TARbloob

TAR14 winners Tammy & Victor on Reality Check Radio

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:14:00 +0000

Excerpted from Reality Check Radio:

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On Monday, June 22, Reality Check Radio welcomes Victor and Tammy Jih, this season's winners of The Amazing Race, for a live on-air interview. The sibling team, both lawyers from California, will be taking questions from fans and discussing their experience on the hit CBS competition show.

Listeners can find Reality Check Radio at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/reality_check. The show begins at 11pm EST/8pm PST. To participate in the live web chat, listeners are encouraged to register for a user account at www.blogtalkradio.com.

Reality Check Radio is an online BlogTalkRadio show which highlights and discusses current reality television.

Prelim "Amazing Race 14" finale ratings near average

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:03:00 +0000

The final episode of "The Amazing Race 14" did not bump upward in the preliminary Nielsen ratings, instead scoring near its season averages. TAR 14.12 drew a 3.0 prelim mark in the age 18-49 group with about 10.4 million overall viewers, reports PIFeedback.com.

As per usual this spring season, "The Amazing Race 14" had to work off of a poor demographic lead-in, doubling the "60 Minutes" preliminary rating (1.5) in the 18-49 age group. Even with no ratings bump, TAR14 still won the hour in both overall audience and 18-49s, defeating the first hour of "The Celebrity Apprentice" finale in the process.

While Mother's Day & Apprentice competition may have taken a sliver of the potential audience away, the simple reality is that "Amazing Race" finales just don't draw ratings bumps much above regular season episodes. The series is the reality show equivalent of "24" in that way, one has to already know and be invested in the characters and storylines already to appreciate an "Amazing Race" finale.
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"The Amazing Race" triumph of people over process

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:57:00 +0000

In the great CBS tradition, "The Amazing Race 14" champions Tammy & Victor Jih received their ceremonial $1 million grand prize check on the next day's live broadcast of "The Early Show."

Victor stated that the Romanian experience showed him that he couldn't win the race by himself. Tammy learned from the same debacle that she had to speak up to her big brother. Tammy & Victor had to unlearn their longtime unbalanced little sister/big brother dynamic in order to win TAR14.

Tammy later noted that she felt sorry for Jaime & Luke when watching the final telecast of the show since all of them had become good friends in the interim. For what it's worth, "The Amazing Race 14" completed taping just before Thanksgiving.

Host Phil Keoghan stated that "The Amazing Race 14" was something of a "spring cleaning" for the series as the program refocused on "people" instead of "process". He felt after watching the season that the program had actually become "born again". From my own readings of the Nielsen ratings charts, I would tend to agree with him.
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Tammy & Victor win "The Amazing Race 14"

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:08:00 +0000

For the second straight time, a team of siblings has won "The Amazing Race". Sibling/lawyers Tammy & Victor Jih won "The Amazing Race 14" going away, arriving at the King Kamehameha Golf Club in Wailuku, Hawaii ahead of the Margie/Luke and Jaime/Cara teams to take the shared million dollar grand prize.

Victor correctly assembled a fence of surfboards on the final Roadblock representing the eleven race legs of "The Amazing Race 14" in correct order ahead of competitors Jaime & Luke.

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Originally, the final race leg had threatened to turn into a runaway win for mother/son duo Margie & Luke who earlier had passed both other teams while carrying a pig on a pole for luau preparation. Neither Cara nor Tammy could handle the sheer physical strain of lifting the weight of the 100+ pound pig, continually dropping the dead animal. Tammy & Victor in fact left for the surfboard fence site in last place.

By the time Margie & Luke had arrived for the Roadblock themselves, they had a commanding lead. From his longtime fandom of the show, Luke correctly deduced that the final task would be a retrospective based on the previous race legs and had already studied for the task in advance. It was exactly the kind of strategy that I would have done in the same position. I wished it had worked.

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Luke easily sailed through the Roadblock correctly assembling nine of the eleven designated surfboards in correct order. It was his inability to deduce the final two would-be surfboards, representing the final two legs, that cost his team TAR14. With each failure, Luke grew more frustrated, literally throwing down the incorrect surfboard choices. To put it quite frankly, the man lost his cool.

We saw the same thing occur earlier in the race in fact when Luke's inability to unscrambled the letters of the poet name Chekhov led him to grow flustered. When Victor arrived at the surfboard site in the second position, he took his time and never got emotional over the task. It was Victor's ability to maintain a clear head that allowed his team with sister Tammy to prove victorious.

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Ultimately, Margie & Luke would not even get second place. In a last ditch attempt to catch up to Tammy & Victor, Jaime and Luke ended up working together to complete the Roadblock. Luke provided Jaime with the info on her missing surfboard so Jaime & Cara could depart the site and eventually finish in second place. Margie & Luke completed TAR14 in the third spot.

Of course, there were simply no opportunities left for either team to catch up to Tammy & Victor. "The Amazing Race 14" was already theirs.
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"The Amazing Race 14" - leg 11 results

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Mon, 11 May 2009 03:59:00 +0000

The following are the results for the eleventh / final leg of "The Amazing Race 14."

(START: Niao Chao - Beijing, China.)
(FINISH LINE: King Kamehameha Golf Club - Maui, Hawaii, USA.)

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#1	Tammy & Victor	siblings/lawyers	won "The Amazing Race 14" $1 million grand prize
#2	Jaime & Cara	ex-cheerleaders	-
#3	Margie & Luke	mother/son	-

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Jaime & Cara results compilation

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Mon, 11 May 2009 01:55:00 +0000

Jaime & Cara
Relationship: former NFL cheerleaders

leg	result	pit stop	info	LPA
#1	7th place out of 11	Stechelberg, Switzerland	-	40
#2	6th place out of 10	Salzburg, Austria	-	44
#3	7th place out of 9	Bran, Romania	-	25
#4	5th place out of 8	Krasnoyarsk, Russia	-	43
#5	3rd place out of 7	Novosibirsk, Russia	-	67
#6	5th place out of 7	Jaipur, India	-	33
#7	2nd place out of 6	Phuket, Thailand	-	80
#8	2nd place out of 5	Bangkok, Thailand	-	75
#9	4th place out of 5	Guilin, China	-	25
#10	3rd place out of 4	Beijing, China	-	33
#11	2nd place out of 3	Wailuku, Hawaii, USA	-	50
				47

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Margie & Luke results compilation

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Mon, 11 May 2009 01:11:00 +0000

Margie & Luke
Relationship: mother/son

leg	result	pit stop	info	LPA
#1	1st place out of 11	Stechelberg, Switzerland	leg win #1	100
#2	4th place out of 10	Salzburg, Austria	-	67
#3	4th place out of 9	Bran, Romania	-	67
#4	4th place out of 8	Krasnoyarsk, Russia	-	57
#5	1st place out of 7	Novosibirsk, Russia	leg win #2	100
#6	4th place out of 7	Jaipur, India	-	50
#7	4th place out of 6	Phuket, Thailand	-	40
#8	1st place out of 5	Bangkok, Thailand	leg win #3	100
#9	3rd place out of 5	Guilin, China	-	50
#10	2nd place out of 4	Beijing, China	-	67
#11	3rd place out of 3	Wailuku, Hawaii, USA	-	0
				63

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Tammy & Victor results compilation

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Mon, 11 May 2009 01:10:00 +0000

Tammy & Victor
Relationship: siblings/lawyers

>

leg	result	pit stop	info	LPA
#1	2nd place out of 11	Stechelberg, Switzerland	-	90
#2	1st place out of 10	Salzburg, Austria	leg win #1	100
#3	8th place out of 9	Bran, Romania	-	12
#4	3rd place out of 8	Krasnoyarsk, Russia	-	71
#5	2nd place out of 7	Novosibirsk, Russia	-	83
#6	1st place out of 7	Jaipur, India	leg win #2	100
#7	1st place out of 6	Phuket, Thailand	leg win #3	100
#8	3rd place out of 5	Bangkok, Thailand	-	50
#9	2nd place out of 5	Guilin, China	-	75
#10	1st place out of 4	Beijing, China	leg win #4	100
#11	1st place out of 3	Wailuku, Hawaii, USA	leg win #5 TAR14 title win	100
				80

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"The Amazing Race 14" finale is complete.

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Mon, 11 May 2009 00:57:00 +0000

"The Amazing Race 14" finale is complete. Results for the final leg of TAR14 are now posted here. SPOILERS for the finale if you haven't seen it yet.

Since I already did a live blog, the recaplette will be delayed until Monday. The live blog compiled during the episode (also constituting SPOILERS) can be reached here.

The "grade the episode" poll plus a few more polls are already up as I post this tonight. More final wrapup polls will be up Monday.
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"The Amazing Race 14" finale live blog

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Sun, 10 May 2009 22:10:00 +0000

TARbloob live blog #14
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"The Amazing Race 14" finale tonight!

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Sun, 10 May 2009 19:49:00 +0000

Click here for TARbloob's "The Amazing Race 14" finale live blog.

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After three continents, nine countries and 40,000 miles, a revived "Amazing Race" series will crown its fourteenth set of champions on tonight's telecast. Tonight's finale comes as the climax to one of the more exciting TAR runs in recent memory as a compelling cast of characters combined with changes to the presentation of the
program brought a renewed sense of vigor to this "The Amazing Race 14".

For this TAR14 finale, some things though do not change. A cast of three remaining teams... sibling/lawyers Tammy & Victor, mother & son Margie & Luke and ex-pro cheerleaders Jaime & Cara will compete on the final episode to reach the finish line first for a million dollar grand prize.

The tenth leg's final race order parallels the expectations going into tonight. Tammy & Victor only had one bad leg this entire race back in Romania but since emerged unified and unbowed to largely dominate the field. Margie & Luke overcame the obvious handicap of Luke's deafness to win most of the race legs that Tammy & Victor could not pick up.

Ex-cheerleaders Jaime & Cara make up the most unexpected entry for the finale, having not won any of the previous TAR14 race legs. A victory for the ex-cheerleaders would be their first leg win of the entire run and the first grand prize win for any all-female team in the history of the U.S. series. All that said, it would be a most unexpected result considering their largely midtier run through the race.

Whichever one of the possible three ways "The Amazing Race 14" comes down, we'll get to experience it vicariously together. Start time will be the usual 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS & CTV with a live blog here on TARbloob as the finale progresses.
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"The Amazing Race 14" - leg 10b / episode 11 recap (5/3/09 - China)

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:45:00 +0000

START

The tenth leg of "The Amazing Race 14" continued into the program's eleventh episode. Ex-cheerleaders Jaime & Cara found their rush to the Pit Stop still wouldn't net them a first place leg finish as they were instead given a new clue card by host Phil Keoghan. Still in first place, Jaime & Cara arrived by taxi at the Bai Hai shop and were directed to search for a {product placement sponsor] gnome.

Mother & son Margie and Luke arrived at the un-Pit Stop to receive their next clue with Margie growing weary of Luke continually shouting "Mom!" to hurry her up. Tammy & Victor reached the un-Pit Stop third. Sisters Kisha & Jen arrived in last place and were thrilled to learn that they had not been eliminated after their swimming/diving debacle.

Meanwhile, the top three teams all clustered at Bai Hai searching for the [product placement sponsor] gnome. Margie found the disguised gnome in a nearby shop to lift her team with Luke into the lead. The mother and son were directed to travel to Gu Gong Xi Bei Jao then ride electric bikes to Dongdan subway station. Jaime & Cara soon found their own gnome but both teams struggled to then find cabbies aware of Gu Gong's location.

The Chinese speaking Tammy & Victor had no such translation issues as both sibs recognized their next destination as being the Forbidden City. After retrieving their own gnome, they found a taxi to take them away in first place. The Margie/Luke, Jaime/Cara and Kisha/Jen teams followed in succession. Jaime literally poked her taxi driver with the top of her gnome to get an answer on whether he knew the destination location.

Tammy & Victor arrived at Gu Gong first, then took the bikes out. Tammy was pleasantly surprised to lean that the bikes were electric powered. Margie & Luke took the bikes out next, nearly running over a just arriving Kisha & Jen on the way out. Again, Jaime & Cara lost time attempting to navigate their cabbie to Gu Gong as they reached the Forbidden City now in last place.

DETOUR

The siblings/lawyers arrived at the next clue box in first place to trigger the Detour choice. Teams would have the option of Beijing Opera (dress up in costumes and makeup as an operatic princess & gentleman) or Chinese Waiter (recite Chinese language restaurant orders and serve the food to waiting customers.)

Given their fluency in spoken Chinese, Tammy & Victor obviously chose the restaurant option but were flummoxed when their initial attempt to recite the customer orders by translating them first failed.

Meanwhile, Kisha & Jen outpedaled Margie & Luke to reach the Detour clue in second place, the sisters subsequently chose to do the opera costuming. Margie & Luke obviously avoided the spoken recitation task and also went with the opera followed by Jaime & Cara. Margie complained during the makeup task to Luke that he was applying her makeup way too thick.

Back on the restaurant task, Tammy & Victor recited the orders correctly on their own next attempt to pass the Detour. The sibs traveled by foot to the U-turn site where fearing a rundown loss to the Pit Stop mat, they decided to U-turn Kisha & Jen. Those sisters completed the opera Detour in second place but got lost looking for the U-Turn.

Luke correctly figured that the U-Turn would be close to the Detour but the mother & son struggled as well to reach the U-Turn site. They were eventually told by a local to look back in the opera house where the now second place team happily discovered that Kisha & Jen had been hit.

U-TURN

Kisha & Jen would discover that same fact upon return to the opera house but to a much less positive reaction. The sisters would have to go back and do the restaurant Detour. Without a working knowledge of Mandarin Chinese, Kisha & Jen massacred their initial recitations of the customer food orders before eventually completing the task. Kisha & Jen had to sound out the words syllable by syllable to gain approval.

Ex-cheerleaders Jaime & Cara found their own race deficit widening as their taxi driver mistakenly took them to the National Opera instead of the Beijing Opera for the Detour. The women lost more time trying to find a replacement taxi and still further time looking down neighborhood streets for the U-Turn site.

Jaime finally determined that they would have to go back to the opera house and start over... discovering to their chagrin that the U-Turn box had been there all along. Jaime & Cara would leave for their next destination trailing Kisha & Jen in last place.

ROADBLOCK / PIT STOP

With a widening lead, Tammy & Victor triggered the Roadblock clue. One member of each team would have to eat a local delicacy of grasshoppers, larvae, scorpions and starfish. Victor chose the task for his team. Despite his feigned discomfort with the exotic foods, Victor finished the meal to keep his team in the top spot.

Tammy & Victor uncovered the destination for their Pit Stop, the Niao Chao. From their previous travel experience at the Beijing Olympics, the sibs knew that site as the Bird's Nest, directing their taxi to the Pit Stop for the easy first place finish. Tammy & Victor would win a vacation to the Galapagos Islands and first entry into the "The Amazing Race 14" finale field.

Margie chose the exotic food eating Roadblock for her team, keeping her son and herself in the second spot. After finding out their taxi driver knew the Niao Chao destination, they reached the Pit Stop in second place to also qualify for the TAR14 finale.

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Kisha & Jen arrived at the Roadblock where Jen drank down water by the bottlefuls to try to keep the food down. Jaime & Cara reached the Roadblock with Jaime telling Cara instead to simply shovel the food down fast to make up lost time. A water-logged Jen completed the Roadblock ahead of Cara to maintain third place for the sisters but not before the time deficit had indeed been narrowed.

The sisters taxied to Niao Chao where a flustered Jen complained that she had to yes, go to the bathroom due to the four bottles of water she had chugged back on the Roadblock. Kisha & Jen arrived at the outskirts of the complex ahead of the ex-cheerleaders but the sisters decided to stop so Jen could indeed relieve herself inside the exterior port-a-potty.

The unbelievable delay allowed Jaime & Cara to catch up, reaching the mat ahead of Kisha & Jen with seconds to spare to secure the final spot on "The Amazing Race 14" finale. Jen's bathroom break proved perhaps the most costly bathroom break in television history. The sisters finished in last place to take a tearful elimination out of TAR14.
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TAR 14.11: Kisha & Jen

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:39:00 +0000

Some people go on reality shows and find fame and fortune at least for a little while, others reach a sort of infamy either by design or by a basic failing along the way. No matter what Kisha & Jen did along the way during their "Amazing Race 14" run, they will always, always been remembered for the ridiculous way in which they left.

I am sorry but it seems absolutely incomprehensible that any racers would feel the need to take a bathroom break in the middle of a run to avoid elimination, in the middle of run to decide whether or not they would have a chance at a shared million dollars. Hold it in, let it go, do anything, anything at all other than use lose valuable time needed to avoid elimination.

In fairness to the unfortunate Jen, it wasn't just the bathroom break itself but the fact that she felt the need for one in the first place. The eating Roadblock really made the difference on the penultimate leg as Jen bogged down, needing four bottles of water to get through the task while competitor Cara simply powered through it. Of course, it wasn't the eating itself but the after effects of that water drinking that proved key.

Ironically though, Kisha & Jen weren't really the worst team even in this leg. They had passed two other teams in recovery from their swimming/diving debacle and stayed ahead of Jaime & Cara even when unfairly forced to do the extra restaurant Detour. Please make no mistake, had the U-turn not been used against Kisha & Jen... even the bathroom break would not have doomed their TAR14 chances.

What the next to last TAR14 leg did signify for me though is that while Kisha & Jen were a legitimately competitive and athletic team, they were not the biggest threat to win "The Amazing Race 14." The sisters gave a credible performance, not an overwhelming one. Kisha & Jen still deserved a better way out though than the one for which they'll always be remembered.
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TAR 14.11: Margie & Luke

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:16:00 +0000

Mother and son duo Margie and Luke wouldn't have been expected to be one of the top three teams going into "The Amazing Race 14" but the mother and son proved themselves early and often over the course of the race... taking the first race leg and most of the other ones that Tammy & Victor couldn't claim.

While Margie & Luke couldn't overcome Tammy & Victor in Beijing, the duo avoided the big mistakes from the other two pairs for a second place finish. Luke's laying the makeup on his mom didn't stop them from passing the Beijing Opera task while Margie had seemingly no difficulty with the native food Roadblock.

Though Margie's life experience has been key, this team's greatest advantage may be Luke's outside knowledge of the show and how it operates. I've always believed that it was possible to study "The Amazing Race" from the outside and gain at least a peripheral insight into how to play the game. (I wouldn't have this blog if I didn't believe that.)

In the penultimate episode, Luke proved that by using his show knowledge to deduce that the U-Turn would be close to the Detour. It didn't find his team the Detour but it kept them from getting too far off the track.

While Luke's own behavior has not always been inspirational, a Margie and Luke victory would certainly break more than a few stereotypes about what the physically handicapped can and can't do in this world. Regardless of the end result though one way or the other, Margie and Luke have shattered those particular barriers for true race fans already.
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TAR 14.11: Tammy & Victor

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:36:00 +0000

The presence of sibling/lawyers Tammy & Victor in the final three of "The Amazing Race 14" should not be any sort of surprise. Aside from one awful leg in Romania, the siblings have performed consistently as one of the top racing teams on the program.

In fact, that Romanian leg may have helped Tammy & Victor in retrospective by forcing Victor to be more inclusive towards Tammy over the course of the remaining race. Though they met adversities since Romania, they stayed unified enough and in good humor enough to not let anything threaten their eventual final run.

The concluding portion of leg ten featured Tammy & Victor at their best, taking advantage of their obvious home language advantage in China to take another race leg going away. While Victor was squeamish over the local Beijing cuisine, said squeamishness didn't get in the way of him completing the team Roadblock. I do grant that Tammy & Victor won't have a home language advantage for most of the finale.

My only criticism of Tammy & Victor's performance last episode is that I believe they U-turned the wrong team. Though it wasn't necessarily wrong to use the U-Turn, it was Margie & Luke (not Kisha & Jen) who had more consistently challenged them on previous legs and had seemed the greater threat. If forced to do a Detour based on vocal recognition of all things, Margie & Luke could have been delayed to the point of elimination.

Tammy and Victor are plainly not the most mechanically or physically inclined but otherwise they are the most skilled, virtually never getting lost on their own and virtually always making the first departures out of crowded airports. Though it has been deemphasized in more recent legs, Tammy & Victor still have a willingness to use subtle subterfuge if necessary to prevail one more time.

If form holds, one of the final challenges this TAR14 will be retrospective based on the memories and experiences garnered during the course of the race. Should that be case, the arguably smartest team in the field, Tammy & Victor may be best equipped to bring home the final victory. At the least, they should be favored for it.
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TAR 14.11: Jaime & Cara

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:22:00 +0000

Two teams proved themselves dominant over the course of "The Amazing Race 14" but being a three team finale, that left room for at least one team to bid for an upset victory. In this case, the upset minded team would be ex-cheerleaders Jaime & Cara who failed to win a single one of the ten regular legs but still survived through the race long enough to have a chance at the final prize.

The second half of leg ten proved a microcosm of Jaime and Cara's struggles to date as the pair continued lost in translation, Jaime in particular endlessly frustrated with navigational misfortunes over non-English speaking taxi drivers. Worse on the last leg, the pair wandered far off course all on their own while seeking their next U-turn destination in Beijung, China.

What allowed Jaime & Cara to make the final (aside from Jen's ridiculous bathroom stop) was the ability to keep fighting no matter what. After Jaime thought to backtrack back to the opera house to find the U-Turn, Cara powered through the eating Roadblock to keep the team in contention long enough to take advantage of the sisters' fatal mistake.

I can't say that I'm optimistic about Jaime and Cara's chances to end the final "Amazing Race 14" episode as TAR's first all-female champions. With the alliance to Margie & Luke not tenable for the finale, the pair will have to rely on their own instincts against two teams that just haven't made many mistakes. Even a single error of judgment once stateside again could prove costly.

The one saving grace for Jaime & Cara may be that back in the United States, all the issues and hangups over foreign language cabbies should go away. Jaime & Cara should get a chance to compete for "The Amazing Race 14" championship on equal ground.
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Next to last "Amazing Race 14" sets non-overrun ratings highs

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:46:00 +0000

The long delayed Nielsen ratings for the penultimate (next to last) episode of "The Amazing Race 14" came in with strong returns, indicating high interest in the upcoming TAR14 finale episode.

"The Amazing Race" episode 14.11 hit a 3.2 demo mark in the age 18-49 age group with 10.8 million overall viewers. The demo mark was a tie for TAR14's best unassisted rating without a sports overrun while the overall viewership level was TAR14's highest unassisted mark outright. (Two TAR14 episodes achieved higher ratings with the benefit of NCAA basketball tournament overruns.)

For the fifth consecutive week, "The Amazing Race 14" won the 8 p.m. ET/PT hour in both 18-49 rating and overall viewership, though "The Simpsons" did score a higher demo mark this time in direct half-hour competition. TAR14 finished in a tie for 20th place in overall viewers among all weekly prime-time shows.

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As for this Sunday, "The Amazing Race" usually receives a slight ratings bump for its season finales though not the super impressive jumps enjoyed by other top reality compeitition shows. The one possible impediment this time out may be the first hour of "The Celebrity Apprentice" finale coming into direct competition with TAR14.

Given that "Apprentice" is usually a slow ratings starter though, I don't expect it to be a major factor for TAR14's finale ratings. Most crossover viewers will likely just join Apprentice in progress after Amazing Race 14 concludes.

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EDT	Series	Viewers (millions)	Rating (18-49)
7 p.m.	60 Minutes	12.3	2.0
8 p.m.	The Amazing Race 14	10.8	3.2
9 p.m.	Cold Case	12.5	2.9
10 p.m.	The Unit	10.0	2.4
	CBS weekly average	11.1	2.7

Episode	Viewers (millions)	Rating (18-49)	Overrun
TAR 14.1	9.2	2.6	none
TAR 14.2	7.8	2.6	none
TAR 14.3	10.6	3.0	none
TAR 14.4	10.1	3.1	none
TAR 14.5	10.3	3.1	none
TAR 14.6	12.4	3.6	52 min.
TAR 14.7	12.0	3.7	18 min.
TAR 14.8	10.6	3.1	38 min.
TAR 14.9	10.3	3.0	none
TAR 14.10	10.3	3.2	none
TAR 14.11	10.8	3.2	none

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"The Amazing Race 14" - leg 10 results

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Mon, 04 May 2009 03:59:00 +0000

The following are the results for the tenth leg of "The Amazing Race 14."

(START: Banyan Lake - Guilin, China.)
(PIT STOP: Niao Chao - Beijing, China.)

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#1	Tammy & Victor	siblings/lawyers	won Galapagos Islands trip
#2	Margie & Luke	mother/son	-
#3	Jaime & Cara	ex-cheerleaders	-
#4	Kisha & Jen	sisters	eliminated from "The Amazing Race 14"

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TAR 14.11 recaplette: Kisha & Jen eliminated

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Mon, 04 May 2009 03:58:00 +0000

The bathroom?!?!? Really?!?!!? THE BATHROOM??!?!? For a million dollars, it couldn't have been held in a little while longer.

The next to last episode of "The Amazing Race 14" came down to a race to the bathroom. Kisha & Jen were in position to claim a third place standing on the leg and a trip to the season finale.... but Jen had to go when she had to go. So Kisha waited while Jen went about her business and those lost seconds let Jaime & Cara find the Pit Stop to claim the sole remaining tickets out of Beijing.

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Aside from the bizarre circumstance at the end, the top two teams on leg ten were as to be expected. With the race continuing in China for an unprecedented third straight episode, sibling/lawyers Tammy & Victor finally took maximum advantage of the home language their previous travel experience in Beijing.

The sibs knew without having to ask for a translation to travel to the Forbidden City for the eventual Detour card. The 'Chinese Waiter' Detour required reciting of food requests in Mandarin Chinese, a much easier task for a team whose racers know Mandarin Chinese.

Victor later tackled the Roadblock street food eating task in short order. The pair even knew how to translate the location of the Pit Stop without assistance leading to another leg victory and an easy berth in the TAR14 finale. Not to belabor the obvious but based on past performances alone, Tammy & Victor would appear the favorites. The one blessing for other teams is that TAR14 won't be decided in China.

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The only mistake the siblings made in my opinion was a tactical one in using the U-Turn against Kisha & Jen. Though I grant the sibs couldn't beat Kisha & Jen in a rundown footrace to the mat, the sisters had not raced close enough most previous legs to even threaten Tammy & Victor with such an eventuality.

Statistically, the obvious threat was Margie & Luke. Had the mother & son been hit with a U-Turn, the extra spoken word Detour might have proved an insurmountable obstacle. Instead, the mother & son were left alone to do the alternate Chinese Opera task instead with the pair putting operatic makeup on each other's faces.

After Margie completed the later food eating Roadblock, the mother and son would score a second place finish and their passage to "The Amazing Race 14" finale.

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By all rights, the team that was riding for a fall on this leg was that of ex-cheerleaders Jaime & Cara. The pair seemed terminally lost for the next to last episode as their usual taxi driver issues combined with poor navigational skills in even finding their location for the operatic Roadblock.

Where I do get credit though is for Jaime & Cara making an inspired comeback on the Roadblock with Cara making up much of the lost time against Jen on the food eating task. This allowed the ex-cheerleaders to be in position to take advantage should anything go wrong with Kisha & Jen which unbelievably, it actually did.

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Of course, if Kisha & Jen had not been hit with the U-Turn or struggled so mightily with swimming and diving earlier in the leg, they would have reached "The Amazing Race 14" finale with ease. The sisters were not the worst team on this half leg of TAR14. In the end though, that fact didn't matter.

The battle that the sisters truly lost (aside from the battle of the bladder) was the battle to win friends and influence people. Margie & Luke were already aligned with Jaime & Cara and soon won over Tammy & Victor based on the Luke/Jen argument that had ended the previous leg. All three remaining teams were determined to see Kisha & Jen exit TAR14.

It would be Tammy & Victor that would help show Kisha & Jen the way out. Because of the (not blind) U-Turn, the sisters were required to do the Chinese Waiter food recitation task, an extremely difficult endeavor for two women who did not speak Mandarin Chinese.

The delay left to a chain of events that took a seemingly certain ride to "The Amazing Race 14" finale into a one-way ticket out of the competition. We thus go into the finale with clear favorites in Tammy & Victor, strong contenders Margie & Luke and a longshot team in Jaime & Cara whose first leg win would have to be the final leg.
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Kisha & Jen results compilation

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Mon, 04 May 2009 01:54:00 +0000

Kisha & Jen
Relationship: sisters

leg	result	pit stop	info	LPA
#1	8th place out of 11	Stechelberg, Switzerland	-	30
#2	7th place out of 10	Salzburg, Austria	-	33
#3	3rd place out of 9	Bran, Romania	-	75
#4	2nd place out of 8	Krasnoyarsk, Russia	-	86
#5	6th place out of 7	Novosibirsk, Russia	-	17
#6	3rd place out of 7	Jaipur, India	-	67
#7	5th place out of 6	Phuket, Thailand	-	20
#8	4th place out of 5	Bangkok, Thailand	-	25
#9	1st place out of 5	Guilin, China	leg win #1	100
#10	4th place out of 4	Beijing, China	-	0
				45

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TAR 14.11 results & recaplette up

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Mon, 04 May 2009 01:21:00 +0000

The next to last episode of "The Amazing Race 14" is now complete across most of the United States & Canada. Last week's results post for leg 10 is now updated with the complete results here with the recaplette & brief thoughts here, SPOILERS just for this weekend's episode if you haven't seen it yet.
The weekly "grade the episode" poll is also up.
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Penultimate episode to bring final "Amazing Race 14" elimination

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Sun, 03 May 2009 22:09:00 +0000

With its tenth leg still not concluded after last week's episode, this week's penultimate airing of "The Amazing Race 14" will bring its final elimination.

Ex-cheerleaders Jaime & Cara found their expected first leg victory denied them when a supposed Pit Stop in Beijing, China only brought them another clue card. Ultimately though, their goal will have to be the same as all others, not to race in first place but to avoid falling into the last place spot.

The in progress race order of leg ten notwithstanding, siblings Tammy & Victor and mother/son duo Margie & Luke would still have the best chances based on past performances to make the final three lineup. Whether by equalization or otherwise, sisters Kisha & Jen though will have to overcome a time deficit to do the same.

Start time will again be back at its 8 p.m. EDT/PDT time slot on CBS & CTV.
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"The Amazing Race 14" - leg 10a / episode 10 recap (4/26/09 - China)

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:06:00 +0000

START

Kisha & Jen - 1:48 p.m.
Tammy & Victor - 1:49 p.m. (0:01)
Margie & Luke - 1:50 p.m. (0:02)
Jaime & Cara - 2:12 p.m. (0:24)

CHINA

The tenth leg of "The Amazing Race 14" began with teams directed to fly from Guilin to Beijing, still in China. Still holding the home language advantage, Tammy & Victor booked their tickets through a ticket agency while the Margie/Luke & Kisha/Jen teams warily waited together in an airport line that turned out not to accept TAR's international credit cards.

After Tammy & Victor picked up their boarding passes, they requested in Chinese for the ticket agents to seat the other teams in the back of the plane to gain a tactical advantage. Whether it was through their urging or not, the siblings got their wish as agents announced that no more tickets in the front of the Beijing-bound plane were to be found.

Not surprisingly, Tammy & Victor would skyrocket out to the lead on arrival in Beijing, hailing a taxi well ahead of the other teams. Unfortunately, their cabbie got lost en route to their foot massage parlor destination, costing the sibs said lead. Margie & Luke would beat out Kisha & Jen to catch the next cab after Luke bumped Kisha while running to the taxi stand.

ROADBLOCK

Ultimately though, it was fourth place ex-cheerleaders Jaime & Cara that would prove the luckiest in their early going as their taxi driver drove past both the sisters and mother/son duo along the way. With Tammy & Victor's taxi having overshot their destination, Jaime & Cara would arrive first at the foot massage parlor to trigger the episode's Roadblock.

One member of each team would have to undergo a traditional Chinese foot massage described as being on the boundary between pleasure & pain. Racers would have to endure the procedure for 10 minutes without saying "uncle" to be sent along their way. Cara chose the Roadblock for her team but clearly found the experience much more painful than pleasurable.

After many exclamations of pain though, Cara drank a medicinal tea and received the clue for their next destination site. The sisters arrived second in line, followed by the sibling/lawyers and the mother/son duo. Kisha, Tammy and Luke all endured without saying "uncle" to leave the outgoing race order unchanged.

DETOUR

Race leaders Jaime & Cara were directed next to taxi to the Guangcai Natatorium to receive their next clue. The ex-cheerleaders would not stay in the lead though as neither their cabbie nor the one for Kisha & Jen knew the location of the facility. Kisha & Jen would eventually find a cabbie while Jaime & Cara muscled out Tammy & Victor for the next available taxi, annoying the siblings.

Tammy & Victor had an ace in the hole though as their communicated with their driver to deliver them to the correct north door entrance of the natatorium, an entrance of which Jaime & Cara seemed unaware. The siblings triggered a Detour choice of "sync" (successfully complete a synchronized dive together) or "swim" (complete a combined 400 meters individual swimming medley a la Michael Phelps).

With Tammy uncomfortable in a swimming situation, the siblings chose the diving as did Kisha & Jen due to Jen's own swim phobia. Neither Tammy & Victor nor Kisha & Jen could synchronize themselves though after repeated attempts. Dropped to third place, Jaime & Cara finally found the right entrance and chose the alternative swimming Detour as did Margie & Luke who arrived trailing in the fourth position.

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The swim participants all struggled with the futuristic bodysuits required for the task, like those worn by so many competitive swimmers at last year's Beijing Olympics. Despite growing exhaustion though, the Jaime/Cara and Margie/Luke trams stuck to task. The ex-cheerleaders would complete the task in first place, followed soon afterward by Margie & Luke who swam faster but were still left trailing Jaime & Cara.

After repeated failures on the dive, Kisha & Jen switched to swimming only to find their pace so slow that they decided to switch back to diving. Jen became visibly distraught after more repeatedly failures on the diving. Meanwhile, Tammy & Victor continued trying to land dives and continued to fail in the eyes of the synchro diving judges.

Tammy & Victor finally decided to acknowledge the inevitable and flip to the medley swimming, completing the Detour in third place. Seeing no other alternative, Kisha told her sister Jen to "stay strong" prodding her into doing the swimming task, the only Detour. With the help of a flotation device, Kisha & Jen completed the Detour in last place, awaiting potential elimination.

PIT STOP?

An elimination would be nowhere in site though as Jaime & Cara arrived at Drum Tower in expectations of being awarded their first leg win. Instead, show host Phil Keoghan told Jaime & Cara though that the race leg was not over, presenting the clue card for their next task as the episode broke into the long dormant "to be continued" credits.

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TAR 14.10: Kisha & Jen

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Fri, 01 May 2009 11:28:00 +0000

Sisters Kisha & Jen had a (partial) "Amazing Race 14" leg that I wouldn't wish on anyone in the tenth episode of the season. Kisha's painful Roadblock experience was trumped by Jen's outright traumatic Detour as both the diving and swimming frustrated her to the point of tears.

What did emerge from leg 10.a though was the strengthening of the sometimes shaky sisterly bond between Kisha & Jen was Kisha gently but firmly prodded Jen through the swimming Detour. While the sisters did earn an elimination, the continuation wins them a reprieve to continue for at least one more episode.

The best hope for Kisha & Jen is that they get what Mark & Michael didn't get, an equalization to even out the field for the remainder of the leg. Since the leg is technically continuing, there's no extra task to await Kisha & Jen so they may well have an even shot to make the finale.

Kisha and Jen's classic strategy could then come into play. If the sisters could just get close to one other team, any other team, they could simply outrun their counterparts to make the finale.

The only other lingering concern could be if the other teams decide Kisha & Jen are at fault for the confrontation with Margie & Luke and target them for elimination. It wouldn't make much sense as a strategy considering Margie & Luke seem a bigger threat but it could still happen.
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TAR 14.10: Tammy & Victor

noreply@blogger.com (Everett W.) — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:58:00 +0000

The last few episodes have exposed a few weaknesses in the otherwise strong racing game for siblings Tammy & Victor. They aren't particularly mechanically inclined and the water hasn't treated them all that well. That said, Tammy & Victor are still the overall best racing team through ten episodes of "The Amazing Race 14."

The team wisely exploited its home language advantage to gain the advantage with ticket agents for the flight to Beijing, perhaps even consigning other teams to lesser seats. Had their taxi driver been more fortuitous, the pair would have been in prime position for the leg.

What really lost them time though was persevering on a diving Detour with judging so strict that there was no chance for success. Sometimes it's better to acknowledge that the impossible will remain impossible and do a work-around. For all of their concerns over the alternative swimming task, they didn't do a half bad job of it.

As long as Tammy & Victor can outsmart the competition for the remainder of leg ten and avoid major mistakes, a berth in the final leg should be theirs.
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