NY Post - spoilers for tonight's show (12/13)

The ClubHouse: Archives: NY Post - spoilers for tonight's show (12/13)

Muse

Thursday, December 13, 2001 - 01:48 pm Click here to edit this post
I just found this...I agree with the reviewer. Seems unfair. Ah well. :)

From the NY Post:

HOW can they do this? CBS sent me tonight's final episode of "The Amazing Race" - maybe the most amazing "reality" show ever - and what did they do?

They cut off the last 15 minutes!

Talk about sadists at holiday time. Not that I'm as involved now that Kevin and Drew, everybody's favorite fat frat brothers, are gone. (OK, only one is still overweight.)

Anyway, that leaves the teams nobody cared as much about to duke it out in the last leg of the round-the-world race.

There's Joe and Bill, life partners who are very annoying (22 percent popularity rating with viewers, according to the CBS website), Rob and Brennan, the perfect boys whose perfection is extremely annoying (83 percent), and Frank and Margarita, who never stop arguing, which has given a whole new dimension to annoying (also 83 percent and, believe me, it's only because she's so nice - he's a nightmare).

Most of the other teams - with the very real exception of Paul and Amie, and Matt and Ana - had the empathy vote. There was something of them in most of us.

Now it's the battle of the most competitive, which I guess is who always wins these things.

So, in tonight's episode, while Joe and Bill (Team Guido) are wa-a-ay behind and spend the night in a lodge in Alaska, the other two teams are on their way to their final destination.

But first they must hike in snow shoes, hop dog sleds and plunge into 40-degree water where they pick up instructions for their final leg. And?

And they must fly into New York, hail a cab and get to Vincent Daniels Square just off Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside, Queens.

This is where the whole contest gets dicey for me. For one thing, if the rules say they must fly to New York, how come they're allowed to fly into Newark? Even if the Giants and Jets have somehow made you believe that New Jersey is actually New York, I'm here to report it ain't.

That aside, how could they make the contestants end up in an obscure square in Queens when Frank and Margarita come from Queens, and in fact, even say that Margarita's dad lives six blocks away from the destination, and that it's a few blocks from where their daughter is staying?

Now, call me crazy, but who's got a better chance of telling some New Jersey cab driver how to maneuver the streets and back roads of Queens? Two people from the neighborhood - or two guys from Los Angeles? Doesn't this stack the freaking deck?

I've lived in New York all my life and still can't figure out Queens because I'm not from Queens. My friends from that borough, however, know every backstreet, side road and obscure restaurant. That's what happens when it's your hometown.

This destination really gives Frank and Margarita a very unfair and even weird advantage.

In fact, it makes it Frank and Margarita's to lose. And if they do win, there will be a taint on that win.

Anyway, who knows, maybe Joe and Bill will somehow get off the ice mountain and get to Queens first - no pun intended - but don't count on it.

Me? Even though I can't bear Frank, I'm pulling for Margarita and Frank. Why? Because I'm desperate for her to win, so she can say to Frank, while fanning herself with her half a million, "Don't let the door hit you in the can on the way out, dear."

And besides, Rob and Brennan don't need the dough - and Joe and Bill would only buy more matching outfits.

Grooch

Thursday, December 13, 2001 - 01:58 pm Click here to edit this post
What do they mean "cut off the last 15 minutes"?!?!?!

Squaredsc

Thursday, December 13, 2001 - 02:08 pm Click here to edit this post
yeah, i saw this post also and passed it around to my diehard tar fans at work. i think they mean they cut of the last 15 minutes of the tape copy she/he received.

Crazydog

Thursday, December 13, 2001 - 02:28 pm Click here to edit this post
Well of course they would cut off the last 15 minutes of the tape, otherwise TV reviewers like him would spoil it for everyone and no one will watch. I'm surprised enough that they gave even 45 minutes of this show in advance. From the way this thing is written, it seems the writer thinks Frank and Margarita cannot lose, but I'm not putting too much stock into it. I think anything can happen tonight!

Max

Thursday, December 13, 2001 - 02:32 pm Click here to edit this post
Yeah, they didn't give them the tape of the FULL episode so that no one knows the winner until it airs tonight. Pretty saavy, actually, since the winner would have quickly leaked out and CBS probably would have lost some viewers tonight.

I hope Frank and Margarita do win for pretty much the same reasons the writer sited. :)

I think the long-term fame will be for Drew & Kevin, though. They are far and away the most entertaining duo. Sort of like watching the Furniture Guys or the Car Talk guys. I hope they find some entertainment niche so we can keep laughing with them. :)

Grooch

Thursday, December 13, 2001 - 02:44 pm Click here to edit this post
I'm sorry, I took it as that tonight they were going to cut off the last 15 minutes. I figured it was time for another Bush speech or something.

Kep421

Thursday, December 13, 2001 - 03:25 pm Click here to edit this post
I take exception to the statement that because the ending takes place in an area familar to F/M, that gives them an unfair advantage.

No one seemed to think it was unfair that a large part of the race course was in countries very familiar to the Guidos. There were several times though out the race that the Guidos were at a definate advantage because of their previous experiences in particular countries. Wasn't France like a "second home" to them? The Guidos had the edge when it came to the french cabbies, so why is it unfair for F/M to have an edge with the NY cabbies?

If this game was slanted toward anyone (and I personally don't think it was), it was the Guidos who got all the breaks...

Lancecrossfire

Thursday, December 13, 2001 - 03:37 pm Click here to edit this post
Kep, I agree that the guidos have done more traveling in areas the game included. And yes, it does give them an upper hand to some degree. Paris is a big place though.

I think what makes the issue of "unfair" so much more striking is that for the others situations, coming in first didn't get you anything different for that pitstop than coming in second or any other position (but last--they were booted).

In thsi case, the issue of knowing the area like the back of you hand doesn't just get you into the next leg of the race--it gets you the 1 million dollars. I am guessing that is what most will think of.

It could also be an issue of the area known by them. There are places that don't have a lot of weird backstreets at ever turn. If the finsihing point was Cenrtal park, anyone around would know exactly how to get there the quickest. Existing knowledge wouldn't be as big of an advantage.

Tksoard

Thursday, December 13, 2001 - 03:39 pm Click here to edit this post
I don't know where you've been Kep, but I seem to remember alot of us saying the Guidos had an unfair advantage through France. They are getting there butts beat in the states though!! That is sweet justice!!

Kep421

Thursday, December 13, 2001 - 03:55 pm Click here to edit this post
I thought I had heard grumblin' from other members around that time, TK, but I wasn't sure that the grumblin' was coming from my head alone!!!!

Gottaluvit

Thursday, December 13, 2001 - 04:01 pm Click here to edit this post
They should have just handed F & M the cash at the end of the last show. Maybe they would have quit whining!