Amazing Race Tidbits -- Thoughts and Outlook

Amazing Race Tidbits

CBS' The Amazing Race 11 -- All Stars Edition

Thoughts on Episode 2 and Outlook for Episode 3

Thoughts on Episode Two -- Chile

Episode Two was an elimination leg. Teams departed the Pit Stop at Cotopaxi National Park, Ecuador. From there, teams had to reach the Quito International Airport to book a flight to Santiago, Chile. Some of the later teams to leave had trouble getting out of the park due to muddy roads. Kevin and Drew did a little manhauling to get their car free, while Charla and Mirna got help from their friends, David and Mary. The first flight to depart was on LAN Airlines, but starting with a domestic flight that also connected in Guayaquil em route to Lima. The second flight was on Taca Airlines, Due to problems with connections, Rob and Amber wound up getting into Santiago about 15 minutes later than other teams.

In Santiago, teams had to find the headquarters of Codelco, the world'd largest copper mining company.

Roadblock

Paraphrased from the website: One Team member had to enter the ground floor boardroom of Codelco and search the boardroom for letters of the alphabet that were on display. Teams needed to figure out that the majority of the letters when unscrambled would spell out one of the ten destinations written on the plaques hanging on the wall. When they thought they solved the puzzle, they had to show their answer to the security guard who would hand them their next clue if they were correct.

It turned out that the scribbled notepads on the table all featured the letter Q.

Episode Two Roadblock
Members	Team Member	Result
Rob and Amber	Amber	Ninth in, fifth out.
Danny and Oswald	Oswald	Tenth in, seventh out.
Eric and Danielle	Eric	Second to arrive, eighth out
Teri and Ian	Ian	Sixth to enter, last to leave.
Dustin and Kandice	Dustin	By being methodical, third in, but first out.
Kevin and Drew	Kevin	Fifth in, sixth to leave
Uchenna and Joyce	Joyce	Struggled before getting answer, helped Ian. First in, ninth out.
Joe and Bill	Bill	Fourth to arrive, second to leave
Charla and Mirna	Charla	Eight to arrive, fourth to leave
David and Mary	Mary	Seventh to arrive, third to leave

Detour

By Hand: Teams had to choose a two-ton tire and, by properly amd cprrectly aligning the bolts and washers, finish securing it to a huge dump truck a;ready jacked up. Most teams chose this Detour, but only a couple of teams did OK at this task.

By Machine: Each Team member had to take a turn driving a huge front loader to transfer enough gravel to a pile to cover a marked yellow line on a stick. the quicker of the two for those willing to try driving the huge machine and dropping the gravel straight down on the stick.

Episode Two Detour
Members	Detour Selected	Result
Rob and Amber	By Machine	In first to start, first to leave
Danny and Oswald	By Hand	Second to arrive, second to leave
Eric and Danielle	By Hand	Third out.
Teri and Ian	By Hand	Ian spotted correct technique, concave facing in.
Dustin and Kandice	By Hand	One of last to leave, as they struggled physically.
Kevin and Drew	By Hand	Late arriving, sixth to leave
Uchenna and Joyce	By Hand	Did well enough.
Joe and Bill	By Machine	One was OK with heavy machinery, the other struggled, but succeeded.
Charla and Mirna	By Hand	Mirna wound up with Charla on her shoulders!
David and Mary	By Hand	Last to leave, David had to redo almost all the bolts.

Five teams got lost on the way to the Pit Stop. Teams 6-10 took a turn when they needed to continue on straight for a while longer. As promised, the road after the exit to a town changed to a hard top again, allowing for a faster speed limit, famously missed by Kevin and Drew. Dustin and Kandice were first to make the mistake and the quickest to correct it. Teri and Ian jumped on the change by the queens to come in right behind them. Places 8 through 10 go shuffled when Kevin and Drew were first to correct their mistake, nearly cutting off Charla and Mirna. But, when they missed the change in speed limit, the teams behind made the frat boys pay by passing them and finishing ahead of them and thus avoiding elimination.

Episode Two Order of Finish
Members	Team
Rob and Amber	1
Danny and Oswald	2
Teri and Ian	7
Eric and Danielle	4
Dustin and Kandice	6
Joe and Bill	3
Uchenna and Joyce	5
Kevin and Drew	10
Charla and Mirna	8
David and Mary	9

Outlook for Episode Three

Part of the chat in Episode 1 was the thought that all the teams have been around the world once. Moreover, they have had the chance to learn their lessons from the first time around. Clearly one theme for this Race is which teams did not learn from their past mistakes. In Race 10, Mary was afraid mainly of the unknown due to her lack of travel experience, but now is willing to go without an alliance to help float Team Kentucky. After trading favors with Teri and Ian in Episode 1, and helping Charla and Mirna, David and Mary might be ready to give up on reaching out to other teams and truly go it on their own.

If Rob and Amber can avoid mental errors, and deal with any adversity that comes along, they could be virtually unstoppable. Rob is making outstanding decisions, and Amber is intelligent and savvy in her own right. Danny and Oswald have chosen to communicate effectively, leveraging their experience. Eric and Danielle, Team Guido, Uchenna and Joyce, and Dustin and Kandice are doing quite well.

The two bottom teams of David and Mary, and Charla and Mirna are in trouble, along with Teri and Ian. Did the altitude affect Ian?

What will Episode 3 reveal about the racers and who will be eliminated next? Watch the exciting second episode of Amazing Race All Stars Sunday, March 4th at 8PM Eastern/Pacific.