On the Early Show. . .

- Joyce still had short hair, though probably hasn't cut it since the race was shot in November. She commented that cutting her hair was no problem for a million dollars. Also said she might leave it short since everyone keeps telling her how great it looks. They are still talking about invitro or adoption.

- Rob and Amber were fine. Rob was gracious considering the airplane incident. Amber did slip in a mention about the wedding show, but they were asked about their wedding by the commentator.

- Ron and Kelly got more interview time than Rob and Amber. CBS trotted out the clip of Kelly's ridiculous POW/commitment remark yet again. Her response was something like: "Well, you know those things get taken all out of context on TV. When I got home from the race, I said to my mother that it was amazing that Ron and I had only had one fight the whole trip." The commentators were literally dumbfounded by this comment--complete silence for a second or two, which is pretty long on a morning show. Finally one commentator said that there seemed to be plenty of sniping if not downright fights, or something along that line.

I understand that creative editing can make a situation seem different than it really is, but with Ron and Kelly there seemed to be too many unpleasant interactions for it to be caused by creativity alone.

Rob and Amber's best line this morning on the Early Show was "close, but no cigar (store.)" :) Kinda disappointed they didn't win - I thought they played the smartest game. But I liked J&U, too.

I think that "bunching" is necessary to have the show. Without it, leading teams would soon be leaving to go to the next leg, before other teams finished the current leg.

Phil would be unable to meet all the contestants and would have to have a staff that was several times larger to maintain all those different roadblocks, clues, detours at the same time. As it is, he is barely ahead of the teams during portions of the race.

Plus, by half way through the season a team could be so far ahead that there would be no drama and ratings would suffer big time.

Keith

Keith I agree that there has to be some way to keep all the teams reasonably close together during the race, but I absolutely don't think that there should be any kind of bunching in the final segment. At that point, it is a race to the finish line and it's not fair to take away a lead that anyone has built up. Doing this means that the teams not in first place can pretty much rely on getting a second chance, but the team in first place is penalized for racing well. I hope they change it. The producers need to be much more creative and maybe select places for the last round that have more opportunities for tasks. This should be the toughest round, and it seems that the final task is stupid, requiring luck more than anything. Yes, the whole thing involves huge amounts of luck, but at the end there should be more competition.

I've read that the pilot did not just re-open the door, but actually had begun to taxi and returned to the gate to pick up J&U.

Does it bother any one else that Ron knows everything about the things he doesn't have to do but nothing about the things he does?

The 2 things that come to mind right now was when Kelly had to drive the bus. After she finally finished and they were in the cab, he was telling her how he could have driven that bus with no problems because he flew helicopters. He said they should drive back over there so he could prove it to her. And last night he said he could do the limbo better.

When it came time to build the raft, he kept saying over and over that he didn't know how to do it because he had never done it before. I'm sure if she had to build the raft by herself he would have been bragging about how stupid she was and how much better he could have done it.

I didn't care for either of them but I really wanted to slap him for being such a windbag (or a$s).

Barbara,

You read correctly. The plane had already taxied and came back to pick up U & J. I'm sorry but that was so unfair. THe money should go to Rob and Amber or at least split 50 50. I remember in the year 2000 before 9/11 I was late getting to the airport. When I got to the gate the plane was still there but they said once the doors were shut that was it. This is post 9/11 and they're bringing planes back, opening the doors and letting people on? Not right at all.

What was great about the amazing race finale wasn't just that U/J won...it was that they still had the time and decency to beg for money for the taxi driver AND win while romber were way behind!

That's got to hurt Rob's ego!

OK, I have to admit as I review the last episode that possibly the producers had something to do with the plane turning back. I absolutely would NOT have wanted Romber to win, and I think it absolutely right and just and fitting that U&J did, but I also have suspected the producers' fingers on the scales more than once. I suspect they have may have cut a deal with Romber that they could be in the race and could do whatever they wanted to be in the final 3 but no guarantees if it looked like they were going to win. It made much better TV to have the come-from-behind win by U&J -- if you were going to script it, that's how you would have written in.

Final comment: if Romber are the role models for the current generation, it explains much about the chaotic and cruel mess we're in. If U&J are role models, we've got some hope for the future.

The "chaotic and cruel mess we're in" can be laid entirely at the feet of George W. Bush, who is not in the same generation as R&A.

"if you were going to script it, that's how you would have written it."

The truth is, it <i>is</i> scripted, but it is &quot;scripted&quot; by the editing in post-production. You should never forget that as you watch each episode through the entire season, the editors are shaping the story with the final outcome in mind.

I have no doubt that if another team had won, the footage we would have seen every week leading up to the finale would have been rather different.

The editors on TAR and on Survivor (another Burnett property) are absolutely brilliant. The finale of TAR was a great example of editing worthy of an Emmy.

Marilyn, absolutely correct.

Rob and Amber were on Regis and Kelly yesterday. They were both very gracious but Rob jokingly (with pain in his heart, I'm sure) said the pilot cost them one million dollars because without a doubt they would have won had the pilot not turned the plane around and opened the door to let Joyce and Ucchenda on the plane.

I think that pilot is going to have to answer to someone because now everyone is going to say why didn't the plane wait for me, or it's still on the runway bring it back.

I still think that part was rigged. Someone was paid off.

Question: Do they have enough advance knowledge to pay off the pilot? I mean, do they know that two teams are going to be so close on any particular flight?

Another question: Several people have said the producers intervened to have the plane brought back. I know each team travels with a camera and sound person, but is there also a producer present?

The way the show is edited, it doesn't appear there would be the opportunity to &quot;fix&quot; it in the way that is suggested. (Not that I don't think there are plenty of other opportunities...)

The teams travel with the camera person and sound person only.

I don't want to think it was fixed, I think that it happened because of the presence of the cameras, and I think it was wrong. It's one thing just reopening the door and replacing the jetway, which many people have said has happened to them, but actually turning around and coming back to the gate is something else. There's no way the producers could have foreseen the exact scenario.

I agree, Barbara, but other teams have occasionally had that same sort of luck. I don't think you can make a case for it being &quot;wrong,&quot; but you could make a case for it being &quot;unfair.&quot;

To my thinking, it isn't any more &quot;unfair&quot; than being recognized by a stranger and therefore assisted through your task, or being allowed to carry on your backpack when others were forced to check them. Just kind of the luck of the draw.

What I'd really like to know is whether the prize legs and non-elimination legs are fixed in advance. I know they <i>say</i> they are, but are they really?

Marilyn, I believe the end-of-leg prizes and the non-elimination legs are decided in advance. I haven't read anything credible which even suggests that they're not.

As far as the prizes go, even though the contestants have to sign contracts swearing them to secrecy, I believe that if there was prize fixing that it would leak out and that would seriously affect two things..the show's credibilty with viewers and the producers' ability to attract contestants. No show of this type could withstand that amount of scandal. I don't think the producers are stupid and so I don't think they would do anything which would cause that type of damage.

I'd like to see non-elimination legs disappear, at least in their present format. I don't think anyone enjoys seeing people beg for money. It's not entertaining television and it hasn't really stopped anyone, or even delayed them much. There could be some kind of time penalty or something if they absolutely have to have non-elimination legs.

Yes, I agree about the non-elimination rounds. I think they tried to make it more difficult by taking away all their &quot;stuff,&quot; but honestly, that just makes me want to cry. A serious time penalty, or even better, an extra task the next day (maybe one for which they would get &quot;paid&quot; piecework?), would be far better than watching people humiliate themselves begging for money, especially in third world countries.

Re: the pilot &quot;cost&quot; Rob a million dollars.

That's at least three times that someone &quot;cost&quot; him a million dollars - he said the cop who stopped them &quot;cost&quot; them a million dollars; a cab driver &quot;cost&quot; them a million dollars, and now a pilot &quot;cost&quot; him a million dollars.

What I saw on TV was Rob unable to find a cigar shop because he didn't know that the name would be in Spanish. Had he found it quickly, they would have beaten the other couple to the finish line. So its seems to me that he cost himself a million dollars.

I have been reading these posts concerning the final episode with a great deal of laughter. Do you actually think the network would spend thousands of dollars on this production without a producer on sight? They HAD to have at least two couples on that flight to Miami or the SHOW was over.
Now let me tell you what actually happened so we can end the suspense. I have a business client who works on the show in an executive capacity.
They were really surprised that Rob and Amber got on that flight as it was &quot;planned/hoped&quot; that without a major hitch that all three couples would be on the 11:15 flight (actually left at 11:40). Even Ron and Kelly got on that flight.
After Ron and Amber got on the earlier flight, calls from a producer were quickly made to AA for some &quot;help&quot;. Keep in mind that AA gave away a lot of the major prizes during the entire race so they were an interested third party.
Mission accomplished and may the best/luckiest couple get to the finish line upon arriving in Miami. I agree with several posts that they should make that last hour a lot more challenging and not leave it up to who gets the best taxi driver. Mike

Mike, thanks, that's interesting. Yes, it would have ruined the finale to have any one couple be so far ahead. Maybe AA were also trying to atone for screwing up the final leg of season 5!