Amanda:

I agree. That caviar did not look up to "our" standards. One can only blame shrinking Network TV budgets!

And, I agree, with your second suggestion. I don't think the pucks went as fast for the Bowling Moms either.
Old world customs?

Doug

Doug, quite possibly...

OK, realistically, I think I could have done the caviar but it definitely would NOT have been fun. Ugh. That was a LOT slimier than caviar that I've seen before. What'd they do, add glycerin to the caviar to make it slimier??

Masaki

Glycerin, hmmm, interesting thought. That certainly would make it look better (read shiny) on tape. Food styling is pretty cool. I've seen grill marks painted on burgers and 20 cereal boxes opened to get the perfect bowl. The next time you see a bowl of ice cream, wonder whether it is or is not scoops of mashed potatos...

R

When does it end?

Does anyone know when the final show will air? We will be on Mariner Sept. 8 to Oct. 4 and don't want to miss any episodes so I need to know when to tape them. Last year I asked someone at work to tape it for me and she forgot. So don't want that to happen again.

Thanks. Joanne

I agree that the cousin is using her disability in an unorthodox way to gain favors.

R - I always wonder about the ice cream ... :)

Masaki

I think that what Robert is referring to are photo shoots for ads where perfection at the expense of reality rules the day.

Given that the producers of Amaz Race really were not selling caviar, I doubt that they did much more than buy budget fish eggs (and, maybe, let them sit a wee bit to long).

After all, to most the concept of caviar is one of the rich folk's pleasures. Too much of a "good thing" surely would fly with middle America.

But Robert is right about photo shoots..... what you see ain't always (or often) what you think you see.

Doug

There is a show on the food channel that just aired a program (I think it was on an episode of "Unwrapped") that showed how food for TV commericals is staged. I found it very interesting. They cooked the pasta to not even al dente and used tweezers to each strand look pretty on the plate. They also did the perfect scoop of ice cream but I forget the steps they went to to achieve perfection. They did say that the finished product had to actually be the food that they were selling. No plastic fake food :)

Next on THE AMAZING RACE, Tuesday, August 3, at 10PM ET/PT

Injuries cause serious problems for two Teams.
Poor map-reading skills threaten to sink one Team lost in the Egyptian desert.
Rivalry between two Teams continues at the St. Petersburg airport.

"Lost in the Egyptian desert" ... this I gotta see. I can always hope it's a certain team. :D

Masaki

Last time I checked as long as it was food you could use it - so mashed potatos for ice cream would fly. I think "serving suggestion" in mouse print at the bottom with any legal would be enough to get by broadcast standards...but there I go hijacking a post again...

R

R, maybe we both were right :)

Food styling article

Karen, You are making me hungry sitting here at work!!
Who do you think gets the injuries?? It looks like there will be another show down at the airport!! Can't wait.

Karen, if you could send some of that food through the internet.

There was a show on the Travel station: Greece last night. I wonder if they are putting it on again??
Jan

Jan, was it called "Ultimate Greece"?

If so, it's airing 3 more times in the next week on the Travel Channel.

Here is another discription of tonights episode with a little more detail:

THE COMPETITION HEATS UP AS THE SEVEN REMAINING TEAMS MAKE THEIR WAY FROM RUSSIA TO EGYPT, ON "THE AMAZING RACE 5,"
TUESDAY, AUG. 3 ON THE CBS TELEVISION NETWORK


"Are You Good At Puzzles" -- Seven teams make their way from the cold of Russia to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, on THE AMAZING RACE 5, Tuesday, Aug. 3 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Phil Keoghan is the host of the series.

At the mercy of a foreign cab driver, one team has trouble communicating where they need to go and miss a very critical flight. Meanwhile, while all the teams are waiting for a flight, one team makes a stealthy move in the middle of the night to abandon the pack of teams in order to advance. Once in Egypt, as one team attempts to complete a task, they find themselves lost on the Giza Plateau among the great pyramids. There they run into one of their rival teams, who they hope will bury the hatchet and actually help the lost duo. The Roadblock has teams forced to face their fears of dark and claustrophobic spaces, as they must descend an ancient shaft to a watery tomb.

We just watched the 2 episodes we missed while on NorFjor723 ... Oz noted that most of the folks who ate chocolate in Argentina also ate the caviar. Chip goes into the AR Hall of Fame with his defiant/intimidating caviar consumption - I loved his glare at the other teams as they struggled with the caviar. However, the Bowling Mom seemed to be not far behind in her rate of consumption (I wish they would post some info about the actual elapsed time of some detours/activities).

Best supporting award goes to Goldilocks ... were I the caviar eater on a few of those teams, the observing team member would be sure to die.

And, the Bowling Moms get the award for "line of the season" so far ... "We beat the twins in an eating contest; imagine that!"

The sights of St. Petersburg were magnificent (and will be a boon to an already thriving tourist trade). The geography of Argentina looked like pristine beauty. And tonight we get to relive our trip to Egypt.

Onward!

Luke

Fantastic episode tonight!

Egypt brought tears to my eyes as we are not as brave as Betty and I don't think we will ever get to visit any time soon.

And I gotta say, Mirna Rocks! She may have used her disability in an unsavory way in the past but their isn't anything that girl won't try. She sure had got spunk! So now, I am rooting for Mirna and Smirna and the Colin team.

I won't spoil the surprise for anyone who hasn't watched yet but the twist at the end of the show is pretty cool, too!

Karen:

Arlene said that in Orlando, there was an ad for Amazing Race tryouts in Orlando this Saturday. I couldn't find anything about it on the website. Might you have a way of finding out the particulars?

Reading through the rules, though, looks like it is only good for the unemployed or independently wealthy. You have to be able to spend two weeks JUST for the final interviews. Then 30 to 40 days for the show. Well, we might as well go down and see what the fodder look like.

BTW, Sharla is the short one, Mirna is the one with the crush on Phil.

Oops, I meant to type Smirna :)

Here is the link for the Amazing Race application. If I remember correctly, it's 10 pages long. There is a new rule this year, that if you applied for the previous race (the next one airing this fall) you can't apply again this time. Maybe they are picking some applicants from the last tryouts so I am pretending we still have hope!

Very interesting episode with quite the twist! And finally, the FF makes an appearance!

Masaki

I have some trouble deciding who I will root for from week to week.

How much more fun this could be, if only we were watching Karen and her friend win this race.

Betty

At the conclusion of last night's episode my husband said "that is an AMAZING race"! He is finally as interested in it as I am. It's the one show I plan to tape when we are cruising. Here's hoping we don't have a power failure that will mess it up. Has anyone checked yet to find out when the finale airs?

Our family is also riding a roller-coaster of favorite teams ... we are even tolerating the Dallas brothers! Chip and Charla seem to most appreciate and enjoy the "travel" and "sights", recognizing the uniqueness of this opportunity ("I can't believer we're here!).

CBS's "Amazing Race" website does a nice job with background information, but I would still love to see more of the "behind the scenes" regarding the amazing technical crews (e.g., cameras, sound) and advance teams ... the planning and production is simply ... amazing.

Luke

Luke, I once read an article from past racers where they go into all that detail! I will look to see if I can find it again.

Here is a couple of fascinating articles:


Interview with the producer of AR

Amazing Race frequently asked questions

Karen, The Early Show at 6:45 a.m. did not say any clues about the show: thus, I could not wait to see who won or what happened last night so I went to the board that you posted the first few days, and found out what happened. I shall watch the tape tonight. It sounds like it was one of those better shows, and how does someone go anywhere with no money?? I guess we shall stay tuned.
Jan

Karen,

Thanks for the "background" links ... I think that a great 1-hour special (maybe before the finale) would be a "Making of the Amazing Race."

Luke

For all you Charla and Mirna fans....or non-fans, this is a good article:

http://www.azcentral.com/ent/tv/articles/0728charla.html

What is your all opinion on the first place team taking the fast forward?? Do you think that was a mistake, since they were in 1st place with a ton of time ahead of them??
That was a great show last night. There looks like there is another fight over the cabs again for next week!

Maggie, good article you pulled out. I knew they were from Baltimore, but did not know what her job was. The other cousin is a lawyer.
Jan

Great article on Charla - she is my favoite right now. Yeah, she did exploit her height early on and I'm sure she will continue to, but she is the leader of the team - especially in the last episode. We haven't seen Mirna eating caviar, descending to the depths in Egypt, etc. She's up for anything and has an appreciation of the adventure they are on! Mirna is the one who is alienating others.

love the fact that she's married:
"Charla's husband, David Faddoul, 34, who is 5-foot-9 and manager of one of Charla's stores, says he is "so proud of her, you can't imagine."

Go Charla!!

--------------------

Leslie

Jan:

Could backfire if they have to wait for the first "stop" to open next time. It looks like they have at least a six hour head start. Could be lost if they have to wait. However, they said there were only two of them in the whole trip. What are the chances they would be first to the next fast forward? I would have made the same decision.

The story about Charla was great. I have to agree that my opinion has changed. At first I though she and her cousin where a little annoying, but they are using their advantages just as much as others. After all, when it comes to running, Charla is not at the head of the pack. She needs to find other ways to move ahead. I also enjoy her joy at seeing and being in some of the most incredible places in the world. She does take a moment to "smell the roses". I really like that about her!

Guess I've joined the Charla fan club!

I knew some of you would start coming around to my point of view!! The cousins are the most fun to watch of all of them, I think.

I do have to acknowledge a mistake way back at the beginning of this thread...the money they don't use does carry over. I didn't realize that until I read one of Karen's articles.

Interesting to see the couple in first place take the fast forward. I don't recall that happening before. That gives them a great advantage for a few weeks unless they get stalled at a task or in the airport .

It should be fun to watch the moms try to make it with no cash!
Maggie

I agree that it was a good idea to take the fast forward. Last year, there was a FF on every episode. This year, there will only be 2 and using it even if you are in first place will leave only one more fast forward for the other teams to use.

Did the twist at the end of this episode happen last year as well?

Charla is spunky, Mirna just annoying, but they do play the game well.

I agree about using the fast forward. It can only help unless you get stuck at the airport waiting for a flight. Especially since there's no guarantee that you'll be first with the next FF. If they hadn't used it, would it have gone to the next team that came to the box? Sorry for all the questions!

Amanda, by twist, do you mean taking away all their money? If so, that's new. There are always at least two non elimination rounds, so that wasn't new.

Yes, if they did not use the FF, it would be there for antoher team to scoop up.

The good thing about having a FF every episode, as there has been in every season past, was that you didn't have to use it until you were far behind. You didn't have to be first to use it because no one else would use it unless they were in the back of the pack. The bad thing was, you never knew if another team had used it before you because every team got one in their clue packet. There has been several teams vieing for the FF in the same episode only to arrive at the challange to find they have been beaten to the punch.

I was surprised no one on the later planes tried to get the FF. They would have been even further behind.

I was so busy congratulating myself that I had correctly predicted it was a non-elimination round that I almost missed Phil taking all their money away! There will be 2 more nonelimination rounds. You can sort of figure out where they will be - usually there is one when there are only 4 teams remaining.

With Six Teams Left, One Team Is faced With Their Biggest Challenge Yet, Being Left In The Egyptian Desert With No Money on an all new episode of "The Amazing Race 5," airing Tuesday, August 10 (10:00-11:00 PM) following an all new episode of Big Brother on CBS.

"Why Can't We Get a Camel"
The six remaining teams continue through Egypt, where one team is the victim of the race's latest twist.

Tempers flare at the Cairo Airport when one team tries to steal another team's taxi. Meanwhile, a new twist in the game has one team that is in last place begging for money in hopes to continue on after they are stripped of all their money at the last pit stop. Also, the Roadblock proves to be a challenge for a few teams who realize digging in the sand is not as easy as it seems.

Phil Keoghan is the host of the series.

A belated thanks for answering my questions, Karen! Life's been a little hectic here with house guests, wedding, etc. Eagerly looking forward to tonight.

I won't give anything away til tomorrow but my appreciation for Chip's awe at each new place they visit makes them my favorite team now :)
I can't believe no one else was wowed by their surroundings tonight!