LAST EDITED ON 05-16-06 AT 08:39 PM (EST)

I posted this earlier over at RFF and since there seems to be so little information about the final posted on this board, I thought I would move my post over here:

Let's see if I can put some kind of scenario together for the last time:

Evening of November 28 and Morning of November 29:

Teams leave the pits stop, the Marble Temple in Bangkok, between 11:15PM (Hippies) and 2:30AM (RaYoYo) and head by cab to the Bangkok International Airport to book flights to Tokyo, Japan. When they arrive in Tokyo they must proceed to Shibuya Crossing one of the busiest pedestrian crossings in the world. When they arrive here they must scan the hundreds of brightly lit neon signs for a special message that will direct them to the next clue location.

It looks like the Hippies make some kind of error on the way to the airport. Perhaps they can't find a cab or don't take some other form of trans to the airport, but when they arrive they go to the Thai Airlines ticket counter and find out that they have arrived too late to catch either the Thai flight 0676 leaving at 12:30AM to Narita airport (NRT) which would have arrived at 7:340AM or the Thai flight 0648 connecting for a flight into downtown Haneda (HND) airport arriving at 11:30AM . Either flight would have put the Hippies many hours ahead of the others. But it looks like they have to go to the Japan Airlines (JAL) counter through a deserted Bangkok airport lobby and book space on 8:10AM flight arriving in NRT at 4:15AM. Or perhaps another flight which arrives earlier. But in anycase it looks like a typical BUNCH POINT and all three teams fly together to Tokyo.

Sunset this November day is early at 4:28PM so by the time the teams get to Shibuya Crossing it is now dark but still early as the crossing is full of hurrying pedestrians. We see the Beach Boys scanning the many signs. Later and it is darker now we have RaYoYo in the same area and they say that they are behind the other two teams. Getting into the city from NRT is no easy task and takes several hours to clear custsoms, immigration and get transportation into town (and expensive I might add). If the teams do land at the closer in airport Haneda they can take a monorail train right into the area they have to reach.

Whatever, the clue on the sign sends them to another nearby location where they will find the clue for the DETOUR: One task is to pick up mini bikes and messenger bags and deliver a message after riding through the crowded streets. The second task is to proceed to a spot along Tokyo Bay and get a Palanquin (sedan chair) and deliver a charming maid (cosplay-zoku) to a house where the woman will give them their next clue. We have the Hippies doing the first task and the Beach Boys doing the second. Tyler still just has his thin shirt on while he and BJ read the clue. Both teams have left their belongings somewhere, and if the clue tells them to proceed to Hama Rikyo Garden then the Beach Boys must have stopped somewhere and picked up their back packs.

When they arrive at Hama Rikyo Garden the teams find it closed until the morning. BUNCH POINT number two.

The next morning, November 30, the sun rises at 6:29AM. Teams perhaps go first to a location in the park (a temple perhaps) and get the next clue which directs them to the statue of a famous Hachiko dog located outside Shibuya railway station. We have a shot of the Hippies ripping open a clue envelope and it looks like it just shortly after sunrise (Tyler has picked up a light-colored windbreaker during the night).

This clue tells them to find marked cars in the station parking lot and drive themselves to the Five Lakes region near Mt. Fugi. When they arrive there they must find the Fujiyama Amusement Park where they will find their next clue. We have shots of the Beach Boys and RaYoYo driving cars in the early morning light along a superhighway heading toward Mt. Fuji.

At Fujiama they receive their next clue. ROADBLOCK: Who is strong of stomach and keen of eye? One member of each team (Jeremy, Tyler, and Yolanda) must ride several nervewracking, stomach turning, frightening rides which inclue two different rollar coasters and the Piazza Wheel. When they are doing these tasks they must spot a TAR sign or flag which will show them the location of their next clue.

This is no easy task, and it looks like the teams all ride all three rides before they spot the TAR sign. We have finally Tyler and Jeremy on the same ride and it looks like they both spot the location.

This clue sends them off to the find a swan on a lake. This is the location of the next pit stop where the last team MAY be eliminated.

Then it is a race as the Hippies and the Beach Boys drive off toward Lake Yamanaka. On the way it seems that the Hippies speed past the Beach Boys (TPTB, by the way, have reversed the shot of the Hippies passing to make it look like Tyler is driving a left-hand drive car, while in fact he is driving a typical Japanese right hand drive wagon - the number on his license plate are reversed! - just to keep the cars both going in the same direction.)

Arriving atLake Yamanaka the teams spot the swan which in effect is the King Swan Boat, they race down the hill and onto the pier where the swan is berthed. (Both teams have dropped their belongings and Tyler has taken off his windbreaker which he had on during the rollar rides and driving the car) From the reaction of the Hippies, they seem to have arrived first (high fives and all that jazz) but this may again just be TPTB misdirection. But it doesn't matter they are close together and will leave on the morrow close together. The estimted arrival time is between 11:05AM and 12:00noon. RaYoYo arrive last perhaps within the hour, and this being the last nonelimination leg Ray and Yolanda are Philiminated and are left with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Late November 29 and early November 30. The teams leave the Swan Boat Pier between 11:05PM and 1:00AM and drive themselves to Narita Airport (NRT) where they must book a trip to Anchorage, Alaska most likely with a connection thrugh Seattle. First, however, RaYoYo must beg for Yen (Ray is even wearing a sign to that effect). Possible flight on might be Northwest No. 8 leaving at 3:05PM and arriving via Seattle at 10:53AM (Don't forget that when you cross the International Date Line from West to East you repeat the day!) When they arrive in Anchorage they must find Rusts Flying Service and book a flight to some remote lake area. Perhaps this is a charter flight and teams must sign up and then wait their turn on the morning of December 1. We have a scene of the Hippies and RaYoYo in a small waiting room. Have the Hippies got on the first charter flight?

When they arrive wherever they find the Clues for an ice-drilling task which all teams must do before they receive their next clue. It looks like the Hippies arrive first, then the Beach Boys and finally RaYoYo. Thankfully, TPTB have provided the teams with warm winter parkas and hats and boots!!! Otherwise we would have two frozen teams and only one teams thawed enough to proceed to the end.

Upon completing this task we have the FINAL DETOUR: Two tasks: MUSH in which they must harness up a 10 dog dogsled team and drive it (Mush, mush!) over a set distance. Or SLUSH in which the teams must don snowshoes and slush their way along a set course through deep snow to reach their goal.

The clue here sets them off on their final race to the final finsih line. They are instruced to get back to Anchorage and fly back to Denver, Colorado and proceed to Clear Creek Park to do a task (that may take special equipment). When competed they are off to Red Rocks where this all started 29 days ago!

It looks like the teams could either leave at 11:10PM on Frontier and arrive at 5:59AM, or United leaving at 11:30PM and arriving at 6:25AM or on Northwest arriving at 8:48AM.

When they arrive in Denver they find cabs to take them to Clear Creek Park. There is an aerial shot of two cars racing on a highway through snow covered ground. I can't fit it anywhere in Alaska, so perhaps it is on the way from the new Denver Airport to Golden. When they arrive they find a clue which sends them off to do one last task before they get the clue to the final race to the finish line. When they arrive at the entrance of Red Rocks, they receive the clue which tells them to race up to the spot they started from.

TPTB have very carefully mixed up who is where and when so it is hard to tell who is arriving first at Red Rocks. Is it misdirection once again when they show the Hippies celebrating on the race up the hill? Or are RaYoYo who are pictured as last actually in the lead and would be the third African-American couple to win TAR in the last five races?? And then we have the Beach Boys still lugging those huge backpacks along, (why in the world do they want to keep all that stuff if they are going to win a million big ones?) but they seem to be taking their time so do they know that they are way behind? Youse takes your chances and takes your own picks. I'll Wait until 9:50PM on Wednesday

• RE: EP 11 A Final Scenario,michel, 09:44 PM, 05-16-06
  • RE: EP 11 A Final Scenario,Gingerman28, 11:15 PM, 05-16-06
    • RE: EP 11 A Final Scenario,taracar, 08:07 AM, 05-17-06

LAST EDITED ON 05-16-06 AT 09:45 PM (EST)

Thanks Gingerman. Great work summarizing the speculation. The finale should be good. What do you make that the clues don't mention a close finish or anything like that? They usually use all the drama they can find. When they say "A mistake could mean the difference between first and second" the answer is usually "NO IT WON'T". It makes me think the first team is far ahead, probably on Frontier while the other two are on United.

Could very well be the case this time; perhaps TPTB could not hold the plane for the second place team once again. Looking at the three scenes of the teams arriving at Red Rocks there is quite a difference in the lighting. Now it could be due to cloud cover but it could mean a greater spread between team arrivals than is the usual case and even editing could not make it look closer than it really was. We will know by this time tomorrow night.

Hi y’all, first post. Great summary gingerman

I divide the race in 3 parts. The first part being the first 3 episodes. Opening episodes the teams are split into three groups by the flights. R&Y and MoJo are on the last flight yet they manage to get into the second group by the end of the first episode. That said to me they would go far in the race. Fratboys and Hippies had to stay ahead of Wanda & Desiree. Second episode we see Mojo quickly move into group 1 and R&Y almost making it into the first group except they stopped to help 3 teams with their cars. By the third episode R&Y have moved into the lead group and lead the Russian leg until the “haybale” task and had it not been for a freak computer crash they could well have stayed in the lead group. Now we enter the second part of the race the next three episodes, where a good team can get bounced by making a costly mistake and it is harder to change “groups”.

I always look at the second half of the race as the third part to determine who I think is the winner. This is where TPTB bunch them up and see who comes out on top.

Michel, I think you may be right about the flight connection. Plus the editing for the last few episodes has the hippies acting like the only competition they have is the fratboys. Looks like they forgot the fact that R&Y and MoJo have beaten them 4 out of the last 5 legs. Fratboys have been bleeding time now that the bunching has started, they’ve been more navigationally challenged than MoJo and R&Y have been the last 5 episodes. And both MoJo and R&Y have been breathing down their necks. The team making the least amount of mistakes in the last 5 episodes is R&Y followed by MoJo. MoJo’s just happened to be when it counted most. Should be an interesting final.