This was posted by "vman" at tivocommunity.com where the Bianca spoiler originated. Interesting behind the scenes information.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=230219&page=11&pp=20 My wife and I know Bianca indirectgly (friends of friends), and my wife attended a viewing party with Bianca for last week's episode (they didn't have one this week - guess we know why!). A few comments and insights:
First, this show is incredibly edited. What you are seeing is what the producers want you to see (especially Rob's devious, cunning mind). It can really alter your perception. For instance:
A few have noted that last week the schlep challenge was clearly better since it would be faster than the shopping challenge and you wouldn't have to spend your money, etc...
Except that there was general agreement among contestants that the schlep challenge would take longer to finish, since there was another part of it that was not shown to viewers. The teams first had to visit Pablo Neruda's house, get some books there, and take them to the bookstore. Then they got other books at the bookstore to take to the library (which is what we saw). In general, unless you had money-changing problems or fish weighing problems, the shopping challenge was faster. Some teams chose to do the schlep challenge because they were short on cash and didn't know how much it would cost (it ended up being very little), others wanted to see Pablo Neruda's house. But the shopping challenge was faster.
So really, take everything you see with a grain of salt. People are being edited to appear a certain way, and it may not jibe with their overall experience. Rob was not smarter for picking the books task -- he felt he had to do it because of his money situation.
Similarly, a big reason Debbie and Bianca won the first stage was because they read the final clue carefully and realized that they did not have to take the same truck back to town before getting a cab to the pit stop - they took a cab direct. The two teams in front of them (including Rob and Amber) just assumed they had to take the truck back to town. No mention of this.
Also, money was only a problem (at least in the early legs) for a few teams. Especially those that didn't share hotel rooms, etc... (for those interested, among the teams that did share a hotel room last week are the brothers and the Barbie twins -- there was a good reason the brothers were so torn up about the Barbie twins' elimination!).
Among the important benefits of finishing first (or at least among the early teams) is that you do your interview in the order you arrive. These interviews take a long time, and you cannot leave, clean up, change clothes etc. until you do your interview, which for the last team can be 6-7 hours into the 12 hour pit stop (there is a buffet there so you can eat). For the later teams, this really cuts into your time to sleep, clean clothes, etc...
The altitude in the past 2 tasks was causing the teams a lot of trouble. The producers had doctors checking their pulses, etc. fairly often to make sure no one got sick when doing challenges at altitude.
It sounds like there is a big twist being added to the non-elimination legs (I've been sworn to secrecy on what). But it sounds good.
Rob and Amber did get significant help throughout the race from tourists who recognized them.
The teams are each assigned a color they are to wear as much as possible in order to help cameramen find them in crowds, etc (hence the different bandanas they all have). The camera crews switch up teams occasionally (as someone mentioned earlier). Which camera crew you are assigned has an impact on your race, as some of the newer camera teams are not used to things like knowing when to change tapes -- if your cameraman is slow then you just have to wait.
As some guessed, Debbie and Bianca didn't know Rob and Amber stole their cab until the previews last week.
It pays to have friends on other teams -- One of the teams fell asleep at the airport in last week's episode and nearly missed their flight, until another team woke them up.
Anyway, I'm not knocking Rob. He has shown some good thinking. But don't think that Rob is the only mastermind, or that all the other teams don't have their own moments -- CBS just thinks we're more interested in seeing Rob's.
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