S26.E12: Monster Truck Heroes

[dgpolo]

You know what would be kinda fun? If they did decoys with the teams eliminated 1st, 4th, and 7th and then 2nd, 5th, and 8th, and then 3rd and 6th. And everyone got to go do/decoy the final leg. If they had groups of teams coming off a plane in 3 team sets from three different locations, it might screw with things a bit.

 

Getting ALL of them to the final leg location in "race for a million" mode would probably be a logistical nightmare.  Think of all the additional innocent travelers who are pushed aside on escalators, banged into with overstuffed backpacks, etc.

 

Not to mention Money, Money, Money, Money.

[Jobiska]

It seemed like Jenny and Jelani focused too much on trying to get the pictures in the right spots on the map rather than just in the right order.  The clue mentioned the order only.  They made the task harder by over-thinking it.

 

Jenny and Jelani took the pictures out of the shed from left to right (the order they were hanging) and placed them on the line about where they thought that location was, but then had to scooch already-placed pictures over when they hadn't left quite enough room.  Tyler and Laura looked through the shed pictures and took them out in chronological order (e.g. the Tokyo picture might have been hanging at #5 in the shed, but they found it first).  Easier to keep them properly spaced that way.

It seemed like Jenny and Jelani focused too much on trying to get the pictures in the right spots on the map rather than just in the right order.  The clue mentioned the order only.  They made the task harder by over-thinking it.

 

Jenny and Jelani took the pictures out of the shed from left to right (the order they were hanging) and placed them on the line about where they thought that location was, but then had to scooch already-placed pictures over when they hadn't left quite enough room.  Tyler and Laura looked through the shed pictures and took them out in chronological order (e.g. the Tokyo picture might have been hanging at #5 in the shed, but they found it first).  Easier to keep them properly spaced that way.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Jobiska

[needschocolate]

I have to give Jenny props for one thing --- Jenny said that she was proud of Jelani, before Phil got a chance to ask Jelani if he was proud of her.  I cannot recall one instance where Phil asked a female if she was proud of her male partner., but he asks the males this question quite often.

[Chyna]

Now I'm curious as to the experiences of people on this forum, whether if you are in a male/female relationship if the man always drives.  For me, it seems to always be automatically assumed that I always drive, even though I don't particularly like driving.  I'd love to let my wife drive occasionally and be a passenger for once, but for whatever reason, driving seems to have permanently fallen into my column in the division of household duties.

My husband and I have been together for more than 20 years, and I almost always drive. He doesn’t like to, and I don’t mind. If you want your wife to take the wheel more often, just say so.

 

Also, if he wanted to drive that monster truck instead of me, he'd have to fight me for it. :)

 

Hayley' s mistake is Is one I would dread: thinking that you've figured out a location and being wrong.

The thing that bugged me about her mistake is that it’s the mistake of someone who hasn’t paid attention to much of the previous Race seasons. They frequently have Racers go somewhere way up high to find the clue, and it’s always a pretty clear (albeit hard to find) yellow-and-red thing. Racers who say, “Hmm, I don’t know for sure, but that yellow thing might be it?” are always wrong.

She had the option to dangle up there until she was certain, especially since she knew they were in first and had the time, and she didn’t do that. There’s a tiny part of me that feels bad for her that she pretty much lost the million for her team, but that was a dumb mistake to make.

[dgpolo]

The thing that bugged me about her mistake is that it’s the mistake of someone who hasn’t paid attention to much of the previous Race seasons. They frequently have Racers go somewhere way up high to find the clue, and it’s always a pretty clear (albeit hard to find) yellow-and-red thing. Racers who say, “Hmm, I don’t know for sure, but that yellow thing might be it?” are always wrong.

 

Yes! and it goes back all the way to the first Race when there was another team where one partner, Karyn, shrieked and nagged at her partner, Lenny, in much the same way Hayley did to Blair but Lenny had the misfortune to get the challenge of going up the Eiffel Tower to spot a clue in the distance, wasn't sure, got it wrong, and heard about it forever. So I'm so glad it was Hayley's mistake.

[Jobiska]

Jelani rides horses like he rides reed boats.

[greyhorse]

Hayley will tell everyone she meets until she takes her last breath that she screwed up and blew their chance at $1 million.

 

But I think Jenny and Jelani messed up more.  They got to the final selfie challenge behind Laura and Tyler, but then quickly passed them based on superior memory of the places they visited.  Then it all went wrong with putting up the selfies.  As others have mentioned, they were too focused on putting the pics in the exact spot on the map, whereas all they really needed was to get the order right.  I thought it was strange that Jelani was using the ladder while Tyler just kind of jumped up and smacked them on.  I'm sure Tyler is taller, but not so much that it really would have made that much of a difference, no?  Moving that ladder around probably cost them some time as well.

 

I didn't understand why Laura and Tyler had so much trouble with the lock.  The obvious is that they forgot where they had been.  But even Tyler said something like "We're sure the first one is #8 and that the last one is #1."  So then what's the problem?  How long does it take to open a combination 8-X-X-1?  You know you can't use the 1 or 8 again, so just start: 8-2-3-1, 8-2-4-1, 8-2-5-1....etc....8-3-2-1, 8-3-4-1... etc.  Surely it can't take that long?  Tyler just seemed to sit down and made some comment about how it would take forever.  I wonder Laura just did exactly the above and got it open like that.

[BarneySays]

What a terrible, terrible finale.  I didn't realize how much I disliked the perpetually mugging Tyler until I was annoyed at their winning (notwithstanding that I really liked Laura).  There was no opportunity to switch places, barring bad taxi juju or a stupendous mistake.  Are the producers actively trying to kill this show?  Are they trying to compel the audience to turn away in disgust?  Don't do that to us.

 

Hats off to Blair for his incredibly gracious comment about no regrets, given the wonderful experience they had

[Mreid]

I was thrilled that Tyler and Laura won they are the one team that never annoyed me not once all season.  I still liked season 25 better than this one but this season did have a happy ending.  The Dallas finale location was awesome with the football challenge and Monster trucks its nice when they have finales in other cities besides Los Angeles.  

[dgpolo]

Officially they've never had a finale in Los Angeles. One in Beverly Hills, one in Palos Verdes, 3 in or near San Francisco and that's it for all of California in 26 seasons.

[Camera One]

I was cheering more for J&J and Blair & Hayley, but I think Laura and Tyler was the most deserving team on this particular leg.  Laura was the only one who saw the yellow and red flags and was sure that was the location.  I think Jenny could have gone for the parking garage if she hadn't talked it over with Laura.  

 

You can tell Jenny and Jelani are both mentally sharp.  They both had no problems with the word puzzle and with memory.  Their problem was their inefficient system of putting the selfies in order and putting them up.  Laura and Tyler's work division worked much better and that allowed them to overtake J&J, plus Jelani seemed a little too perfectionist about placement of the photos and Jenny didn't help with her anxiety issues.

 

I can't kick a football, so that task would have killed me on this final leg if I was on the Race.

 

Mike and Rochelle had some horrible luck, and I think they're great people, but I was relieved they ended up fourth as they deserved.

 

I'm glad Hayley owned up to her mistake, and I'm glad she was the one to make the mistake.  I still wouldn't have minded Blair and Hayley winning it, but I'm fine with how it all went down.

[needschocolate]

Please correct this if I am wrong  -  I think the selfie task instructions said to post the selfies in chronological order from left to right (or right to left) and J&J misread the clue and removed the selfies from left to right (or right to left), then tried to hang them in the correct spot on the map

[Madding crowd]

Blair and Hayley were my favorite team and I really wanted them to win. I started off hating them, then figured out they had the most personality of the racers. At times though, I wondered if some of the bickering was an act for more attention, such as the back and forth in Amsterdam (Its a lovely day/Its cold, I love it here/its smells bad)-it almost seemed synchronized. I was also happy they were both pretty OK with how it ended up.

 

Laura and Tyler deserved the win, but they seem stuck up and boring to me, although I obviously don't know them personally so I may be way off base. J&J never seemed to gel as racing partners so I wasn't surprised at them having problems with the selfies.

[blackwing]

I'm annoyed that we didn't hear more discussion about the selfies.  How exactly did the teams figure them out so quickly?  Was there seriously no discussion?  Laura said she just took them out in order so she did all that work.  Jenny and Jelani were sort of doing it together.  Many of them looked the same.  Would it have killed the editors to include some talk about them?  "Oh, that's the one we took in Monaco at the top of the hill, see the ocean in the background."  Or "there's that building where we got coffee in Thailand".  Or "that one is clearly Namibia, lots of sand".  I wonder how long that portion of the task actually took.  

 

Also, after seeing selfies all season, it'd be nice if CBS put the whole collection from every team on their website.  I think we see some of them in the photos from each week, but it'd be nice just to have a folder for each team's selfies.  Are the ones in the weekly collection all the ones they took?

[John Seavey]

I had two favorite moments in this episode:

1) Hayley and Blair's second taxi ride from the Reunion Tower, where she sincerely apologized for making a mistake that probably cost them the million and he reassured her. It was a little moment of quiet dignity and compassion between two people who...well, let's just say they didn't click...but it was sweet.

2) My favorite moment in just about every Race, when the teams come together on the mat to laugh and reminisce and share for that special moment the experience they shared. Racing around the world...win or lose, it's special, and you really see it at the end. I never get tired of that.

[blackwing]

2) My favorite moment in just about every Race, when the teams come together on the mat to laugh and reminisce and share for that special moment the experience they shared. Racing around the world...win or lose, it's special, and you really see it at the end. I never get tired of that.

Except it was the same as always, apart from the three finalists, we only get to hear from like two other teams. Was it really necessary to hear about Matt and Ashley's engagement for the 10th time? I'd like to have some parting words or comments from ALL the teams so that my last impression of them isn't just them silently clapping as teams run past. Jeff and Lyda: "we are taking dance lessons when we get back home". CJ and Libby: "Never stop to take a selfie if your train is on the platform." What about Jonathan? Nothing at all from him. Are Bergen and Kurt still resentful of each other, or did they get over it and can at least be friends?

[Boilergal]

There were 3 taxis sitting outside of the stadium and not one of them had GPS or a smartphone?  Why didn't they ask another cabbie for directions?  Why sit there for 10 minutes?!?!?!

 

I thought I would be okay with Blair and Hayley winning until I found myself cheering for her to pick the wrong place as she was rappelling down.  I wondered if they would have gotten a penalty for stumbling on to the monster trucks without her rappelling down again.

 

As Laura and Jenni were rappelling down and Jenni saw the flags and said they were too obvious - I think it's on the parking garage, I screamed NOOOOOOOO!!  I respect Laura for talking her out of it - she could have very easily said - Yep I bet that's it.  I don't think Laura was entirely sure either, so maybe she just wanted J&J to make the same mistake she was going  to make. 

 

I thought for sure J&J were going to win when they opened the lock in an instant.  In years past it seems like the racers had a notebook that they wrote down greeter info for the final task.  L&T and J&J didn't seem to have one...wonder if those are banned now, of they didn't know enough to have one.

 

I wouldn't mind if they brought Blair back, but please please please give him a better partner.  I  wouldn't mind another stranger pairing, I like the dynamic, but for the love of peanut butter no more themes...  let's see what happens when we pair a drag queen and a homophobe....NO!!! I mean it TAR NO!!!!

 

 

[tominboston]

That was a boring end to a boring season, even worse than TAR Family Edition, which at least had some cute little kids to root for. Once Mike & Rochelle were eliminated I had no interest in which of the three remaining teams won, which is a first for me. I'm beginning to feel that TAR has run its course and it's time to pull the plug.

[eurekagirl mOo]

Everyone named Blair needs a ring tone that screeches blai,Blair,listen to me!!!!!!!

[FineWashables]

Finally, after screeching at him around the globe, Blair listened to Hayley when she told him which way they should go.  And that lost them the game.  I do love me some irony.

[whiskeyandfeet]

In seasons past, teams pretty much abandoned their luggage once they got back stateside to increase their mobility. I noted that all teams carried their bags right to the megamat. I wonder if that's a new rule or something.

 

I don't hate the 'blind' date' idea, but think they should take the romance angle out of it. Might be fun for a future season to just cast 20 (or however many) solo racers and have them paired up by chance at the first challenge or something.

 

If Hayley were my nurse, I'd reach over and pull my own plug. If Jenny were my attorney, I'd just go ahead and plead guilty. I nominate Hayley and Jenny to be the first astronauts sent to the surface of the sun. Seriously, those two were bordering on making the show unwatchable. Note to the casting department: You do have to cast a spectrum of personalities to make for compelling television, and you need to set up 'villains' that we will enjoy watching lose, but there is a limit to how much grossness an audience can take. There were several times this season where my wife and I almost tapped out completely. Is that what you want? If a racer is being completely awful, maybe temper it with editing or something so the show is till fun to watch. 'kay? 'kay.

 

I seriously cannot fathom how more spoilers don't get out after filming the final leg.  

[barbedwire]

So glad Haley was not Mike's partner when he couldn't kick the football.  Rochelle seems perfect for him.  He needed encouragement not a someone screaming "You had better kick it! Listen to me!"  I also felt so sorry for them when cab left and new cab needed to stop for gas.  Super tough breaks!

 

Who else is guessing that Blair never wants to see Haley ever ever again?!

[survivinmt]

I really liked this season and the winners. I really thought that they would drop the Blind Date crap after a few legs though. I think that would have made the whole season better.

I thought the last leg was great - task-wise and to say it was too linear is just not true. Its just that these 6-8 people were ruthlessly efficient at the various things. There could have been a heights freak-out or some unable to control their horse. There were obviously issues with taxis. Which brings me to a question that has always bothered me. If you're in a taxi and the driver says "We're almost there but I have to go back for gas." Couldn't you just have him drop you off? I realize if is over a mile it's probably faster to ride - but otherwise - get out and hoof it. Let the driver go get gas while you're riding the horse.

Hayley screeching at Blair in the stadium, "Over there, Blair. Go over there." Both me and the hubs were like - "How does he not turn to her and say, "Where? Which way? I'm completely lost."" I know we would have HAD to do that as we are both sarcastic that way. Then her insisting that he tell the cab driver where to go when she was the only one who knew . . . mind-boggling. Does logic not work? Can't he just say, "Only you know where it is. I can't help this time so quit wasting time asking me."

I think he realized on the plane to Dallas that there were only three outcomes to the finale. They won (1), they lost and it was her fault (2), they lost and it was his fault (3). I think they reason he was so calm on the mat because it wasn't #3 and that's all that mattered.

Did Jenny really travel the whole world with that fugly pink lipstick? Bleh.

[oldgearhead]

We were delighted with the finish.  The harpy killed her own team and the lawyer was not as good as she thought.  We were laughing the entire time after H insisted on taking lead and messing up.  J also wore thin early on in series.  Only regret was that M&R did not make final 3, seemed like nice folk.

 

As for future series, I don't want to see any retreads from TAR, S, BB or any other shows.  One shot and go away.  Further, digging up d-, e-,... z-list celebs to fill spots is also pretty lame and not desired at our house.  Give us new people every series.

[blackwing]

So glad Haley was not Mike's partner when he couldn't kick the football.  Rochelle seems perfect for him.  He needed encouragement not a someone screaming "You had better kick it! Listen to me!"  I also felt so sorry for them when cab left and new cab needed to stop for gas.  Super tough breaks!

 

Who else is guessing that Blair never wants to see Haley ever ever again?!

Jenny's screaming words of encouragement at Jelani weren't particularly helpful either.  Especially since he said that he actually played football.  I really wish the clue hadn't been so obvious that whoever did the Roadblock was going to be a football star.  The clue should have been more vague.  There was one finale (I think) Arizona in a football stadium where the task was to look under all the seats looking for a clue.  I wish the clue here had been more vague and could allude to a task like that because I would have LOVED to have seen Jenny attempting to catch and punt a football..

 

Hayley clearly lost the race for her team, but I think it can be argued that Jenny pretty much lost it for hers as well.  She was led to spot the monster truck flags by Laura.  Her screechiness and micromanagement and overthinking affected them at the selfie task.  Lastly, I want to believe that her overbearing comments in the cab, "This is going to change our lives", "Straight!  Go where those people are!", made the cab driver not try so hard.

 

As for Blair and Hayley, I'm pretty sure they are friends.  There was a picture posted of Blair (who lives somewhere on an island near the Florida/Georgia border) visiting Hayley in St. Petersburg.

[Camera One]

Yeah, in the bonus clip, Jelani explained in the taxi ride after the task that he was never a kicker, and they were pretty jokey about what happened.  Jelani and Blair are way more patient and less judgey than us viewers.  I think it was for the best that Hayley and Jenny made the mistakes that cost them the win.  They're competitive and seem pretty unbearable to work with under pressure, but when all was said and done, they were able to be positive and appreciative of the Race and their partners at the Mat.   

Edited May 18, 2015 by Camera One

[scrb]

I think the women were prompted to "cheer" for their partners at the football stadium by producers.

 

Probably also told to be encouraging at road blocks to their partners.

[mjstrick]

You can also watch it on cbs.com.

 

Something interesting (and this is confirmed in a bonus video) is that Laura and Tyler had no idea they were in the lead on that final task. They thought Hayley and Blair were already long gone and that they were racing for second place. It's only after Laura spotted H&B in the monster truck that they discovered that they were in the lead.

I knew it!  You could tell when they saw Blair and Hayley coming toward them in the truck.  Tyler's eyes got as big as saucers. 

[Eggman]

One thing I liked was the way Laura helped Jenny find the flags as they were coming down the tower.

At that point I think you have more to gain by working with the other person than not. It's true they're taking a chance on their opponent acing the final task, but enhancing the possibility that you will actually reach the final task makes up for it. Consider also that they both thought they were playing for 2nd place, as they both say Blair/Haley leaving as they arrived.

It's not clear to me why final episodes so often seem to be designed with fairly blah challenges.

It's important to the show to get multiple teams to the final challenge at the same time so as to have some suspense. If one team reaches and essentially finishes the final challenge before the others, there goes any chance of suspense. For that to be the case, the challenges along the way need to be pretty easy, with the only differentiator the speed that they're done in.

[backformore]

I thought the final task - putting the selfies in order - was only boring because we, as the viewing audience, couldn't see the photos, and the attempts to figure out the order.  Were they just using random selfies, or were they instructed to take certain photos at certain spots throughout the race?   past seasons have had tasks where we have some investment in it, and some idea of which countries they visited in what order.  But this task, we didn't see enough to be aware of what order anything was in. 

[Camera One]

The Media thread has the exit interview with Laura and Tyler.  That was interesting since they said they took time during legs to take a lot of selfies, so there were identifiers in the background to figure out where they were.  This was an advantage since Jenny and Jelani had to put in order pictures of selfies where they were at various airports wearing the same clothes.  So I'm assuming there was a certain number of selfies they were instructed to take per leg on this Race.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Camera One

[kassygreene]

Jenny's screaming words of encouragement at Jelani weren't particularly helpful either.  Especially since he said that he actually played football.  I really wish the clue hadn't been so obvious that whoever did the Roadblock was going to be a football star.  The clue should have been more vague.  There was one finale (I think) Arizona in a football stadium where the task was to look under all the seats looking for a clue.  

I don't know about Arizona, but the Family Edition went to Toronto in the final leg before finishing up in Niagara Falls, and they had to look under seats in the stadium for their clue.  Mama Weaver and her daughters (who had pretty much  checked out since they failed to be eliminated on a non-elimination leg) looked for awhile and kept quitting - the son kept looking.  I always felt sorry for that kid.

[greyhorse]

The Media thread has the exit interview with Laura and Tyler.  That was interesting since they said they took time during legs to take a lot of selfies, so there were identifiers in the background to figure out where they were.  This was an advantage since Jenny and Jelani had to put in order pictures of selfies where they were at various airports wearing the same clothes.  So I'm assuming there was a certain number of selfies they were instructed to take per leg on this Race.

But how is this fair then?  If one team takes 100 selfies and another takes 25, how do the producers decide which 15 or so ended up in the final task?  I agree with the comments up above about how there was really no audience involvement in the selfie task.  #1, because we hardly saw any of them during the race.  #2, because they didn't even SHOW us most of the selfies that were being put on the wall.  How is that interesting for the viewers?  I remember the season with Nat and Kat where there was a huge video board with the greeters.  At least we had seen the greeters throughout the season, so viewers could be involved.  Here?  They just slapped them all up on the wall and we never even saw the final order.

 

Surprised that they didn't plug Samsung more during the final selfie task and throughout the race.

[TheOriginalDonald]

Except it was the same as always, apart from the three finalists, we only get to hear from like two other teams. Was it really necessary to hear about Matt and Ashley's engagement for the 10th time? I'd like to have some parting words or comments from ALL the teams so that my last impression of them isn't just them silently clapping as teams run past. Jeff and Lyda: "we are taking dance lessons when we get back home". CJ and Libby: "Never stop to take a selfie if your train is on the platform." What about Jonathan? Nothing at all from him. Are Bergen and Kurt still resentful of each other, or did they get over it and can at least be friends?

I believe they were at Hayley's party, so I lean towards they're friends 

[chaifan]

If the racers were actually instructed that they had to take selfies, how could they not assume they'd be part of the final challenge?  (I think a lot of viewers were guessing this very early on.)  For anyone who has watched TAR, this would seem to be a no-brainer.  Maybe this is why Laura and Tyler did so well - did they take a good guess early on that the selfies would come into play and because of that took pictures with memorable clues?  At least we know this stunt won't/can't be repeated, so hopefully that's the end of TAR selfies. 

[ProfCrash]

The Racers could have thought that the selfies were part of a promotion, like the Fitbits. So they could have taken whatever number that they were told to take and not put much thought into it. That sounds like what Jelani and Jenny did while Tyler and Laura were taking selfies at tasks and the like. I would like to think that I would have taken the minute or two to take a selfie after completing tasks so I had a picture of the event to serve as a memory but who knows how I would respond on the race. I wonder what Blair and Hailey's selfies looked like.

[Puffaroo]

Aw, crap.   Team High Testosterone won.

[kingshearte]

Much to my own surprise, I was totally on Team Blair & Hayley by the end, but that didn't stop me from being highly amused by the fact that they lost because he had to listen to her, and he did, and she was wrong. For all the talk of his sainthood, I think his failure to lord that over her like nobody's business is what really qualifies him for that.

 

I was also totally fine with Laura & Tyler winning, though.

 

Although the selfie task may not have been the greatest memory task ever, at least it was a memory task. There have been a few seasons lately (note that I am including both US and Canada versions in that statement, because I don't remember specifics of what happened where) that didn't have that huge memory task at all, and that was disappointing. So I'm just glad there was one here.

 

As for the cabs, I have no trouble whatsoever believing that the cabbies were really that clueless. In my city, not one of them seems to have any idea where anythign is or how to get there. I don't believe I have ever gotten into a cab here and not had to direct the cabbie the entire way — except to the airport. That, they seem to be able to find on their own. But nowhere else. So yeah. Totally believable for me on that score.

 

I agree with those who wouldn't necessarily hate an all-stranger edition of this show, even if the existing intra-team dynamics are usually one of the fun parts. It was still interesting to see how teams of strangers managed to work together, so I'd be OK with seeing more of that. But I agree, more diversity in the individuals, and for the love of whatever, no romance! I seriously felt for Phil, having to ask those ridiculous questions right up until the end. I mean, come on, by this point, we all know that the answer is no, so can we just stop already? Yeesh.

 

Anyway, bring on TAR Canada 3!

[blackwing]

The TV Guide articles make it clear that Tyler and Laura won because of the selfies.  Throughout the show we always saw Tyler taking them.  Jenny says the producers encouraged teams to take selfies.  I wonder if there was a rule that you had to take at least 3 a day or something.  Jenny says a lot of theirs were in airports, which makes it sound like they were all "oh, we need to take a picture".

 

Tyler and Laura enjoyed the race and experience and took time to document it with photos.  Jenny and Jelani were too type A and focused on gogogogogo.  They only took pictures when they were sitting around at the airport or in a cab and couldn't do anything.  It seems fitting that the team the embraced the concept was rewarded for it.

 

I would like to know what would have happened if one of the finalist teams only had like 6 selfies.  Even if the producers "encouraged" them to take photos, they can't really force them to do it without giving too much away.  Clearly they had the final task already designed, so I wonder what would have happened.

[AZChristian]

Great article about Blair and Hayley and their relationship now.

 

 

http://www.cbs.com/shows/amazing_race/elimination_interviews/1004235/hayley-and-blair-miss-the-mat-on-amazing-race-s-finale-coming-in-third-no-rxforlove-for-these-two/

[Richness]

At times though, I wondered if some of the bickering was an act for more attention, such as the back and forth in Amsterdam (Its a lovely day/Its cold, I love it here/its smells bad)-it almost seemed synchronized.

 

As I recall, that exchange occurred during a long shot from far away, so their comments were obviously dubbed in by the editors from other times. I highly doubt it occurred in the exact order as shown. Behold the power of editing to get a laugh and tell a particular story.

 

I wondered if they would have gotten a penalty for stumbling on to the monster trucks without her rappelling down again.

 

Doubtful, unless they've changed the rules. So long as they actually checked in at all the proper places, it doesn't matter how they get there. There have been numerous times where racers have stumbled upon task locations. So long as they didn't skip any clues or check points, and they got there properly (ie: didn't take a cab instead of walking), they're allowed to proceed. In fact, I recall one final leg (in Alaska?) where a team got their clue, but lost it. They even told a pilot to "follow that plane" and was able to get to the next clue though they had no idea what the actual destination was.

[blackwing]

I don't think they would have gotten a penalty, it was the next task and they did the rappel task right before.  Doesn't matter how they got there.

 

The incident you are talking about was in Season 2, it wasn't the final leg but it was the penultimate leg.  Wil and his ex-wife Tara lost their clue and had no idea where to go.  Wil waited until Chris and Alex took off and told his pilot to "Follow that plane!"  Tara claimed she was browsing the Alaska guidebook just seeing if anything sounded familiar and claims she came across the name of the place where they were supposed to get the planes, but didn't have the ultimate destination.  I still think that Alex told Tara where to go to get the plane.

 

In subsequent seasons I think the rule was changed and now to check in to a pitstop I believe you have to turn in your clues you collected from that leg.  Not sure exactly when the rule was changed.  But I don't think we've ever seen a team get eliminated because they lost a clue.  Only when they lost the entire fanny pack and their passports.

[alihart41]

The Racers could have thought that the selfies were part of a promotion, like the Fitbits. So they could have taken whatever number that they were told to take and not put much thought into it. That sounds like what Jelani and Jenny did while Tyler and Laura were taking selfies at tasks and the like. I would like to think that I would have taken the minute or two to take a selfie after completing tasks so I had a picture of the event to serve as a memory but who knows how I would respond on the race. I wonder what Blair and Hailey's selfies looked like.

Just posted Hayley and Blair's TV Guide interview in their thread. They said their selfies were in airports like Jenny and Jelani's, so they don't necessarily think they would've won without Hayley's mistake.

[Camera One]

Jenny and Jelani were too type A and focused on gogogogogo.  They only took pictures when they were sitting around at the airport or in a cab and couldn't do anything.  It seems fitting that the team the embraced the concept was rewarded for it.

 

I don't think that's necessarily an indictment that they didn't enjoy the Race.  Sometimes, maybe when they were on a boat ride, or going on an excursion, they were just experiencing the moment instead of "hey, let's take a selfie!".  Plus taking the phone out for random selfies is a recipe for dropping stuff and losing track of where your clue or fanny pack is.  It is kind of neat that Tyler getting so into the selfie ended up rewarding them.  I was thinking about how if one partner was completing a task, the other partner could take selfies, but I guess it was a requirement that both team members be in the photos.

[chaifan]

I think Tyler and/or Laura had a pretty good guess that the selfies would play a part in some challenge.  They are both self-admitted TAR fans, and it isn't much of a leap.  So their decision to take photos at the challenges may have been more strategic than dumb luck.  If so, they were smart to keep it to themselves throughout the race.

[greyhorse]

As for the cabs, I have no trouble whatsoever believing that the cabbies were really that clueless. In my city, not one of them seems to have any idea where anythign is or how to get there. I don't believe I have ever gotten into a cab here and not had to direct the cabbie the entire way — except to the airport. That, they seem to be able to find on their own. But nowhere else. So yeah. Totally believable for me on that score.

 

But doesn't almost every cab driver have a smart phone these days?  Doesn't every cab have a dispatch where they can call into to get help with directions?  I think long gone are the days where you take out a paper map/guide and look for actual locations.  I found it odd that not one cab driver had a way to find out the location.

 

The TV Guide articles make it clear that Tyler and Laura won because of the selfies.  Throughout the show we always saw Tyler taking them.  Jenny says the producers encouraged teams to take selfies.  I wonder if there was a rule that you had to take at least 3 a day or something.  Jenny says a lot of theirs were in airports, which makes it sound like they were all "oh, we need to take a picture".

 

Tyler and Laura enjoyed the race and experience and took time to document it with photos.  Jenny and Jelani were too type A and focused on gogogogogo.  They only took pictures when they were sitting around at the airport or in a cab and couldn't do anything.  It seems fitting that the team the embraced the concept was rewarded for it.

 

I would like to know what would have happened if one of the finalist teams only had like 6 selfies.  Even if the producers "encouraged" them to take photos, they can't really force them to do it without giving too much away.  Clearly they had the final task already designed, so I wonder what would have happened.

Totally agree.  As Laura says in the interview, what a wonderful way for them to capture moments on the race so they can relive them later.  Sure, contestants can always watch the actual season on tv, but it's not the same as taking your own pictures.  I bet if you didn't take enough pictures, you were given the phone back and you had to take more.  I love that Tyler and Laura embraced the concept and took pictures during the race and the challenges.  That's probably why we saw theirs the most, as why would any of us care to see a stupid selfie of Jenny and Jelani sitting at an airport?

[Camera One]

Tyler and Laura also clicked more, so they were more friendly and you'd be more likely to want to post a selfie with a friend.  Tyler and Laura were also more likely to be in a better mood to want a selfie with one another.  Blair and Hayley in their interview said they were trying to figure out which airport floor they were looking at in their selfies.

[green]

Easily the most vain team rocks a selfie challenge to clinch TAR. Somehow it seems a fitting result for this particular season...

 

Yeah.  Glad this season of bland, Dating Game TAR is over.  Hope they never go with this gimmick or "stranger" teams ever ever EVER again.  What a wasted season.

[Richness]

I was finally able to watch the entire episode with DirecTV's On Demand feature. I think I was better off relying on the PTV review and the comments here. Yeesh.

 

At the very least, it would have saved me from Haley's shrill shrieking again. Just when I was starting to think she was a decent human being thanks to the previous two episodes, she unleashes her Canary Nag and ruins it all. (Sorry for the Arrow reference, but that's another show who's current season blew chunks.) Oh well. Hopefully, I won't have to put up with her again. As much as I'd love to have Blair back for an Unfinished Business season, I couldn't tolerate her. Like everyone else, I'm thankful that it was her mistakes that cost them the race, cause we'd still be hearing about it otherwise.

 

I felt so bad for Mike and Jelani at the football task. I was the nerd in high school that despised sports, so I probably would have done worse at catching and kicking the football. Speaking of which, what was the point of retrieving the play book via an aerial harness? If they were hoping for a heights freak out, fine, but it just didn't seem to fit with anything.

 

While I really didn't care one way or the other for Laura and Tyler (or any of the four teams really), Tyler really bugged me  with his comments and playing to the camera. Not only to the regular TAR cameramen, but also with the selfie cam. Also wasn't sure why all the teams were so against Blair and Haley. Sure, they've come in first the last two legs, and done relatively well overall, but they didn't dominate the race like teams have in the past. Which I'm thankful for, as I hate when one team wins most of the legs.

 

The season as a whole wasn't as a bad as I feared. It really tested my loyalty, but I still love TAR. However, they should *NEVER* do all dating couples again. If I wanted to see pathetic attempts at forcing love to happen, I'd watch the Bachelor (which you couldn't pay me to do). The blind date aspect has tarnished its reputation beyond repair. I'm going to vomit if I ever hear Phil asking if love has blossomed among a couple who clearly hate one another ever again. The time wasted on that and the stupid date nights would have been better served showing more of the race that we actually enjoy seeing.

 

Come back TAR, but not with a dating theme.

[etagloh]

Surprised that they didn't plug Samsung more during the final selfie task and throughout the race.

That'd be weird, though, because they were Nokia/Microsoft Lumia phones. (I've mentioned this before, but I'm 99% sure they were using the Lumia 735 "selfie phone" that, in the end, no US carrier decided to sell.)

I think Tyler and/or Laura had a pretty good guess that the selfies would play a part in some challenge.  They are both self-admitted TAR fans, and it isn't much of a leap.

They were definitely under-the-radar superfans who showed more basic race savvy than the other teams throughout. Their only big slip was missing the early flight out of Amsterdam and going to a bar instead.