The Amazing Race 11: All-Stars (1 Viewer)

[Bruce Patterson]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_%28slang%29

 

[Abby_B]

I am still stunned that Rob and Amber are gone. Just. Stunned. I figured for sure when it looked like they were going to lose, that it was going to be a non-elimination leg. But, good on the show for actually going through with it, even though you just know they wanted Romber on longer.

I am unabashedly rooting for the Guidos and for Teri & Ian this year, two teams that I couldn't stand on their respective seasons but LOVE here. What's going on?!

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Oh so your the one. Your seriously rooting for team Guido? Interesting choice.

I would have been very disappointed in the show if they made this a non-elimination week simply because it was Rob and Amber they were losing, but, I assume that sort of thing is already decided during the planning stage of the race and is a set thing, it's not like it's up to Phil to make that decision right there on the spot.

Knowing this team, I wouldn't be surprised if the show made an announcment that they made some mistake and they were back in lol. I remember answering back at the screen when Rob said during his farewell remarks "I've got a great girl, i'm already a winner." I said "Yes but not at The Amazing Race, later dude."

I'm sorry, I don't mean to make the Romber fans feel worse, we're cool, you won't hear another peep from me about them, i've expended too much though about them already.

 

[David_Jr]

Rob & Amber told Regis & Kelly on Monday (My wife taped it for me) that they had something really big coming up for Reality TV that they couldn't talk about yet, but they promise it will be big. Rob also claimed that they were only ten minutes behind Mirna & Schmirna.

 

[Mike Frezon]

"Only" ten minutes? The producers sure made it seem like it was a lot closer than that. Explains why they were in no rush after he found their letter.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Of course Rob would say that, with the ego he displyed on this show do you think that he would actually admit it if they were 20 minutes behind?

He's just hurt that he got defeated by that team of all teams, I don't say that to mean I truly believe that given the evidence i've seen of the kind of guy he is.

 

[MarkMel]

I'm am also of the opinion that they wanted to come in last, to get off the show or for some other reason. It just didn't seem 'real' to me, it seemed to be an act.

 

[Ken Chan]

Given that Mirna arrived approximately twenty minutes later, and most everyone else was able to finish before the next boat, being ten minutes later is pretty bad. Plus, I'm not sure if Rob actually said "only" on Regis, or if that's just David's choice of words. Given that they didn't try that hard to get to the mat, it seems like they knew they had no chance.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

So the latest theory is that they took a dive? I don't buy that.

 

[Matt_Vaudrin]

Very interesting interview with Romber about their time on TAR:AS.

http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/i...peout-4833.php

This part is interesting.

Reality TV World: Rob at the post office, how long were you looking for the letter before Charla and Mirna arrived? It didn't appear like you had the long lead that you should have had given Charla and Mirna's shuttle boat was supposed to leave 20 minutes after yours.

Rob: It was a lot quicker than it should have been. What happened was -- I don't want to sit here and play "poor me" -- but we were on the boat and the boats were supposed to be 20 minutes apart. We had the second to the last boat [along with Uchenna and Joyce Agu]. All the other boats went, and they're going very fast to the island and it takes a certain amount of time to get there. Well our boat had additional cameramen with additional equipment on it, which wasn't really fair. Our boat was literally chugging along, to the point where one of the security guards actually pulled up in a boat next to us and said, "What are you guys doing?"
Amber: [He said] "Why are you going so slow?"
Rob: And we're saying, "This is as fast as it will go." So instead of actually having a 20 minute lead over Charla and Mirna...
Amber: I think we had about five minutes.
Rob: Not even five minutes.
Amber: And when we were blown away by that. When [Charla and Mirna] showed up, we were shocked because we thought, "At least we have 20 minutes before the other team gets here." And here, because our boat took so long... It's just one of those things where we had a really bad leg. Nothing was going our way.


Then this part

Reality TV World: How far behind Charla and Mirna were you?

Rob: About 10 or 15 minutes.
Amber: It wasn't a foot race at all. They finished before we even started reading our letter.
----------------

They actually had less than 20 minutes before Charla/Mirna arrived at the RB.

 

[Mike Frezon]

It's a TV Show? It's deceitful. They are creating a situation that didn't happen. You screw around enough with the facts and people are going to wonder what's going on. Remember, there is a million dollars at stake here.

This is different from a lame "tease" that stretches the limits to convince you to watch. They are manipulating the way the event played out and making it seem like one thing happened when, in reality (no pun intended) it was quite another which took place.

In fact, TAR has had countless number of other opportunities over the years to mess with the endings of other race legs to make them seem closer/more dramatic and they didn't do it. Now, I suppose, I have to wonder if other "close endings" that did air were really close at all...

 

[Brent M]

Silly me. I've always just assumed that they edit most of those endings to appear close because there's no way every single one of them would come down to a split second finish.

 

[Patrick Sun]

TAR has used editing to make the last 2 teams' arrivals at the Philimination station look close in past seasons if warranted, or possible (like if the time of day is remotely similar between last place and next-to-last place finishers so the lighting matches, and they can cut the ending sequence to make the outcome just a little in doubt until the reveal for the next-to-last place finishing team).

 

[AnthonyC]

Most of the time, the "close" endings are at least a couple minutes apart. The general rule of thumb is that if you don't see the teams going to the Pit Stop in the same shot, it's likely creative editing.

One example I can think of that actually contradicts the norm would be TAR4, there was a footrace between two teams and you could see them both running to the Pit Stop. However, when the first team lands on the mat, the other team is nowhere in sight--apparently they were slowed down by production and were under the assumption that they would get a time credit (and that the other team was getting a penalty for an unrelated reason). They were wrong, and they were eliminated.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Hmmm. Editing is probably one of the least understood arts in film-making and TV production. And also probably one of the arts that has the greatest impact on the final product.

I can understand in Patrick's example that when an episode winds down to two outstanding teams and they want to create some suspense with the reveal of the next-to-last team that they might keep the identity of the finish placement a mystery until the last possible second. That...is fair.

But to use editing to create the illusion that two teams are neck-and-neck racing to the finish mat by actually shifting events chronologically would be wrong--in my book. You folks may not have a problem with it...but I want to know if the last two teams are really thatclose or are 10 minutes apart or are hours apart (like the Guidos at the end of season one).

I just watched the final minutes of this week's episode again...and the only part I have a problem with is them intercutting the two teams on the path...racing to the mat...at the same time. If, as Rob apparently said in an interview, the girls were already at the mat before Romber left the post office...that is a clear misrepresentation of how the leg was completed.

As I said, you guys might be alright with it...but I don't have to like it.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

Just wondering - does anyone happen to know where I could find the group photo of the All-Stars that they took before the race? It was up at the official website when the race started, but it's not there now.


Regarding the editing:

It's not a documentary, it's not supposed to be some definitive record of how things actually happened, it's just entertainment. And it is just more entertaining to watch something where it looks like there might be a footrace, even if it is constructed by editing. As long as they don't mess with the actual results, I'm fine that they make my TV watching more exciting.

If anything, it was less dishonest this time, simply because if you were paying attention, you could tell that Rob and Amber were behind because they were walking, not running.

They've been editing the show like this for as long as I haven been watching the show, creating a tense "Who'll come first" whenever possible - intercut the two last teams, show the second-to-last team falling over or getting lost, show the last team doing well, will-they-make-it ... and then usually the result is exactly the same as the order they leave the last task. But occasionally, one team does overtake the other on the race to the finish, and that is what makes the editing so effective, even when 9 times out of 10 the result isn't a surprise.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I for one don't mind editing, in fact I welcome it as it makes for a more dramatic viewing experience for me, plus let's face it, EVERY reality show (except for American Idol maybe) uses it to a large degree. Without editing we'd be left with an incredibly boring finish where there is no suspense, it would be boring, edidting doesn't change the outcome of the race at all, it just manipulates how the ending appears to play out, that's all.

So and so team will still come in first and seond regardless of the editing, it's how it appears they arrive there that makes the show fun and the editing plays a large role in that. It's when reality shows use editing to make someone appear to say or do something that is out of context of what they actually meant that I have a problem with it because it's then being used to create a false reality that will be indistinguishable to the adience unless they know what really happened, on TAR, though, it's as non issue for me because it can pretty much be assumed, I would think, that the endings and finishes can't possibly be as close as they appear to be.

In short, TAR is merely taking some artistic liberties with time and that's okay by me as long as it's fun to watch.

 

[Mike Frezon]

It's probably one of those instances where i would prefer to be in blissful ignorance.

The only reason this has even popped up on my radar is because of the high-profile nature of Rob & Amber, there is all this extra information available and interest in their outcome. thusly, a higher-than-usual share of post-contest interviews, etc. If Rob didn't give that answer, I'd never even have known the truth (Like I'm supposed to trust him? I saw both seasons of Survivor that he was on! ). Anyway...

I completely understand where you fellas are coming from. As long as CBS doesn't screw with the results, all is okay. No harm, no foul. They are only doing doing dramatic edits for ratings. It's a business. It's entertainment.

It is, I think, an interesting discussion, though. I wonder if they have in-house rules...a drawn line-in-the-sand, so to speak?

BTW, I personally feel that type of misleading editing really isn't all that necessary to make the race interesting. The show has so much going for it...interesting personalities, exotic locales, the contest itself...that bending the truth to create a false impression actually takes away from the experience. But to each his own. That's one of the things that makes HTF discussions so interesting.

 

[Ken Chan]

is accurate, then yes, I would agree that is cheating. (I posted my previous message before Matt posted that link.)

 

[JoeyM]

Don't even get me started on Big Brother! I'm obsessed! I can't believe Janelle actually hooked up with Will, but it made for awesome TV! I hope Boogie never comes back though!