Wow, they have given us just about too much to almost have a feel of what to expect in this coming episode havent they?
As for the 'RUMOUR' that Nate and Jen are eliminated in this coming leg, (to which I would really LOVE to see for the sake of further prooving that a spoiler may not be accurate!) But unfortunately I have to believe, that based on their youthful advantage over the other teams, final adrenaline and determination (fueled by their constant failure to come 1st) will help them overcome their differences and settle their annoying 'BICKERINGness' to the point where they are 'lucky' enough to bump up as team number one, sadly on the final leg.
I have nothing against Jen or Nate. I just don't think that they both portray an ideal or succesful individual, based upon their lack of mutual respect for each other, to claim the gold prize. I would've prefered to see TK&Rachel, Gosh they are so humble.. and loving to each other, or even Ron&Chris and Nic&Don to have won INSTEAD. I think it will be a 'shameful' ending to what I believe has been an awesome season.
As of objective analysis:
So far, the clip of the roadblock with Ron and Christina seems to recollect Christina's victorious smile as we saw in Dubrovnik; particularly when she was reaasured that they were team 1st. whilst cheering for her dad at the stone wall renovation roadblock. Somehow I suspect that they are the first team to complete the roadblock.. but at this point nobody can guess for sure.
It seems about right that Nick and Don hasn't completed the roadblock upon their appearance at Taipei station at 4:57pm: in other words they were departing rather than arriving.
I have nothing against N&D, I think the constantly released evidence speaks for itself; to which I think CBS has made a terrible mistake revealing to the public.
a) The timetable reveals that Nic and Don are 'most likely' getting ON rather than off the train adjacent to the right of the platform.
b) Looking at the pictures and comparing the ones with Don in the night (Ximending shopping district/' or maybe yaoyuan international' + running alongside Nick at the deserted streets at night) and at the morning (airport + taipei T.S. + Taichung T.S. ); it was ORANGE in the morning and dark greyish BLUE in the night. Which based on the necessity as demonstrated by other teams to change their clothes upon the completion of the jeep roadblock at JIJI township, we know that Don would've done the roadblock and had to have done the same upon completing it.
SADLY, his shirt was still orange when he was at Taipei station at 4:57pm. Meaning he hadn't done the roadblock. They were obviously heading for JIJI township at that point!!! And they would've been doing the task in darkness, rather than daylight.
c) We know that the departure 'SOUTHBOUND' is at the platform to the right, where nic&Don are standing, as we saw TK&rachel enter the train on that platform. (this can be further confirmed by checking the map of Taipei HRS station). So why would they be running along the platform that stops the train heading for taichung if they had just arrived from taichung on the other platform?. That just doesn't make sense.
Having had the color of Don's shirt confirm this, I can now list the following with great confidence:
Nic&Don
-Depart from Taipei at 5:00pm by THSR
-Arrive at Taichung station at 5:52pm
-By taxi or train they should arrive at the roadblock by at LEAST 7:00pm (DARK SKY)
-Looking at the brevity of the roadblock (10 min) upon Ron's attempt, I'd say that they are back at Taichung station by at least 8:20pm.
-And thus arrive at Taipei station by at least 9:10 pm.
-Which gives them enough time to get to the detours before the shops gets deserted, which we can see are not upon their sighting during the night at the shopping district.
Knowing that the other three teams completed the roadblock during daylight, we can assume that the last out of the three leave JIJI township AT or BEFORE sunset. Sunset is at 6:40pm. So that team should arrive back at Taipei by at LEAST 8:40 pm. I still think that all (RACHEL,RON,NATE) were at the roadblock about an hour or more before sunset: Judging by how bright the sky was despite the heavy amount of clouds covering it. If this was true, it's safe to assume that the last team out of the three left JIJI township at 5:40pm, and thus arrived at TAIPEI at 7:40pm.
This would give a 1.5 hours gap between this team an Nic&DON, still not knowing how much gap towards the first team. But if this last team out of the three completed the roadblock just at sunset, they should just be 1/2 and hour ahead of Nic&Don. If this was Tk&Rachel, then Nic&Don could catch up if Tk&Rachel gets stuck half an hour slower in doing the tasks especially with their speed bump.
Hence I don't know who might pull through IF that was the case. Otherwise Nic&Don are more than certainly out of top three. Hence 'rumours' about them running to the finish line is soooo busted.
I think the shot where Nic (holding the route clue nervously) and Don (alongside nic carrying nothing) are running confirms, by the amount of tension and stress that they have both projected, that they are aware of their prospective stance upon elimination. The deserted background in this clip looks like the gardens and trees that surrounds our Taiwanese pitstop, don't you think?
As of Ron&Chris, we have really been underestimating them all this long. First we all doubted that they would ever come first in any legs. Then we thought that they would be last in Japan (they ironically came first instead), having to do the speed bump in Taiwan. Even in Italy or India despite strong rumours that Kynt&Vyxsin were having trouble. I honestly don't see how they couldn't come first again in Taiwan, (in finals we know they wont) they seem very positive and cohesive especially in the clip with Ron so co-operatively doing the roadblock. They also seem very succesful and satisfyied in that interview clip. They are a strong and cohesive team, most thanks to Christina for managing problems well. Even ones created by her own team member. (Princeton graduate... seriously)
And it seems ironic that despite almost half of that 'Taipei 101' spoiler being very unlikely, people still reckon that the other half would be dead right. I cannot wait to see it for myself. Ruling out the 'asian teams eliminated', which we know is so wrong, I am going to look at the coming progress of this team with great equality and optimism as I watch this Leg.
Good luck everyone, hope your 'favourite' team wins this leg... and the final...
