Is this game Rigged to a certain degree?

The ClubHouse: Archives: Is this game Rigged to a certain degree?

C1mag

Thursday, October 25, 2001 - 01:19 am Click here to edit this post
Now I'm not saying that the powers that be that were on site for this contest are fixing it for the eventual winners, but could it be that they are fixing it for some teams to stay in a bit longer because they offer better footage?

My questions are this: Are the aged Guido's really that strong? First off, the first portion just happened to be in their old home town in France where they know the language. What about that scene in the airport? They just "happened" to get the one and only ticket for that flight? How come when the others arrived one of the guido's said to the ticket lady, "here come the other contestants" In other words someone at that airport knew there was a contest going on and sure enough Guido got the only ticket to keep them in the front.

What about this week? All of a sudden all the other taxi's were held up, yet the Guido's cruise on through. How odd that all the others had to get out of their cars and ask locals how to get to a destination that local taxi drivers just didn't seem to know yet again the Guido's had the perfect driver. Not too mention how confused all the others were in their little carts trying to get to that man for the clue and sure enough the old Guido dude has some strange man literally wave him down in the street and walks him right to the destination. Now to me that was pretty blatant! Where was the same guy or someone similar to help out the others?

Now I'm not saying it's fixed for the Guido's to win but I am beginning to feel as if the powers that be helped them out to keep them in for some good footage to keep the viewers coming back. Sort of like that Stacy Stillman problem that Survivor had. It has been proven that the director did suggest that Rudy would be better for the game sake to keep him in over her when the truth is they knew that Rudy would be better film viewing. I'm convinced this is happening in this game as well but this time the director is being smart and paying off local folks to hold up the ones he wants to hold up and giving the one team he wants to keep in for good footage a little bit of an early lead knowing that this particular team could not carry the lead on physical strength alone. What do you think?

Cinder

Thursday, October 25, 2001 - 04:58 am Click here to edit this post
I had the same thought about the tickets at the airport. Although I was giving the producers the benefit of the doubt and thinking the Guidos paid the lady off- but would any ticket seller really do that? I definitely thought that was suspicious because Guido was smug about it "I'm doing all the work for you. All you have to do is say you want the same tickets."
About the taxi drivers- Team Guido knew where to go- they knew the city. So maybe showing that confidence in their destination gained them respect. I didn't notice the bicycle driver incident.

Kep421

Thursday, October 25, 2001 - 05:29 am Click here to edit this post
Actually, I remember them saying that they are very well "traveled" thoughout the world. The Guido's have had plenty of experience dealing with cab drivers, hotel clerks, airports, etc. in different countries.

Also, the Guidos speak several different languages. I don't think they were speaking english to the driver of the rickshaw. The Indian drivers may not know english, but sometimes they speak other languages like French or Italian, its not unusual. I think the Guidos were able to communicate exactly where they wanted to go much better than the others.

Team Guido also seems to be very well educated about the world. I knew the Taj Mahal was in India, but I didn't know the city. The Guidos knew the city. The other contestants were relying on the taxi drivers to know where they were going and ended up having to get out and find someone who knew in what city the hotel was located. The drivers didn't know, and they knew the contestants didn't know. They took advantage of the contestants and drove them around to raise the fares. The Guidos didn't have to go through all that nonsense because they knew which city to go too.

I have noticed quite a few contestants have told airline officials that they are in a race and that they need the quickest flight to their next destination. I'm sure the Guidos have done the same, only it wasn't edited into the episode.

And the Guidos did not get the only ticket to keep them in front, they got the only tickets available for that particular flight. The Guidos thought their flight was the quickest way to Rome(?). The Frat Boys, Emily & Nancy and Rob & Brennan, all got tickets on a better flight that would put them ahead of the Guidos. That's what caused the scene at the airport when the Guidos tried to make the rest of the contestants miss their flight.

No, I don't think the producers are helping the Guidos to win. I do believe they are editing the show to emphasize the problems the others are having, which contrasts highly with the relative few problems enountered by the Guidos. It is the emphasis on the problems of the others that is making us all sit every Wednesday night on the edge of our couches...

Roe325

Thursday, October 25, 2001 - 05:40 am Click here to edit this post
Last night when I saw the blonde quido find a driver who understood him to take him though the market place, watched him show the picture to the locals, finding the place right away, racing back to his buddy and wasting no time getting in a cab. I must say I realized, these guys are smart!

uh, yeah, I am a little slow. I just wanted to believe they were just mean. but the are also smart and work well together. and that is why the are winning this race.

Fruitbat

Thursday, October 25, 2001 - 05:47 am Click here to edit this post
I think they would be open to a law suit. This is a game show.

The Guidos are well traveled and familiar with finding locals to help. They chose the driver that spoke English. We didn't see how many taxi or rickshaws drivers they questioned before choosing one. Everyone else jumped in the first one, showed the picture and took off.

They also recognized the Taj Mahal and knew it was located in Agra, 100 miles away. The others thought they had to find a hotel in Delhi. Karen just mentioned on the Early show that she did not even see the little statue of the Taj Mahal, she just snagged the paper and ran. She said the shopkeeper did not open the box to it's full extent to view the figure. She would have known to go to Agra.

Casting is responsible for any inequities. They certainly must have considered the advantage the Guidos would have by their application. The NY guys had never been out of the country.

Pagal

Thursday, October 25, 2001 - 05:56 am Click here to edit this post
Dang! I forgot to watch the Early Show. Are Lenny and Karyn still together?

Bidasea

Thursday, October 25, 2001 - 07:19 am Click here to edit this post
A lot of these teams spend so much time arguing, that they lose their focus and momentum. Team Guido always regroups, and stays clearly in the game. If something doesn't work, they try something else.They are a well matched duo.When they were choosing to hang glide, or bicycle, they used logic to decide.When you bust into tears, or resort to screaming, you expend too much energy that should be used in thinking and plotting.BUT, I am still rooting for the Frat boys..

Mindyrama

Thursday, October 25, 2001 - 08:27 am Click here to edit this post
IMO I don't think they are rigging the game to help any one team, but I have thought that maybe CBS is paying people off to make things tougher and more exciting..like making sure the cab drivers get them lost or something. Or to make it more difficult for them to get tickets. This is the feeling I've had on a number of occasions.

Kep421

Saturday, October 27, 2001 - 05:49 am Click here to edit this post
Me too, Mindy. I think they planned for a great many problems and if the airports, trains and other forms of transportation (as well as the teams themselves) don't deliver those problems, it would make better TV to sometimes throw a monkey wrench in here and there.

I remember hearing (in the first few episodes) the announcer say that the teams' drivers did not know where something was located. How does the announcer know that unless the drivers were instructed to not know?

I really like this show. Thinking about the logistics of this operation is half the fun!!

Floresmama

Saturday, October 27, 2001 - 06:43 am Click here to edit this post
Karyn also said she was the first one to get to the guy in the market place and he didn't open the box. I think they(the producers) should have given them some kind of time adjustment for that as they have for other such occurences. Eventhough I would much rather Karyn and Lenny be out than Nancy and Emily I don't think it was fair knowing that fact.

Crazydog

Monday, October 29, 2001 - 08:12 am Click here to edit this post
I agree that if this is really what happened it wasn't fair. A time bonus, however, may not even have saved them. She said in the interview that she would have recognized the Taj Mahal and probably would have gotten into a cab and said "Agra". They would have saved a lot of time they wasted going in circles. This is part of what is frustrating about watching the show - we don't know what has to go wrong in order to get a time bonus, or how much it is, or how they calculate it.

However, we also have to remember we didn't see everything. Maybe there was some kind of "magic phrase" they were supposed to say and she didn't say it. I do remember that Nancy got up there and just kind of blankly looked at him, and he said something like, is there something you want, as if he was waiting for her to say a prearranged message. I taped the show but didn't rewatch it, so I'm not sure about that.

Whoami

Monday, October 29, 2001 - 08:42 am Click here to edit this post
Actually, I believe Karyn said the shopkeeper didn't open the box all the way, and she didn't pay attention to the box, cause she didn't think it was part of the clue. She just grabbed the envelope and ran without looking at the clue. She said if she had taken the time to look at the box, she would have realized it was the Taj Mahal and that they needed to go to Agra.

Notango

Monday, October 29, 2001 - 02:57 pm Click here to edit this post
After a careful reviewing of the tape, I've discovered that the clue said to find the shopkeeper and "he will show you to your next destination". SHOW is the operative word here. The wording of the clues is very precise and the use of the word SHOW should have been a signal to them that they were supposed to be looking at something.

That being said, it would have been incredibly easy to overlook that part of the clue, given the stress of the moment and the race. But as the race becomes progressively harder, each player needs to pay attention to every little detail to stay in the game. It's my opinion that Karyn didn't pay attention to this detail and that's why she and Lenny are out.