Thinking Smart in Episode 8
The Amazing Race All-Stars: Thinking Smart in Episode 8 by Jeffrey Clinard -- 04/13/2007 Our remaining teams made lots of decisions on Episode 8 of The Amazing Race: All-Stars. Some of them were smart, some, not so much. Air travel is one of the few ways teams can gain a substantial lead over the other teams. Similarly, air travel is one of the ways teams can lose a lot of hours on the other teams. That’s why teams need to carefully consider their flight arrangements, specifically when planned connections are tight. The tighter the connections and the more cities teams travel through increase the risk. Dustin & Kandice, Danny & Oswald, and Eric & Danielle took the safest route, going through a single city, whereas Charla & Mirna took more risk by making connections through two cities, but the reward was nearly three hours. Uchenna & Joyce gambled and lost with a flight through Frankfurt, all for a much smaller gain in time. However, it was not a bad gamble as Frankfurt is a fairly large hub city. They simply had terrible luck. Another point where luck came into play was during the Detour, where one of the tasks was luck based. Teams should never go for the luck task unless they are way behind and need to get lucky in order to stay in the race. Charla & Mirna lost all of the time they had gained with better flights trying to find the licorice center of a cookie. Danny & Owald tried it, and Eric & Danielle actually finished it. Still, the faster task was the artwork. The Roadblock was another task based on local customs, and didn’t change any positions in the leg. Only four teams are left, and the finish line is drawing closer. Which teams were thinking smart in episode 8? Dustin & Kandice: The beauty queens ran a strong leg, making a good decision on the flight, and immediately selecting the faster Detour option. They checked and double-checked their pattern during the task, and had no problems getting newspapers. They also made good use of a local guide to find the right train and bus. It was a slower route than Danny & Oswald, but still beat out Eric & Danielle. Dustin & Kandice also used the Yield. As usual, the team Yielded complained about it, and said that there was no reason for it. The question is, did they Yield the right team? Well, they should have known that Uchenna & Joyce had failed to make their connection, as they had beaten them to the Yield. That would indicate they were in last place. However, they might have decided Uchenna & Joyce were already going to lose the leg, and by stalling Eric & Danielle, they could get a better jump going into the next leg. Overall it wasn’t a bad Yield, though the race has seen better uses of it. Charla & Mirna: The cousins continue to annoy me, and I’m often left speechless after some of their actions or remarks. However, they did make the best choice of any team when it came to flights, and arrived in Malaysia well ahead of every other team. They also rightly didn’t want to give up one of the computers to Eric & Danielle. However, they made a bad decision at the Detour, and wasted far too much time before cutting their losses. It cost them the lead, though they did come in second place. Danny & Oswald: The friends had a rough leg in every aspect except for the air travel. They did the research and decided the risk of the faster connection was too great, and took the safe option. They got good help in finding the right bus and train to use, and got to the route marker in second place. However, things went downhill from there. They attempted the cookies before finally giving up, and then marked out the incorrect pattern on the cloth. Danny had problems at the Roadblock as well, and ended up spending valuable cash to buy newspapers. Overall they had a rough leg. Eric & Danielle: This team also had a bad leg, staring with trying to grab a computer from Charla & Mirna. It wasn’t going to work, though Eric was absolutely right in demanding Mirna wait in line to ask questions at the airport. Once in Malaysia, they had the slowest bus and train route to the next route marker, and found themselves Yielded. They picked the luck based Detour task, while knowing another team was behind them, but got lucky. Danielle had problems with her bike at the Roadblock as well. Overall their decisions were not good, and they paid for it with number four position. Uchenna & Joyce: What went wrong? They gambled and lost with a flight connection, and ended up getting stuck in Germany. They apparently didn’t check out what backup flights were available if they missed their connection, which may have made the risk unacceptable. I still think it wasn’t a bad gamble, but it is one they lost.
The Amazing Race All-Stars: Thinking Smart in Episode 8 by Jeffrey Clinard -- 04/13/2007 Our remaining teams made lots of decisions on Episode 8 of The Amazing Race: All-Stars. Some of them were smart, some, not so much. Air travel is one of the few ways teams can gain a substantial lead over the other teams. Similarly, air travel is one of the ways teams can lose a lot of hours on the other teams. That’s why teams need to carefully consider their flight arrangements, specifically when planned connections are tight. The tighter the connections and the more cities teams travel through increase the risk. Dustin & Kandice, Danny & Oswald, and Eric & Danielle took the safest route, going through a single city, whereas Charla & Mirna took more risk by making connections through two cities, but the reward was nearly three hours. Uchenna & Joyce gambled and lost with a flight through Frankfurt, all for a much smaller gain in time. However, it was not a bad gamble as Frankfurt is a fairly large hub city. They simply had terrible luck. Another point where luck came into play was during the Detour, where one of the tasks was luck based. Teams should never go for the luck task unless they are way behind and need to get lucky in order to stay in the race. Charla & Mirna lost all of the time they had gained with better flights trying to find the licorice center of a cookie. Danny & Owald tried it, and Eric & Danielle actually finished it. Still, the faster task was the artwork. The Roadblock was another task based on local customs, and didn’t change any positions in the leg. Only four teams are left, and the finish line is drawing closer. Which teams were thinking smart in episode 8? Dustin & Kandice: The beauty queens ran a strong leg, making a good decision on the flight, and immediately selecting the faster Detour option. They checked and double-checked their pattern during the task, and had no problems getting newspapers. They also made good use of a local guide to find the right train and bus. It was a slower route than Danny & Oswald, but still beat out Eric & Danielle. Dustin & Kandice also used the Yield. As usual, the team Yielded complained about it, and said that there was no reason for it. The question is, did they Yield the right team? Well, they should have known that Uchenna & Joyce had failed to make their connection, as they had beaten them to the Yield. That would indicate they were in last place. However, they might have decided Uchenna & Joyce were already going to lose the leg, and by stalling Eric & Danielle, they could get a better jump going into the next leg. Overall it wasn’t a bad Yield, though the race has seen better uses of it. Charla & Mirna: The cousins continue to annoy me, and I’m often left speechless after some of their actions or remarks. However, they did make the best choice of any team when it came to flights, and arrived in Malaysia well ahead of every other team. They also rightly didn’t want to give up one of the computers to Eric & Danielle. However, they made a bad decision at the Detour, and wasted far too much time before cutting their losses. It cost them the lead, though they did come in second place. Danny & Oswald: The friends had a rough leg in every aspect except for the air travel. They did the research and decided the risk of the faster connection was too great, and took the safe option. They got good help in finding the right bus and train to use, and got to the route marker in second place. However, things went downhill from there. They attempted the cookies before finally giving up, and then marked out the incorrect pattern on the cloth. Danny had problems at the Roadblock as well, and ended up spending valuable cash to buy newspapers. Overall they had a rough leg. Eric & Danielle: This team also had a bad leg, staring with trying to grab a computer from Charla & Mirna. It wasn’t going to work, though Eric was absolutely right in demanding Mirna wait in line to ask questions at the airport. Once in Malaysia, they had the slowest bus and train route to the next route marker, and found themselves Yielded. They picked the luck based Detour task, while knowing another team was behind them, but got lucky. Danielle had problems with her bike at the Roadblock as well. Overall their decisions were not good, and they paid for it with number four position. Uchenna & Joyce: What went wrong? They gambled and lost with a flight connection, and ended up getting stuck in Germany. They apparently didn’t check out what backup flights were available if they missed their connection, which may have made the risk unacceptable. I still think it wasn’t a bad gamble, but it is one they lost.