Amazing Race...spring 2012

Oh brother ! We knew this might happen. Rachel and Brendon....will we never be free of them.... But it will be interesting to see how much he screams at her during the challenges. He disturbed many women in the Big Brother audience with his verbal abuse......but we'll see.

http://xfinity.comcast.net/blogs/tv/2012/01/25/big-brother-winner-gears-up-for-new-season-of-the-amazing-race/

That was an interesting and unusual premiere on several counts. First, they have a good group of contestants. The clean shaven half of the twin brother team, Andrew, played soccer on the UNM team in 2001-2004 and went on to become a professional player.

Brendon and Rachel, especially Rachel, seemed less emotional and histrionic than when they were on Big Brother. That may change judging by previews for upcoming weeks.

But first things first. The skydiving plane that one team member had to jump out of in their first task is a Cessna 208B Caravan a work horse for many jobs around the world. The one that had a visible registration number, LV-CMD, tells us that LV designates a Argentinian registration, obvious since they were in Argnentina. A little more research reveals that it was previously registered in Germany and more recently , as late as 2008, in the Grand Canary Islands. So it's been around.

But the one unusual thing is that the cute sister team from San Diego were the first to be eliminated because they couldn't find the finish line ! Unbelievable !! They were within 100 ft. of it at one time but didn't see Phil standing there. They then ran off, still looking for the finish and Phil says, puzzled, "Where are they going ?" At the time they were in 10th place out of 11, and the Border Patrol agent team was in 11th. The Border Patrol team had no problem in finding the finish line so they came in 10th while the sisters were still running around looking for the line. Phil looked at them disapointedly as they finally came up to the line and of coursed they were crushed to hear they were eliminated.

The husband and wife professional clown team came in first and Brendon and Rachel came in a surprising second. If they can hold it together emotionally and psycho-sexually they may do very well, a surprise to most Big Brother fans.

That was quite a bizarre finish. I was surprised that Brendon and Rachel hung in there long enough to finish 2nd, given Rachel's emotional outbursts when things don't go their way. Now there's a hole in my Sunday viewing sched. and I don't see any reality shows coming along to plug it until Big Brother in July !

Dramatic ‘Amazing Race’ Finale: And The Winner Is…


by Tracy Phillips | May 7, 2012 at 10:42 AM | The Amazing Race

An 'Amazing' Finish for Rachel and Dave (Photo: CBS)

“The Amazing Race”
fans sweated out a dramatic conclusion to Season 20, where for the
first time in race history, one team crossed the finish line thinking
they’d won — but were turned away for what could have been a
million-dollar mistake!

After traveling 40,000 miles in 22 cities and five continents, it was
an exciting race to the finish in Hawaii on Sunday’s edge-of-your-seat
season finale. The final four teams hopscotched from Cochin, India, to
Hiroshima, Japan, and finally on to Honolulu, as they endured challenges
like a Japanese game show task involving rubber chickens and a
treadmill — Watch Some Brutal Wipeouts in the Clip Below!
— as well as a frightful, height-defying Tower climb and rappel, an
ice-shaving Detour, and Hawaiian sledding (which isn’t as fun as it
sounds).

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Army officer Dave and his wife Rachel
reached the finish line first, as all the eliminated teams lined the
million-dollar mat and excitedly cheered the winners to the big finish.

But wait, host Phil Keoghan is scowling! And this
time, the host known for his fake-outs, wasn’t kidding. Phil informed
the dazed and confused duo that he could not declare them the winners
because they had skipped the Roadblock entirely! The screw-up
sent Rachel and Dave back into the game, and they must have been in
shock since they barely reacted to the anti-climactic moment.

In its 20 seasons, the Emmy-winning reality show has never had that
happen, and even Phil couldn’t believe he had to deliver the bad news.

But the race was theirs to lose all along, and in the end, it didn’t
matter. The team that was ahead of them — Art and J.J. — were foiled by
the sloppy sled slide (Art wanted to strangle the narrow sled after
nearly 20 very costly failed attempts), as Rachel breezed through the
final challenge. She and Dave then hoped back on their paddleboards,
sailing their way to the win for real this time.

And so, Dave and Rachel Brown ended up being the first couple to cross the finish line twice
and ultimately won the $1 million prize. They beat unpopular “Big
Brother” couple Brendon and Rachel, who finished second and border
patrol agents Art & JJ, who came in third (dating divorcees Vanessa
and Ralph were eliminated earlier in the episode).

“‘Operation Amazing Race’ has been a success,” Dave said after all
the excitement. The Army couple’s first-place finish also marked another
moment “Race” history — Dave and Rachel now hold the record for the
most wins in a season by coming in first for eight legs of the race.