The Amazing Race: All-Stars - Thinking Smart in Episode 1 by Jeffrey Clinard -- 02/20/2007 Even racers who have competed in The Amazing Race before make mistakes. In the premiere episode, some made smart moves and some made some pretty dumb ones. What does Jeffrey have to say about their decisions? One of the most encouraging things I saw in the debut episode of The Amazing Race: All-Stars is that it appears to be no holds barred this time. Nobody is in it to travel or have an adventure or do things they’ve never done before. This time they’re just out to win. The first leg was done much like most of the first legs, with an initial division into groups by air flights, followed by a secondary division by departure time (which pushed back one team from the first flight and allowed several from the second flight to gain an advantage). However, while two teams pressed their advantage with the best departure times from Ecuador (Rob & Amber and Oswald & Danny), two teams blew it completely by poorly navigating (Charla & Mirna and John Vito & Jill). To be fair, both teams did the right thing in trying to get native guides, but somewhere along the line they failed to check it against the provided map or understand the concept of “north entrance.” One of them paid the ultimate price for not double-checking the local guide against their resources. The Detour was a classic case of gambling or going for a sure thing. Wrangle It was a straightforward task, while Recover It was the kind of gambling I don’t advise unless a team is desperate. Searching a large field for a small button was a time-consuming task; no team actually ended up completing that Detour. Hopefully, this means teams are paying attention to what task actually requires in terms of time and effort. Overall, I enjoyed the first episode, and seeing what teams did right, what teams did wrong, and which teams were thinking smart in episode 1. Rob & Amber: Love them or hate them, they have always been a strong racing team and haven’t lost a beat since their second-place finish in Amazing Race 7. They asked the right questions at the airport, were seen buying books (which I assume are translation dictionaries, atlases, and travel guides), asked their cab driver for a shortcut to the plaza, and hired a cab to lead them to the turnoff for Cotopaxi National Park. Along the way they were even nice to Oswald & Danny. While uncharacteristic of Rob, he probably knew they were in the lead and it wouldn’t make a difference, and might pay off later. Their single error was initially trying the Recover It Detour option, though they quickly abandoned it and admitted their mistake. They are still a formidable team and earned first place in the leg. Oswald & Danny: This was another team that did a stellar job in the first leg, though they had the initial advantage by knowing the best way to navigate through Miami. They were among the first to arrive at the airport and booked the first flight. They were also the first out of the airport in Ecuador, and while beaten to the plaza by Rob & Amber, they secured the first departure time. Like Rob & Amber, they hired a cab to follow to the turnoff point and made it to the Detour in second place. One quick Detour later and they were team number two. Teri & Ian: Teri & Ian stumbled a bit at the start but were handed a lucky break by David & Mary, who told them about their mistake at Copa Airlines. By quickly changing to American, they were able to secure passage on the first flight to arrive. While they did end up in the second group to depart, their excellent navigation efforts allowed them arrive at the Detour in third place and end up in the same position in the first leg. Make no doubt, this is a tough team who pushed back from a few setbacks to gain an excellent position in the race. Eric & Danielle: Despite several problems such as poor navigation to the airport, the last flight into Ecuador, and the last departure time, this team came in a respectable fourth place for the leg because they made up the time on the way to Cotopaxi National Park. Eric also understood he had an SUV, not a tiny sports car, and passed several people when it came to a bit of a bump in the road. His aggressive driving allowed the team to pass a few cars, and after picking the right Detour, come in in the number four position, an outstanding comeback from being the last team to depart. Bill & Joe: This team seems to have slipped a bit from the first season, making a mistake by going to Copa Airlines from the start, though once they saw Teri & Ian rush away from it they correctly chased after them. It was a good move. Best case, they get the better flight; worse case, they are no worse off than before. From there, they seemed to run a decent enough leg, getting the second departure time and running with the others in that pack. They did well enough to come in the middle of the standings, showing they may be several years older but still can run a decent race. Dustin & Kandice: The beauty queens were one of the best all-female teams ever, but they seemed to have slipped a notch in their thinking during the first leg. They did an OK job of getting to the airport, but made the mistake of going for Copa Airlines, and, worse, trusting Mary & David to tell them the truth at the ticket counter. That was payback for The Amazing Race 10, and it allowed Teri & Ian to eventually grab the last set of tickets for the American Airlines flight. Dustin & Kandice did a decent enough job after that, running with most of the pack in the second-to-depart group, but need to pick up their game if they want to be the first all-female team to win The Amazing Race. Uchenna & Joyce: This team has slipped quite a bit from their win in The Amazing Race 7, making the immediate mistake of following a team that didn’t know what they were doing to get to the airport. By the time they got there, they had lost all chance of getting on the fastest flight. While they were able to grab the second departure time, they had a few problems navigating to the Detour and ended up last out of their departure group. Overall, their problems were in navigation, a skill they need to relearn quickly if they are going to win the race for a second time. Mirna & Charla: It seems Mirna has a protector now to keep people from trying to push past her in line. Of course, she was equally guilty of the same thing in The Amazing Race 5, but selective memory is a wonderful thing. Still, this team actually raced better than their standings indicate. They made good time to the airport and secured seating on the fastest flight, then were in the first group to depart Pim’s. They then secured a local guide to help them navigate. However, it was all downhill from there. First, Mirna admitted she wasn’t good with a stick shift. This shows poor pre-race planning, though in practice it didn’t look like she had problems. Second, they didn’t double-check their guide’s route against the map, and ended up going to the south entrance instead of the north entrance. This could have been a fatal mistake. They were lucky other teams had even worse problems, plus their excellent racing to Pim’s bought them enough time to recover from their mistake. Still, they can’t repeat these mistakes if they want to win the race. David & Mary: David & Mary actually started the race by making decent time to the airport, with enough time to make the faster flight. Unfortunately, they made one of the worst errors a team can make in the first leg - they failed to ask the key question of when the flights arrived. That move put them on the last flight. While they made good moves in outright lying to Dustin & Kandice about the flights (which cost THEM the chance to make the first one) and were seen buying books, David & Mary put themselves in a hole from the start of the leg. While David did some aggressive driving in four-wheel drive to pass Kevin & Drew, I’m not sure it would have made a difference as the former frat boys suffered a flat tire later. Still, while their performance was not impressive, they are still in the race. Kevin & Drew: Overall, this team easily ran the worst leg of any team in the race and survived because they got lucky. From the start, Drew admitted he couldn’t run very well with his backpack (and probably without it), but his backpack is huge. I think he has packed way too much stuff for the trip. The team had problems finding the airport, got on the last flight, and were the last team to Pim’s. They suffered navigation problems, managed to drive off the road hard enough to blow a tire, and kept racing with the flat. All things being equal, they should have lost the race in the first leg, but fate was kind to them. They need serious improvement if they plan to win the race this time. John Vito & Jill: What went wrong? Well, they ran a stellar first half of the leg, then made some good moves in getting directions and assistance from the locals. The problem was, their directions were bad, and they apparently didn’t compare where they were going to their provided map. A second set of bad directions sealed the fate for this team. While they attempted to do things right, they had a lousy day when it came to getting directions, and ended up being eliminated from the race.