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CTV to delay TAR12 finale in much of Canada
2008-01-18 17:45:00
CTV's broadcast of "The Amazing Race 12" finale will be delayed in much of Canada due to coverage of the NFC Championship pro football game. Many eastern Canadian stations will air TAR12's last leg immediately after football coverage, approximately 10 p.m. EST. The CTV Web site has full information on the scheduled times (subject to change) for "The Amazing Race 12" for each network affiliate. ----Unless CBS' AFC championship football and its postgame combined extend beyond four hours, there won't be any kind of delay in the CBS broadcast of "The Amazing Race 12." The NFC championship game will instead air on Fox network in the United States, directly opposite the TAR12 finale.Relevant link: CTV
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TAR 12.10: Taiwan
2008-01-18 17:29:00
TAR 12 , LEG 10 DEPARTURE TIMES1) Ronald & Christina (7:02 a.m.)2) Nathan & Jennifer (7:15 a.m., 0:13 behind the top team)3) Nicolas & Donald (7:21 a.m., 0:19)4) TK & Rachel (10:18 a.m., 3:169)JAPANAt the start of the tenth (and next to last) leg of "The Amazing Race 12," teams were directed to taxi to a building with "a hole in it" (Umeda Sky Building) and find the floating garden... what turned out to be an observatory on the roof of the building. The top three teams would arrive at Umeda to find the building not open till 10 a.m. Once the building opened, the six racers traveled on separate elevators to the observatory with father/daughter Ronald and Christina reading off the next clue to fly to Taipei, Taiwan . While the top three teams taxied to the airport, TK and Rachel started the race leg. The new daters got into a minor dispute (major by their standards) over whether the floating gardens were on the roof of the Umeda building (TK's belief) or at ground level (Rachel's bel...

Directors union reaches deal with studios
2008-01-18 16:15:00
The Directors Guild of America (DGA) reached a deal Thursday with the studios to avert a strike by that guild. More importantly, the DGA deal may just provide a template that can be used to settle the ongoing dispute between the WGA (Writers Guild of America) and the same studios.Where the DGA has made some gains is in the area of the new media where the directors' cut of the proceeds is now essentially doubled. If the writers and studios can agree on a similar arrangement with new media themselves... and the writers give way on peripheral issues like unionization of reality shows, there may yet be a last hope for getting normal television lineups back on the airwaves in several months.Of course by midyear, there would still be the issue with the Screen Actors Guild but that's another story altogether.Relevant links: Variety, AP via Yahoo
More About: Union , Deal , Studios , Rect

Strong rating confirmed for next to last TAR12 episode
2008-01-16 23:03:00
"The Amazing Race 12" was confirmed with a demo rating well above its average for the next to last episode of the season. The series hit a strong 3.8 rating in the Nielsen 18-49 age group, one of its stronger ratings of the season, a tie for 14th place in the weekly ratings.11,649,000 overall viewers watched the episode (I'll have to round down to 11.6 million in my stats, unfortunately.) Regardless of rounding, the episode finished 15th for the week in overall audience and tied for 12th with a 4.8 rating in the 25-54 age group.TAR12 outscored both "60 Minutes" and "Comanche Moon" (part 1) in the key age demos and improved on "60 Minutes" in the overall audience level. Admittedly, "60 Minutes" was dragged down by competing against playoff football but the numbers do prove TAR12's capacity to draw a significant audience without the newsmagazine's help.----The ratings are all the more impressive considering that TAR12 had to compete last weekend against the highly promoted premiere...
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CBS introduces new reality slate
2008-01-16 16:45:00
CBS introduced a new slate this week of reality/unscripted programs to help fill in gaps during the writers' strike. Any description of my own would fail to convey the true wonderfulness of these new shows. (Sarcasm mode on overdrive.)SECRET TALENTS OF THE STARS, a biweekly celebrity talent show, will uncover some of the most fascinating and unique secret talents of your favorite film and television stars, whether it be singing, dancing, magic or even acrobatics. Celebrities will compete in a tournament-structured format to determine who has the best hidden talent.GAME SHOW IN MY HEAD, a new half-hour series from executive producers Ashton Kutcher & Jason Goldberg ("Punk'd," "Beauty and the Geek"), is a hidden camera game show in which contestants wear an earpiece as they go about life in the city and are instructed by the host back in the studio to do stunts. If the contestants can perform crazy, outrageous and often embarrassing tasks in public, they can go home with big money.A...
More About: Reality , Slate

New polls for episode 12.10
2008-01-15 16:34:00
Aside from "The grade the episode" poll, there are three more "Amazing Race" polls for this week on the right sidebar.- The top poll is the first time that I've ever actually asked you to predict the winner of an "Amazing Race." To avoid any poll contamination for obvious reasons, I used a different online poll company that allows me to hide the poll results until after the airing of the final episode. Of course, if you already know the winning team of TAR12 from spoilers, please don't vote in that particular poll.----- The other new polls are more conventional outings. One poll aske you to name your favorite country/destination visited during the course of "The Amazing Race 12." The other one attempts to determine how sympathetic our collective "Amazing Race" fanbase was to the departure of Nathan and Jennifer. The daters departed after a run that devastated their relationship along the journey. The "grade the episode" poll from last Sunday evening will remain up for the remai...
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Poll results (episode 12.9)
2008-01-15 16:29:00
Polls resposne was obviously limited due to last week's difficulties just in keeping TARbloob online. Obviously under the circumstances, I didn't attempt to add any other blog quesions for the week. TARbloob pollWhat grade do you give to this week's episode of "The Amazing Race 12"? (episode 9 - Jan. 6, 2008)A (excellent) (4)80%B (good) (0)0%C (fair) (1)20%D (poor) (0)0%F (failure) (0)0%Total Votes: 5
More About: Episode , Results , Poll , R 12

TAR12 draws strong audience against "Terminator"
2008-01-14 20:03:00
The next to last episode of "The Amazing Race 12" held virtually all of its usual audience this week reports PIFeedback.com, despite competition from the "Terminator " franchise and the lack of a football overrun. Preliminary Nielsen ratings indicated that TAR12 drew a 3.8 rating in the key 18-49 demographic, with 11.6 million overall viewers. Both numbers nearly equaled last week's strong ratings. TAR12's preliminary demographic rating doubled the 1.9 from its "60 Minutes" lead-in, the newsmagazine hurt by competition against playoff football. ----With the help of a football lead-in, "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" obviously dominated the timeslot for its premiere. The fact that TAR could still holds its audience in the face on that onslaught though is a supreme credit to the program."The Amazing Race 12" will face playoff competition itself as its finale next Sunday will be aired directly against Fox's NFC championship football game in most of the United States. Releva...
More About: Strong , Audience , R 12

TAR 12.10 results
2008-01-14 04:00:00
The following are the results for the tenth leg of "The Amazing Race 12."(START: Tempozan Park, Osaka, Japan)(PIT STOP: Chaing Kai-Shek Memorial Plaza, Taipei, Taiwan)----1) Ronald & Christina (father/daughter)- won Curacao, Netherlands Antilles trip2) TK & Rachel (newly dating)3) Nicolas & Donald (grandson/grandfather)4) Nathan & Jennifer (dating) - ELIMINATED
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TAR 12.10 recaplette, Nathan & Jennifer eliminated
2008-01-14 03:21:00
Daters Nathan and Jennifer 's infighting reached its peak on Jennifer's birthday as a dispute over whether to take the subway or taxi to the youth park Detour site led to their elimination from "The Amazing Race 12." ----The operative question at the beginning of the episode was whether daters TK and Rachel would be able to catch up to the pack or be left behind, making for an easy leg for the other three teams. It took awhile but the answer proved to be yes, TK and Rachel would make up the gap and then some.The remaining race teams were directed to a building with a hole in it, what turned out to be the Umeda Sky Building in Taipei. Top leaders Ronald & Christina, daters Nathan and Jennifer and grandson/grandfather Nicolas & Donald were equalized waiting for the 10 a.m. open. Upon arrival at the upper level observatory on top of the building, teams were clued to fly to Taipei, Taiwan.TK and Rachel arrived behind the other teams. The mellow daters finally got into their first real ...
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TAR 12.10 results, recaplette online
2008-01-14 02:57:00
The tenth episode of the "The Amazing Race 12" is now over in most of the U.S. & Canada. - Results for the tenth episode are now linked here.- The TARbloob recaplette for the tenth episode is now linked here.The "grade the episode" poll for episode ten is now up on the right sidebar as well.----Two more notes for next week: - CTV's broadcast of the finale next Sunday will be delayed in much of Canada as that network is obliged to air the late NFC Championship football game. CBS' airing of the TAR12 finale should start on time, the NFC game will air on an opposing network in the U.S.- Yes, there will be a live blog here on TARbloob for the final episode of "The Amazing Race 12."
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Final elimination "Amazing Race 12" episode tonight
2008-01-14 02:00:00
One final team will be eliminated on tonight's next to last episode of "The Amazing Race 12." After an airline flight gone wrong knocked daters TK and Rachel down to last place in Japan, they will need to make up a three hour deficit and overcome the waiting extra "speed bump" task on this penultimate leg to make the cut of the final three teams.The top three teams from last weekend's ninth leg can make the final cut just by maintaining the same race positions. While father/daughter team Ronald & Christina and grandson/grandfather team Nicolas and Donald would likely be satisfied just in making the final cut, daters Nathan and Jennifer also are striving for what would be their first leg win of the race. For once, tonight's episode will air across the United States at its regularly scheduled time, 8 p.m. EST/PST, 7 p.m. CST/MST. The episode will also air at its normal time in Canada, check local listings.
More About: Episode , Amazing Race , Final

META: TARbloob note
2008-01-13 22:11:00
After this past week's nightmare trying to get any blog posts up on the site, this blog's posting protocol has been reset to ensure that the problems will not occur again. (On a side note, FTP is terrible. Please don't use that if you want to get into the blogging game.) The broken category links have also been fixed with more links added to boot. I apologize for the inconvenience.
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TAR12 / football delay update, week ten
2008-01-13 16:36:00
With the network airing a football game only in the early afternoon slot, "The Amazing Race 12" will air at its normal time on CBS... 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Standard Time, 7 p.m. Central and Mountain Standard Time.CTV will also air "The Amazing Race 12" on-time in Canada. Previously scheduled Golden Globes coverage will not air on CTV due to the cancellation of the Globes ceremony. As for next week in Canada, I'll get back to you on that one.
More About: Football , Update , Week , R 12

TAR 12.9: Ronald and Christina
2008-01-12 21:59:00
If we conveniently leave out that part about Ronald fuming at Mumbai Airport over the taxi driver, father and daughter Ronald and Christina had a strife-free go through the ninth leg of "The Amazing Race 12."Ronald lost his temper one more time after a taxi driver dropped off daughter Christina and himself at a non-entry gate of Mumbai's airport. Despite Ronald fuming halfway around the circumference of the airport, the team was none the worse for wear. The racer with the worst time was actually daughter Christina whose lack of driving experience hampered her on a Roadblock task as a Japanese taxi driver. Clearly my own Washington, D.C. area's Metro bus/subway system was too good for Christina's own good. It absolutely bewilders me that anyone would go on the show without developing sufficient driving skills. Christina's Japanese language knowledge should have allowed her to take the lead easily for her team, the fact that it didn't was her own fault.----Fortunately, the team d...
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TAR 12.9: Nathan and Jennifer
2008-01-12 21:29:00
The interpersonal fireworks for Nathan and Jennifer cooled into a warm simmer, not getting in the way on leg nine of "The Amazing Race 12" but remaining unsettled and ready to boil all over again.Nathan and Jennifer arrived in Japan without incident and left Osaka Airport in first place. The daters kept the lead through the Roadblock taxi driving task as Jennifer got lost initially but kept her composure to solicit directions and complete the task still in first place. Much like the Ronald & Christina team, Nathan and Jennifer may be better racers as individuals without relying on each other's alleged moral support.When the team members were left to work together on the flower smelling Detour, they only seemed to unnerve each other. Nathan and Jennifer just don't seem to be able to work together as a unit, disagreeing over the strategy. The communication gap remains as wide as ever, demonstrated by Nathan's inattention to Jennifer on one of the taxi rides.Nathan's push or nonpus...

TAR 12.9: Nicolas and Donald
2008-01-12 21:29:00
The recurrent theme for grandson/grandfather Nico las and Donald on leg nine of "The Amazing Race 12" was the tiring of grandfather Donald. Nicolas was doing more of the physical carrying of both members' backpacks to compensate for his older grandfather. More importantly, the tired Donald felt compelled to leave the taxi driving Roadblock to grandson Nicolas which led to not the best of results.Of the three racers we saw, Nicolas did the worst at the Roadblock. His problem wasn't so much in driving to the Post Office where all three racers struggled but in the return trip. While others were able to successfully retrace their paths back to Noda Station and their waiting partners, Nicolas got turned around and lost offtrack all over again. The Roadblock delay put Nicolas and Donald ten minutes behind the top two teams, the pair's difficulty on the Detour only made matters worse. Having the non-gamer Donald participate in a task that required use of modern technology made no sense. ...
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TAR 12.9: TK and Rachel
2008-01-12 21:28:00
Daters TK and Rachel played themselves quickly out of the ninth race leg of "The Amazing Race 12," booking themselves on a flight that would arrive in Osaka, Japan hours behind the three other remaining race teams.In retrospect, it doesn't appear that TK and Rachel's error was even their fault. The team did its best to get assurance from the ticket agent that it had made a reservation on the first available flight to arrive in Osaka. The assurance simply didn't work. There was another available flight that the team was unaware of, a flight that got the remaining race field into Osaka hours ahead of TK and Rachel.My only thought as to how the time deficit could have been prevented was triggered when TK suggested how other teams could have used the Internet to reserve a better flight. At that point, we have to ask why TK and Rachel didn't look at the net themselves. The daters could have gained themselves at least a chance at finding tickets on that other flight, given such an obv...
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TAR 12.9: recap: Japan
2008-01-12 18:10:00
TAR 12 , LEG 9 DEPARTURE TIMES1) TK & Rachel (1:25 p.m.)2) Nicolas & Donald (1:33 p.m., 0:08 behind the top team)3) Ronald & Christina (1:44 p.m., 0:19)4) Nathan & Jennifer (2:38 p.m., 1:13)INDIAThe four remaining teams on "The Amazing Race 12" were directed to fly from Mumbai, India to Osaka, Japan then search the grounds of Kishiwada Castle for their next clue. Race leaders TK & Rachel found a travel agency with an agent that absolutely assured them that a flight through Hong Kong and New Delhi, leaving at 6:55 p.m., would be the fastest available to arrive in Osaka. Grandson/grandfather Nicolas & Donald went straight to the airport, booking tickets for a separate one-stop flight departing at 8:30 p.m. through Hong Kong. Ronald and Christina booked tickets through another travel agency for the same flight but Ronald fumed outside Mumbai's airport after their taxi driver dropped his team off at a no entry point. Daters Nathan and Jennifer booked tickets for the same flight. The rac...
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TAR12 ninth episode audience highest since premiere
2008-01-08 20:35:00
Last Sunday's ninth episode of "The Amazing Race 12" drew the largest overall audience for the series since the TAR12 premiere. An average 11.99 million viewers (to be rounded up to 12.0 million on my charts) watched the latest "The Amazing Race 12" according to the CBS press release. "The Amazing Race 12" also drew a same-day 3.9 Nielsen rating among key age 18-49 viewers, a much improved rating from the two holiday weeks. The series was likely helped by a lead-in "60 Minutes" interview of embattled baseball pitcher Roger Clemens.TAR finished a weekly 14th place in overall audience, tied for 13th in age 25-54 and tied for 15th in age 18-49 against much tougher competition than previous weeks.In any event, the most recent ratings confirm my belief that the earlier dip in audience levels was simply due to the scheduling of episodes over holiday weekends, not any fault of the series itself. ----Relevant link: CBS PressExpress
More About: Episode , Premiere , Audience , R 12

"Amazing Race" ratings return to pre-holiday level
2008-01-07 22:31:00
Initial indications are that "The Amazing Race 12" returned this week to its stronger pre-holiday ratings level, despite competition from the impressively rated "Desperate Housewives" cliffhanger and "American Gladiators" revival. For the third episode in a row, a football overrun made getting even a precise preliminary estimate for the full hour an impossibility. In the 9 p.m. half-hour though, "Amazing Race " was estimated with a 3.4 demo rating in the 18-49 age group and 11.5 million overall viewers. Both measures were well above readings for the previous two episodes, both negatively impacted by holiday viewing disruptions and rerun lead-ins. Last night's TAR12 episode was surrounded by original content from both "60 Minutes" and "Cold Case" to make for a more impressively unified CBS Sunday lineup.Relevant link: PIFeedback.com
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TAR 12.9 recaplette, TK & Rachel noneliminated
2008-01-07 05:12:00
The outcome of the ninth episode of "The Amazing Race 12" was drained of suspense soon after its beginning as the airline flight carrying new daters TK and Rachel to Osaka, Japan landed hours behind the other teams. The serene daters were left as a nonfactor, finishing in last place but avoiding elimination as the leg was predesignated as the final nonelimination leg. TK and Rachel had been assured by a travel agency that their India Air flight through New Delhi and Osaka was the fastest flight from Mumbai, India to Osaka, Japan. The agency was wrong. The other three teams found a more direct flight through Hong Kong that moved them ahead of the wayward TK and Rachel. We saw only a minute long clip of highlights of TK and Rachel in Japan with glowing voiceovers of the team members towards each other. The obvious implication was that we were hearing their good-byes to the show. One wonders what the good-bye would be if TK and Rachel happen to actually be eliminated on the next leg, ...
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TAR 12.9 results
2008-01-07 05:11:00
The following are the results for the ninth leg of "The Amazing Race 12."(START: Bandra Fort, Mumbai, India)(PIT STOP: Tempozan Park, Osaka, Japan)----1) Ronald & Christina (father/daughter)- won electric vehicles2) Nathan & Jennifer (dating)3) Nicolas & Donald (grandson/grandfather)4) TK & Rachel (newly dating) - NONELIMINATED
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TAR 12.9 results, recaplette online
2008-01-07 03:27:00
The results post for the ninth episode of "The Amazing Race 12" is now linked here. TARbloob's totally unofficial recaplette for the episode is now linked here. The weekly "grade the episode" post is also up on the right sidebar. More polls will be posted later Monday.
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TAR12 / football delay update, week nine
2008-01-07 01:41:00
---- UPDATE 7:41 p.m. EST ---- EASTERN & CENTRAL ZONES U.S.: "The Amazing Race 12" will start tonight at 8:41 p.m. Eastern Time, 7:41 p.m. Central Time in most of the United States, delayed beyond its (rescheduled) start time due to an overrunning Tennessee/San Diego football game.Significant overlaps with the final pre-strike "Desperate Housewives" episode and the new "American Gladiators" premiere will occur in the Eastern and Central zones of the United States. If it's any consolation, tonight's TAR12 episode is likely the final one to be delayed by CBS for sports.----PACIFIC, MOUNTAIN, OTHER ZONES U.S.: In the Pacific, Mountain & other western zones, tonight's TAR12 episode will air at its usual time without any delay, 8 p.m. Pacific and 7 p.m. Mountain in those respective areas.CANADA: CTV will air "The Amazing Race 12" tonight at its usual times.
More About: Football , Update , Week , R 12

Poll results (episode 12.8)
2008-01-07 00:59:00
I'd like to thank the Kynt and Vyxsin fan club for representing here on TARbloob!! You'll see what I mean with the second poll result listed below. Here then are the aforementioned poll findings for episode 8 of "The Amazing Race 12." ----TARbloob pollWhat grade do you give to this week's episode of "The Amazing Race 12"? (episode 8 - Dec. 30, 2007)A (excellent) (9)56%B (good) (5)31%C (fair) (1)6%D (poor) (0)0%F (failure) (1)6%Total Votes: 16----TARbloob pollDo you want to see Kynt and Vyxsin return on a future run of "The Amazing Race"? Yes, I want to see them race again. (16)67%Yes, in a non-racing cameo role. (0)0%No, the series should not include returning teams. (2)8%No, this team just isn't that interesting. (4)17%no opinion (2)8%Total Votes: 24----TARbloob pollAmong the final four teams, which team do you hope will win "The Amazing Race 12"? Nicolas & Donald (1)5%Nathan & Jennifer (4)20%TK & Rachel (11)55%Ronald & Christina (4)20%I have more than one favorite team. ...
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TAR12 back for homestretch 9th episode
2008-01-06 22:01:00
"The Amazing Race 12" makes its way further eastward for the ninth of its total eleven legs of the competition. With Kynt and Vyxsin gone, their fans will have to find a new favorite team (TK & Rachel, perhaps) to cheer for in the homestretch of the run.While two of the remaining relationships seem on solid ground, the father/daughter team of Ronald & Christina and the dating team of Nathan & Jennifer have to restitch the seams back together if only for their final legs on the race. Despite their respective disunities, at least one of those teams must make the finale since only one more elimination remains for this run.The obvious question is whether that elimination will actually greet racers on this next to next to last leg of the race. One nonelimination and one elimination leg remain before the expected January 20 finale airing. My suspicion is that tonight's leg will be the nonelimination one. If this leg was an elimination leg after all, then the race would be down to its fin...
More About: Episode , Back , R 12 , Etch , Stretch

TAR 12.8: Kynt and Vyxsin
2008-01-05 20:52:00
Kynt and Vyxsin's teamwork took an extremely rocky turn on leg seven of "The Amazing Race 12" but while their unity was reestablished, what ultimately doomed the Goths on leg eight were simple errors of strategy and basic gameplay.The pair actually started out in good form, actively seeking an alternate Northwest Airlines flight to beat out TK and Rachel to Mumbai, India. Blind luck allowed them to beat out the other teams as well but their lucky advantage proved short-lived as the newspaper stand destination would not open till early morning.Vyxsin found the newspaper ad first but getting lost to Chaucan Tailors cost the team a lead that it never gained back again. The nonelimination Speed Bump yoga task knocked the team to last. The reunified team recovered some time on the infighting Nathan and Jennifer during the 'thread 'em" Detour, then reached the U-Turn in fourth place ahead of Nathan and Jennifer. If only they had been more aware of their own race standing...----Vyxsin ...
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TAR 12.8: Ronald and Christina
2008-01-05 20:26:00
The father/daughter team of Ronald and Christina fell back into old form on leg eight of "The Amazing Race 12," this time though with the key difference of Christina finally starting to fight back. Christina's reclaiming of her own space allowed the team to advance to the next leg of the series.Ronald and Christina had a decent start as being one of only two team to pre-reserve airline tickets out to Mumbai, while three other teams waited ticketless at Florence, Italy's closed airport. It's a wonder that other teams aren't thinking ahead on this point. The pair found the newspaper ad clue in second place.----Their team coordination fell apart though once at the Detour. It's been said that in his prime, pro wrestler Ric Flair could have carried a broom to a four-star match. As it turned out, Christina would have been more successful teaming with that broom than with her father on the eighth leg Detour. The panels for the movie poster in the "Paste 'em" Detour were put up too hi...
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TAR 12.8: Nicolas and Donald
2008-01-05 20:11:00
Grandson/grandfather team Nico las and Donald had a mostly postive experience on the eighth leg of "The Amazing Race 12" with Donald's life experience again proving key for the team.While ultimately proving irrelevant, Nicolas and Donald may have made the shrewdest play of the race in making plane reservations for Mumbai the night before the Florence airport opened, allowing the team to gain more valuable sleep time. What was more lame was their failed attempt to look over TK and Rachel's newspaper while searching for their next clue.Donald's aforementioned work experience came into play for the Detour though as his work in the printing industry guided his team into successfully pasting up a six panel Bollywood movie poster. The team vied for the lead with Nicolas not making any major errors on the propane delivery Roadblock. TK was just in a little better physical condition than Nicolas with the aftereffects of the task keeping Nicolas and Donald to a second place leg finish.Desp...
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