Watch Out, Sarah!

Airline Loses Athlete's Leg

Let this be a reminder that you can get bonus points by sending me media articles about the race or racers and I'll get them on the blog!

Week One Bonus Question Corrections

I made a couple mistakes on the crossword.

31 across should have 12 spaces

20 down can have either 8 or 10 spaces (it is listed as 10 on the puzzle).

I have problems spelling sometimes. Sorry!

WEEK ONE: CAPTION THIS!

A little small, I know, but that's our fabulous Phil, doing...I have no idea. So, leave a caption, and remember to sign your name so I know who gets the points.

WEEK ONE: BONUS QUESTION

A hard question for the first week.

To keep you busy before September 17th, I present the Amazing Race 9 review crossword puzzle!

You will receive one point for each correct answer your send back in whatever form I happen to get them back from you.

Good luck!

The Teams - My Initial Thoughts

Bilal and Sa'eed

• Our first Muslim team on the race! They've traveled a lot. They were both in the military for a number of years. Both of these bode well for them. But what doesn't bode well is that one has a fear of heights. I'm glad that the race is pushing diversity in a positive and uncontroversial way this year unlike that other show, but let's think about the sense of putting two men who follow the Islamic dress code (at least it looks that way to me) on a show where you are on PLANES EVERY DAY. I fear that what will do these two in is not a lack of athleticism (from the pictures they don't look like they would win a foot race), but getting held up in airport security. If one of them starts singing "Cleveland Muslims in New Zealand" or something, I will be very very happy and want them to go a long, long way.

David and Mary

• Oh, the joys of a Kentucky coal miner and his McDonald's working wife. I can hear the soundtrack that the Amazing Music Editors are putting together already in my head. What worries me most about these two (well, there are lots of things, actually) is that they are Big Brother fans, which means that they can be totally entertained by watching sixteen people stuck in the same house together for three months. I need a little more panache with my reality TV, thank you very much. The quasi-matching t-shirts (daddy's little devils, mommy's little angles, each with the same picture of their three kids on it) really have to go. They have no travel experience which would be fine, except that in their video Mary goes on and on about how they want to enjoy everything that they're seeing, and something to the effect of "I mean just think--we might get to see the Eiffel tower!". If that's as far as her travel imagination can take her, I'm not sure she's ready for, oh, let's say, a train in India? I don't have high hopes, but if they can pull out an "I concur" and prove me wrong, well, I'll be on the love coalmine train.
  

Duke and Lauren

• Please enter team competitive contention. Even though they are father / daughter (and, I might add, the first out gay woman we have had on this show in all ten seasons, which is kinda cool), the overwhelming vibe I get is akin to Ray and Deana. Is that icky and wrong? A little bit. They need to bond. They're trying to work on their relationship. No international travel, very competitive, treat each leg as the last leg (which means pouting in second place--ugh). I want to like them more, but I just can't. So, Rhode Islanders? Prove me wrong, please!

Dustin and Kandice

• I never thought I would say this, but my favorite pre-show team is a pair of beauty queens. But they don't seem to be like the beauty queens of yore, they seem awesome. First, in their video, they must have asked them how they did at the Miss America pageant and their answer was, "pretty good--we were in the top 50!" which I thought was really funny. And then they won me over even more when they started quoting from the big-ass release form you have to sign when you get far enough into the interview process for the show (although no one besides me reading probably knew that's what they were doing, but there is actually a line in the liability section that says "CBS is not responsible nor can be held liable for injuries or death resulting from political situations, war, transportation, challenge equipment, contestant choices, acts of god..."). They're like a funny Double D, a non-bimbo Heave, and I'm guessing they won't go looking for the mountains of Argentina on the Chilean coastline. Sassy, smart, strong, big fans of the show...I hate to keep going on about them because I'm afraid it will jinx them. So I am now done with my Dustin and Kandice lovefest.

Erwin and Godwin

• Ah, the competitive brothers team. But as opposed to the competitive brothers of previous seasons, it seems like these two are more concerned with competing against each other? No that could be fun to watch, or get old really quickly. Not sure which way it will go. A couple quick observations: 1) they both have win in their name. 2) the one who feels the pressure to live up to his brother also has God in his name. I find that funny. Despite their muscles and brainpower (I'm assuming by the UC Berkely--or is it UCLA?--shirt), these two are little chickenshits! My favorite line of their video was that they'd make decisions on roadblocks about who had more absorbant underwear. Oh, that's a good one. I'd like to see these two go far, but I have a feeling they will be more of the Shola and Doyin rather than the original Double D team.
  

Kellie and Jamie

• Fame seeking cheerleaders. We'll see these two on the next "Battle of the Network Reality Stars". I really don't have too much else to say about them, other than one little comment. As a former teacher, it kind of pains me to hear someone say, "Well, I took Spanish all throughout high school so I can say 'Hola', but that's about it." Dude, I have never taken Spanish, and I can say Hola. I've never taken Welsh either, but I can say Ca arall bîr blesio like a native. I have a feeling Kellie and Jamie will say φιλώ εμένα to get what they want at least once on the race. Bring it On, girls.

Lyn and Karlyn

• I'm going to just call this team Bowling Moms part deux (unless that title should go to BJ and Tyler?). Even their first names are kind of the same! Hopefully they won't screech as much. And that's really all I have to say about them.

Peter and Sarah

• With these two, I made a mistake by watching their video before reading their short bio, so I was totally confused and a bit put off when Peter was the one talking about how hard it is to travel with an artificial limb. I was like, "um, dude, you have both your legs, at least until she burns it off with the stare she was giving you, dope. Then I realized that he actually is a clinical prosthetist, so I guess it makes a bit of sense, except for the whole she's staring you down with her eyes and you so don't notice bit. I like her. She isn't all "oh my god, look at me because I'm different and I'm really out to prove something" (yes, I'm looking at you Charla. And Reichen), but is more like, "yeah, this happened, but it doesn't stop me. And you know how I know that? I'm this kickass triathalon grrrrrrrrrrrl!" (I don't usually spell "girl" like that. I'm all about proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar. However, I think she might just qualify as a grrrrrrrrrrrrrl). I'm still getting a creepy vibe from him. Like a Colin vibe, I think. They are either going to go away quick, or be a team to watch. I'm just not sure which one yet.

Rob and Kimberly

• Blah. That's really the only impression I have. Or maybe it's just because I've been working on this post for quite sometime and I really hadn't written anything interesting about them before. Oh, except that they are going to try not to fight, because teams that fight or work together as a team don't win. They obviously didn't see season three.

Tom and Terry
Tyler and James

• Oh, the alpha males that reconnected in rehab? This is awesome. But I do have a little bit of an issue when the production team could possibly design challenges that they couldn't take part in, even if it is a detour or something. There will be no vodka shots off swords for these two. Other than that? The usual fun lovin' good lookin' twenty something guys. They'll have fun with Kellie and Jamie, I'm guessing.
  

Vipul and Arti

• You know, I'm beginning to think race is the new gay in the world of reality tv. I'm not sure what that means, but I think it's true. And I'm sure I wil pontificate upon this more in future recaps. I like the look of these two. Vipul's got on the silly tshirt, they are fans, they look like they get along really well. I have to say, though, Arti looks absolutley shell-shocked by the cameras, the whole Kami and Karli in the headlights look. Hopefully she'll be able to get through this stage.

Some Final Thoughts

First off, I LOVE the new videosite that they're using on cbs.com, innertube. It works perfectly for me, it's easy to create a playlist, and it's fast and clear. Although, that could be my cable modem that I've got here at the house.

Second, I think I kind of love this cast. There is only one out of twenty four that gives me immediate ick vibes (Peter, I'm giving you the same stare Sarah was), but the rest seem excellent. I'd rather see smart, good racers than drama any day. I know drama garners ratings, but so does Emmys. And this show's already won three and possibly a fourth on Sunday. Time will tell, and keep your fingers crossed.

How Allegra picks her teams

I have kept the same strategy since the beginning of the race pools way back in season 5. The only time I've actually placed in the top three was season eight, but this could be due to the fact that I don't make myself eligible for as many bonus points as y'all. Anyways, here's how the stat obsessed pool host does things.

If you work off the theory that what it takes to win the race is a combination of experience and athleticism, it seems that the best determining factor would be age. So, therefore, I look at how each age has placed in all past seasons, and come up with the median placement for each age, combine that with their team mate, and figure out the median of the combined team. These are then ranked in order from best average to worst, and that's how I get my placements.

With me so far? Here's how each team fared this time around:

Bilal age 37 (past 37 year olds have placed 6, 4, and 3 = 4.33)
Sa'eed age 39 (7, 4, 10, 10 = 7.75)
6.04

David age 32 (11, 11, 11, 6, 3, 10, 6, 4, 4, 7 = 7.30)
Mary age 31 (8, 8, 10, 11, 7, 7, 8, 4, 2 = 7.22)
7.26

Duke age 52 (5, 5 = 5.00)
Lauren age 26 (1, 2, 8, 4, 9, 10, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 10, 2, 9, 5, 5, 7 = 6.12)
5.56

Dustin age 26 (6.12)
Kandice age 24 (9, 1, 5, 6, 7, 2, 5, 1 = 4.50)
5.31

Erwin age 32 (7.30)
Godwin age 29 (2, 3, 2, 5, 7, 1, 6 = 3.71)
5.50

Kellie age 22 (8, 8, 9, 1, 2, 5, 11 = 6.29)
Jamie age 22 (6.29)
6.29

Lyn age 32 (7.30)
Karlyn age 32 (7.30)
7.30

Peter age 35 (12, 3, 4 = 6.33)
Sarah age 31 (7.22)
6.78

Rob age 31 (7.22)
Kimberly age 28 (3, 11, 2, 5, 1, 5, 8, 5, 11, 11, 2, 10 = 6.17)
6.70

Tom age 39 (7.75)
Terry age 45 (4, 7 = 5.50)
6.63

Tyler age 29 (3.71)
James age 27 (3, 3, 2, 6, 7, 3, 6, 6, 11, 7, 7, 8, 8, 1, 10, 7, = 5.94)
4.83

Vipul age 29 (3.71)
Arti age 27 (5.94)
4.83

A point of interest: this is the first time that two teams have had the same average, and they also happen to be the lowest average which, if my method works this year, we are in for a fun finnish. After crunching these averages and assuming that age is a fair predictor of race placement, the order might look something like this:

1. Tyler and James
2. Vipul and Arti
3. Dustin and Kandice
4. Erwin and Godwin
5. Duke and Lauren
6. Bilal and Sa'eed
7. Kellie and Jamie
8. Tom and Terry
9. Rob and Kimberly
10. Peter and Sarah
11. David and Mary
12. Lyn and Karlyn

Of course, I reserve the right that this is completley false and whatnot . In fact, someone had already taken my top four teams when I went to figure this all out, so I'm playing with my 1, 2, 3, and 5 teams.

All right, yo. The teams are up on the CBS website, which means it's time to get this pool up and running again. Here are the rules:

Each pool participant will pick four teams. No two pool participants can have the same combination of four teams. This is to eliminate the chance of a tie.

Based on what happens in each episode, people will receive the following points:

1. Place at the Pitstop
First Place: 100 points
Second Place: 90 points
Third Place: 80 points
Fourth Place: 70 points
Fifth Place: 60 points
Sixth Place: 50 points
Seventh Place: 40 points
Eighth Place: 30 points
Ninth Place: 20 points
Tenth Place: 10 points
Eleventh Place: 5 points
LAST (ALL ELIMINATIONS): -100 points

2. Team Uses the Fast Forward: 100 points

3. Team uses their Yield: 50 points

4. Team Gets Yielded: -50 points

5. Screen shows the team "currently in first place": 10 points

6. Screen shows the team "currently in last place": -10 points

7. Only team to complete a detour option: 20 points

8. Team gives up on a detour option: -10 points

9. MONKEY points: a team says monkey, 10 points. They show a monkey on the screen, 5 points to all teams.

10. Team says the quote that is the episode title: 10 points

Active Participation Points:
Bonus Questions: Answer the weekly bonus question: 40 points
Media: send me an article to post on the blog, have been to one of the places and send me a photo to post on the blog, etc: 5 points

The ADAM rule is still in effect. In order to be eligible for media points, here are some ground rules:

1. You must have already sent in an answer to that week's bonus question.
2. You may earn a maximum of 100 bonus points per week (i.e. 40 bonus question, 60 media articles).

As a reminder, I am playing for real again this time. So be on your guard. I'm going to kick ass this time around.

People's Picks

Eric:

• Duke and Lauren
• Peter and Sarah
• Tyler and James
• Vipul and Arti

Mark

• Erwin and Goodwin
• Peter and Sarah
• Tom and Terry
• Tyler and James

Anton

• Erwin and Goodwin
• Peter and Sarah
• Tyler and James
• Vipul and Arti

Tracy

• Erwin and Goodwin
• Tom and Terry
• Tyler and James
• Vipul and Arti

Kristin

• Erwin and Goodwin
• Rob and Kimberly
• Tyler and James
• Vipul and Arti

Adam

• Erwin and Goodwin
• Kellie and Jamie
• Peter and Sarah
• Tyler and James

Chris

• Peter and Sarah
• Tom and Terry
• Tyler and James
• Vipul and Arti

Nancy

• Duke and Lauren
• Erwin and Godwin
• Peter and Sarah
  
• Vipul and Arti

Ami

• Duke and Lauren
• Erwin and Goodwin
• Tyler and James
• Vipul and Arti

Jay

• Duke and Lauren
• Dustin and Kandice
• Erwin and Goodwin
• Vipul and Arti

Sarah

• Dustin and Kandice
• Erwin and Goodwin
• Peter and Sarah
• Vipul and Arti

Terry

• Dustin and Kandice
• Erwin and Goodwin
• Tyler and James
• Vipul and Arti

Mary:

• Kellie and Jamie
• Peter and Sarah
• Tyler and James
• Vipul and Arti

Chris H

• Rob and Kimberly
• Tom and Terry
• Tyler and James
• Vipul and Arti

June

• Dustin and Kandice
• Erwin and Goodwin
• Lyn and Karlyn
• Vipul and Arti

Anthony

• Bilal and Sa'eed
• Duke and Lauren
• Peter and Sarah
• Vipul and Arti

Michelle

• Duke and Lauren
• Erwin and Goodwin
• Peter and Sarah
• Tyler and James

Amy

• Dustin and Kandice
• Peter and Sarah
• Rob and Kimberly
• Vipul and Arti

Ashlee

• Erwin and Goodwin
• Peter and Sarah
• Rob and Kimberly
• Tyler and James

Peter

• Bilal and Sa'eed
• Erwin and Goodwin
• Lyn and Karlyn
• Vipul and Arti

Caitlin S.

• Bilal and Sa'eed
• Erwin and Goodwin
• Tyler and James
• Vipul and Arti

Allegra

• Duke and Lauren
• Dustin and Kandice
• Tyler and James
• Vipul and Arti

Mike

• Erwin and Goodwin
• Kellie and Jamie
• Peter and Sarah
• Vipul and Arti

Jill

• Bilal and Sa'eed
• Peter and Sarah
• Tyler and James
• Vipul and Arti

Ben

• Erwin and Goodwin
• Lyn and Karlyn
• Peter and Sarah
• Tyler and James

Stephanie

• Bilal and Sa'eed
• Erwin and Godwin
• Peter and Sarah
• Vipul and Arti

Linda

• David and Mary
• Kellie and Jamie
• Lyn and Karlyn
• Peter and Sarah

Mark

• Erwin and Godwin
• Peter and Sarah
• Tom and Terry
• Vipul and Arti

Courtney

• Bilal and Sa'eed
• Erwin and Godwin
• Peter and Sarah
• Tyler and James

Judy

• Dustin and Kandice
• Erwin and Godwin
• Kellie and Jamie
• Peter and Sarah

Joanna

• David and Mary
• Peter and Sarah
• Tyler and James
• Vipul and Arti

Becky

• David and Mary
• Duke and Lauren
• Dustin and Kandice
• Tyler and James

Curt

• Duke and Lauren
• Erwin and Godwin
• Lyn and Karlyn
• Tyler and James

Ryan

• Bilal and Sa'eed
• David and Mary
• Erwin and Godwin
• Vipul and Arti

Kathy

• Bilal and Sa'eed
• Kellie and Jamie
• Tyler and James
• Vipul and Arti

Robyn

• Peter and Sarah
• Rob and Kimberly
• Tyler and James
• Vipul and Arti

Caitlin

• Kellie and Jamie
• Lyn and Karlyn
• Peter and Sarah
• Tyler and James

Courtney W

• Duke and Lauren
• Peter and Sarah
• Tom and Terry
• Tyler and James

Laura

• Bilal and Sa'eed
• Duke and Lauren
• Erwin and Godwin
• Vipul and Arti

Les

• Duke and Lauren
• Erwin and Godwin
• Kellie and Jamie
• Vipul and Arti

Bari

• David and Mary
• Erwin and Godwin
• Peter and Sarah
• Tyler and James

Willow

• Erwin and Godwin
• Peter and Sarah
• Rob and Kimberly
• Tom and Terry

Trina

• Bilal and Sa'eed
• Dustin and Kandice
• Erwin and Godwin
• Vipul and Arti

Boogie

• Dustin and Kandice
• Erwin and Godwin
• Kellie and Jamie
• Tyler and James

Dave

• Duke and Lauren
• Kellie and Jamie
• Peter and Sarah
• Rob and Kimberly
  

It's time to pick your ponies!

The AMAZING RACE 10 pool is officially OPEN. Rules will follow shortly, as will teams that have already been picked.

Let's get it going on!
Allegra