Rob Cesternino (@RobCesternino) and Chief Amazing Race Correspondent Jessica Liese (@HaymakerHattie) are joined tonight by Brandon from Brandon and Adam and Tim from Tim and Danny both from the Amazing Race 23, to recap last night’s episode of the Amazing Race All-Stars “The Gladiators Are Here” which took teams from Sri Lanka to Rome.
Brandon couldn’t be on the podcast with Adam because Adam is out in the middle of the woods and does not have internet. He has to touch his phone to a car battery in order to make it work. Danny couldn’t be on the Podcast because he is out working on an oil rig.
Mr. Nice Afghanimals
Brandon loves the Afghanimals although they were U-Turned by them in TAR 23, because he feels that they would have done the same thing if in their place. Brandon feels they are amazing competitors who know the game really well. Tim thinks they are doing a lot better this season then they did last, and predicts they will be in the top three. He feels the major difference between the Afganimals last time and this time is the fact that everyone thought they were sneaky last time verses them not being as sneaky this time.
Tim feels they have gone too far in their transformation to being nice guys though, because he feels that John and Big Easy were just saying that they would not U-Turn or pass them to get the information out of him, and that it wouldn’t have held up. Brandon thinks they started off the season as the funny guys, but when they started getting the reputation of being sneaky, they embraced it. He feels the Afganimals have an advantage though because they have raced much more recently then any of the other teams.
Brandon feels that since the Afghanimals were such fans of the show, they came out of the gate looking to play the game, versus the other teams looking to make friends when they were out there. Tim agrees, thinking that they are extremely competitive, just like everyone else on All-Stars.
Globetrotters play ball, not read
Jessica feels that it was a mistake giving Big Easy and John the clue, and felt the Afganimals may have over-strategized on this move. She feels they strategized for kicks and giggles and they could have ruined their race by doing so. Rob feels they were too much of womanizers during their first season, and have calmed down since Jamal got married. Brandon says that Leo is still a womanizer during this season and has even bulked up for this season.
Jessica thinks that with their history of misread clues, Flight Time and Big Easy would have worked to make sure that they read the clues correctly this time. Although they did not alleviate their mistakes, their misread of the clue at the Road Block doesn’t rank in the top 10 of misread mishaps. She calls it classic Globetrotters.
Drop Your Bags
During Rob’s conversation with John and Jessica, he uncovered that the rule states that a team can drop their bags during a footrace as soon as they see Phil on the mat and asks why more teams don’t do this. Brandon replies that it is the smart thing to do, as long as they do not leave the bags in a taxi, but says fatigue may play a factor in the decision or lack of. Tim thinks there may be some environmental factors such as population in the area that play into the decision to drop the bags.
Tim recalls a situation on his race where he knew the next leg was going to be a To Be Continued leg so he left his bag in the car, and the producers called foul on that. Rob recommends that if teams shed their bags, they don’t get it back.
Brandon says that he and Adam were that excited over the super leg because they naturally have a lot of energy. He also says the reason they are such good friends is the fact that they are the only ones who can stand each other. Tim thinks that the Afganimals have the most energy on this race, because of the comment he made about Spartacus in the Gladiator challenge.
Skipping Rachel
Brandon cannot stand watching Rachel and actually just downloaded their season of the race, and fast forwarded through her bits. Tim likes her, and refers to a bit where she intentionally hit another teams chariot as part of their gameplay. According to Brandon however, Tim likes everybody. On the flip side, Tim doesn’t like Caroline and Jennifer.
Rob points out that Caroline and Jennifer had a live chat during the Season on CBS.com. Jessica recalls no history of this, and Tim and Brendon have no idea why it happened.
If Tim were in the Cowboys situation, he would save the Express Pass until he got to the detour and use it on the front side of it, to minimize the chance of getting U-Turned. Brandon would use it on the first task if he needed to use it on that leg in an effort to jump ahead of the pack. Jessica would have used the express pass in a similar fashion like Travis and Nicole did last year.
No Alliances, All Beards
Jessica wouldn’t U-Turn unless you needed too, because you want to U-Turn someone you have to see again. Brandon agrees saying “It’s an awkward plane ride otherwise. Tim recalls the most awkward train ride of his life was riding the train with the Afganimals right after he and Danny U-Turned them. Brandon feels that Tim and Danny got a pass though because everyone was mad at the Afganimals for U-Turning Brandon and Adam. Tim says what should have happened is after he and Danny U-Turned the Afganimals, Travis and Nicole should have U-Turned Jason and Amy who had already passed the U-Turn board, burning out the second U-Turn and forcing the Afganimals to do both sides by themselves. Brandon says that a lot of teams were pitching ideas like that to them, but he and Adam did not want to join any alliances.
According to Brandon, you are allowed to sit anywhere on the plane, even if it is not next to your partner. He would have split up with Adam in a heartbeat if it meant a seat closer to the front of the plane. If the team gets one first class seat, it automatically goes to the member of production that they are with.
Brandon sees Brenchel as being the villains at this point, because most of the other teams are likeable. Tim feels that Rachel has no obligation to tell Dave and Connor where the clue box is, although he would have. Tim would have liked to see them point the other way. Brandon says it depends where you are in the pack to determine you make a move like that.
The Nice Race
Brandon feels like this pack of teams is a lot nicer to each other because they are all just very enthused to be there and be a part of the race again. Jessica feels like the racers are going to get a lot less close as the race goes on and the stakes get higher.
Tim thinks there may be a footrace to the finish depending on the level of difficulty of the final challenge. Jessica feels that the teams are finishing a lot closer because there are a lot of equalizers on the race. Brandon feels that since the teams are being nice and sharing everything, which is contributing to the close finishes, and Tim agrees saying he believes John and Jessica would still be in the race had Jessica not asked Jamal for help.
Brandon feels as a racer that iPhones are a blessing, but for a viewer they make it a lot less interesting. He says that every person that they ask help from has to sign a waiver saying it’s okay for them to be on TV, so that slows them down a lot. Rob thinks that teams are taking a risk with asking people for phones, because you never know what type of phone a person is going to have.
Question Time
Tim thinks the editing has been way too predictable, because they backtracked and showed John and Jessica’s elimination and it showed their confessionals taking place at night.
Brandon and Adam would not have picked the Geisha Girl detour, because it would have involved shaving their beard and neither of them have experience in makeup.
Tim thinks that there will be two U-Turns on this race, and feels that the second one will be two weeks from now. Jessica agrees, thinking that the U-Turn might be in the final four.
Brandon would rather run the race with Marie than Rachel, because Marie might be crazy but she is strong. Tim agrees saying that if he was too tired to do a task, she would just do it herself.
Brandon believes that the Globetrotters will maintain their promise to the Afganimals because Big Easy was sick of running up and down those stairs. Tim believes they will break it if it will further their game and Rob agrees saying that reality TV deals are not worth their weight on paper.
Tim feels that the double legs aren’t all their cracked up to be, because although he was beat tired when he checked into the mat, he had to wait eight hours for the boat to arrive so he had the chance to get refreshed before seriously running the legs. He feels that Season 24 is more competitive, but Season 23 is a tougher race because you don’t see anyone coming in hours or days behind the pack. Brandon feels that this race is easier because they are spending more time in each country which means less traveling.
Tim would like to see the singing task from last season comes back this season. Brandon doesn’t like it when tasks return and would like to see all new tasks.
If you want to follow Tim on Twitter @TimWiyninger , however Brandon does not have a Twitter. You can catch the next Amazing Race podcast on Sunday night after the Double U-Turn. You can catch the Big Brother Canada craziness on Tuesday night with Brian Lynch, and Stephen is back for Survivor Know-It-Alls on Wednesday night. We will be joined by Sophie Clark for the Survivor Interview podcast on Thursday.
Special Thanks to Michael Shaheen for this tremendous podcast summary.
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