Archive > The Amazing Race 16 Spoilers/Speculation
Season 16 = Dumbest Cast Ever...?
mrmando:
When you are the weakest team and you get a chance to use the U-Turn, you cannot, statistically speaking, make a bad decision. You can only make good decisions and better decisions. Carol/Brandy were behind Jet/Cord in terms of average placement, but were actually ahead of Louie/Michael. So while U-Turning them might not have been the "best" decision, it was certainly a "good" and probably a "better" decision.
Also, I think the goal of U-Turning a team should be to knock that team out of the race. If you think a team might be able to overcome the U-Turn and stick around for the next leg, you should U-Turn someone else. You don't want to spend the remaining legs racing against people who have a very good reason to resent you. If you knew that Jet/Cord handle adversity better than Carol/Brandy, and you didn't know that Jet/Cord were behind Carol/Brandy by a good chunk of time, it would make sense to assume that Jet/Cord could take the U-Turn in stride and still beat Carol/Brandy to the mat, whereas Carol/Brandy might well take the U-Turn personally, descend into bickering and whining, and fall apart on the second half of the Detour. (To their credit, they actually didn't fall apart, although there was good reason to assume that they might.)
serendipity:
In fact based on strategy it is clear that both U-turns were wrongly used, that's no need to argue about that. Mike/Louie and Brent/Caite just rationalize their choices by saying Joe/Heidi and Carol/Brandy are strong teams. Right, they are strong teams (that is because Mike/Louie and Brent/Caite are already the weakest in the pack, so they can't find anyone worse), but clearly not the strongest. When you got a chance to U-turn anyone you want, why don't choose the strongest one? They are just shallow to put their personal feelings on the competition too much, and tried to act clever by telling everyone the choice is correct and there are much more reasons to do that rather than plain dislike of a team.
In fact everything seems coming from Michael. First he did not like Joe being more arrogant than him (I think he is also an arrogant man), then he is afraid of being beat by two women (I think he kind of discriminated women at this point, as he also gave no credit to Steve/Allie provided that they did exceptionally well before elimination), so that's how the game played out in the end.
I strongly hope that either brothers can win the race, if it's Jet/Cord that would be nicer as it proves that stupid choices cost these teams a million dollars.
Dånooky:
I completely agree with DavidJunior and mrmando, obviously both U-Turns were personal in nature, but they were not bad choices. U-Turning the cowboys could have been a better choice, but given their lucky history, they could have easily recovered with some luck.
georgiapeach:
:welcome: to RFF, mrmando! :waves:
Caelestor:
--- Quote from: chill_sd on April 14, 2010, 09:21:27 AM ---Here's what I don't understand. Several people, including Luke, have made statements like this:
--- Quote from: DeafRacer on April 12, 2010, 08:00:11 PM ---Joe & Heidi and Carol & Brandy deserved not to be U-Turned. They showed their strong racing skills and they deserved their spots in the Final Three. :'(
--- End quote ---
Well, if they had "strong racing skills" it was probably a good idea to U-Turn them. When Mike & Louie U-Turned Joe & Heidi, they were right behind them, despite Joe's bum knee. When Brent & Caite U-Turned Carol & Brandy, they were also right behind them. On both of these legs, Jet & Cord were struggling.
The editors have certainly highlighted the personal nature of the U-Turns, but there were strategic reasons for both of them also. And both teams that used the U-Turns ended up in the Final 4, so I would say they were successful.
--- End quote ---
Luke, not to be cynical, but then why did you U-turn Amanda and Kris? Did they not deserve a spot in the Final Three? (I agree with several of your other points, just not about the meaning of the U-turn)
I can criticize the editing and the producers' portrayal of teams, but I can't rank a season down for how the actual events turned out, because that is up to luck and the teams themselves.
Could this season have been more enjoyable? Yes.
Was this designed better than other recent ones? Yes, and that's what makes this edition better than some other recent installments. It seems TAR put much more effort into trying to improve the racecourse. It's a shame that the perception of some teams is undermining this edition.
I'm sort of sad that I tend to be ignored here... :'(
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