Team report
1. David & Mary-You would think the team that is in first would get a good review. But that isn’t the case.
The team depended on others to book their tickets, they worked as a group to get to the towers bleeding considerable time waiting for a local to go through baggage claim. This put them in the last group.
And even though the Cho’s were behind them, the Cho’s managed to decide to go fro the Fast Forward before David & Mary. If it wasn’t for the Cho’s they would have competed against Dustin & Kandice for the Fast Forward. And based on previous legs I believe that Dustin & Kandice had a good chance to beat them. They also managed to get lost in the 18 miles from the Kuwait towers to the Pit Stop. Sub standard racers that are only alive due to the kindness of friends and the complete breakdown of another team.
2. Dustin & Kandice - Got instructions from the pilot on how to locate the Kuwait towers and even though they got lost here, where quickly directed to the Towers only losing two spots. On the elevator ride with Peter & Sarah, Peter rushed for the numbers and managed to get a better number. Usually this team hustle’s more, but here they didn’t. They lost one position due to having trouble with the puzzle. They also had to ponder how to get someone to read the puzzle (though all but one team had already carried theirs to locals to read. After a brief encounter with Lyn & Karlyn who shove both a local and one of the Beauty Queens, they snag a fern who will ride with them to the next clue box.
This allows them to pass Lyn & Karlyn, though they lose more time by having difficulty in finding the Bead Shop. They decide to do Manual and have trouble finding it getting lost (they also have a map and still have problems finding it). They find a local who will drive their so that they just have to follow them, this gains them considerable time and puts them 2cd in getting to the detour. Where they don’t follow instructions (this is the third time this has happened in 3 different legs not a good sign, read the clues and the extra information carefully). Finishing the detour 2cd they have the easiest time finding the Pit Stop and end with a very respectful 2cd place.
This leg at several mistakes that the girls made, but the recovered from all of them nicely and with the aid of two locals (one in their car the other driving in front of them) managed to avoid the long delays others had in finding the locations. An Average leg. Without the locals and with getting lost in two sections, and not following the clues this leg could have ended up quite differently.
3. Rob and Kimberly - Ran a surprisingly strong and effective leg. They made good time to the Towers passing two teams. And while Kimberly had trouble with the puzzle allowing two teams to complete it faster, they were able to find the bead shop 2cd. Even getting lost they managed to get to the Detour first, they followed instructions even when they saw another team not. They finished the Detour first and if not for getting lost on the way to the Pit Stop wouldn’t have ended up 2cd. AN good leg. A little trouble navigating, but managing it without escort or passengers.
4. Lyn & Karlyn a mixed leg, and its their best leg to date. But still several deductions for time lost and wasted working as a team. They wasted hours on the travel agent. Tyler and James left the Pit Stop over an hour and a half after they did. But they managed to get tickets and to the airport and out of the city before they got to the airport. While the first part of the leg usually as the biggest equalizers you can’t depend on it. Waiting 4 hours at the travel agency for David & Mary was a huge error. They compound this error by waiting for a local to escort them to the Kuwait towers. This put the entire group at the rear of the pack. If not for another equalizer this team would have been even further back. At the Roadblock they did okay. But their encounter with the local man and with Kandice and Dustin was outright rude and unacceptable. To SHove a local is terrible sportsmanship. To Shove another player is a Guido move or a Jonathan move. They got lost getting to the Bead Shop. But they did get instructions to the Camel Racing Track. Wither they got lost anytime else on this leg is never shown. They are the 4th team to check in. Their best placement so far in the race.
5. Erwin & Godwin. Make all the same mistakes as Lyn & Karlyn for the first part of the race getting tickets, and getting to the Kuwait Towers. They also allow a team behind them to pull a number before them. This teams biggest weakness (and its getting to be a huge weakness) is that they are not competitive. This is a Race. RACE....Damnit. Eve last they forgo the Fast Forward so that their friends can use it. That's a huge tactical error. HUGE. After finishing the detour in last place they manage a police escort (Sirens and all) to the Bead Shop, this allows them to pass Lyn & Karlyn. They also find the Bead shop faster then Dustin & Kandice to pass another team. They decide on Manual for the detour and return to the same officer and ask for directions. He doesn’t know where it is. When Lyn & Karlyn come out they have directions ot the other event and they let them follow them. But they make another mistake and feel that the girls are lost so they get new directions and go to Manual. They actually get to the detour while both Rob & Kimberly and Dustin & Kandice are working on it. They must have gotten lost going from there to the Pit Stop since they are 38 minutes later then Dustin & Kandice who finished last before them and didn’t get lost.
These guys are nice guys, they will absolutely not win this race as long as they continue to ally themselves with the 2 weakest teams left in the race. In fact if they don’t chance how they race, I am betting that one of the other members of the Backpack use their kindness to pass them. What should have been a team to beat is turning into Miss Congeniality.
6. Tyler and James - The ran a great leg, up to a point. They managed to hustle and find the best flight out of Chennai, and had to hustle to the travel agent and to the airport to manage this. They did well (like Peter & Sarah) using the internet to find the location of Kuwait Towers. They hustled out of the airport and managed to be team #2 at the Roadblock. Tyler excelled at the mental challenge of the puzzle, and they finished the detour 1st. THe were the first to figure how to get the clue translated, they were the first to the Bead Shop. But it was at the Detour, specifically finding the Detour where this great leg came to a screeching halt. They had trouble finding either detour and say they spent four hours looking for it. It looks like they had a much easier time finding the Pit Stop (time wise). But even with two legs finishes near last, this team as not broken down communicating, they are still having fun, and they haven’t started blaming each other.
But they do have things that cause me to worry. THe first is that so far Tyler has done 5 out of the 6 roadblocks. I do not understand this. James has interviewed that he isn’t as confident as Tyler is, but eventually you are going ot have to complete tasks.
The second is if their poor showing navigating this episode is reflective of their overall ability to navigate (they navigated well in Mongolia), we will have to see future legs to judge.
7. Peter & Sarah- They did average in the first part of the leg, coming in fairly middle of the pack at the towers, and at the bead shop. When finding the detour this team self destructed to a huge degree. They drove nearly 8 hours and still never found the detour. The last time that has happened is first season’s episode where Paula nd Amie got lost in the desert. The producers directed them to the Detour, and then directed them to the Pit Stop, they never had to do the detour since they were at this point nearly 3 hours later then when the producers removed them from a dangerous location (near a site of an earlier in the day execution) they then went to starbucks before going to the detour location. What time they finally reached the Pit Stop is unknown but I would assume at least 4 or 5 hours after Tyler and James checked in.
Strategy wise this team made many of the correct moves in trying to get locations. THey went to hotels, they got escorted (3 times to that same grocery store, even by the hotels directions). Peter also continued the blame game, blaming Sarah for her inability to navigate (which was accurate but at this point doesn’t help matters) and if they had been able to continue probably would helped bring them down at a later stage of the race.