Topic: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation on Spoilers

[TARAsia Fan]

How about Frank & Margarita and Wil & Tara losing their respective races despite the Finish Line being in their "home" cities?

[Snooky]

Colin and Christie came in second in Texas.  The Schroader family got eliminated in New Orleans, their home town.

[Belle Book]

Yeah, the homefield advantage rarely works.  But it's usually other factors that lead to the defeat in the "hometown":

Frank & Margarita were overconfident (or at least Frank was),
Tara just couldn't run as fast as Chris & Alex,
Chip & Kim wisely didn't reveal the canceled flight to the other finalist teams, so they had to get a later flight; although Colin & Christie did get a great taxi driver, they got a flat tire (possibly because the driver was going past cars on the bumper strip),
and the Schroeder family was pushed to the back of the pack by just grabbing the first ticket they saw -- which was a later one, and they got themselves lost quite a bit.

Belle Book

[apskip]

Belle Book,

Frank took a long time discussing his route with the Newark Airport taxi driver. If he hadn't done that before getting in the taxi and chose to do it en route, Frank/Margarita would probably have gotten on the same subway run as Rob/Brennan.

Wil spent time trying to cut the taxi line at Oakland International Airport. If Wil/Tara had just gotten into that line when they arrived, nobody could have caught them and the slower speed of Tara would have been irrelevant.

The factors you cite for Colin/Christie at Calgary and in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area are true. Here are two more factors that influenced the outcome. Once the fog came in after Colin/Christie and Brandon/Nicole had started to rest in the Calgary airport hotel, Chip/Kim were incredibly lucky to be in the right place at the right time. They caught a small window of available flight reservations for the Denver to Dallas flight that closed and could not be attained by the other two teams. That still would not have mattered if the American Airlines agent had not recommended that both teams check their excess luggage on the American flight. That did not matter for the Calgary to Denver flight but airport officials in Denver applied strict guidelines and prevented them from going standby on the United Denver to Dallas flight, the one Chip/Kim were on. The American flight from Dallas to Denver got them in just over 10 minutes behind.

So these things are complex and you can't say that any team lost as a result of hometown knowledge.

[Moo]

I believe that the hometown advantage worked better on the later seasons, we'll see if this is true indeed anytime soon.

[Belle Book]

Belle Book,

Frank took a long time discussing his route with the Newark Airport taxi driver. If he hadn't done that before getting in the taxi and chose to do it en route, Frank/Margarita would probably have gotten on the same subway run as Rob/Brennan.

Wil spent time trying to cut the taxi line at Oakland International Airport. If Wil/Tara had just gotten into that line when they arrived, nobody could have caught them and the slower speed of Tara would have been irrelevant.

The factors you cite for Colin/Christie at Calgary and in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area are true. Here are two more factors that influenced the outcome. Once the fog came in after Colin/Christie and Brandon/Nicole had started to rest in the Calgary airport hotel, Chip/Kim were incredibly lucky to be in the right place at the right time. They caught a small window of available flight reservations for the Denver to Dallas flight that closed and could not be attained by the other two teams. That still would not have mattered if the American Airlines agent had not recommended that both teams check their excess luggage on the American flight. That did not matter for the Calgary to Denver flight but airport officials in Denver applied strict guidelines and prevented them from going standby on the United Denver to Dallas flight, the one Chip/Kim were on. The American flight from Dallas to Denver got them in just over 10 minutes behind.

So these things are complex and you can't say that any team lost as a result of hometown knowledge.

That's what I was trying to say, even if some of the details weren't quite accurate -- the curse of the hometown team doesn't really exist because other factors came into play.

Belle Book

[Snooky]

Belle Book,

Frank took a long time discussing his route with the Newark Airport taxi driver. If he hadn't done that before getting in the taxi and chose to do it en route, Frank/Margarita would probably have gotten on the same subway run as Rob/Brennan.

Wil spent time trying to cut the taxi line at Oakland International Airport. If Wil/Tara had just gotten into that line when they arrived, nobody could have caught them and the slower speed of Tara would have been irrelevant.

The factors you cite for Colin/Christie at Calgary and in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area are true. Here are two more factors that influenced the outcome. Once the fog came in after Colin/Christie and Brandon/Nicole had started to rest in the Calgary airport hotel, Chip/Kim were incredibly lucky to be in the right place at the right time. They caught a small window of available flight reservations for the Denver to Dallas flight that closed and could not be attained by the other two teams. That still would not have mattered if the American Airlines agent had not recommended that both teams check their excess luggage on the American flight. That did not matter for the Calgary to Denver flight but airport officials in Denver applied strict guidelines and prevented them from going standby on the United Denver to Dallas flight, the one Chip/Kim were on. The American flight from Dallas to Denver got them in just over 10 minutes behind.

So these things are complex and you can't say that any team lost as a result of hometown knowledge.

That's what I was trying to say, even if some of the details weren't quite accurate -- the curse of the hometown team doesn't really exist because other factors came into play.

Belle Book

Are we even sure that Victor and Tammy are that familiar with Asia?  They're from America not Asia.

[apskip]

Here's an answer on that one, the original statement in the official CBS website for AR14 and copied into the first entry for Victory and Tammy JIh's RFF thread:

they recently traveled with friends to China and Victor mapped out the entire trip down to the minute.

So they are very knowledgeable about China, where there will be 3 AR14 episodes.

[georgiapeach]

I believe they were there for the Olympics? And Mandarin will be a huge help.

[Hooky]

*Praying Tammy & Victor won't be another reincarnation of "Team Domination"*

[Ashe]

*Praying Tammy & Victor won't be another reincarnation of "Team Domination"*

If that's the Spanglers, then I hope they are, minus a victory on the final leg.  That'd knock Victor down a few pegs.

[slayton]

*Praying Tammy & Victor won't be another reincarnation of "Team Domination"*

I assume that you're talking about Nick & Starr, but Gary & Dave called themselves "Team Domination" way back in season 2. 

I'm against re-using team nicknames.

[TARAsia Fan]

But I'll always remember them by "Itchy & Scratchy"

[georgiapeach]

to RFF slayton! 

[ready2rock]

Hi everyone!!! i found this on tvguide thought of sharing it with u:

Linda and Steve-TVGuide.com: Who's your favorite to win now?
Linda: The way I feel about it is this: Everybody on the race is fantastic. I mean, they are competitors. They're tough, they're strong, they're smart. You go through so much emotionally, physically. The ones I want to win are the ones that win because they deserve it.
Steve: The ones that work for it. It's not like we have a favorite team or a team we want to lose. It's just whoever wins it deserves it because they didn't get there by making a lot of mistakes. They got to that point by being good and they deserve to win.

Kris and Amanda-TVGuide.com: When did you find out it was Margie and Luke who U-Turned you?
Amanda: We found out about a weekend later when we were sequestered. But what they didn't show was the reason why we initially thought it was Jen and Kisha. The day before, we were eating lunch with the cast at a restaurant in Romania and the cast was split up into two tables. Afterward, when we were walking back to our room, Luke and Margie approached us and said, "Hey, just so you know, everyone at our table was talking about the U-Turn and every single team said they wouldn't use it, including us, but Jennifer and Kisha said, 'You'd be stupid not to use it. We'd definitely use it if we have a chance.'" So naturally, that was the first thing we assumed because of what we were told the day before. When we found out it was Luke and Margie, it's like, "Why did they have to go out of their way to make up a story to tell us?" At the end, we told Jen and Kisha, and they said Margie's story was completely untrue.

Jodi and Christie-TVGuide.com: Who were you cheering for after you got eliminated?
Jodi: Kisha and Jennifer or Mike and Mel.
Christie: Obviously, we want a girl team to win, and Jennifer and Kisha were such good sports that were always telling us during tasks, "Good job, ladies." We didn't really get that camaraderie with Jaime and Cara that we got with them.
Jodi: They're strong, but they're classy. Also, I just really love Mike and Mel because they were positive all the time. Mel was one of the people I trusted most in the Race because I knew that he wasn't going to lie to me.
Christie: I've had so many people call me and tell me they're pulling for those two. My mom's 68, which is Mel's age, so I was really impressed with him. And to see Mike so worried about his dad — I just really appreciated that relationship.

I failed to interpret anything significant from any of the interviews...infact this has left me more confused now   

[puddin]

I failed to interpret anything significant from any of the interviews...

Exactly, so whats the point?

[TARAsia Fan]

Yes, so what exactly are you confused about, ready2rock?

[Ruth]

Lol! I guess we just got to know which of the teams are more likeable.

[ready2rock]

Yes, so what exactly are you confused about, ready2rock?

The confusion is that in the jodi and christie interview, she has mentioned that during the roadblock task in india she was not allowed to carry two buckets of water at the same time which she wanted to do whereas as we know except for her,victor and mel; rest all didn't do the camel feed task properly until only later on when they realised that there is a basket and a tool provided using which they were supposed to do the task...in that case why was no penalty levied on the other teams bcz they didn't follow the instructions correctly...i mean what's the basis for levying a penalty???

[Kiwi Jay]

Mel and Mike and Jaime and Cara, Tammy and Victor and Mark and Mike onwards and Margie and Luke look safe so Kisha and Jen are my next boots!

[georgiapeach]

I don't think that carrying the basket was a requirement, it was a provided tool that some team members were smart enough to see and use and others weren't. I don't think the intention was ever that teams had to do the task only one way, part of the fun is in watching them miss the obvious. I can't imagine TPTB penalizing a team for that....

OTOH, Jodi carrying two buckets was smart. TPTB got out of letting her do that by saying she couldn't use "another team's" bucket. I suspect that was an on the spot decision by production.

[Ashe]

Mel and Mike and Jaime and Cara, Tammy and Victor and Mark and Mike onwards and Margie and Luke look safe so Kisha and Jen are my next boots!

No good.  According to puddin, the sisters actually get past the Phuket leg and make the F5.  So it's one of the other five who won't be around for the Bangkok leg.

[ready2rock]

Mel and Mike and Jaime and Cara, Tammy and Victor and Mark and Mike onwards and Margie and Luke look safe so Kisha and Jen are my next boots!

No good.  According to puddin, the sisters actually get past the Phuket leg and make the F5.  So it's one of the other five who won't be around for the Bangkok leg.

Yeah I agree!!! and trust me how awesome that wud be i mean since this season has started all speculations related to them are just proving to be false...like no sightings since the romania leg and everything...wow wud be amazing to see them making it to the final 3 and eventually winning it 

[DavidJunior]

Mel and Mike and Jaime and Cara, Tammy and Victor and Mark and Mike onwards and Margie and Luke look safe so Kisha and Jen are my next boots!

i believe that we saw Mark/Michael and Margie/Luke in the Bangkok airport before the Phuket leg began
and Mel/Mike and Tammy/Victor were on the flight from Bangkok to Phuket

[TARAsia Fan]

Besides, carrying two buckets is not a punishable offense, you just drop one and move on.

Taking private transportation is considered a no-no most of the time (although Linda rode in a private car earlier this season and we didn't see any penalty assessed) and also, taking a taxi or bus when the clue clearly states "walk" and we saw that with Heather & Eve in TAR 3.