Netfoot

"Go to Point Zero, walk 20 paces west, and bury the pen under a marked cobblestone in broad daylight, in plain view of hundreds of passers-by. Because that is so much more secure, than, say, putting it in your pocket and waiting until someone comes to collect it, or sticking it in an envelope and dropping it in the mail." Who writes this crap?!??

I swore that after wasting 45 minutes of my life last week, this dog wouldn't catch me again. But the complete lack of watch-worthy programming this week made me waste another 45 minutes of my life... and the show is still a complete dog. Rah, rah, Afghanistan, rah, PTSD, rah, rah, Eyeraq, rah... yawn. It's been done to death! And, who gives a shit, anyway? If all I wanted was to look at cute people, I'd stroll down to the beach. If all I wanted was my intelligence insulted at every turn, I'd go talk to my sister. Please Ghodd, broadcast something watchable, so I can consign this steaming pile of shite to the cloaca of hell where it belongs.

Almost as good as J'Tia, right? I'm ducking out of here now, before real spoilers start to show up...

Very good report, Rusun. Thank you. So, they're asking for the location of the season one finish line while practically standing upon it? Curious. Presumably, The Save (a.k.a. HII) replaces the Express Pass, and will go to the winners of leg one.

Somebody better post a recap...

Why is this desirable? If an Immunity Idol can be likened to a joker in a pack of cards, then consider the density. In a deck of 52 cards there are only two or three jokers. But in a Survivor game of 18 players -- maybe 16 Tribal Councils, there can be three, four, five or more idols. They get played two at a time. What next? Everybody gets an idol? Most games of cards don't use jokers.

Buddy has been expelled from the house. He's taken up residence in the car. I had a stack of fairly expensive text-books on a table next to the bed. He lay on the bed and ate one corner off the entire stack! He came slinking in a few minutes ago, expecting to be forgiven, but I sent him packing with a flea in his ear.

It's been going on since Benson and Florence from The Jeffersons.

Somebody in the business thinks that socially inept, insufferable assholes make good television. I just think that displays of unbearable arrogance and conceit make for poor entertainment. Doubt I'll be watching E2...

OK, thinking it through... After a 2-2-2 split, why would the TPI get played at that point? Nobody is going home yet because a re-vote is about to happen. So, the three un-targeted players vote 2 for the TPI and 1 for the ally, forcing the TPI to be played after the second round of voting, and sending home the ally. So yes, it would appear you're correct. A flush may be possible at F6 under these (as you say) "stars-need-to-align" circumstances, given there aren't any usage restrictions we're unaware of WRT re-votes. And perhaps such alignment isn't totally remote, but I think it is probably going to be rare enough that the TPI remains pretty unassailable. I much prefer the idea proposed by dolphincorn, for an idol-killing token of some sort. Imagine it able to be played last, negating the effect of any idol in the game (but not the IC necklace). Now, that would stir things up a bit!

I'm sorry, but I was talking about a deliberate plan to force TONY to play his TPI. Obviously, if you hold the TPI and get the most votes, you will play it and save yourself. But I wouldn't call that flushed out. More simply used as intended. Edited to say that a Super-Idol-Killing Idol would be a great idea!

That's not going to work, because KASS, WOO and SPENCER aren't going to vote for TONY seeing as it means TONY and TRISH get to choose who from their own alliance (KASS, in your example) goes home, leaving the game split 2:2. Nobody will be a part of an idol-flushing plan that leaves themselves vulnerable, and deliberately giving up the numbers is also highly unlikely.

Let's say someone named TONY had the TPI and the opposing alliance decides to flush it. Votes will have to be cast for TONY in the highest majority to make him play it, but when he does, someone else will go home and nobody in the opposing alliance will volunteer for that honour. So a second voting bloc of the opposing alliance has to vote for TONY's alliance mate, theoretically called TRISH. The TRISH voting bloc must be smaller than the TONY voting bloc to force the idol out, but it must be larger than the voting bloc that is TONY and TRISH. Assume TONY and TRISH are in an alliance of only two. This means that three opposing alliance votes must be cast for TRISH and four votes cast for TONY. A total of seven votes plus the two that TONY/TRISH will cast themselves. Therefore the TPI can only be flushed at F9 or before. Now if TONY/TRISH have a third alliance mate theoretically called WOO in their voting bloc, then matters get worse because the fallback voting bloc must cast four votes for TRISH (or WOO), and the other voting bloc must cast five votes for TONY. In this case, a TPI flush will only work at F12 or before. Unless members of the opposing alliance are willing to risk getting booted (or to sacrifice one of their own) to fulfill the objective, flushing that TPI is not practical after F9. And how often do you see alliances split 7 to 2 at F9 anyway? And even if you did have those numbers, you just know that out of your alliance of 7, someone will "make a big move" and flip, right? And any plan involving a sacrifice will only precipitate this. So I'd say that flushing the TPI is, for all practical purposes, impossible.

I did. The Go-Directly-To-FTC Idol is unassailable. With that thing around your neck you are guaranteed no votes against you for virtually the whole rest of the game. You can't be tricked into playing/wasting it. Everyone knows that a vote against you is pointless. So you go straight to the end-game. There are too many idols as it is. The game sure doesn't need that dumb-assed idol as well!

Absolutely. He didn't just win, he dominated the game-play from the start. And not by being any sort of challenge monster. He ruled the beach, by sheer force of character. It makes me sick that a great player like Earl has to share the title of Sole Survivor with congealed snot like Tony Vlachos and his ilk.

The trouble with Survivor is that lumps of rancid ass-crack wax like Tony can end up winning. The fact that Probst is now handing out Go-Directly-To-FTC idols doesn't help. Best quote of the season: "How did you do it without breasts?!??"

I am a devoted fan of The Amazing Race and have watched every episode. I will continue to watch. But this has been one of the worst, least entertaining seasons in the history of the show, and the least entertaining finale in living memory. I hope TPTB use it as an object lesson on what NOT to do. In particular, don't ever bring any of these people back into my living room again. Ever. I don't believe the game is rigged. No, they don't create NELs on the spot to save favourite teams. No, they didn't arrange to return Rob&Amber's plane to the gate so Uchenna&Joyce could get on. If they got caught, the damage to the franchise would be too great. But what they can legally do is decide before the start that a parent/child team win would be good for the show, and alter the roadblock rules to suit their preferred scumbag. Yes, Dave did finally do a RB, but it was of the laundrybag variety; he didn't have to do anything more than get himself slung out of a heli like a sack of dirty washing. I'll admit, the shooting-star jump at night was spectacular to watch, but it wasn't a challenge of any sort, was it? Country Girls, you didn't do too badly for yourselves in the last few legs of the race. Pity you didn't run the whole race the way you (demonstrably) were capable of. Your winning might have been more palatable as a result. I actually wanted you to win, but not so much for who you were, but more for who you were up against. And you could have done it, too. You were the first to the light bulbs, but you let D&C (Dickhead and Company) overtake you. How did that happen? (But see speculation later.) Rachael, it seems you really, really wanted to win. Well, I'm not sure if you realized that there was a million dollar prize riding on the race, so everybody really, really wanted to win, you stupid, fat-faced cow! I've often heard about David Copperfield the great magician. All I've ever seen is David Copperfield the pompous ass. The illusion was boring, predictable, and yawn-inducing. And his complete lack of reaction when the box 'accidentally' crashed to the ground only goes to show that his acting is on the same level as his prestidigitation: pathetic. That challenge turned out to be finding the right key out of a bunch of 50 keys. So needle in haystack with a particularly small haystack. (What is a large haystack? Ask Hayden, TAR6.) Neon Boneyard Museum. Well, it looked like you could have visited every corner and seen every 'exhibit' without getting out of your car. I doubt anyone spent more than 60 seconds on-site, so really it only served to string two cab-rides together, emphasizing the importance of taxi-luck. B&R's taxi driver seemed like a particularly moronic bitch, but maybe she was a BB fan, and decided to give B&R what (she thought) they deserved. TPTB: Bringing these fame-whoring glory hounds on the race -- as opposed to 'regular' people -- can have an adverse effect on gameplay, when they are recognized by the public. Quickly in passing, let me just say I preferred when they were NOT allowed to repeatedly scream "We're in a race for a million dollars!!!" at their cab driver. The lightbulbs were the only real opportunity for some shuffling action, and we actually got some. But how did that happen? Speculating: C&J did comment that the scaffold was a long stretch from the sign, which made the task harder. Perhaps D&C had longer arms/more reach? One of those blondes is pretty tall, so I don't know, though. Did anybody see some difference in technique that would have caused the Country Singers to fall behind? Anyway, TAR24 is over, which is a blessing, seeing as how un-entertaining it's been, and how lack-lustre was the finale. Bring on TAR25, and for the sake of the long-term preservation of the show, I hope it's a very different animal. Get ordinary, capable racers, give them difficult clues and challenging tasks, forget trying to introduce drama and contention, don't forget to show us (the viewers) something of the countries they race through, and trust in the original premise of the show.

I thought as much! Pity they didn't give us a quick panorama from the top.

They don't have the least balls. Some teams only have two, and some teams have none at all!

Can't stand David Copperfield. If he's such a great magician, why doesn't he prove it by making his own conceited ass disappear?

Afgassaholes seemed less thrilled to be at Liverpool FC than they seemed thrilled to be seen being thrilled at Liverpool FC. While expressing all that spontaneous joy, they made sure to do it for the camera. A bigger bunch of toe-punching I have never seen. D&C in particular looked like they would injure themselves trying to get boot on ball! Which would have been fine by me, especially if Dave had managed to injure his mouth and put it out of action for the remainder of the season. Country Singers were all "Be kind to us!" as usual, but didn't look like they really expected the judge or goalie to ease up on them. Perhaps that's just the role that TPTB has given them to play. Narrowboats are great! A friend very nearly bought one on retirement, to use as his home. He changed his mind at the last moment, taking into consideration that as he got older, so would the boat, and it's need for ongoing maintenance would increase. It would have been really cool, though! The aqueduct itself was spectacular, and I wish they had spent a few moments more on it, and the view from the top. There is a large viaduct right in the city where I went to college and it is an impressive piece of architecture, even if 20 years younger and only half the height of the "stream in the sky". The welsh poetry really was a devilish challenge, and the coaches were just great how they encouraged the racers to absorb the intricate pronunciation. The judge was an absolute gem, despite the uncomfortable weather. I loved how she whispered the last line to Jamal, but still made him go back and do it right. I just don't understand how Connor was able to do it, and can't say I appreciated his attitude, either! Well done B&R, for what I can only describe as the Motoring-fu used to misdirect the following Assholimals, causing them to get lost, be late, and eventually suffer elimination. Country Singers did well again this leg. I don't believe they are as terrible at tasks as some seem to think. They just suck at finding their way around. I mean, they drove out the gate and tuned right at random? Couldn't they have bought a map? Or turned in the direction of the nearest human habitation where they might acquire a map? Well, they're in the finale now, and traditionally, we can expect taxi navigation throughout. If they can complete the challenges with reasonable efficiency -- which we've seen that they can do -- and providing they get a moderately good taxi driver, they stand every chance of winning the megabuk. Which, frankly, would suit me better than D&C or B&R. Edited to say that B&R were particularly silly getting the wrong wellies. They read the clue aloud and still didn't register that the size was important. In a real life wellie wanging contest, only size 9 wellies are allowed, so the clue actually made things a little easier for the racers in that regard.

Violence is good. Just ask the Marine corps. I have great respect for Claire, because after a watermelon full force in the face, she kept on racing, after only a brief period of recovery. (I think I'd have been in hospital for six months!) This is a race with a prize of one million dollars. The challenges should grind their bones to make bread, not mollycoddle their asses to the finish! The point that none of the racers seemed to get was that in the Bull/Ball challenge they weren't supposed to get smashed. They were supposed to do the smashing! Bowl those rugby players over like ninepins! Get some blood on the cobblestones!

Risky and dangerous -- thank goodness for challenges that required some spine. Otherwise we'll be reduced to seeing them knit. We already watched them make a shirt... Much worse than that and they'll be watching paint dry, and we'll be watching them watch the paint. Persons who expect that all challenges will be sanitized to the point that they are completely risk free and equally fair to all, need not apply. This is not Jeopardy. Walk through the lions den and catch a cobra by the tail. There'll be a snakebite kit handy in case you screw up. If you die, well, it'll be more interesting television than hearing about Bopper's pancreas. In fact, ratings will probably go through the roof!

Rachael: Faceplant Number Three! Bull Balls: Looks like fun. Barbers: Amazingly Amusing. Greeter: Wowwza! Country Singers: FTW.

When they placed first in the leg, and Phil began to tell them about the prize, I'm sure that for a moment Dave thought he'd won one of the classic Mustangs from the challenge. What an asshole!