAR 6 as well. Ethiopia had great tasks and was beautiful.

[Zack.]

Other options that immediately jump at me:

Leg 8 - Fussen, Germany to Grindelwald, Switzerland (TAR 3) - very pretty scenery (the Rhinefall, the mountain at the Pit Stop), somewhat difficult tasks, lots of transportation options, and plenty of position changes.

For Leg 11, I'd say the TAR 12 finale. Lots of variety in tasks, and lots of difficulty in them as well. It didn't seem as half-assed as other (TAR11, TAR4, TAR6) finales IMO.

[TheZanies]

My 2 cents:

Leg 1: Season 7 - Long Beach to Cuzco, Peru

Debbie and Bianca winning the leg   Amazing scenery of the Andes. Decent detour, llama or rope basket.

Runner-up: Season 5 - Santa Monica to Punta del Este, Uruguay...Charla and Evil Myrna carrying that 50lb slab of beef + both Kami/Karli and Chip/Kim missing the clue box across the hotel and having to track back, incredible suspense.

Leg 2: Season 1 - Songwe Village to Paris

The safari detour, the roadblock on top of the Eiffel Tower (I love those old-school tasks, they were no gimmes, not everything was handed to them on a platter like nowadays), Lenny not spotting the flag on the Arc of Triumph then lying about it to his partner, Karyn subsequently tearing him a new one (the first ever emotional meltdown in TAR history?).

Runner-up: Season 10 - Beijing to Mongolia...one of the most exotic locations ever + ox running wild!

Leg 3: Season 3 - Cancún to Stonehaven, Scotland

Ken and Gerard (one of my all-time favorite teams) making a hash of it on the punting detour in Cambridge but taking it all in good humour, the English crowd good-heartedly cheering them on, Cambridgeshire, the highlands games roadblock at the end. Great episode.

Runner-up: Season 12 - Amsterdam to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso...I loved the detour in that village school (Teach It or Learn It) + the camel milking roadblock.

On a side note, I hate third legs, that's usually when my favorite teams out of the gate get eliminated LOL Lena and Kristy in that dishearteningly unlucky hay roadblock, Debbie and Bianca boneheadedly driving more than 2 hours on the wrong Chilean highway (still can't believe they messed up so bad, they looked one of the strongest all-female teams up until then) etc.

Leg 4: Season 11 - Puerto Montt, Chile to Ushuaia, Argentina

One reason and one only: Rob and Amber getting eliminated   I waited a long time for that. Granted, they were undone by the mail sorting roadblock where it was all luck but very satisfying still. All the sweeter since it was Rob who did the roadblock; sure, it was luck like I said, but they were eliminated because of HIM (you knew that fool would have said some cocky crap had it been Amber's detour, like HE didn't get really eliminated or something stupid like that blah blah blah).

Runner-up: Season 10 - Hanoi to Ha Long Bay, Vietnam...Brilliant scenery of Ha Long Bay + a very tough detour, teams had to row in very windy conditions.

Leg 5: Season 16 - Hamburg to Wargemoulin-Hurlus, France

No roadblock and nothing much happening in the detour (they only had to crawl, which is pretty lame) or race-wise, but I have to give the producers major props for staging that WWI battlefield. You know a lot of planning went into that. So a shout out to production more than anything else.

Runner-up: Season 9 - Catania to Siracuse...Monica (for my money, the second-hottest TAR babe ever, after the incomparable Dustin  ) with all that fish juice down her tank top, I mean, that's hard to beat, right? hahaha

Leg 6: Season 4 - Amsterdam to Mumbai

A leg in India has to make the list, just has to. The boob-grabbin' and a*s-pinchin' on the Indian trains, a little peek of Bollywood, Tian's Wonder Woman effort carrying those 20 Palai fish (hot chick + fish juice, a theme is developing here...). Tian was an awesome competitor, too bad she was stuck with the fairly useless Jaree.

Runner-up: Season 5 - Giza to Luxor...The extraordinary scenery of Egypt + a tough roadblock digging for the scarab ("What is a scarab? A rock?").

Leg 7: Season 12 - Dubrovnik to Florence

Based largely on the cool challenges. Roadblock: spotting "VINCI" from the air. Detour: the Leonardo crane, which was hard, and the local flag routine, which wasn't all that hard but I loved the pageantry.

Runner-up: Season 16 - Champagne-Ardenne to the Seychelles...for the reasons Woden pointed out in the original post.

Leg 8: Season 10 - Mauritius to Antananarivo, Madagascar

My baby Dustin and Kandice working well with the Cho Bros, then beating the FF teams to the Pit Stop. I can't think of another time that has happened before or since.

Runner-up, tie: Season 6 - Corsica to Lalibela, Ethiopia (for the location, mainly, it will be a long, loooong time TAR will be back to that part of the world again, if ever) and Season 3 - Füssen to Grindelwald (for the detour Count the Money).

Leg 9: Season 2 - Sydney to Coober Pedy, South Australia

One of the greatest TAR lines ever, "I'm not a miner! No, you're an idiot" (Tara to Wil, of course). Blake and Paige (another all-time favorite) smokin' the golf detour in 130° heat. The boomerang roadblock.

Runner-up: Season 4 - Malaysia...Chip and Reichen going to the FF by mistake, Jon and Kelly missing on said FF and getting way behind, Chuck and Millie Mole getting desperately lost and allowing J & K back into it, Jon overtaking Chuck on that rattan ladder roadblock (they showed them side by side, which was very cool). Oh the suspense! (also helped that I was pulling for J & K that season).

Leg 10: Season 14 - Guilin to Beijing

Full disclosure: I was rooting for Jaime and Cara that season. Cara smokin' the eating detour and, of course, Jennifer and her potty break literally costing them a spot in the Final 3 and a chance at the million dollars. Even if my favorites weren't saved by that awful moment of madness, you have to admit it was one of the most memorable TAR moments ever - a potential $1m potty break  

Runner-up: Season 4 - Malaysia to Seoul...TAR in the DMZ, a few miles from North Korea, freakin' North Korea, AMAZING Race is right!!! Jon and Kelly winning the leg thanks largely to Kelly breaking those boards at the Tae Kwon Do detour (and almost breaking her hand in the process). The 2 most physically capable of the remaining 4 teams (Chip/Reichen and Jeff/David not choosing the TKD detour, opting to eat the live octopuses instead, which was a huge head scratcher).

Leg 11: Season 3 - Singapore to HCMC, Vietnam

One of the most baffling moments ever for me, Derek and Drew's moment of madness, missing that clue box in HCMC. They were smart racers, I still can't understand why they didn't just follow the yellow flags from one end (the ferry) all the way back to the other, where the clue box was. They must have just panicked. I wasn't pulling for them (I was pulling for Ken and Gerard that season) but I still felt bad for D & D, they dominated that season and "deserved" to win it more than any other team. One brain cramp and poof, gone.

Runner-up: Season 6 - Shanghai to Xi'an...All 4 girls remaining doing the roadblock + Xi'an and the Terra Cotta Warriors (near the top of my to-visit list, hopefully next spring).

Leg 12/13, Finishing leg: Season 7 - Jamaica to Miami

Rey de los Habanos, baby!!!! Rob and Amber didn't win, neh neh neh! Very mature, I know, who cares, neh neh neh, Romber didn't win!!! Can't explain how satisfying that was for me.

Runner-up: Season 2 - Maui to Sausalito...Agree that in term of suspense, it was the best, by far. I don't rank it at the very top because a) I couldn't stand Alex and his stupid South Boston accent b) I really don't think that finish was very fair at all. Have teams run like a hundred yards to the finish mat is okay, but that finishing run was a very, very, VERY long one, any all-male team would have won over either a couple or an all-female team, provided their taxis weren't too far behind. And that's exactly what happened. Chris and Alex had a huge advantage there, more so than in any other final leg before or since, poor design from the producers, on the most important leg, IMO.

[apskip]

the Zanies, I agree with much of your Amazing Race beauty ratings. Dustin is indeed incomparable. I think Jaime is a close #2 and Kandice #3, Starr #4 and Kris #5.

On the Amazing Race Asia side, since beauty is obviously a major factor in Michael Mckay's casting decisions, I would expect some stunners to be there even though there have been only 3 races. The cream of the crop are Pailin (who is virtually in a tie with Dustin for personifying the meaning of world-class) #1, Natalie #2, Vanessa #3 and Paula #4.

It is nice to be able to see these beauties and the many others who grace out TV screens race. However, in spite of Amazing Race and Amazing Race Asia viewers being easily able to appreciate the beauty on display, I wish the casting people for both shows would pay more attention to intelligence (particularly as exemplified by navigation skills) and less to beauty.

[TheZanies]

Apskip, when it comes to TAR (and Survivor), what can I say, I'm shallow, I like eye candy and I'm the first to admit it That said, I don't think I'm THAT shallow - I pull for the babes BUT they also have to be capable racers, they can't be total airheads and get my support; Caite and Jordan from the current season come immediately to mind - there's no way in Hades I could pull for those 2 dum dums; sure, they're cute/hot, but, I know it's not nice to say, they're total morons and incompetent. Allie, on the other hand, is cute and up until now a good racer so I'm pulling for her.

As far as the women on TAR Asia, I agree with your list - Pailin is hands down the most beautiful though my personal favorite is Paula because she's so adorable, in a cute kinda way. I like cute. The only girl I would disagree with you (and I'm probably in the minority here) is Natalie, she didn't do much for me. Miss Universe and all that, definitely pretty but I just don't know, something about her, maybe the fact that she was a spoiled diva on the show is clouding my judgment.

[Caelestor]

Here's the best episodes of each season for me (note this list is not all-inclusive at all):

S1: Leg 2 (Zambia + Paris): The race's first roadblock barely pushes this episode past Leg 1.
S2: Leg 9 (Coober Pedy): Amazing tasks, Great quotes.
S3: Leg 12 (Hue): Great tasks + Flo's epic meltdown. Can't name a bad episode in this season, which I feel is TAR's best to date.
S4: Leg 9 (Kota Kinabulu): The jungle setting + memorable moments.
S5: Leg 5 (Giza): Can't beat having a leg at the oldest wonder of the world.
S6: Leg 8 (Lalibela): So many great locations that season, but going far off the beaten path made this episode special. Iceland was great too, felt it was a bit overextended though.
S7: Leg 6-7 (Botswana): Animals and kayaking: the entire country was just awesome.
S8: Haven't watched it
S9: Leg 6 (Italy + Greece): So many famous landmarks in one episode.
S10: Leg 2 (Mongolia): Great tasks indicative of the country's culture.
S11: Leg 6 (Zanzibar): Best tasks of the season, slightly dampened by the flight chaos.
S12: Leg 7 (Italy): Overnight self-driving + Leonardo Da Vinci: Amazing combo.
S13: Leg 5 (Cambodia): Boating on Tonle Sap and a visit to Angkor Wat revealed a lot about Cambodia.
S14: Leg 1 (Switzerland): TAR's best premier next to maybe TAR 1's.
S15: Leg 7 (Netherlands): Self-driving and an intriguing detour set this episode apart from the others (which isn't saying much).

[TheZanies]

Caelestor, that's a pretty good list.

My list would probably read Episode 1 for each season hahaha That's when I'm so excited about discovering all these new teams.

The worst for each season would generally be the final episode, seeing how my favorite teams very rarely make it that far 

[apskip]

The good news is that my list is "And Now for Something Completely Different." Since a reference point is needed for numbering systems, I based this list on a combination of "My OX is Broken" for AR1-AR 9 and "Circumnavigating the Globe" for AR 10-AR14.  No effort was made to have each season represented and I do not have any wins for AR8, AR11, AR14 or AR15 and I do have a 3-way tie for ep. 3, a 2-way tie for ep. 11 and a 6-way tie for ep. 12 (typically the finale of many Amazing Race seasons). Here is my list:

Ep. 1 - AR12, Ari vs. the donkey in Ireland

Ep. 2 -  AR4, Venice masked ball

Ep. 3 -  AR6, IKEA fiasco plus unrolling haybales at Haggvik Farm, Sweden
            AR7, Debbie and Bianca go off course and meat-eating ROADBLOCK in Mendoza
            AR13, wrestler training ROADBLOCK in El Alto, Bolivia

Ep. 4 - AR5, caviar eating challenge in Pushkin, Russia

Ep. 5 - AR3, Dieselgate driving  in the middle of Spain

Ep. 6 - AR1, Tunis airport incident with Joe/Bill trying to delay Nancy/Emily

Ep. 7 - AR4, in Alleppey India bull-surfing and elephant ride vs. bicycles with chicken cages

Ep. 8 - AR2, Oswald and Danny buying plane tickets to travel in style and Sydney Opera House Australian slang race

Ep. 9 - AR1, faceoff at the temple of the Dawn in Bangkok plus transportation choices to get to Krabi

Ep. 10- AR2, everything around Queenstown New Zealand and sheep sorting at Inverary Station ranch

Ep. 11- AR3, ROADBLOCK in HoChiMinh City to find cyclos
            AR5, "my ox is broken" Plow DETOUR in exurbs of Manila, Philippines (thanks chill_sd for info on DETOUR, not ROADBLOCK)

Ep. 12- AR5, ROADBLOCK on Lagen Island, el Nido, Philippines, with Colin on the ascender
            AR6, Kris and Jon make a big mistake in taking the later plane from Honolulu to Chicago
            AR7, pull back in of the aircraft in San Juan, Puerto Rico to allow Uchenna/Joyce to stay even with Rob/Amber
            AR9, match the flags ROADBLOCK at Red Rocks Amphitheater above Denver
            AR10, Oster Tank School in Kiev exurb, then Find the Music or Make the Music DETOUR in Kiev
            AR14, sorting and placing the surfboards at the Surfboard Fence on Maui, Hawaiian Islands

Ep. 13- AR2, the famous competition from Oakland International Airport to downtown San Francisco won by Chris and Alex, then
         the downtown SF to Fort Baker parking lot won by Wil/Tara, finally the infamous long run from the parking lot to Finish Line.

[chill_sd]

Just one note, Apskip.  In AR5, episode 11, "My ox is broken" was a Detour, not a Road Block.  The fact that Christie refused to help Colin with this task often gets this confused with a Road Block.  The other side of the PLOW<=>FOWL detour involved herding ducks.

[apskip]

chill_sd, you are indeed right. The ROADBLOCK that episode was the Auckland Bridge Climb that was done from the boat. Herding 1,000 Ducks 50 yards without losing any was the other option (no team elected that for probably good reason). The DETOUR was Plow or Fowl. Thanks.

[inomu]

Here are my favourite legs of each season: (sorry for all the exclamation marks   )

S1: Leg 2 From African safari to beautiful Paris, Lenny's stupid mistake, Eiffel tower!

S2: Leg 8 From Hong Kong to Australia, Oswald and Danny's shopping time and luxury travelling, Australian slang roadblock, Opera House!

S3: Leg 8 From Germany to Switzerland, beautiful landscape in Grindelwald, Zürich, Jill and Vito's Rheinfall win, Teri's pants falling down!

S4: Leg 5 From France to the Netherlands, boat drama! cow ****! cheese! windmills! eels! Kelly & Jon!

S5: Leg 5 From Russia to Egypt, from Hermitage to the pyramids, from snow to sand!

S6: Leg 5 From Senegal to Germany, from Goree island to Berlin wall, Bolo eating raw meat! Gus drinking beer! Johnathan and Victoria showdown!

S7: Leg 10 From Turkey to England, London my favourite place in the world! Rob and Amber dominance! Abbey Road (I'm Beatles fan!)! Double deckers! Dervishes!

S8: Leg 11 From Montana to Canada to New York. Canada! Final episode which means that season is finally over! Weaver fail at Olympic stadium!

S9: Leg 11 From Thailand to Japan, BJ & Tyler love! Japanese knowledge win! Capsule hotel! Thai Elephants! Japan visit finally!

S10: Leg 9 From Madagascar to Finland to Ukraine, Finally Finland <3 longest leg ever?, Swamp! Tanks! Dustin & Kandice rapping!? Olympic Stadium Tower! Ukrainian granny!

S11: Leg 8 Poland, sad Auschwitz, funny sausage eating! Eric: Ladies and gentlemen, Miss California! Charla in the armor!

S12: Leg 3 From Netherlands to Burkina Faso, it's Africa! "Baby there's no more milk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", educational detour!

S13: Leg 9 From Kazakhstan to Russia, is marching really that hard?! Shoe episode! Lady in the bakery! Toni & Dallas win!

S14: Leg 9 From Thailand to China, DRAMA! Cormorants! Chinese knowledge win! Dancing! Jaime!

S15: Leg 11 Czech Republic, Telephones! Globetrotter fail! Cryotherapy! Lots of alcohol for Brian and Ericka! Charles Bridge! "That's some American attitude!", beer-hungry people on the streets!

[Hooky]

Season 3: Leg 11. Awesome plot to get the twins out. This episode just felt epic.
Season 4: Don't remember anything that stands out. Need to re-watch.
Season 5: Leg 12. Suspense is high and I loved the flag finding challenge. Sad elimination, though.
Season 6: Leg 8. Jonathan & Victoria get eliminated! Awesome location, loved the temple and the Detour.
Season 7: Leg 12. One of the best (if not the best) legs ever. Not so much because of the tasks, but just because of what happened. I don't think I need to describe it.
Season 9: Leg 6. Awesome locations, thrill Roadblock, long leg, BJ & Tyler almost get eliminated but manage to survive.
Season 10: Leg 6. Interesting location, not so memorable tasks, but Peter & Sarah lost in the desert forever!
Season 11: Leg 4. Rob & Amber elimination and drama. Without that, this would have actually been a fairly uninteresting leg.
Season 12: Leg 1. Ari & Staella play evil right from the start, then come the donkeys and high wires and they are eliminated. Loved it.
Season 13: Leg 9. Nick & Starr FINALLY fall behind, Andrew & Dan Detour hilarity.
Season 14: Leg 1. Awesome premiere, with thrill Roadblock for ALL the teams to do, and the hilarious cheese task.
Season 15: Leg 5. Fun snowman Detour in an unexpected location, desert task, Lance & Keri lost and confused.
Season 16 (so far): Leg 7. Awesome location with interesting shakeups in the order and Jet & Cord are unexpectedly in last.

I have a tendency to like the early legs better than the later ones. IMO, more teams means more interest.

[north09]

Leg 1: Pahrump, NV to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Season 2)
I agree that much of what makes the race fun to watch are the locations. Season 2 did a great job of highlighting Rio in the hour it had. We got everything from a climb up to the famous Christ the Redeemer to a rappel down from the city’s beautiful mountains.

Leg 2: Shannon, Ireland to Amsterdam, Netherlands (Season 12)
These legs have never stood out to me to the point where I can pick a clear cut favorite. Season 12's second leg stands out the most for some reason though. I don’t know why.

Leg 3: Oslo, Norway to Stockholm, Sweden (Season 6)
Any fan of the race can remember the infamous haybale roadblock presented in Season 6. Lena & Kristy stood out there for hours before Phil made his first (I believe) in-field elimination. Even BVM loved it enough to revive it in a later season.

Leg 4: Puerto Montt, Chile to Ushuaia, Argentina (Season 11)
It’s fun to watch Rob & Amber, but their Season 11 elimination showed they can be beaten.

Leg 5: Auckland, New Zealand to Siem Reap, Cambodia (Season 13)
Our work here at RFF made this leg from Season 13 special to me. It was fun to see all the tourist photos and accounts of their trip to Angkor Wat play out on camera.

Leg 6: Vilnius, Lithuania to Dubrovnik, Croatia (Season 12)
Same reasons as above, except that it was my first time seeing a full leg play out with a different perspective during Season 12.

Leg 7: Reims, France to The Seychelles Islands (Season 16)
The race out did itself on this leg from Season 16. The tasks were as stunning as the surroundings. And lets not forget the race to the pitstop between Carol & Brandy and Jet & Cord.

Leg 8: Kilimanjaro, Tanzania to Dubai, UAE (Season 5)
Season 8 introduced me to the exciting architecture of Dubai. Even finishing up at the would famous Burj Dubai.

Leg 9: Antanarivo, Madagaskar to Keiv, Ukraine (Season 10)
What can I say, I’ve always wanted to see the Ukraine, and Season 10 gave me a peak at it through my TV screen. We also got a TBC which always keeps up the suspense.

Leg 10: Kolkata, India to Paengaroa, New Zealand (Season 5)
I have to agree with wooden on this one; Season 5’s introduction of zorbing made this leg.


Leg 11: Prague, Czech Republic (Season 15)
It took until Season 15 for the race to finally visit Prague. Sure it was nice to see the city streets and The Charles Bridge, but Phil eliminating Herb & Nate made it that much better.

Leg 12: Barcelona, Spain to New York, NY (Season 10)
An exciting finish to Season 10 only an hour away from me. I’ve even had a chance to see the globe and The Alamo when visiting the city.

[David]

Great cjoices everyone! I'll try to make mine when I have the time!

And, north09, I believe that Marshall and Lance were eliminated in Egypt in a sand field.

[apskip]

north09,

I think you have some confusion on what the Burj Dubai is. You stated:
Leg 8: Kilimanjaro, Tanzania to Dubai, UAE (Season 5)
Season 8 introduced me to the exciting architecture of Dubai. Even finishing up at the would famous Burj Dubai.

Well, there used to be just one Burj Dubai and that was a specific area of Dubai. When the world's largest building went up in Dubai, long after AR5, it was originally named Burj Dubai but since that created havoc it has been renamed Burj Khalifa. Did you possibly mean Burj-al-Arab, the very famous luxury hotel?

[Hooky]

north09,

I think you have some confusion on what the Burj Dubai is. You stated:
Leg 8: Kilimanjaro, Tanzania to Dubai, UAE (Season 5)
Season 8 introduced me to the exciting architecture of Dubai. Even finishing up at the would famous Burj Dubai.

Well, there used to be just one Burj Dubai and that was a specific area of Dubai. When the world's largest building went up in Dubai, long after AR5, it was originally named Burj Dubai but since that created havoc it has been renamed Burj Khalifa. Did you possibly mean Burj-al-Arab, the very famous luxury hotel?

Yes, he did. It's easy to get confused when all the famous building names start with "Burj."