S27.E12: We Got A Chance, Baby!

[Packerbrewerbadger]

I actually got a kick out of Logan and Chris on the mat, thought they were funny. Boy, the cheerleaders were happy to see Kelsey and Joey get to the mat first!

[JenMcSnark]

I was quite appalled at Logan and Chris in the helicopter.  When he was starting to get in without his pants and boots, she grabs at him or something while yelling at him and he angrily pushed or slapped her hand away.  Disturbing.  That is a prime example of an unhealthy, codependent relationship. 

 

I'm so glad that Kelsey and Joey won!  They finally showed some "personality" and didn't let the Paps steal their cab.  And Chris was right...that cabbie wasn't going anywhere so why not get out and try to find something else. 

 

Not only did Justin blow it by being a cheap, disrespectful asshole again, but he also blew it by getting on a bus heading in the wrong direction!  What an amazing racer he is!!  

[MerBearHou]

So happy with the winners!

One of my biggest pet peeves on tv and in films is when people cry (like Justin) and don't wipe off their tears. No one does that in real life. They may be sad; they may be really crying; but the tears streaming down and just staying on their cheeks for added oomph is just lame-o cheesy fakey-fake.

Edited December 12, 2015 by MerBearHou

[Tunia]

Oh good, now I know I can watch!

Oh my goodness, I give props to those of you who checked the outcome here first and now plan to watch the epi.  It would be so anti-climactic for me to know the ending before watching.  It's kinda' like watching the replay of an NFL game you hadn't seen yet, but you already knew the score.  Just can't do!

 

YAY to the winners!!

[Charlesman]

The whole cab thing was just ugly.

Joey acting all macho after definitely left a bad taste. And with no one able to step in and explain the rules, I feel Logan and Chris got unfairly screwed.

Hope they figure out a way to fix it in the future. Everyone acted badly and made the whole last episode sucky.

I didn't like Logan and Chris but I do understand that their behavior with each other is just their dynamic. And they're each aware of that with the other. Feels like a lot of people don't get them.

[jjj]

I actually was surprised that Justin's cab driver was still there when the firefighter task was over -- why did he stay if he was so pissed off?  He had been paid.  It's a mystery to me about the Logan/Chris cab -- unless he was scared away by Justin, as someone posted above. 

 

I completely loved that there were *three* memory tasks in this finale.  And glad that the two top teams showed they belonged there in those memory challenges.  (I would have been fine with a Justin/Diane win, just toss your old tomatoes at my post!  I don't have to like the Racers, just want the best ones to win on the basis of being the fastest and savviest.  And Justin was just not savvy about that cab driver.  No need to hold onto your $$$ in the final leg, even if the driver is a jerk.  They were lucky he left; he might have taken them to Newark.)

[Charlesman]

I actually was surprised that Justin's cab driver was still there when the firefighter task was over -- why did he stay if he was so pissed off? He had been paid. It's a mystery to me about the Logan/Chris cab -- unless he was scared away by Justin, as someone posted above.

I completely loved that there were *three* memory tasks in this finale. And glad that the two top teams showed they belonged there in those memory challenges. (I would have been fine with a Justin/Diane win, just toss your old tomatoes at my post! I don't have to like the Racers, just want the best ones to win on the basis of being the fastest and savviest. And Justin was just not savvy about that cab driver. No need to hold onto your $$$ in the final leg, even if the driver is a jerk. They were lucky he left; he might have taken them to Newark.)

No, Justins cabbie left. That was Logan and Chris's cabbie that he pissed off so much he abandoned them, too.

[Lakebum]

Yes!! Yes!!! YESSS!!!!! Down goes the Grinning Green Goofball! And hello to the Blubbering Braggart!! I was really hoping I'd get to see you in the finale; I'm especially glad that it was your own cockiness and obnoxiousness that cost you the race.

 

From the very first "See you at the Finish Line, nyuk nyuk nyuk!!" through the cartoonish "Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ameeeeeeeegooo!", the "poor poor pitiful me" crying jags that bookended the race, the complete lack of sportsmanship and the complete lack of appreciation for the fact that he's living his dream (but only if he wins), I've wanted to see the Green Goblin, the Lime Lout, the Mossy Mouth, The Jade Jerk, the new HWMNBN, go down... and go down hard. Tonight was an early Christmas!

[snarktini]

I rewatched the cab scene:

 

Justin asks if the driver could stay, offering him $100, meaning $100 total. The cabbie wants that $100 to be extra, not including the fare. Justin says he won’t pay $100 more than the fare, he’ll just pay the $50 they owe. Then he asks the cabbie to take off the $5 toll charge, which Justin said he’d previously paid $8 for. (Maybe he paid cash for that at the toll plaza?) Justin hands him the $50, and the guy says “No tip?” and Justin ignores him. My assumption was the toll charge wasn’t removed and Justin, annoyed, applied that $8 as tip. Not a good one, but something.

 

Justin doesn’t bug me half as much as he bugs many others here. But this was a really stupid decision. I think his city sensibilities got in the way, mistrusting the cabbie and feeling ripped off by a high fare and further gouged by a $100 wait fee. A hundred bucks just to hold the cab? And being double charged for a toll? In that moment, he was thinking like an annoyed customer not a racer.

[etagloh]

Well, that was incredibly foreshadowed, and yet the way it rolled out was totally bullshit. The difference between winning the big prize and coming second is that your cab driver doesn't try to extort you at the first task? Really? What the actual fuck?

Final leg tasks are mostly for show. The FDNY task had a few things in common with a TAR Canada final task during the summer. And yeah the memory challenges made a bit of a difference, but the leg was decided by cab shite, and even if you're a Justin-hater, you can't respect TAR and like that outcome.

Edited December 12, 2015 by etagloh

[Hpmec]

Hey, Justin. When there's a million bucks on the line in the final leg of The Amazing Race and your cab has taken you to the suburbs, you treat the driver with kid gloves and pay him whatever he wants to wait for you -- even if it borders on extortion. If you're such a super fan, you should have known that. It was no one's fault but your own that you got into it with the driver and he drove off leaving you in the lurch. As you stated, you'll probably never get over it and will be tormented by "if only..." Hope some day you can move on and realize that you lived your dream and finished strong, but another team finished ahead of you. There are worse things than coming in 2nd on The Amazing Race. You need to get some perspective.

Edited December 12, 2015 by Hpmec

[Muffyn]

And Justin was just not savvy about that cab driver.  No need to hold onto your $$$ in the final leg, even if the driver is a jerk.  They were lucky he left; he might have taken them to Newark.)

Justin's lucky his cab driver didn't stay and take him to the Pine Barrens in New Jersey to bury is body.  

[RCharter]

Oh my goodness, I give props to those of you who checked the outcome here first and now plan to watch the epi.  It would be so anti-climactic for me to know the ending before watching.  It's kinda' like watching the replay of an NFL game you hadn't seen yet, but you already knew the score.  Just can't do!

 

YAY to the winners!!

I hear you, but its between anti-climactic and risking a potential rage stroke watching Justin win.

 

And besides, his tears will be so sweet that I almost can't wait to watch it.

[Lakebum]

The whole cab thing was just ugly.

Joey acting all macho after definitely left a bad taste. And with no one able to step in and explain the rules, I feel Logan and Chris got unfairly screwed.

I think that while the Race Rules might allow cab-stealing, it's also within the rights of the cabbie to tell racers that he's waiting for the customers who asked him to wait. That is to say, Logan and Chris might not have HAD to get out of the cab... but the cabbie didn't HAVE to drive them anywhere, either. So Yay, cabbie, for having some integrity. (Though had it been The Green Goblin's cab, I would have been mad at the cabbie if he had done the honorable thing, so there is that. :-)

[Tunia]

They were lucky he left; he might have taken them to Newark.

 

Hilarious thought!

 

That reminds me of a Customer Service rep that was helping me with a store return.  The item was $5.99 (non-taxable), so I put a penny on the counter with my receipt.  The CSR said "Oh, you didn't have to do that...I would have rounded it up because you've been nice about the spoiled product.  Every now and then, I have to count out $.99 in change <grin>."

 

Revenge can be sweet.

 

ETA:

etagloh said:

 Well, that was incredibly foreshadowed, and yet the way it rolled out was totally bullshit. The difference between winning the big prize and coming second is that your cab driver doesn't try to extort you at the first task? Really? What the actual fuck?

 

When I read this, for some reason it immediately flashed to me that it would be freakin' insane if the cabbie was a TAR fan who has been watching the season and didn't like Justin any more than we do.  Do you think Production vets that in any way?

Edited December 12, 2015 by Tunia

[blackwing]

One of the best parts of the episode was the closing comments where Diana said something like "it'll be fun to watch on TV and re-live". Oh Diana, yes, I'm sure it was fun watching your boyfriend alternate between smug asswipe and blubbering baby. As well as treating you like crap and treating others like crap.

I'm sure his parents and family are proud.

[jzygayle]

I think his city sensibilities got in the way, mistrusting the cabbie and feeling ripped off by a high fare and further gouged by a $100 wait fee. A hundred bucks just to hold the cab? And being double charged for a toll? In that moment, he was thinking like an annoyed customer not a racer.

 

This.  It's the last leg.  You're barely in first.  You're in the middle of nowhere (newsflash Green Giant: Firemen aren't taking cabs to work).  It's for a MILLION dollars.  Pay the man.  Pay the man and thank him for waiting.

It's definitely karmic that he lost because of his own shortsightedness and tendency to be rude first and apologize later.  I'm sorry Diane had to go along for that result; she definitely seems to understanding being a good sport.  Justin?  The only thing he does worse than losing is winning.

[etagloh]

And look, Joey and Kelsey were competent racers, but they're basically an anodyne nonentity interchangeable-personality team befitting their jobs (where they have to be ready to become Live Action News Team in some vastly different corner of the US) and some of their behaviour once they had the lead was pretty gross. Can we pretend that nobody won this season and whoever wins the next one gets an extra million?

This. It's the last leg. You're barely in first. You're in the middle of nowhere (newsflash Green Giant: Firemen aren't taking cabs to work). It's for a MILLION dollars. Pay the man. Pay the man and thank him for waiting.

So, it's the Amazing Cab Driver Extortion Finale, welcome home to the good old U S of A? Really? We know that final legs are kinda bullshit because of the constraints they're under, and we know that too much depends on the capriciousness of cabs in them, but because it's Justin who gets the sharp end of it we're now supposed to celebrate it as Part Of The Race? Seriously, if Joey and Kelsey had had a cab driver demanding an extra $100, and they'd chosen not to pay, and they'd lost as a result, I'd feel really bad for them, because that's deliberate shoddiness from TPTB to take teams out to somewhere well off standard cab routes on a final leg that's going to be dependent on cabs.

Edited December 12, 2015 by etagloh

[scowl]

Has anyone mentioned Logan and Chris looking for the national flag of Africa yet? Augh! 

[biakbiak]

I think Logan was correct as long as none of the racers stuff is in the cab and the cab driver agrees it's fine.

[jumper sage]

JJJ hope you ducked from the tomato I threw.  Glad the reporters won and I liked how the other teams at the finish line also liked that the reporters won.

 

Justin doesn’t bug me half as much as he bugs many others here. But this was a really stupid decision. I think his city sensibilities got in the way,

Yes, home town bad luck is a thing on AR.  In AR 1 a team lost the race because they (Ok he) thought they new best how to cut through neighborhoods to get to the park first.......and they were not first.

 

Cabgate:  Didn't the girl reporter say they had not paid their cab yet?

 

Paparazzi:  With both of them having unisex names I still have no idea which one is which one.

Edited December 12, 2015 by jumper sage

[Lakebum]

ETA:

etagloh said:

 

When I read this, for some reason it immediately flashed to me that it would be freakin' insane if the cabbie was a TAR fan who has been watching the season and didn't like Justin any more than we do.  Do you think Production vets that in any way?

I'm pretty sure that the final leg was completed before the first episode was aired...

[UncleChuck]

 

the cheerleaders couldn't have done the lobster cage segment either. Not enough upper body or arm strength. I've done it and believe me I had forearms like Popeye after the summer. I give it the girls Kudos for completing the segment but they had the strength and weight of a man to anchor their efforts.

Agree.  There was a team of two young women many seasons ago who were kicking butt (as I remember it) and they were cute as hell so of course I was enjoying watching them...but in the last leg (or a leg close to the last) there was a challenge that required them to carry a pig carcass strung onto a pole across a long expanse of sandy beach to a luau or something.  The pig was HEAVY and the sand was hard walking and the two girls just wilted under that strength challenge. 

The cheerleaders from this year would have been dead in the water.

[Ducky]

 

When I read this, for some reason it immediately flashed to me that it would be freakin' insane if the cabbie was a TAR fan who has been watching the season and didn't like Justin any more than we do.  Do you think Production vets that in any way?

oh if only.... but if the cabbie is a fan they wouldn't be watching season 27 as it was still filming (since it's not 'live') when they had Justin and Diana as cabbie fare- season 26 would have been airing about that time (maybe- I don't know the schedule...)

 

 

Cabgate:  Didn't the girl reporter say they had not paid their cab yet?

   Yes Kelsey (the female reporter) did say they hadn't paid.  Logan(the female) and Chris(the male) were already in the cab and Kelsey came running up just as Joey had finished his roadblock and was at the driver side saying that they hadn't paid yet- so theoretically the cab was still theirs even though the cabbie could have just gone off with the new fare but guessing most cab drivers would rather stay and be sure they get their money. (well besides the rouge cabbie that drove off with James and Abba's stuff that one time...)

Edited December 12, 2015 by Ducky

[sinycalone]

There have been quite a few Amazing Race situations where teams had to pay a driver extra to remain waiting for them.  And many of those were not in the USA.  Why would any cabbie hang around (for an indefinite period), and expect just the price of the trip to that point, and then the point beyond?  He/she is earning no money for that dead time...unless he asks for money over and above the fares.  

Edited December 12, 2015 by sinycalone

[jackjill89]

There was a point tonight when Justin and Diana picked up their clue and he mugged for the camera and it bugged me so much. He was really aware of the cameras all the time and played to them. Incredibly annoying. While I was not a fan of Kelsey and Joey, I was so happy they won. Bland, but consistent. They did deserve it. 

 

Logan and Chris are horrid people. They have an incredibly dysfunctional relationship. Her berating him about the cab for the rest of the leg was ridiculous. I would have hopped out of that cab too if Kelsey and Joey were yelling at me. I know it's a race and all, but I would have. I think a lot of people would have. 

 

Justin and Diana will be on an all-stars/unfinished business season for sure. It would be kind of fun if all the most hated teams raced for a million so we could figure out who really is the most reprehensible. 

[TheFinalRose]

Knew from the moment I saw Kelsey and Joey with their wet hair, joyfully recalling their adventures, that they were the winners. Because basically they were the two most boring, monotone, vanilla racers on this race so what, except for winning a million dollars, would be the reason for them to suddenly come alive? Not second, or third place. And of course it was obvious Justin lost and was crying too hard to do a similar, fake-us-out interview. So next time, TAR editors, if you can't show all three teams recounting the race, don't show any. To just show the one team was a dead give away.

 

I could not believe Mr. Super Fan let his taxi go in the middle of nowhere on the last leg.  I wonder if Diana has left him yet, or is the wedding still on?

 

Logan and Chris were something else this episode.  

 

[GaT]

I thought about it at the beginning of the race, there are 6 people in the race & I hate 3 of them. Kelsey & Joey winning was the only acceptable outcome for me. I'm so glad that who won didn't make my brain explode.

[J-Man]

I really hope someone shows this episode to Justin's Hong Kong cabdriver -- the one he went off on about not speaking English, etc. You just KNOW he'd get a kick out of seeing who caused the downfall of his all-time least favorite customer. 

[Tunia]

I'm pretty sure that the final leg was completed before the first episode was aired...

 

Well, DUH.  Yeah, I'm blond, and it's late and I'm tired, and maybe I shouldn't have celebrated the outcome with a glass of wine...

 

Thanks, Guys, for not flaming me! 

[biakbiak]

I forgot the most eww worthy on a multiple levels was Justin saying one of the prizes they won was a "babymoon," STFU Justin.

[millennium]

I think his behavior with the cabdriver had a lot to do with his "I lived in New York for 20 years" bull, like he was trying to show off that he knew how to handle the service people.  I am sooooo glad that his loss ultimately was due to his own shenanigans. 

 

You put your finger right on it.   No more being at the mercy of foreign cab drivers, I'm in New Yawk now and I'm gonna show you how we handle cabbies.  Fuhgeddaboutit.

[Charlesman]

I think that while the Race Rules might allow cab-stealing, it's also within the rights of the cabbie to tell racers that he's waiting for the customers who asked him to wait. That is to say, Logan and Chris might not have HAD to get out of the cab... but the cabbie didn't HAVE to drive them anywhere, either. So Yay, cabbie, for having some integrity. (Though had it been The Green Goblin's cab, I would have been mad at the cabbie if he had done the honorable thing, so there is that. :-)

 

 

True, but my impression watching was that the cabbie was already starting to roll away.

 

Either way, still a very ugly scene and something I hope is addressed and somehow fixed in the future. While I understand taxi karma is part of the race, how that all went down was very unfulfilling for a finale.

[dbklmt]

Good article about Kelsey and Joey and their taxi drama.   

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/12/amazing-race-winners-perfect-leg

[etagloh]

There have been quite a few Amazing Race situations where teams had to pay a driver extra to remain waiting for them.  And many of those were not in the USA.  Why would any cabbie hang around (for an indefinite period), and expect just the price of the trip to that point, and then the point beyond?  He/she is earning no money for that dead time...unless he asks for money over and above the fares.

That's arguing facts not in evidence. It's generally clear that for a lot of cab-dependent legs -- and those legs are usually in poorer parts of the world -- where teams have a single driver from the outset that the driver is getting paid not just the fare but the cost of hanging around, and that drivers are not being stiffed for the benefit of people from much richer countries.

It's also inevitable that when TAR comes back to the US and cabs are involved then dollar amounts hit home in a way that other currencies don't, and that being stiffed by a US cab driver -- or stiffing a US cab driver -- is perceived differently from when it happens in Foreign.

So let's talk theoretically, since we're arguing to some degree over price: if a cab driver, recognising that there's a camera crew in his cab and that he's now a significant participant in a major TV show, asks for an extra $1000 to stick around, is that a cue for TPTB to get involved because it's weighing too heavily on the outcome of the race?

[Lakebum]

Justin and Diana will be on an all-stars/unfinished business season for sure. It would be kind of fun if all the most hated teams raced for a million so we could figure out who really is the most reprehensible. 

I agree, and I hope that they are all racing for "a million..." only to learn at the finish line that it was a million Confederate dollars, or some foreign currency that coverts to about 12 American cents.

[J-Man]

Did you notice the departure times from Macau? The paparazzi and the reporters were ONE minute apart; Justin and Diana were almost an hour-and-a-half behind. Not that it made any difference, but it gives some idea of how long it took the cheerleaders to finish the water task. 

[Quilt Fairy]

Doesn't the 2nd place team still receive $100K?

[WhoisMark]

Is the way this show operates not obvious season after season.  All these posts about being happy with the winner, finding out ahead who won just who you could watch or so worried that the wrong team might win etc. make me laugh.

 

The nicest team with the best edit wins every season.  It was very obvious weeks ago that Kelsey and Joey had to be the winners.

 

The team with the worst edit comes in third:  That's Logan and Chris.

 

The team that gets the most airtime will be second.  Justin and Diana dominated the time devoted to them.

 

If Justin and Diana had won the race all of you would still be happy because they would have been portrayed differently.   Whatever negative factors there were about Joey and Kelsey would have aired.

 

The Race people present this nice package every season that "Kum-ba-yah" keeps viewers happy.

 

I hope next season's YouTube stunt somehow turns out better than it looks in the previews.

Edited December 12, 2015 by WhoisMark

[scowl]

I was quite appalled at Logan and Chris in the helicopter.  When he was starting to get in without his pants and boots, she grabs at him or something while yelling at him and he angrily pushed or slapped her hand away.  Disturbing.  That is a prime example of an unhealthy, codependent relationship. 

 

And what he said while slapping at her. "Leave me alone!"

 

I was waiting for Joe Besser's "Oswald" character's trademark line: "Or I'll haaaarm you!!!" 

[scowl]

Good article about Kelsey and Joey and their taxi drama.   

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/12/amazing-race-winners-perfect-leg

 

And that may explain why Chris still had his boots on. 

[backformore]

I'm on the West Coast and I checked here before I watched. If Justin had won, I wouldn't have watched.

The best part is that he didn't break any records. His cocky ass was so sure that they would break the record for leg wins and then win the whole thing, and neither one happened.

Neener neener you big cry baby.

I recorded the episode, and had to check here to see if I should watch.   After the week I've had, I didn't want to watch anything that would piss me off.

 

I loved the irony of Justin CRYING while wearing a shirt that said "BE HAPPY".

[TheLostGilmore]

I'm surprised that Kelsey and Joey, as on-air television reporters, have tattoos all over their arms.

 

I'm pretty sure that was dirt from the lobster hauling and/or chair building.

[BarneySays]

May Justin be fed to the Sarlaac. Such a despicable human being. If he ends up on an Unfinished Business I vow not to watch that season. I truly hope that TPTB follow social media and see how much this man is greatly despised by most viewers.

Well, if the edit is any indication, production didn't like them very much either.  They were skewered throughout the entire episode.  I enjoyed the rending of Justin for the first 20 minutes or so (it seemed clear that once the teleprompterists were the only team with a cab that the race was over), but then I got increasingly more annoyed.  Kelsey and Joey were so charming and fun to watch.  They seemed really excited had great energy.  I immediately said to myself, why haven't we seen this all season?  Why was most of their screen time, small bits and the constant refrain in THs about coming in second?  I began to feel that production set this whole season up for us to grow to despire Justin so that we could enjoy his sublime undoing.  Did they fear that editing the winners as nice guys, courteous and pleasant players that it would be another boring season?  So, instead they created a Greek comedy in which we get to laugh in the end at the hubris of the low figure defying the gods, only to be made sport of by them.  I enjoyed it, to be sure, and will watch it again, but I would have enjoyed the entire season so much more if it hadn't been edited around this theme.  As a side note, I didn't think I could viscerally dislike another racer like I do Justin, but then I saw the promo of the all-internet over-dramatic attention-whores.  Yikes. 

 

The beauty of Justin's fatal error lies in his crowing about being from NY and psyching the other teams out.  (I suspected there would be some form of comeuppance, but didn't expect it to be so grand.)  Two huge mistakes, both critical.  First, he failed to read that cab driver.  He knew Justin had no other option and he saw the camera crews, so he was not going to negotiate.  NYers know this look and attitude.  Then he had to get cheap with the guy.  Again, Justin, you are not in a good neogtiating position,  You either take his offer or the bus.  And I would bet that Justin's cabbie told the others as he was leaving that he got stiffed and that's why they wouldn't take him.  Also, since Kelsey and Joey had not paid the cab, I don't think they could have stolen it.. Oh, Justin, while you're never forgetting your utter failure at winning the Real Amazing Race, add to this the brew- that $100 you wouldn't give the cabbie.  It was worth a million dollars.

 

Second, every NYer knows that Governor's Island (ETA:  That's Randall's Island, of course.  Getting a cab to Governor's Isalnd would be a feat.  Thanks, etagloh.) is in the middle of nowhere.  I doubt there's ever a cab there.  And the trip to a spot in Manhattan where you can hail a cab is a hike.  (It doesn't help that he got on the wrong bus route.  125th Street was the way to go.)  The piece de resistance of this blunder, is that it's the very place where he ended his faux Amazing Race engagement proposal!  (So he should have known better.)  Even that memory is now ruined for life!  The gods can be cruel, Justin.  And so can the TAR production team.

 

I have to give a hat tip to Diana, whom I never really warmed up to.  She was a class act and seemed completely genuine.  This is what we like to see, TAR.  A superb ending to a terrible season.  Smarter racers, more appealing personalities, please. 

 

Oh, and Kelsey and Joey really redeemed themselves with the flag challenge.  The citizens of The Hagoo cheered.  Note:  I would have put the US flag last because they did not "visit" the US at the start of the race.  I would have pissed if I were told it was wrong.

Edited December 12, 2015 by BarneySays

[etagloh]

Second, every NYer knows that Governor's Island is in the middle of nowhere.

They were on Randalls Island, but I suppose the location of the FDNY Academy is not something every NYer knows.

Anyway, I completely disagree with you, because even though I knew Live Local Action News had the winners' edit, it was a pretty shitty ending to a season that had decent moments but ultimately fizzled out in its later legs, perhaps because it was so cab-dependent, perhaps became everybody, TPTB included, got fixated on one team.

[green]

As soon as I realized that Kelsee and Joey had the only 'talking head' segments that were being shown, it was quite obvious they would be the winners. I call shame on the editors for that. Surely they could have danced around that to make it more suspenseful (I realize they couldn't use Justin's because of tears, but...).

That said, I liked the final leg design. Multiple memory challenges, physical tasks, and opportunities to catch up and fall behind. I admittedly was rooting for the green team, but am happy that Kelsee and Joey were able to win as well.

This season was overall good. The South America legs were kind of weak, but the challenge level picked up significantly once teams hit Europe. We really needed a driving let or three though. Guess Ford wasn't happy with any returns the sponsorship was generating.

 

Agree.

 

But about the Reporters at the top of the episode giving it away?  What about giving the whole ending away from the mid-season mark?  Every single episode I've posted in I said the Green Team edit was a set-up to losing in the finale and starting with the "we always finish second" mantra of the Reporters it was obvious they would win.

 

So yeah I missed the driving.  But ...

 

Even more so I missed good editing this season throughout.  Loser Anvils hit me on the head from about Episode 2 on and Winner Anvils started hitting me from mid-Race on.  Everyone knew that the Reporters would win with the Green Team just missing out.  It was a given.  No suspense or surprise this season thanks to bad editing.  Heck we had a Race sub-plot involving obvious Loser Anvils with the Texans.  Someone get back the real editors to this show.  They used to be good.

 

Since I knew the Reporters would win more than a month ago without ever reading any spoilers I was okay that they won and congrats to them.  And I'm okay Green Team finished second because they got to finish the race and stand on the final mat. 

 

Sad that Justin made a rookie mistake in not keeping the cabbie when the guy tried to milk them for even more than the $100 he offered him.  Yeah the cabbie was being pretty shadey but you have no choice but to pay him.  But glad he helped screw up the Paps' cabbie though.  ("I think I'll just go home now".  Was that kind of the quote?).  That was so funny.  And who knows.  If the Paps got out of there first and "guessed" better at the flags, Justin may just have prevented the Paps from winning this season.

 

I loved the Green Team and if the show survives to another "returning teams" season I sure hope they will be back.  Bad calls in the first leg (bad luck, not skill related) and the final two leg (read the clue and keep the crooked cabbie over no cabbie) did them in.  Otherwise it was a near flawless race for them.  Congrats, guys!

 

Paps?  Who on earth thinks Africa is a country?  Or that the flag of India looks like it should be Oregon's flag?  That was pathetic.  And re-writing history on the fly "The Reporters stole our cab" (that we tried to steal from them).  No congrats to you guys for those things alone. 

 

Instead I'll save my third congrats for the Reporters' cabbie who refused to take the Paps instead.  Like so many finales it came down to a good cabbie in the end and the Reporters got him.  (Send him a Christmas card this year, Reporters.  He made you really rich).

[blackwing]

I have to give a hat tip to Diana, whom I never really warmed up to.  She was a class act and seemed completely genuine.  This is what we like to see, TAR.  A superb ending to a terrible season.  Smarter racers, more appealing personalities, please. 

I agree that I never warmed up to Diana, but I disagree that she was a class act.  I think she's fairly smug herself, it's just that Justin is such an insufferable asswipe that she looks like an angel by comparison.  She was in the interviews right there alongside him talking about "the record".  And at the beginning of this episode, she smugly said that they would win first like they always do, or something like that.  I think there's a reason why she can tolerate him, it's because she isn't much of a prize herself.

[jjj]

Knew from the moment I saw Kelsey and Joey with their wet hair, joyfully recalling their adventures, that they were the winners. Because basically they were the two most boring, monotone, vanilla racers on this race so what, except for winning a million dollars, would be the reason for them to suddenly come alive?... So next time, TAR editors, if you can't show all three teams recounting the race, don't show any.  

I'm sure the Amazing Editors had footage of all the finalists:  "Okay, team, now, without giving away the results, tell us about your best moment on this leg:"

 

TAKE ONE:  Justin: "I. just. need. a. moment.  And Kleenex."  Logan:  "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU GAVE OUR [bleep]ING CAB TO THE WINNING TEAM."

 

Amazing Editors:  "Okay, let's try that again:"

 

TAKE TWO:  Justin:  "I. can't. believe..." [snort, sob]  Chris: "It's time for me to find my own apartment.  Joking!  No, I'm not!" 

 

Amazing Editors:  "Okay, that's a wrap." 

 

ETA to get the names right:  because honestly, I still can't tell which one is Logan and which one is Chris, and I have watched every episode.  I just go blind when they are on the screen!

Edited December 12, 2015 by jjj

[Tunia]

WhoisMark said:

I hope next season's YouTube stunt somehow turns out better than it looks in the previews.

 

Oh, I know!  What the hell IS all that?  The preview really looked sucky.  Geez...I hate when my favorite shows start to get all gimmicky - the proverbial "jumping of the shark".

[RemoteControlFreak]

I didn't watch this whole season or the last few seasons.

 

What happened to the money distribution part?  In earlier seasons, racers were given a set amount of cash at the start of each leg and managing that money was part of the race.  

 

When did this change and how do they get money now?