I'm torn as to who my favorite team is. I think Nikki (Nicole) is my favorite racer, but she needs to dump that wussy, good for nothing, whining Brandon. The sooner she does that the better. I'm sort of rooting for them just for her sake. Otherwise Chip & Kim, are probably my favorites. I still think C&C will win it all though.

That wasn't the gay couple. That was the surfer dudes.

Like I mentioned before, the fact that Marshall was walking at all tells me he could have walked faster if he had pushed himself and ignored the pain. He quit in his mind long before his body gave out by listening to the pain and telling himself he can't do this. The worst part was they were absolutely in the race. If they had arrived at the roadblock even 10 minutes earlier they would have had a chance of finding the scarab before the Moms. Marshall's quitting was inexcusable (imo).

That's easy for you to say not being in the situation they were in. Some people deal with pain better than others.

No, it was the gays.

Brandon actually did well this leg. He crawled down the narrow space which he claimed to have a fear of last week. He rode the donkey at the detour and found the scarab, which was a difficult task. He is a bit of a wuss sometimes, but at least he is a nice guy and seems to treat his woman well. It's refreshing since so many guys are jerks and "bad boys" these days. That's my opinion on it anyway.

Nicole is pretty cool. Something tells me that if Brandon is hoping she is as pure as the driven snow, he is sorely mistaken.

Put Nicole and Charla on a team and I might root for them.

Whatever. They had a history of being whiners and talking about quitting, so I think it is a safe assumption.

What was Brandon's line while on the mule/donkey? "I'm hoping to have kids some day"?

cdollaz is correct, it was the gays aka "Team Guido" who were told the race was over while they were still in Alaska in the midst of a dogsled ride. However, since the race was over and the finish line is not really a "pitstop" Phil was correct. And I believe the Guidos did eventually finish the race, although it was not shown.

The biggest whiner in the history of the show (Flo) talked about quitting just about every leg. She ended up winning. Alot of them talk about quitting. Doesn't mean they actually do it. If they were really quitters, they would have done it long before this or when his knee first started hurting. I think the guy tried to make it as far as possible and if they would have not been in last place, I think he would have tried to go on, but seeing that they were obviously in last place, made the decision he did.

I believe in season to the grandmother's got stuck at an airport and were told not to continue.

My bad. I didn't read your post careful enough. I was thinking of Season 4 when Chip and Riechen (sp?) won and the two surfer guys were way behind and told it was over.

Phil said that the brothers were the first team in the history of the show to be physically unable to make it to the pit stop.

I thought he also said that he had never had to come out onto the course before. This is my first season watching, so I don't know if that's true.

Same here. I didnt really like them in the first couple episodes, but they've really played well the last couple episodes, starting in Russia. It really is nice to see people enjoying the places they visit.

Mirna hate-level.....RISING!
It may be acceptable to try some underhanded tactic, i.e. taking an arriving team's taxi to leave them stranded, but if you get caught at it and the taxi wasn't really available for you to claim, it's not acceptable to blame and insult the other team over it. Really, Mirna, spitting? Looks like someone needs a time-out. Competing is one thing, but intentionally aggravating and alienating the other teams is a bad idea.

Some good anti-Mirna moments: Charla easily scampering down the passageway in the Great Pyramid, yelling "Come on, Mirna!", Mirna doing the roadblock with Charla's Mirna-style encouragement (nagging), goats jumping out of the boat, and "The Bad Goat" with the menacing close-up and the Aliensesque scary chord (props to the editors there).

Chip & Kim are the new favorite team here; they're just so enjoyable to watch with their enthusiasm. The reaction to the Taxi of Terror was great.

To end all debates hopefully on the whole thing with the Pizza guys quiting and past seasons. The main difference of what happened here to any other time was this: The other times all teams had finished the race and the last team then got to a marker flag to get their clue. When they got this clue it stated that they were last and thus eliminated and to go to the pit stop. In this case, there were still teams on the field searching for the scarabs in the sand when they got their clue, hence there was still that chance when they got to the marker flag. Also, as far as people not knowing what a scarab was, out of 14 people not a single one of them saw the movie The Mummy?

I believe it was The Clowns last season. I think they were still in Hawaii when the other teams finished.

It was the best friends David and Jeff who arrived at the airport first in Austrailia. They took a flight to Sydney hoping to catch a connecting flight to Hawaii. However there were no flights to Hawaii until the next day. The other teams (Reichen & Chip / Kelly & Jon) found out this information and took another flight directly to Tokyo instead of going through Sydney. It was David and Jeff who fell behind. I believe the race ended while they were still in Hawaii.

That edit really had me laughing out loud!

First let me just say that I am enjoying the debate.

I agree that Flo is the biggest quitter in the history of the show. I despised her. Zack carried that team. He was the only reason they stayed in the race.

I hate when people even mention quitting. For me, especially in a race like this, quitting is not an option. Unless my leg is broken or something else that is preventing me from walking AT ALL, I am pushing myself regardless of pain, exhaustion, or whatever. I have run a marathon in under 3:45 so I know what pain and exhaustion are about.

My point with the Pizza Boys is Marshall "quit" before he actually quit. He was defeated mentally. He told himself he couldn't do it since getting out of bed that morning and continued telling himself throughout the day. Yes, I agree that once they officially quit, I don't blame them. The other teams had all finished. It was over. My gripe is he could have pushed himself just a little harder getting from place to place. They were neck and neck with everyone getting off the plane, but yet it seemed like they arrived at the roadblock at least 30 minutes to an hour after the Bowling Moms. Even if Marshall could have sucked it up just slightly it would have bought them 10 or 15 minutes to find the scarab before the Moms. It would have taken some luck, but they were far from out of it completely.

It's irrelevant in the end. They clearly weren't capable of being competitive with the other teams. I only wanted to see a bit more determination from them, Marshall especially. Lance was great for the most part, but he could have encouraged his bro a bit more.

What a show.

*Mirna is getting unbearable. I am so sick of her blaming the other teams every time they get caught trying to steal/cheat. She really is worthless. In all the other legs when Charla could do most of the roadblocks, they finished near the very top. In this leg, when Mirna couldn't pawn so much off, they almost got eliminated. I really can't stand Mirna and I don't know how anyone else could.

*Colin and Christie look unbeatable. Their lead was reduced to nothing and they still came out on top in convincing fashion.

*Was anyone else shocked that 1.5 only had a 4 minute lead on Brandon and Nicole at the start of the leg? The editing last week made it seem much larger than that. That camel ride must have taken a long time.

what Phil actually said to the brothers is that they were the first to be physically unable to reach the pitstop. I guess there may have been others who were just so far behind it didn't matter, but not due to any physical problems.

I don't blame them though. If I had seen that everyone else had already been through, I wouldn't want to dig around in the dark either.

I was very surprised their lead was only 4 minutes.

Marshall quit long before they arrived at the dig site.