S25.E09: You're Taking My Tan Off

[Alapaki]

If TPTB endeavored to avoid any Tasks for which one or more Teams have a natural (or acquired) advantage, we'd be stuck with either boring, lowest-common-denominator Tasks, or a Cast of homogenous, probably-alpha-male-type Teams.

 

IMO, as long as the same rules apply to all Teams equally, the Task if "fair".  

 

I think the Cyclists took a calculated gamble when, IMO, they really didn't need to, and lost.

[TiredMe]

TiredMe:  You used to like the surfers but now you don"t and hope that they don't win because they are good at surfing ?  Seriously?

Um that's what I said. I hate when teams get any type of favoritism so why the hell should I cheer for them. I never said I think they are assholes. That would be Brooke.

[jhlipton]

As far as compensating her for her perceived disadvantages, they've never done that in the past for anyone.  

 

 

So why should they compensate for perceived advantages, then?  It should be both or neither, and I prefer neither.

[SoCal4Us]

Again, it becomes rigging if a task is changed because of a contestant's talents. Any competitor knows the risks and potential rewards/failures of the race.

I wanted the Cyclists to stay in the game. The fuller-faced one did not want to do it and she was a bundle of nerves on her board...the other one should have listened to her in the taxi. They risked it all and came up short.

I bet the Cyclists aren't bitter or think it's unfair because the wave machine was the fast forward...no, they're probably already strategizing for All Stars. They are true competitors.

IMHO

[kdm07]

De-lurking to say: count me in the minority as one who didn't care about the outcome of the FF. It was a huge gamble for the cyclists to take and they lost *shrug*

I didn't like how the wrestlers lied to the scientists but I don't hate them for it. It's a race, some people want to run clean races, others don't.

As an avid AR watcher (all incarnations of it) I would've never picked a deep tissue massage in an Asian country for my detour. Previous viewings have taught me to stay far away from that kind of a detour :)

[tetzy]

So, next week are we going to see a teeth-cleaning challenge? If we don't, tonight was fixed to make sure the "soulSURFERS" won.

 

Now, don't misunderstand; before tonight I was hoping the surfers would win the race outright, but that's changed. If TAR producers want them to win so badly, just cut the goddamned pretense and give them the $1M.

 

 I wasn't a fan of the cyclists - but this wasn't right.

[jhlipton]

I think that part of the problem is not the task or the casting, but the editing and ads.  If there hadn't been the constant "Bethany is great!", "She's a beast!" and the like from the racers and in the ads, we might perceive the surfers differently and them doing this task might not stand out so much.

 

Not teeth-cleaning, but the very similar armor-polishing was in the dentists' wheel-house and they finished well before any other teams.  But I don't hear any complaints about that....

[Kel Varnsen]

Chances are the race was planned by a group that had no idea who would be selected to race, and team selection was done by a group who had no idea what challenges lay ahead for the racers.  

People keep saying this but I am not sure how much I believe it. I mean the first name you see in the credits for every episode is "Executive Producer: Bertram Van Munster". So while casting and race planning might be done by separate teams, the buck would totally stop with him and his top level production people. So I can totally believe the he would have the power and the ability to rearrange or change tasks or change casting once all the information has been prepared, in order to create more drama. 

[sinycalone]

If TPTB wanted to guarantee an outcome for a perceived favorite....why haven't they done it in the past for other teams?  They've had Big Brother and Survivor teams...like Romber, Brendan/Rachel, etc. -..which would have made for major drama....i.e., Romber win both reality show top prizes, etc.  Didn't happen -- either time for Rob and Amber.

 

If Betram started manipulating the tasks, it would not remain a secret very long....

[Kel Varnsen]

If TPTB wanted to guarantee an outcome for a perceived favorite....why haven't they done it in the past for other teams?  They've had Big Brother and Survivor teams...like Romber, Brendan/Rachel, etc. -..which would have made for major drama....i.e., Romber win both reality show top prizes, etc.  Didn't happen -- either time for Rob and Amber.

 

If Betram started manipulating the tasks, it would not remain a secret very long....

I never actually said he did it. I was just pointing out that if he wanted to he could, in response to people saying that casting and task design are done by completely different sets of people.  And even if he did start manipulating tasks and it got out, all he would have to say is that he did it to create drama/suspense not to help one team win. I mean that whole bit where the cyclist girls were trying to stay on the boards, and then when Adam fell were crazy suspenseful.

[Jersey Guy 87]

I've read several articles about how the show is planned - it's clear that the crew that designs the course/challenges is different than the crew responsible for casting.  The race is laid out in advance, then a cast is picked and then the race is run.  Setting things up for a team to "win" on leg 9 is stupid - you have no idea what teams are still going to be in the race and what their relative positions are going to be.  Going for the FF was a big risk by Adam/Bethany - they were on the later flight, they were behind and it was very possible they'd get there and the cyclists would have completed the task already.  They decided to gamble, and they won.  Had the cyclists decided to not risk the FF and instead just beat the wrestlers and food scientists through the regular tasks they would probably still be in the race.  Had the cyclists been able to stay up on their boards for two minutes before Adam and Bethany made their second attempt they would have gotten the FF and won the leg (and Adam and Bethany would have been out).  I'm having a tough time believing believing that TPTB could have predicted all of these things happening in advance.

 

I think it's a shame that either the wrestlers or the food scientists will be in the final three, both these teams are a definite step down competitively from the dentists, Adam/Bethany and the cyclists.  But at least neither team is Dandrew.

[Alapaki]

I'm curious whether the people who are upset at the inclusion of a surfing task are upset because it helped the Surfers or because it hurt the Cyclists? (I'm not suggesting one is more legitimate than the other, just curious).

 

Because I really don't think the Cyclists were "screwed" by the FF being a surfing task.  They hurt themselves by making a poor decision.

 

Presumably they went for the FF to avoid the Double-U-Turn.  

 

But there's always another option to avoid the Double-U-Turn: get to the U-Turn Box first!

 

And, in this situation, given what the Cyclists knew at the time, I think they were in a perfect position to do so.

 

Consider:

 

1) they were bunched with the two weakest Teams in the field. (the one Scientist was practically working on one leg and the Wrestlers are, well the Wrestlers); and

2) they knew they had a significant lead over the two strong Teams remaining in the field.

 

The Cyclists really only had to beat one of the Teams they were bunched with to the Double-U-Turn box in order to survive, because they could use the back-end of the Double-U-Turn against the remaining Team.  I really don't think they should've considered it likely that both the Scientists and the Wrestlers would beat them to the Double-U-Turn box.  Granted, (although they wouldn't have known it at the time) the first-come-first-serve tight-rope Roadblock could've hurt them if they arrived at the RB third.  But it could've helped them if they arrived either first or second.  So there was still a 2/3 chance of the RB format helping them.

 

For that matter, even if both other Teams had beaten the Cyclists there, those Teams would've had to be smart enough to both U-Turn the Cyclists and block the back-end of the Double-U-Turn (i.e. Team 1 U-Turns the Cyclists and Team 2 U-Turns Team 1 [who've already cleared the U-Turn box]).  I wouldn't count on the Wrestlers being able to keep that straight.  And if the other two Teams couldn't pull that off, the Cyclists still would've been able to U-Turn another Team.

 

And, the Cyclists acknowledged before they even got to the FF that there was a risk that the Surfers might try the FF and might beat them.  So they knew the FF was not entirely risk-free.

 

My point is, they had a choice, and they chose wrong.

I also agree with this:

 

Setting things up for a team to "win" on leg 9 is stupid - you have no idea what teams are still going to be in the race and what their relative positions are going to be.

 

 

I'm no statistician, but I wonder what the pre-Race numerical odds are for any given Team in the original 11-Team field making it to F5 (just based on the numbers, regardless of individual Team strengths/weaknesses)?  

 

There are so many contingencies that would've had to occur in order for Adam and Bethany to still even be in the Race by F5.  I think if TPTB wanted to include a Task specifically to help the Surfers (or even specifically to create suspense or drama with the Surfers), they placed it awfully late in the Race and took an awfully big chance that the Surfers would still be there.

[Netfoot]

I can totally believe [bertram Van Munster] would have the power and the ability to rearrange or change tasks or change casting once all the information has been prepared, in order to create more drama. 

 

But why would he want to?  Does he really care who walks away with the prize?  All he needs is film in the can, which he will get, whether Bethany wins or goes out in leg#1.  Somebody is going to win, and he knows who that is from before the start of the season.  The entire season can be edited to make that person a hero, or a villein, but in either case, a winner.

 

We've seen Big Brother stuntcast production favourites go out in leg#2, with no special trickery attempted to save them.  What's so special about Bethany?  She his niece or something? 

[Kel Varnsen]

I'm no statistician, but I wonder what the pre-Race numerical odds are for any given Team in the original 11-Team field making it to F5 (just based on the numbers, regardless of individual Team strengths/weaknesses)?  

There is probably enough data out there to figure out how far a well a young, very fit, male/female team will get in the race. Especially when you compare them to other teams. Especially when one of them is a professional athlete. I can easily see a situation where someone suggests the surfing challenge as a FF and they figure that with surfers on the race and the possibility for them to get that far it could create some good drama. And if they don't make it that far it would at least get people talking about what if the surfers were still in the game when the surfing challenge came up. I don't think everything happens in a vacuum as much as people suggest. That said I think the producers would be more interested in creating exciting challenges rather than rewarding one team. 

 

Also another big reason the surfing challenge was probably selected selected, was because it meant the chance to see young attractive women in bikinis was high (or I guess young dudes shirtless). 

 

For comparison, in Amazing Race Canada last season there was a hockey challenge for one of the detours. And there were two olympic hockey gold medalists in the race. They ended up kind of choking on the challenge. The funny thing was, the fact that they did bad, generated a ton of discussion and media attention. 

[Alapaki]

According to this site, which analyzes based strictly on demographic information (age and gender of Team members) Adam and Bethany had a pre-Race 33% probability of making F4.  Their pre-Race probability front-runners were Keith and Whitney (56%).

 

I may be completely off, but I think the calculation for the odds of any given Team not finishing last until F4 (based strictly on the size of the field and taking NELs out of the equation) is:

 

(10/11)(9/10)(8/9)(7/8)(6/7)(5/6)(4/5) = .363636

 

I can see TPTB being very happy about the coincidence of a surfing Task in a Race with a one-armed Surfer in the field, and I can see their intense hope that the Surfer Team makes it to that Leg.  But I still don't buy them having set it up that way ahead of time.  If they haven't generated sufficient buzz and a sufficient viewership by the F5, the Season is probably already a bust.

[peachmangosteen]

I can see TPTB being very happy about the coincidence of a surfing Task in a Race with a one-armed Surfer in the field, and I can see their intense hope that the Surfer Team makes it to that Leg.  But I still don't buy them having set it up that way ahead of time.

 

This. I'm sure once they knew there was this task and Bethany/Adam, they were really happy about it.

 

Even though I honestly don't believe they set this task up for Bethany/Adam, I did find it somewhat suspicious that B/A decided immediately not to go for the FF and then suddenly in the boat they're all, "Well let's just look at it for shits and giggles! *wink wink*" It felt a bit to me like maybe they were sorta tipped off about how it might be something they'd be interested in.

[Vodka]

Why did it seem like the fast forward task should've been the detour or roadblock and one of the other 2 tasks the FF instead? That was weirdly unbalanced.

[Alapaki]

I did find it somewhat suspicious that B/A decided immediately not to go for the FF and then suddenly in the boat they're all, "Well let's just look at it for shits and giggles! *wink wink*"

 

 

I think the description of the FF must have made it clear that it would (or would very likely) involve surfing.  I can't remember if they're allowed to open the FF envelope before declaring whether they'll do it, or if the FF envelope has always included a description of the FF task.  Anyone know?

 

I do agree though, that at the Coconut Water location both the Dentists and the Surfers seemed resigned to passing on the FF given their lag-time behind the other Teams.  Then, on the boat on the way back, the Surfers seemed to reconsider.  We did see Jim asking the Surfers if they were thinking about it.  Frankly, to me it seemed like Jim was trying to encourage the Surfers to give it a try, which I thought was astute gameplay.

[peachmangosteen]

I do agree though, that at the Coconut Water location both the Dentists and the Surfers seemed resigned to passing on the FF given their lag-time behind the other Teams.  Then, on the boat on the way back, the Surfers seemed to reconsider.  We did see Jim asking the Surfers if they were thinking about it.  Frankly, to me it seemed like Jim was trying to encourage the Surfers to give it a try, which I thought was astute gameplay.

 

That's a good point and very conceivable. 

[needschocolate]

I would believe that the show manipulates the tasks to favor certain teams if one of the Wallendas was on this season and they did the rope walking between buildings roadblock.  The surfing was not a roadblock or even a detour, it was a fast forward, no gaurantee that a team would do a fast forward.  Bethany and Adam actually took a big risk knowing that another team(s) may have a 40 minute headstart.

 

Besides, it seems to me that, if the producers were going to change tasks based on who was competing, they would change tasks to prevent someone from having too much of an advantage. People are less likely to watch if they think the show is rigged, as evidenced by some of the reactions posted here.  The producers aren't trying to get certain people to win, they are trying to get a bunch of people to watch.  

Edited December 2, 2014 by needschocolate

[JenMD]

Why did it seem like the fast forward task should've been the detour or roadblock and one of the other 2 tasks the FF instead? That was weirdly unbalanced.

It was mentioned upthread that the TAR Asia leg these tasks were copied from had the surfing task as a Detour option.

[NutMeg]

I'm just glad that the FF was hard.  [...]

 

And let's not forget Nick's grandfather who had apparently done everything!

I also liked tha the FF was hard (for once!) but I really love that you brought up Nick's grandfather, because indeed with him any task could have been deemed unfair - he had done them all before! And I floved him for it.

 

Back to the conspiration theory, let me remind you that in TAR Asia this task was a detour! and two other tasks were lifted from that same led of TAR Asia. So no, I don't buy that it was meant to advantage one team. (Especially one that had a 40 min disadvantage to get there, just based on flights). On the other hand, I remember in past seasons thinking "oh, if so and so team were still here, they would have rocked this task", so yeah, things are or not in your ballpark, and sometimes you happen on them but most often than not you don't. Me, who had never heard of Bethany before this, I was looking forward to seeing her on a board - and she didn't disappoint, she could illustrate steadfast in the dictionary as far as I'm concerned.

 

The cyclists got spooked by the W turn. If not for it, being on the first flight, they would have most likely beaten the others teams through the tasks. This is an example of a team making a bad decision, or rather one team member forcing her opinion on the other - as she had done pretty much during the whole race, has she not? - not a reason to cast suspicion on race design, methinks (race design has plenty of flaws, but favoritism is not one of them, for me).       

[kingshearte]

Given how many tasks we've seen over the years where at least one team member had mad skillz (as a profession or otherwise) that should theoretically help them, I find this furor over this surfing task kind of bizarre. If it had been the first time such a thing had happened, I'd get it, but it's absolutely not. I haven't watched all seasons in all countries, but of the ones I have seen, I'm not sure I remember a single one that didn't have at least one task that was perfectly suited to at least one racer. Furthermore, that perfect suitability has not always guaranteed good performance. The already-cited Olympic gold-medal hockey players from TARC2 are probably the best example of both perfect suitability and lack of guarantee that it will work out in their favour.

 

This time it did, and benefited a team that is clearly well-liked by TPTB (or else there just genuinely isn't anything unpleasant to show about them), but that doesn't change anything else about it.

[blackwing]

I've read several articles about how the show is planned - it's clear that the crew that designs the course/challenges is different than the crew responsible for casting.  The race is laid out in advance, then a cast is picked and then the race is run.  Setting things up for a team to "win" on leg 9 is stupid - you have no idea what teams are still going to be in the race and what their relative positions are going to be.

I agree it's entirely possible that the people who design the course and the people who do the casting could be different and they don't communicate with each other as well.  But what I don't understand is that once the teams are picked, why they wouldn't review the course and make modifications given the nature of the cast.  Two minutes on that waverider is an extremely difficult thing to do.  It'd be way easier for someone with a professional surfing background.  I still think the time should have been modified to something manageable for the average contestant.  The Cyclists messed up on their first attempt (as did Adam) but got the hang of it and managed to last a respectable 1:30. 

 

Once it was evident that surfers were cast, TPTB could have thought about the possible perception of bias and made the task easier for all.  If it had been a one minute timer, then the Cyclists succeed.  It is still not automatic, but something that a team with no prior experience or skills can succeed on by learning from an earlier attempt.  I agree with the comment upthread that the perception of bias increases considering all of the pre-Race "Bethany is a champion!" and "can she succeed?!" type promos, as well as the constant "she is SO AMAZING" comments from the other racers throughout the race.

 

Given how many tasks we've seen over the years where at least one team member had mad skillz (as a profession or otherwise) that should theoretically help them, I find this furor over this surfing task kind of bizarre. If it had been the first time such a thing had happened, I'd get it, but it's absolutely not. I haven't watched all seasons in all countries, but of the ones I have seen, I'm not sure I remember a single one that didn't have at least one task that was perfectly suited to at least one racer.

Yes, but this was a Fast Forward, where the stakes are higher, and in this case, BOTH team members had to do the task.  In this case, both Adam and Bethany were perfectly suited to this task.  It was way harder for the cyclists.  

 

I can't comment on the Canadian hockey players because I didn't see it, but I don't think one particular team's failure at something they should have been good at necessarily negates any perceived bias.  I imagine there was probably some comment at the time that the task seemed biased in favour of them.  The fact that they screwed it up doesn't negate the fact that there was a perceived bias.

Edited December 2, 2014 by blackwing

[NutMeg]

I still think the time should have been modified to something manageable for the average contestant.

 

The same challenge was in TAR Asia. One team managed after many, many tries - and they could have opted out, for them it was a detour and they were your typical average contestant.

 

Here, the cyclists could have bailed out quickly and gone back to the regular tasks. They had an ealier flight and were very good at tasks, for them the FF was really boom or bust. 

[Bryce Lynch]

It was mentioned upthread that the TAR Asia leg these tasks were copied from had the surfing task as a Detour option.

So was TAR Asia "fixed" to help a one armed Asian surfer? :)

[NutMeg]

Hehe no it wasn't

 

ETA: a father/daughter team was last because they chose that task, althoug instead they could have gone for the reverse bungee and add up three numbers called out by the host and get the sum correctly to receive their next clue...

Edited December 2, 2014 by NutMeg

[Kel Varnsen]

I agree with the comment upthread that the perception of bias increases considering all of the pre-Race "Bethany is a champion!" and "can she succeed?!" type promos, as well as the constant "she is SO AMAZING" comments from the other racers throughout the race.

The funny thing is, very little of what Bethany has done in this race has really amazed me. A few things made me say way, but most of the things she has done well, hasn't really had anything to do with how many arms she has. That said the fact that she can actually surf with one arm impresses me more than anything she has done on the race. I am a pretty strong swimmer (or at least I used to be) and I tried surfing once. Paddling with the wave to that it can catch your board is super exhausting, even with two arms. I can't imagine trying to do that with one.

[Whimsy]

Ok, the "rigged for the surfers" issue has been beaten to death.  It has been mentioned (many times) that the legs are planned way in advance and the producers have no way of knowing if any one team will still be in it by a certain leg.  Whether you believe this or not, that's up to you.  But, it's time to give this topic it's proper burial and move on.  Any further discussion will be promptly deleted.

 

If you really want to, you can do what the Survivor board has done and create a conspiracy theory thread so for those of you who enjoy that type of discussion can do so but the rest of us don't have to participate if we don't want to.

 

Thanks and happy posting!

[Alapaki]

I was surprised when Jim said that there was a "new rule" prohibiting Teams from switching to better flights once they booked a flight.  I seem to recall that early on they instituted a rule preventing Teams from booking multiple flights at the same time.  But I'm surprised that they've been allowed to switch flights.

 

Also, I thought it was interesting that the travel agents were apparently briefed on exactly what the Teams were allowed to do in terms of itineraries.  I believe when Adam and Bethany asked for the earlier flight, the travel agent clarified "do you want the earliest flight from Paris to Singapore?"

[Kel Varnsen]

I kind of liked that travel option for the flights. I mean if there were open flights it gave them options. But they were leaving from Malta so at the very least (if other flights were all booked for some reason) every team was given was going to get off the island that day. I hope we see this kind of thing in the future for more locations.

[Alapaki]

I enjoy any twist that rewards careful reading of the Clues.

 

But I am surprised that TPTB allowed for the option of multiple flights.  Usually they seem to prefer a bunch before a U-Turn to create a free-for-all scramble to avoid being U-Turned.  And here, in addition to the option for multiple flights with different arrival times, they stuck a first-come-first-serve Roadblock (where one racer with a fear of heights could potentially bottleneck the trailing Teams for a long time) in the middle.

 

And I think TPTB got lucky in the distribution of Teams on the various flights.

 

Because, all other things being equal (i.e. each Team doesn't care who finishes last, as long as it isn't them), with two Teams on a later flight and a Double-U-Turn in play, the obvious choice would be to U-Turn both of those Teams (so that even if one of them went for the FF the other would still be eliminated).

 

I'd be curious to have seen if the Cyclists would've had enough time to complete both ends of the Roadblock and survive (putting aside the ability to use the back-end of the Double-U-Turn) given the gap created by the flights and the Roadblock.

[needschocolate]

I was surprised when Jim said that there was a "new rule" prohibiting Teams from switching to better flights once they booked a flight.  I seem to recall that early on they instituted a rule preventing Teams from booking multiple flights at the same time.  But I'm surprised that they've been allowed to switch flights.

 

I wonder if this means that they can no longer book a flight, then put themselves on a stand-by list for a better flight. 

[blackwing]

Also, I thought it was interesting that the travel agents were apparently briefed on exactly what the Teams were allowed to do in terms of itineraries.  I believe when Adam and Bethany asked for the earlier flight, the travel agent clarified "do you want the earliest flight from Paris to Singapore?"

I heard that too, but I assumed there was some part that was edited out.  It does seem like that was the only travel agency in town, so perhaps TPTB got there ahead of the teams and said that teams would be going to Singapore from Paris.  But if that's the case, I would think the travel agents wouldn't have to do so much clacking on the keyboard, they would have known right away that "the earliest flight from Paris to Singapore is on ____ and lands at 6:40 AM".

 

I think Bethany and Adam must have told them that were already booked on a flight from Malta to Paris, and that they needed to go to Singapore, and that it just got edited out.

 

I loved how the Cyclists took the initiative to read the clue and find their own flight, and Jim's all "you can't do that" and they were all "yes we can" and he was all "huh, thanks Bethany!"  I only wish that Jim and company had departed the travel agency before the Cyclists got there, so he'd be all freaked out when no other teams showed up at the airport gate to board the Paris flight.

[tds444]

I wonder if this means that they can no longer book a flight, then put themselves on a stand-by list for a better flight. 

it means you can't have two flights booked at once,or change a flight once you've booked it. you can however still find an earlier flight if you haven't already booked one.

[Netfoot]

I only wish that Jim and company had departed the travel agency before the Cyclists got there, so he'd be all freaked out when no other teams showed up at the airport gate to board the Paris flight.

 

You know, I'm no fan of Jim, with the goldfish stare, the dayglo orange skin, the biceps by anabolic steroid, and the blinding white teeth.  But he's got to be one of the least freak-out prone racers I've ever seen.  Even a near-death experience at the Roadblock didn't freak him out.  I'd have dumped in my shorts!  You can bet the rent that whatever Production Assistant they had there at the Marina Bay Sands dumped in their!  And if BVM was there off camera, he too dumped in his!  But Jim took it in his stride.  The man either has balls of steel, or absolutely no imagination.

[lianau]

I think the Cyclists took a calculated gamble when, IMO, they really didn't need to, and lost.

This . They got spooked by the double U-turn and the rest of the teams ganging up on them and saw the FF as their chance to avoid the U-turn altogether .Unfortunately they  lost trust into their race abilities  for a moment and that "killed" them .

[ptuscadero]

There is probably enough data out there to figure out how far a well a young, very fit, male/female team will get in the race. Especially when you compare them to other teams. Especially when one of them is a professional athlete.

 

How much data is there on "young, very fit male/female teams" with three arms between them?

[Lingo]

I may be completely off, but I think the calculation for the odds of any given Team not finishing last until F4 (based strictly on the size of the field and taking NELs out of the equation) is:

 

(10/11)(9/10)(8/9)(7/8)(6/7)(5/6)(4/5) = .363636

 

 

You don't need to do that many steps to get the answer. The odds of a team making the final 4 out of 11 is, of course, 4/11 (which is what you got).

 

This. I'm sure once they knew there was this task and Bethany/Adam, they were really happy about it.

 

Even though I honestly don't believe they set this task up for Bethany/Adam, I did find it somewhat suspicious that B/A decided immediately not to go for the FF and then suddenly in the boat they're all, "Well let's just look at it for shits and giggles! *wink wink*" It felt a bit to me like maybe they were sorta tipped off about how it might be something they'd be interested in.

 

Oh come on, you're sitting in that boat with nothing to do, and you wouldn't look at what the Fast Forward clue said?  You can bet I'd look.

 

Why did it seem like the fast forward task should've been the detour or roadblock and one of the other 2 tasks the FF instead? That was weirdly unbalanced.

 

Unbalanced?  In what way? Well despite what TAR Asia might have done, the Surfing was probably chosen as a FF rather than RB or detour because it was way  out of town on Sentosa Island, whereas all the RB/detour tasks were in the middle of town (though at least 2 of those merlions were on or near Sentosa).  If the surfing were used as a Detour option, probably every team (except maybe the Surfers) would have chosen the in-town option because that would be much closer. It could have been used as the RB, I suppose.  But personally as much as I hate a Roadblock that only allows one team at a time to compete, a FF with the same quality is much worse, so I prefer the surfing as a FF because at least the teams got to take turns.  Plus the surfing was just harder, and I think the FF should be much harder than the usual tasks.

 

I think the description of the FF must have made it clear that it would (or would very likely) involve surfing.  I can't remember if they're allowed to open the FF envelope before declaring whether they'll do it, or if the FF envelope has always included a description of the FF task.  Anyone know?

 

Yes, they're allowed to open the FF envelope, but quite often the FF clue doesn't give them much information.  As in this case, all it said was to go to the "Wave House".  The cyclists only learned it would probably involve surfing by borrowing their cabbie's mobile phone.

 

This . They got spooked by the double U-turn and the rest of the teams ganging up on them and saw the FF as their chance to avoid the U-turn altogether .Unfortunately they  lost trust into their race abilities  for a moment and that "killed" them .

 

Yeah, see, I disagree, just due to the one-team-at-a-time nature of the RB, and the low probability of passing another team at the Detour, I think the cyclists had a high chance of being screwed either way. Whether they would have gotten to the RB first, second, or third would have probably came down to taxi luck.  And if the wrestlers ever saw them that day, the cyclists would have been u-turned for sure, with a pretty high chance of not being able to u-turn anyone else to compensate. They didn't know these things, of course, but I understand why Kym wanted to go for it, and considering fast forwards in past seasons, you can understand why she initially felt confident that probably no other team would go for it and even if they did, the cyclists would win it first.  They were just extremely unlucky that the FF was a surfing challenge. But they couldn't bail once they figured it out, or they would have been third (or fourth) to the RB and double u-turned for sure.

 

Anyway, here is a Youtube video of the Cyclists watching their own elimination episode.  Very cute.  They made a drinking game of every time Brooke complained or was bitchy.  You can tell the Wrestlers are not their favorite people.

Edited December 3, 2014 by Lingo

[Alapaki]

Yeah, see, I disagree, just due to the one-team-at-a-time nature of the RB, and the low probability of passing another team at the Detour, I think the cyclists had a high chance of being screwed either way.

 

 

But they didn't know the RB would be first-come-first-serve at the time they decided to go for the FF.

 

And, with a Double-U-Turn, and a lead over the two trailing Teams, they would only be screwed if both the Scientists and the Wrestlers beat them to the U-Turn Box and took used up both ends of the U-Turn.  As I mentioned earlier, that would require a degree of forethought that, while not terribly high, was probably above the Wrestlers' pay-grade.  

 

I think that knowing what the Cyclists knew, when they knew it, they should've liked their odds of beating at least one of those Teams to the Double-U-Turn, if not both of them.

[ProfCrash]

The Cyclists pride themselves on living their lives their way, which is great. Part of that is choosing riskier options, like being bike messengers. They see themselves as rebels who live an alternative lifestyle, awesome. Their choice to go for the fast forward comes from that mindset. Balls to the walls, make the big moves mentality as opposed to doing a cost benefit assessment when making a decision.

 

There was no way they were not going to go for the fast forward. It simply was not in their nature to not make the risky move. Sometimes risks work out, sometimes they don't.

 

So while we can all line up a ton of reasons why they should not have taken the risk, none of that matters based on how they assess risk and their preferences.

 

What is most interesting to me is that they did not seem to be aware of what the fast forward entailed (based on a bonus clip). They were discussing a food task, what they would do if they had to shave their heads, that type of thing. They looked it up on the cabbies phone/tablet and still did not fully grasp that they would be surfing, although they did seem to understand that it was an option. That is when one of them started to rethink the decision.

 

Bethany read the description and knew what it was right away. It was a risk for the surfers to go for it because they knew that one of the earlier teams probably went for it. Given that Bethany figured out what it was and that it would be pretty easy for them, they decided to go for it. The risk paid off for them.

[peachmangosteen]

Oh come on, you're sitting in that boat with nothing to do, and you wouldn't look at what the Fast Forward clue said?  You can bet I'd look.

 

Of course it's possible. The editing just made that whole thing look suspicious to me. And I personally find it easy to believe they were tipped off in some way about the FF. I just don't personally particularly care. I suspect this kind of thing from all reality shows.

[tds444]

i think the cyclists would have rather gone out by their own terms than the other teams,which I understand somewhat.

[QuinnM]

I think if anything gave the surfers an advantage was that they knew how hard it was to surf those wave rides.  She said , I've done that.  He said, it's really hard.  The conversation made it sound like she was confident but he hadn't done it and knew just being a surfer wasn't all they needed.  I think they chose the task hoping it was as hard as they thought it was.

[PaperTree]

Of course it's possible. The editing just made that whole thing look suspicious to me. And I personally find it easy to believe they were tipped off in some way about the FF. I just don't personally particularly care. I suspect this kind of thing from all reality shows.

Yes.  It looked suspicious, which breeds suspicion.  I don't know, and it's not that big of a deal to me either.  As long as the fake wrestlers lose.

[peachmangosteen]

As long as the fake wrestlers lose.

 

This is really all I care about!

[Lingo]

But they didn't know the RB would be first-come-first-serve at the time they decided to go for the FF.

 

And, with a Double-U-Turn, and a lead over the two trailing Teams, they would only be screwed if both the Scientists and the Wrestlers beat them to the U-Turn Box and took used up both ends of the U-Turn.  As I mentioned earlier, that would require a degree of forethought that, while not terribly high, was probably above the Wrestlers' pay-grade.  

 

I think that knowing what the Cyclists knew, when they knew it, they should've liked their odds of beating at least one of those Teams to the Double-U-Turn, if not both of them.

 

I know they didn't know about the first-come-first-served nature of the RB, I'm just saying that their chances of being eliminated this leg were pretty high, all things considered. And I'm sure the wrestlers would have u-turned them if they saw the cyclists on their tail. And again, considering past FFs, they should have liked their odds of winning it. All things considered, I think it was maybe the smartest choice.

[Camera One]

Without the FF, I think the Cyclists had the usual strong chance of staying in the race, even if they had been U-Turned (though I suspect they would have gotten to the board first regardless).  They would have done the tightrope quickly.  They were fine at the massage, and the crab task was hardly impossible, even if they had to do it.  They had a 40-minute leg up, and the Statue task were random guesses so some teams would take longer than others based on which they chose first.

[RococoChanel]

Now I'm actually rooting for the wrestlers, only as a total fuck you to the dentists and the surfers. I may be alone in this, but something about the surfers just annoys me. As for Jim, I'm looking forward to his total failure at a task and an epic freak out Hulk-style.

 

Oh the surfers annoy the ever loving bejesus out of me. The goody goody edit, the baby talk, the surfing task. I'm over it.

[Jac]

I'm rewatching this episode right now and Brooke's comment about Maya making ice-cream for a living while she kicks people in the face really, really, really pissed me off, even more than it did the first time. I really can't stand her.