Longtime lurker, first time post.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't get the "winners' edit" thing. I've been watching AR since the 1st season and I've never noticed that a particular teams' edit meant anything in regards to who won a particular season. It's easy to say at the end, this team got the "winners' edit," but I just can't tell. What is it about any teams' current edit screams "winners' edit"? It all seems the same to me.
BTW, I love all the remaining teams, so any of them winning would be fine by me, even the Trotters!
Well, one good way to tell that a team has made the Final 3 (not necessarily that they won) is to look at how large their edit is in legs where they don't finish either first or near the back of the pack. If they are featured more than perhaps they should in a leg where they finished in the middle, then there's a reason for it. Most likely, that team made the finals.
A great example is last season's winners, Nat & Kat. They were featured even in legs where they didn't come near the front or the back of the pack. Editing thus suggests they made the finals.
Belle Book
I don't know, it still seems more like perception than reality to me. I don't keep my DVRs of an episode past a few weeks, so it's very difficult for me to really assess if what you're saying is true. I just don't pay much attention to how much airtime each team receives during each episode. I wonder if someone has actual numbers that prove this?
Last season, 3 teams stood out to me after the first episode: Brooke/Claire, Nat/Kat and Vegas. If I remember correctly, B/C and N/K did well for much of the season, which could explain their favorable edits. Vegas was just comedy gold, even if they didn't make it as far as they did, I still think the producers wanted to focus on them as much as possible, just for the entertainment value. But that's just my perception. Someone else may have a totally different impression than I had.
So, basically you're saying that Gallory and Zev/Justin will make Final 3 because of their airtime?? I don't know. It seems that the Cowboys and Kent/Vyxsin have been focused on even more than them, but again it's just my perception. We can debate about it forever. I would just love to see the actual numbers instead of someone's perception of it. Just saying....