<p>I’m so annoyed. S1 called last night in the middle of TAR. When I answered the phone, the snowboarders were in the lead starting the shoe-making task; when I got off the phone, they were struggling to find the pit stop. I need to find the episode online so I can see what happened. That was certainly a shocker considering how successful they’ve been throughout the season.</p>
<p>I’m pulling for Amani & Marcus, altho,as a former football player, they probably need the $ less than the other teams.</p>
<p>True they won some GREAT prizes, but selfishly I wanted to watch them in the final. Cindy and Ernie and Jeremy and Sandy are lackluster for me to watch. I will also be rooting for Marcus and Amani. </p>
<p>It seemed to me that the snowboarders were surprised at being eliminated. Bummer.</p>
<p>Bet we’ll see the snowboarders one day again in an all-star edition. :)</p>
<p>Wow, I was actually really happy the snowboarders got eliminated. I was getting a little tired of them - they were always in first and they had already won six legs of the race (multiple trips, cash, new cars!). It’s not as fun to watch if it’s super obvious who the winner’s going to be. Sandy and Jeremy were super smart to do the drawing of the building and get to the right pit stop. The cab driver thing is just a part of the show… Sometimes the teams get really lucky! Marcus and Amani are probably my favorites to win, but I don’t think I would mind if Sandy and Jeremy won either. They are really low-key and are definitely communicating better. Cindy and Ernie would be okay too, but Cindy grates a little…</p>
<p>While it’s true that the actual name was only printed on one skirt, the image of the building was also there and that’s what Jeremy found and, fortunately for him, his cab driver knew what it was. </p>
<p>I haven’t been a fan of Tommy and Andy so I wasn’t disappointed with them being eliminated. Cab drivers have been an issue in every season of the race and this one has been no exception. Usually, it’s because they’ve gotten lost and haven’t been able to find the right destination. That even happened last night to Marcus and Amani who ended up at the sandal-making task instead of the fish market. Sure it’s unfair, but there’s always been some level of unfairness in TAR.</p>
<p>It would be interesting to know what the timing was with the last task, and how much time had actually elapsed after the others arrived at the pit stop when Tommy and Andy arrived. I wish they’d release more of the seasons on dvd. The outtakes and extras are pretty fascinating.</p>
<p>I’ll be rooting for Marcus and Amani but I think that this final three make it difficult to predict who is likely to win. There isn’t a marked difference between these teams.</p>
<p>I’ll be interested to watch the snowboarders “exit” interview. Will try and post a link when it comes up. </p>
<p>One thing that I personally think sets the snowboarders apart from some of the other teams is that they seemed to truly embrace all aspects of the race. They did everything happily and without hesitation. They jumped right in EVERY time. They embraced the culture and dance of each city/country they visited. They kept their eye on the prize (the million) but the real “prize” for them seemed to be the COMPETITION.</p>
<p>The turn-around in who made it to the final 3 is part of what I love about this show. The snowboarders were a shoe-in to be there, and yet they missed the clue. I for one am glad to see them go, for one main reason, as was stated above…it’s not as much fun to watch the finale if you (pretty much) know who the winner is, and with 6 wins, they were the favored. Now it’s pretty much anyone’s game. I’m rooting for Marcus and Amani. </p>
<p>I have to say, there was a moment with the snowboarder who did the tightrope challenge (not Tommy, the other one) where he taunted…was it Sandi? I think so…anyway he teased in a rather mean spirited way…and I thought to myself, ‘whoops…that’s gonna cost you’…</p>
<p>There was another moment, when the 3 finale teams were on the mat, and they were all embracing one another like it was a party! I simply LOVED that! </p>
<p>One more thing…the cab drivers were not in cahoots to destroy…I have been in many cabs in different parts of the world where the cab drivers are chatting on phones and giving directions, etc. I think it was honestly just how things were for that challenge.</p>
<p>"just"aMom, I thought the same thing when Andy taunted Sandy (Sandi?) on the tightrope! That wasn’t nice - I would have been cussing him out for sure. I really feel like the three remaining teams are on equal footing now, so it will be really exciting to see who wins. I also loved how excited the final teams were when they all got to the mat! What a great moment! I think they were all getting really tired of having the snowboarders come in first every time.</p>
<p>ETA - the cab driver thing really wasn’t any different than having a terrible driver and getting screwed over… Only this time luck was on their side!</p>
<p>Wow! Great episode! I did not see the snowboarders getting eliminated coming. They were cruising. Probably the clue wasn’t the best, if no one got it, but that is the game. And definitely, all of them have been hurt by bad cab drivers, so I don’t think it is the end of the world that they got lucky with a good cab driver. I thought it was a very fun, exciting episode.</p>
<p>I liked the episode too. I also like how by this time in show, the people who get along with each other (the couples) are left. It is fin to watch them interact. I thought the tightrope was frightening–and did not like the taunting either. Karma.</p>
<p>The taunting on the tightrope didn’t seem to be a very “Christian” thing to do.</p>
<p>In the last leg there’s always a task requiring the contestants to recall the previous legs. They’ve shown Cindy taking notes on everything. Will that give them an advantage? Or were other teams also taking notes, but that wasn’t shown much in the editing? Knowing how the race goes, you’d think all the teams would’ve been taking notes in anticipation of the recall task.</p>
<p>This last clue was one of the more difficult ones I’ve seen on the show. It sounds as if there were lots of items on the dancers indicating ‘Balboa’ so I can see how it could be an issue but nevertheless, the snowboarders blew it all on their own by going with that rather than the real clue. I was disappointed in the taxi drivers spoiling the game since it would have turned out completely differently if not for them. But I guess this is the flip side of the taxis that get lost, run out of gas, break down, etc. Marcus and Amani should feel redeemed for their other taxi issues by this one since if not for the taxi drivers communicating they would have gone to the wrong place.</p>
<p>I also didn’t mind seeing the snowboarders go mostly because I got tired of them winning so many of the legs but on the plus side they certainly they played the game well, got along with each other, got along with the others, and were generally enthusiastic (except for the non-bearded one trying to do the acting challenge which he did terrible at). They also irked me when they were disrespectful in the temple. I didn’t mind the taunting they did that much because it was pretty minimal and didn’t really seem mean spirited and was ineffective anyway. Wait till they find out how much income tax they owe on all their winnings! I wonder how many they’ll just forego.</p>
<p>I like Marcus and Amani best of the remaining 3 based on their personalities but with these 3 particular teams it’s hard to say who’ll actually win. I think it’s a total toss-up with none of them being particularly stronger than another (unlike if the snowboarders were in it).</p>
<p>I don’t really think there was “taunting” on the tightrope. He said something like, “I’m going mess with her a little”. And then he just called out that she should look at the view. Is that really taunting?</p>
<p>I agree with you abasket about the snowboarders attitude towards the game. They were always grateful and excited about their wins and never mean spirited. I liked them.</p>
<p>So true. I’m sure they’ll find that a big surprise!</p>
<p>I’m not sure it was actually taunting, and it wasn’t exactly clear whether she could hear him or not, but it wasn’t a nice thing to do, regardless. He was aware of the fact that she was frightened of heights and he was safely ensconced on the building, not 36 stories high on a tightrope.</p>
<p>I think that the snowboarders had a good attitude about participating in the race and enjoying the experience (minus the classless comments at the temple), but I think they were often too impulsive in their racing style and, in the end, it cost them. </p>
<p>I think Amani is one of my favorite contestants ever in 19 seasons of TAR so I’ll be very happy if she and Marcus win. It will be interesting to see if they resurrect the memory task in the final leg. Last season, there wasn’t one. If there’s any team that doesn’t keep careful notes about each leg after 18 seasons, they don’t deserve to win.</p>
<p>I’m rooting also for Armani and Marcus. They have certainly had some good breaks, and they are a cheerful, upbeat couple, respectful to each other.</p>
<p>I didn’t think the snowboarders were taunting or mean-spirited, but I guess that is one of the things that is a person’s perspective. Even though they had won so many legs, it was definitely not a shoo-in for them to win. They had made enough mistakes along the way (remember when they gave their clue away), that nothing was guaranteed. </p>
<p>All in all, this show remains one of my all-time favorite shows, and I will be sad when it eventually goes off the air. I’ll just have to hope they put the oldies in Netflix!</p>
<p>The snowboarders were just too good for their own good. This was another leg where they simply outran the rest of the pack and were off by themselves. That’s what cost them it turns out.</p>
<p>Had they arrived at the dancing in second or third place they would have picked up on other team’s comments and not dashed off so quickly. I can’t recall when any other first place team got eliminated so deep into a leg.</p>