*** The Official Amazing Race 2 Thread*** (1 Viewer)

[Jay H]

Admin note - I've made this the Official Amazing Race 2 thread, so please post all discussion of TAR2 in this thread. Thanks. Pat

Hey, anybody else catch the first episode of AR2? I, having thought that the first Amazing Race was better than Survivor 3, I watched the second.
First, some questions then some observations:
1)When was this actually filmed?
2)How many episodes are there? There are 8 elimination episodes as said by the host guy, so there are some non-elimination rounds so just curious how many aren't.
Anybody else notice the similarity of couples from the last round? there's the two "ugly american" guys from NYC, the seperated couple trying to get back together, the older couple ( almost eliminated last night
)
the token gay couple from Miami Beach, no matter what they tried to explain on the show, the Mom and Daughter team who were eliminated last night, too bad, I kind of liked them, the daughter was kind of cute and had a nice attitude to the whole thing

Wow, looks like one change from the last time was the winning couple won a trip to Hawaii (after the show) for winning the stage, that's new.
What's with the "I don't even like you!" blip you see the two ladies argue after they try to figure out whether to spend the money on food or shelter.
BTW, the next show seems to be Wednesday, Mar 13th, not next week. it's right after Survivor 4 tomorrow.
Jay

 

[Alex S]

Jay,

The Amazing Race is a great show. I watched every episode of the first show, it was very good. I even liked it better than Survivor 3 in Africa too.

They did get the same types of couples as last time.

The best friends, the gay guys, the mother daughter, the seperated couple, the NYC best friends, grandparents...

I wonder why there were no father and son teams ?

The prize for finishing 1st is new. Not a bad prize, a trip to Hawaii. They will probably have it for each round.

I thought they said for AR II each round will be an elimination round. I hope so. Going through a whole episode and then not eliminating a team is a waste of time.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I concur, I was totally amazed that the Grannies finished in 10th place last night. They never gave up, but I could tell one of them was griping the whole time (regarding the physical fitness required for the travelling).

The College Roommates might be fun to watch (one of them reminds me of Woody Allen).

The separated married team might be a strong team. Will has a nice hot temper, that'll be fun to watch.

The sibling team kind of scares me, they're a bit too chummy.

Team Rev were a bit preachy for my tastes. But it was quite a turn of fortune getting that bigger, faster boat while going to the north docks when all the others went to the south docks.

The twins should be tough (but one of them gets hurts in the next episode).

The grannies won't make it past the next 2 elimination rounds

The Bah-ton pals might also be contenders.

The couple from Texas will be gone by the middle round.

The mother-daughter team was going to be gone early (but I didn't think THIS early).

The Miami team (Danny and Oswald) might be the Team Greedo of this season.

The sister team cracked me when the prissy one said to her sister, "I don't like you!" Nothing like the love of a sister.

This looks to be another winner for CBS. I wonder how much of their air travel will have delays due to the more stringent flight rules?

If they have only elmination rounds, the season will be pretty short (8 or 9 weeks of shows).

 

[Kevin_V]

Great start of the show having all the contestants tearing off into the desert, than onto the streets toward Vegas. Looked like a remake of Vanishing Point or was it Cannonball run?

I agree that air travel are going to be the big difference again. Limited seating, security, flight limitations are going to spread out the group. It's fun to see the interaction when they're neck & neck, like last season's rikshaw races. I hope they find ways of tightening them up if they get to far spread out.

The producers should have Kevin & Drew do a cameo appearance. Maybe on a checkpoint where the contestants have to out-argue them to get their clue.

 

[Jason Seaver]

I never saw an entire episode of the first one, which is too bad... The bits I would see flipping past and such were pretty entertaining, so I'm glad I recorded it last night.

Fun show; probably the best game show to appear since "Win Ben Stein's Money". I was rooting for the mother/daughter team, but oh well.

 

[LarryDavenport]

I'm glad it's back. Since this time it started in the Nevada desert, I wonder if it will end in Vegas (last year it was NYC to NYC).

Don't have a favroite yet but I don't like the Grannies much. I haven't decided on Team Speedo yet (hopefully they will be the comic foils of the show).

 

[MikeAlletto]

What was up with everyone getting stopped and having to wait for the other teams at the airport then having a big rush to the ticket counter??? That was so stupid. The 2 guys that got to the airport first didn't get on the first plane because they were forced to wait for everyone else before getting their tickets. If its gonna be a race, let them race. Stop trying to force drama into it. Arghhh...

 

[Jay H]

I thought they were all held up because of security, nothing to do with the producers of AR2?

There were alot of places in first AR that kind of bunched up the racers, it's just the nature of the game.

Guess I'm gonna have to find out when it was filmed..

Jay

 

[OliverT]

I was wondering when this was filmed as well. It was probably filmed after 9/11 and if so I'd REALLY hope the directors give very specific instructions not to run or act spastic in the vicinity of an airport. Otherwise we might see contestants arrested and entire airports locked down while they investigate why a scruffy person with a backpack was sprinting out of the terminal.

 

[Jay H]

Hmmm, I checked out the official website earlier and it seems to imply there are 13 episodes... I recal the host saying 8 of these checkpoints the last pair to finish will be eliminated... Does that imply that 5 of them there are not going to be any elimination??? We'll have that Guido effect where the most hated team finishes last only to be given a pardon.
I also in my travels have come across saying that Brennan (from Rob and Brennan, AR1's winners) is an item with Emily, the cute daughter from the mother-daughter team... this was on
Link Removed which for some strange reason seems to be a fan site..
Jay

 

[Daniel Kikin]

I think there were thirteen episodes last time also. There were three non-elimination points last time and the last episode was a two-parter with the final three. So it was 8 elimination + 3 non-elimination + 2 part finale = 13. If they follow that formula, 13 this time makes sense too.

 

[Jay H]

Daniel, I see, that makes sense, although technically there should be 10 elimination rounds since the last (double) episode, they're eliminating 2 out of the 3 to get the ultimate winner.

Jay

 

[Daniel Kikin]

Jay, you could technically say that but it would really be nine since the last two teams aren't eliminated until the end of the two-parter. Either way, I'm excited that this show is back!

On another note, I know its early but I wonder if CBS will move the finale around like they did the first edition and like they're doing with Survivor 4. If everything goes as scheduled, it will air on Wed. May 29, which is after sweeps.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Last season, the final three went for the big money prize. It was just unfortunate that Team Greedo was so far behind in that last leg of the race.

 

[Jay H]

Unfortunate is not the word I would say about Teem Greedo...

Anyway, I thought they would somehow bunch them up again, but I'm glad I was wrong and they didn't.

I think CBS counts the last 2 hour episode as 2??? I don't recall... because the website lists 13 episodes, 8 eliminations, 3 pardon weeks + 1 two hour episode is 12, not thirteen.

I've got the VCR set tonight for Survivor and AR, should be able to watch it tomorrow night..

Jay

 

[Daniel Kikin]

Maybe CBS is having a 2 Hour finale instead of a 2 parter, which would make sense considering how late the finale would fall out otherwise. It would still technically be thirteen hours though, whether the finale is in two parts or not, so at least we're not getting any less Amazing Race either way.

Unfortunate is not the word I would say about Teem Greedo...

Exactly what I was thinking Jay. Too bad it wasn't Drew and Kevin instead. Even if they would have been a day behind too, it still would've been much better than the Greedos.

 

[David Oliver]

Well like last time I am hooked. Tere was an article in the L.A. Times on Monday, I believe, about this latest edition. It was filmed post 9/11 and the producers had to do some specific things. I don't remember them all but hey put in restrictions about travelling to certain places like Israel, even for connecting flights. I think they completely took Europe out of the equation. The producers were in contact with State Department regarding all sorts of this stuff. I do not beleive they told the teams anything about runnning around airports, but I guess they learn pretty quickly.

Unfortunatlely I missed the first fifteen minutes or so, so I did not get the team introductions. The one thing I would comment on, Wil seemed like an ass or else I totally misunderstood what was going on. He was whining about how they got somewhere first but then some other teams beat them to the counter or something like that. It seemed to me he and his ex-wife kinda screwed up and went to the wrong place and he was trying to make it seem like they were screwed. Hey, part of the race is dealing with adversity in foreign lands.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Will just wanted his cake and eat it too. Will and his wife (they are just separated, not quite divorced yet) were using the shotgun approach, and it backfired on them as Blake slid on in and that's what bothered Will.

 

[Jay H]

Yeah, it was hard to see what was going on but my take on the matter was that Wil and his partner Tara split up and one went to the counter and the other went inside, then the other teams arrived and went to the counter, meanwhile Wil returned outside and tried to say that they were there first. Meanwhile the other three teams went ahead and booked the reservations. If that is the case, it sounds that Wil is whining for no good reason, they made a conscious decision to split up and chose wrong, end of story!

Either way, didn't matter one bit (they should realize that it's so early in the race that as long as you're not eliminated, you really have no huge advantage to finishing first in the first stage.) cause Wil and Tara finished first in that stage anyway, which is why I don't think we'll see any overt hostility, although I'm sure Wil looks the type of person who'd hold a grudge...

Jay

 

[Patrick Sun]

Episode 2 - 3/13/02
Man, this race is totally unpredictable! And I can't believe that:
The Grannies are still in the race!
It was funny to watch Blake and Paige begging for bus fare.
Gary and his buddy are still funny, especially when their bus's tire suffered a blowout.
The Miami pair have a new nickname: ChaChaCha.