The Amazing Race > The Amazing Race Discussion
Ranking the Teams -- A basis for comparing all teams (TAR 1 - 33)
almightyblue:
--- Quote from: Zack. on February 24, 2010, 05:48:41 PM ---I have to disagree here. While I dislike Eric/Danielle, I can't fault them for the unpredictability of flights during the Hajj, or for the order in which racers getting on or off standby. Moreover, both Kevin/Drew and Bill/Joe ended up at least 12 hours behind Rob/Brennan and Frank/Margarita in Beijing - would you not say they were strong teams?
--- End quote ---
Yes, I would consider Kevin & Drew a weak team, and Bill & Joe were only strong in context that on the first season none of the teams knew what they were doing. Both these teams struggled on All-Stars for a reason. What made Bill & Joe so strong was their strategic advantage over the other teams, an advantage they didn't have racing against the likes of Rob & Amber and Danny & Oswald, who had created their own strategies that far surpassed anything Bill & Joe had created.
But in comparison to the other teams on their season, no Bill & Joe and Kevin & Drew weren't that weak, it was the poor course planning at the tail end of Season 1 that pushed them that far back.
almightyblue:
--- Quote from: mswood on February 24, 2010, 07:08:55 PM ---Almightblue
First, I would never call Eric & Danielle a great team, but yeah they raced better then Charla & Mirna. I don't discount that teams strength (I even stated it being their ability to either find flights, or to use their attitude to push their way above other teams which they have done in more then one season) and their ability (at times because they can be very grating) to get help from others (though again this can also hurt them, just look at the first episode to see a great example of this).
But look at what happens during this season and judge who performed smarter and better.
Who is better at navigation?
WHo is better at driving?
Who is better on foot getting from point A to point B?
Out of all the tasks performed who is better?
Who is better with Flights?
Who is better with ferns?
Clearly the first four are easily on Eric & Danielle's side, not just through the first four episode but through the full race.
The flight issue I also give to Charla & Mirna (though comments below because they also had problems and some of what happened was very much luck and not based off of statistical patterns of the show).
Then we have getting help from ferns, And this well we certainly see Charla & Mirna employee locals for a lot of help. But how successful was this. In fact rarely was this a factor for good for this team (well maybe better then what they would have done on their own, but still not good). The one exception is according to IZAD (who followed this team from Baku caves to the entrance of the Pit Stop and helped Charla with the bike roadblock) it had some value, but they still took hours longer to complete each and every part of that leg then any other team. And thats with a lot of local help. Eric & Danielle on the other hand rarely sought help from locals besides the typical directions (which they already did better then Charla & Mirna to begin with).
Its very clear that the majority of all the aspects of the race, Eric & Danielle did better.
Remove the issue of three of the flights and honestly tell me that Charla & Mirna performed stronger? And if you rationally cant then you can't say that tasks were the only thing Eric & Danielle did better.
On the flight issue. The first two flight issues were not based on errors. Statistically Eric & Danielle made the correct choices.
Charla & Mirna (first major flight issue) gambled on flying to a location where not only did they not have tickets, but they weren't on standby. That was a huge gamble and not something that historically is successful on the race (They even state its a big risk). In fact look at Season four to see this example of racing go horrible wrong for a team. That worked out was luck. Just three episodes earlier they weren't able to get standby, so they know that even with a film crew they aren't always going to be successful. On the standby list (later same episode) we can't actually judge. Since we don't see or hear the order they are put on standby, we don't know if it matches the order listed later in the next country (and just from my own experience plus watching this show it doesn't always). Historically all the teams (including Teri & Ian and the Guidos made a much safer and rational choice.
The next airport issue. In the shows history how many times have the scheduled connecting flights provided not been meet? Out of over 200 plus flights? Well the answer is none. Now teams have chosen to take alternate routes themselves and lost connections, but never one set up by production. Never. You think it was a mistake for Eric & Danielle to try another travel agent. Yet they knew those 4 teams had been there (when they arrived by a clock on the wall and closely matching dialogue) 7 hours and 10 minutes, and managed to find nothing. Yes 20 minutes later seats did open up on an earlier flight, but you are assuming those same seats wouldn't show up at the other agency. Or that somehow Eric & Danielle might have been able to book those seats at that same agency faster then Charla & Mirna group (as that group is now using both agents). I mean logically how is their choice wrong? Do they see these teams having any success? Nope no at all, in fact the length of time that they tried is staggering. Is there a logical reason not to try another agency? No, not with the information they have. And worse comes to worse they have the up to this point 100% reliable arranged flight and connections. There is no logical reason to suspect their arranged flights would not work out. And curiously since that date, we have yet to see it happen again. Teams can't know what will occur. Its like saying Eric & Dani should have taken that flight that arrived at 3:10pm in Warsaw (4 hours after the arranged flight) because they should have known their flight wouldn't work out. With the arranged flight they would have finished 3rd. There was no logical way to rationalize that staying there would have been better for them.
The final flight problem, yeah while its a minor error (as teams aren't often pushed in front of other teams it has happened in the race's history so it was based on history a possibility). And that was the only flight issue that they truly had even marginal control over.
--- End quote ---
You're forgetting that Charla & Mirna also had an Intelligence advantage, plus they fought less (if only slightly), which makes the argument a push. It really doesn't matter though as it only determines who was the 4th or 5th strongest team on the season (as I doubt either team's ability to consistently beat Uchenna & Joyce, you know, had they not made an airport mistake worse than any Eric & Danielle made). I would rank both teams as above average. Then again, being above average is usually good enough to give a team a good chance of getting into the Final 3, it's just that considering their competition, neither should have made it there.
And no, I'm not condoning the choice Charla & Mirna made on leg 6, it was a risk, but those risks were the only things keeping them in the race. As for Eric & Danielle, they did not make the wrong choice, they made a mistake by allowing all the other teams to jump them on the standby list. It can't be a coincidence that the tickets were issued in reverse order that the teams put their names on said list.
As for leg 7, it was a mistake to leave that flight agency, especially for a team like that. I mean, after leaving the agency, they made one attempt (that aired) to find better tickets, then just gave up and took what was given to them. Had they stayed with Charla & Mirna and Danny & Oswald, the worst case scenario would have put them on their given flight with two other teams, one of whom they had a clear physical advantage over. So statistically, they were better off staying where they were. There's only a handful of teams I would have condoned leaving that travel agency to look for their own tickets (Charla & Mirna, Colin & Christie, Tara & Wil, Rob & Amber, Ronald & Christina, maybe a few others).
Benedicto:
I would rank Charla & Mirna higher because they're much more Entertaining
Entertainment Value > Physical/Mental :lol3:
slayton:
I don't believe that searching for a location in the middle of the desert, by looking for yellow stones as your guide, is that easy.
I didn't even root for Rob & Brennan way back then, but I believe that they are the best of the best of the winners. I don't think any other winners even come close to their combination of intelligence, smarts, physical strength, and athleticism.
theschnauzers:
Now we can see trends in the placements:
Team This Week Last Week Week 2 Trend
Jet-Cord 2.2500 9/4 (1.6666) (2.0000) Stable
Joseph-Heidi 3.5000 14/4 (3.6666) (3.5000) Stable
Carol-Brandy 4.2500 17/4 (4.0000) (4.5000) Stable
Steve-Allison 4.7500 15/4 (4.3333) (5.5000) Stable
Jeff-Jordan 5.0000 20/4 (4.0000) (3.5000) Dropping Sharply
Brent-Caite 6.2500 25/4 (6.0000) (5.5000) Dropping
Louie-Michael 6.7500 27/4 (8.3333) (9.0000) Rising Sharply
Jordan-Daniel 7.0000 28/4 (7.3333) (8.0000) Rising
Monique-Shawne 5.3333 16/3
Jody-Shannon 10.0000 20/2
Adrian-Dana 11.0000 11/1
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