The Amazing Race Season 14 -- Discussion

[thrillme]

I felt for Luke. Not being able to get those last two. He did so flawlessly on the first 8 I was surprised that he had such a hard time with the last ones.

I don't think it was lack of hearing so much as it was just difficult finding the right ones. It's hard to tell what goes on off screen. Maybe the hearing people got some sort of clue that he didn't interpret.

Regardless Tammy and Victor did play well. If they could speak a bit of Chinese...and they could use it a bit to their advantage...Bravo. So many people can speak Spanish and they use that. I was a little frustrated at the cheerleaders calling everybody "morons".

I kinda wish Margie and Luke took it because I just had a soft spot for them (mother and son...I've got a son...hearing disabled...I'm very hard of hearing...etc).

Alas...if I'm ever blessed to have an adventure like that with my son (when he's older of course). I wouldn't trade that experience for 10 million dollars. Just going that far and traveling all over the world like they did and experiencing so many cultures in such a short time...I know I would have already won the game before I stepped on any silly pad.

[NotaGeek]

I don't think it was lack of hearing so much as it was just difficult finding the right ones. It's hard to tell what goes on off screen. Maybe the hearing people got some sort of clue that he didn't interpret.

Doubtful. There is ALWAYS this type of mind-stumping challenge in the last leg ... they even said he had been studying and going over the legs in his head and practicing for this challenge. He plain and simple didn't see the bugs on a spear ... and I think he got frustrated and pouted like he did on some other challenge I can't remember. His age really showed in how easily he got frustrated and gave up.

[PirateLover]

I was getting so angry when Margie and Luke were so far ahead and he was zooming ahead with the surfboard challenge. However when he got that second to last one wrong, I knew he was gonna blow it, remembering back to the Chekhov challenge. But yea, like I said this was my first season so I have nothing to compare it to, but I kinda felt like "That's it?" at the end...

[2Epcot]

I just finished watching the final show so I had to wait to comment here. I'm really glad Tammy & Victor won. This was the first race that a team I was rooting for the entire race actually won. Though I agree it wasn't the most interesting final leg.

[Momof2boys]

We were disappointed to see Tammy & Victor win. We think that they had a HUGE advantage with knowing Chinese and I think the producers basically handed them the win.

And I totally agree about the ending - very blah.

[DisneyPrincess21]

We were disappointed to see Tammy & Victor win. We think that they had a HUGE advantage with knowing Chinese and I think the producers basically handed them the win.

I mentioned the same thing in a previous post I made.

I 100% agree with you, they were in a chinese speaking country for like 3 or 4 leg's of the race weren't they? that was a HUGE advantage that they have never had for one team before, And especially for so long it wasn't fair if you ask me.
That would be as fair as if they were all chinese speaking (or any other language) speaking teams except for one team and they did a majority of the races in the U.S.. Or if they were only racing where people signed, it would give only Luke the advantage,
Or if they were in "rude moron land" it would have given Cara and Jamie the advantage
So I don't think giving Tammy and Victor such an advatage was fair. IMO

[MNNHFLTX]

I agree that knowing Mandarin helped Tammy and Victor at times, but I'm not convinced that it cinched the race for them. If you recall, they were even behind Kisha and Jen at the first pit-stop in China and behind Cara and Jamie at the "pseudo" pit-stop in China (the third to the last episode). And I'm sure the producers of the show have the route for the race lined up long before they choose their contestants. So it's just luck of the draw (IMO) if a particular team happens to have a talent they can utilize in the race. Think of it--if a team happened to consist of two friends who used to be on a college swim-team, they would have had an advantage on that swimming challenge in Beijing, no doubt. Pure luck, unless someone thinks that the producers are trying to fix the race.

[Shugoondola]

We were disappointed to see Tammy & Victor win. We think that they had a HUGE advantage with knowing Chinese and I think the producers basically handed them the win.

I thought the exact same thing.

I would have rather seen Margie & Luke win.

[Ian]

I think people are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off base with this whole "Tammy and Victor had an unfair advantage" thing.

I mean that's like saying that since Jen & Keisha are more athletic than Margie and Luke they had an unfair advantage or something.

Your skills that you bring to the table are what helps you succeed. Some people are smarter or faster or more agile or speak a foreign language. It's absolutely not "unfair."

[PirateLover]

Yea, I agree with Ian. As Beth said, it's not like they completely blew away everyone else on those legs. If knowing Mandarin was such an advantage, then why weren't they first every time? They still had to complete the tasks. Plus, they even helped some of the other teams out! (I'm thinking of when they helped the cheerleaders get a cab).

[DisneyPrincess21]

(I'm thinking of when they helped the cheerleaders get a cab).

acutally they gave the cab to the cheerleaders because Jamie was arguing with Tammy and Victor because she said she had the cab before they did. So they just let Jamie and Cara have the cab, And then Tammy told Victor she let the girls take the cab because she was scarred of Jamie, And Victor said he was scarred of Jamie too! LOL

[PirateLover]

acutally they gave the cab to the cheerleaders because Jamie was arguing with Tammy and Victor because she said she had the cab before they did. So they just let Jamie and Cara have the cab, And then Tammy told Victor she let the girls take the cab because she was scarred of Jamie, And Victor said he was scarred of Jamie too! LOL

Right, that was funny, but it was their use of the language that helped to ensure that the cab driver knew where he was going before they got in. Both teams at the time were looking for cabs together, with Tammy and Victor speaking to the driver.

[DisneyPrincess21]

Right, that was funny, but it was their use of the language that helped to ensure that the cab driver knew where he was going before they got in. Both teams at the time were looking for cabs together, with Tammy and Victor speaking to the driver.

Yeah, That is true, The cab driver wouldn't have known where to go if it wasn't for Tammy and Victor. And they were nice about letting everyone follow them during the one leg where they had to copy the person writting chinese words and find the next place to go. Some teams wouldn't have let the other teams follow them, So that was nice of them.

Let me point out too, That I never disliked Tammy and Victor I just thought they had a huge advantage over the other teams in those particular legs. So good for them.
But regardless they still earned/deserved to win the game. I don't fault them for that at all.

I just thought it was strange because they have never had that many legs in the same area where they are dealing with something (for instance the language) that one team was much stronger in than the others.

I love the part during the last challenge when both Luke and Victor decided to just rip their shorts off because they were in the way, And Tammy was teasing Victor, But then at the end of the race, she was the one without pants on. LOL! She was like "I am up here without any pants on?!?" LOL

[MNNHFLTX]

The other thing to remember about Tammy and Victor is the China portion of the race happened at the tail end. So even though they spoke the language there was no guarantee that they would even make it that far to capitalize on it. Like I said, they got lucky.

[c&d]

I'm happy Tammy and Victor won. I really liked them as a team.

I just knew Luke would lose it. He was way too competitive and towards the end seemed to start taking everything personally and really getting nasty about other teams. I think when you get to that point once something goes wrong everything starts snowballing on you. Also she made such a point of saying him memorized every stop they had done that you just had to know if he didn't get on the first try he would get angry.

[NJDad]

Flashed back to season one. Two teams fighting it out. Had to get to Queens from Newark.

One team lived in Queens, had the advantage of knowing the area like the proverbial back of the hand, told the taxi driver their very clever route to get around/thru Manhattan (which I would take as well, most times, living in the area too).

The other team, having no such advantage, let the driver decide the route. Won the race. (The other route would be better if there was massive traffic, but it was too early for that).

Still a lot of luck involved, no guarantee any extra knowledge will help you.

[brownie]

We were disappointed to see Tammy & Victor win. We think that they had a HUGE advantage with knowing Chinese and I think the producers basically handed them the win.

And I totally agree about the ending - very blah.

The three remaining teams all left China together, so language was no advantage to getting ahead to start the final leg. They also didn't dominate in China, so language may have helped them some but I don't think it gave them a huge advantage.

[pixiesmimi]

I love the part during the last challenge when both Luke and Victor decided to just rip their shorts off because they were in the way, And Tammy was teasing Victor, But then at the end of the race, she was the one without pants on. LOL! She was like "I am up here without any pants on?!?" LOL

I was a little confused on this part as to why Luke and Victor's shorts or swim trunks didn't fit. Could they have lost that much weight in the race? I could understand maybe one person's shorts being too big but two? I wonder if they didn't bring these with them and someone just gave them suits to put on and gave them the wrong sizes. That was just strange.

[MNNHFLTX]

Well, if they were regular swim trunks, you would think that they would have the drawstring waist that they could have tied tighter. I don't know--maybe they just didn't want to take the time.

[PirateLover]

Well, if they were regular swim trunks, you would think that they would have the drawstring waist that they could have tied tighter. I don't know--maybe they just didn't want to take the time.

If the shorts are too big, sometimes you can't get the drawstring tight enough. A friend of mine once had to borrow the trunks of a friend who was twice the size and he was running into a similar problem.