To be fair, I don't think the teams know the details of the roadblock when they decide which team member will perform it. They read "which of you is not a vegetarian", decide which will complete the task, then get the details of the task. However, the clue basically tells them it's an eating task, and they should have known it would be more than she could handle even if they didn't know exactly what or how much.

Someone has suggested "Team Napolean Dynamite" for the Team Hermanos because their mouths are always open, and they have trouble with their bikes.

Other than last season when Hayden took the time penalty for not opening the locks, I don't recall anyone else ever taking the penalty in previous seasons. Rob wouldn't have seen that episode before he did this race. He pretty much invented the strategy of skipping the task without having any precedent for doing that.

Thanks for the heads up about the video on the AR CBS website. There's some VERY interesting footage on there, I suggest you all to check it out.

Of note...Phil apologized to Lynn and Alex for not having a prize for winning the leg - why wouldn't they have a prize?!

Also, Phil asks them where they have to go now (after they finished first). He isn't even aware of what they have to do or where they have to go once they finished. In Phil's words..."where are they sending you now?" I thought that a bit odd.

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race7/insider/

Maybe Travelocity doesnt like teh gay.

Haha, could be. Or AA for that matter...

BTW, what are we calling their team?

The first season didn't feature much bunching, and while there were certainly instances where the team getting eliminated was a foregone conclusion I wouldn't agree that it always made for boring television. In fact, watching teams that were far in the lead (for two or three episodes straight) make a bonehead decision and fall behind was more exciting than anything in the more recent editions. Plus they used to have a lot of fast forwards, which actually added a level of excitement in the beginning. In later seasons they became pointless to the gameplay and now are all but gone, mainly due to the fact that the bunching has made a first place finish nothing more than a temporary bragging right. But in the beginning they could potentially close a 6 or 7 hour gap and make things interesting again.

As for the second point, I think that was a really big problem in that first season (some teams were almost a full day behind at some points) and the producers' main rationale for the bunching.

I did not see season 1 but apparently according to the twop forums and elsewhere, there was a team nicknamed momily who apparently skipped a roadblock and was assessed a 24 hour penalty. TWOP link

I will have to wait for the DVD to see the context or you can read the recaps, etc for season1.

Edit - nevermind - DRG covered the point

Don't make me stop this thread and come back there.

Hehe, just curious, as I've heard names for other teams, and haven't been reading the AR threads until now. Team Romber or whatever, for example .

Now that you mention it, I remember that from season 1. I thought I remembered them just taking the wrong transportation or something, but according to tvtome.com they skipped a Detour. Team Guido had totally botched the advantage of the Fast Forward and were lucky that Emily and her mom had so much trouble with their task. I couldn't find the episode summary at cbs.com unfortunately.

Someone at TWOP that claims to know Debbie/Bianca says that Debbie is still having stomach issues from eating all that meat. I'm not sure how that could be, but that's what was written.

Obviously it won't be as easy as I say it is, but as a meateater, I know that I WOULD do it without a doubt and like I said in under 2 hours, probably under one.

When I go to those Brazilian all-you-can-eat places, I eat nothing but meat and I'd say that I eat 2-3 lbs each time.

I buy those 3 lb packages of ground beef and make them into small hamburger patties and eat them throughout the day for protein. In one day, I can easily finish the whole package. If I was forced to, I could eat that 3 lb package in one sitting and throw on another lb. I'd probably have to take a crap or 2 and puke a few times, but trust me, I'd find a way to get it done.

I'm guessing that none of these guys has ever pledged a fraternity before.

Hate to get technical on ya, but actually she doesn't HAVE to do 6, it's just that her partner can't do MORE than 6. I think it was a bonehead move: previous seasons have showed more than one eating challenge, usually something hard to get down, and generally the women don't do as well as the men.

Actually, now I'm curious: has there been an example where the women did BETTER than the men in any eating challenge? More specifically, on man/woman teams where they had a choice, not woman/woman teams where they didn't?

Oh, and I'm not counting Rebecca and the Whiny Boy from last season, sure she did well on the eating challenge but I was thinking MAN/woman teams, not SISSY/woman teams...

Good article... I think that was posted in last week's thread, but it's even more applicable this week, after he talked two other teams into quitting!

Yeah, that was disappointing, the first three teams were literally a couple of hours ahead of the rest of the teams, but they all bunched up because of the garage opening at a time (5am) conveniently after the last team left the pitstop. I would've loved to see Rob and Amber 8+ hours ahead... but it actually worked out to their benefit when they got to the roadblock, because they needed a team to arrive close after they quit, to start the timer.

Yeah, they're so proud of beating that one team, get over it already. Like others have said, this is a marathon, not a sprint, and beating ONE team isn't the point.

I think the bunching at the beginning is fine. I didn't like last season where they had bunching at the roadblock which made the previous 45 minutes meaningless and which basically meant whoever did the roadblock the slowest is gone.

anyway, I think for this bunching, the producers felt it would be unsafe for the teams to drive into mountains into the Andes on those curvy roads (near the bridge) without any road lights (that I remember seeing) in the middle of the night. Just imagine Debbie and Bianca driving up to Central America in the middle of the night if it wasn't for the bunching

Edit to add:
I think that Ray and Deanna felt that they screwed up the shoe shinning roadblock with Ray doing that so they might have been too smart by half by trying to "even" the numbers of roadblocks done by each member with a non-strength roadblock.

Team on Fire

LOL, ok, I like that one.

When the gay guy was eating the meat, I was thinking of the Queer As Folk episode where Brian did the gay ad campaign for the steakhouse restaurant: "Eat the Meat!"

In the behind the race clips, Team on Fire jokes about "normally liking sausage" and Phil just says "and on THAT note...."

::

I am so damn happy that this was not a non-elimination leg.

I want to congratulate everyone who ate four lbs. of meat. Even Patrick - who acted like a little prima-donna for a couple of hours before doing so.

I love how the two teams that were a little too arrogant in the first ep had their asses handed to them in this one because they can't follow directions or read a map properly.

non?

I loved it when Romber arrived at the Pitstop and Phil said, "I don't know why I'm laughing, but I am." He just knows that s.o.b. is changing the way his game will be played by future teams watching this season.

Blah! You know what I meant.

I fixed my post - thanks.

Easting 3 pounds of hamburger is one thing, but they were eating cow uder, intestine, brain, etc.

I liked how the one guy was saying how eating cow brain at home is usually juicy.

I bet Lynn and Alex walked away and called Phil a "bitch."

Now that Debbie and Bianca are gone, I expect Team MotherBoy to bite it. How embarassing is that, talking all tough after 1 leg, talking about how they personally want to eliminate Rob and Amber, only to get stuck driving around a city for 2 hours?