LAST EDITED ON 12-03-09 AT 00:20 AM (EST)

...Um, make that Finale Picks! Sorry for the scare there.

Kafka-esque

That was a neat Roadblock because of how absurd it was. It actually reminded me (in a good way) of the kinds of tasks they would do on The Mole. The Amazing Race is often the same way, with these absurd tasks about procedures or whatnot. They never reached this level, however.

It ended up sinking Flight Time & Big Easy's chances, as they were the last team to be eliminated.

Week 9 Results
1st place - Meghan/Cheyne (0x)
2nd place - Sam/Dan (.3x)
3rd place - Brian/Ericka (1.7x)
4th place - FlightTime/BigEasy (2x)

Outrageous.

This week was a huge week of scoring for the entire group, with almost everyone ending up with a positive score overall. FlightTime/BigEasy and Brian/Ericka were overwhelmingly the most popular bets and both teams definitely delivered.

The Bonus Game went well for most as well. Here are the results.

1. Meghan yells "Cheyne!" 4 times during the next leg. UNDER (3 times)
2. Sam or Dan tells the other brother on their team to "shut up". OVER (4 times)
3. FlightTime/BigEasy uses a form of either of the expressions, "let's get it" or "go get it" 3 times. UNDER (0 times)
4. Brian/Ericka uses the words "steal" and "taxi" in the same sentence. UNDER (1 time)

The Perfect Bet Award goes to laureli (2.23x) who made some really nice bonus wagers. Way to go!

Because of everyone doing so well, there was very little movement in the ranks, so I'll award the Greatest Gainer Award arbitrarily to michel for moving up two spots and breaking into the Top 10. Very cool.

Leaderboard
1. taffnic - 1592
2. Weez - 1514
3. ARNutz - 1298
4. Jims02 - 1230
5. Starshine - 1091
6. MaxZ - 1024
7. Max Headroom - 997
8. michel - 977
9. jbenz - 931
10. ohmyheck - 899
11. louislam - 819
12. KwietOne - 787
13. Snidget - 783
14. laureli - 670
15. CTgirl - 666
16. Yogi - 616
17. bbenzenberg - 469
18. mikey - 468
19. sarah1234 - 455
20. vennui - 444
21. Estee - 282
22. VisionQuest - 264
23. HauntedOne - 228
24. Silver03 - 197
25. Belle Book - 174
26. chiubakka - 160
27. kidflash212 - 152
28. esquire - 134
29. beau_30 - 132
30. Molaholic - 124
31. qwertypie - 90
32. flipxcyd - 84
33. FFantasyFX - 73
34. JanetFAN - 63
35. kduck - 40
36. Ontheroadagain - 20
37. dragonflies - 10

It should be an exciting finish to the season, as there are a lot of people in contention!

Finale Week Rules

For this finale week, there's a couple tweaks to the rules in comparison to normal weeks.

1. There is no betting limit this week for the main wagers. You can bet as many of your points as you want for your regular wager. There is, however, a limit on the Bonus Game wager, which I'll talk about later.

2. The wager is based on their final ranking when they cross the finish line. In previous seasons, they sometimes have two legs in a row. Just in case, we'll clarify it's the finish line ranking you're betting on.

3. As always, the tie-breaker is based on your previous rank going into this week. So if you end up with the same score with someone else after the finale, the tie-breaker will be your rank from this week.

4. You can private message your picks to me if you want this week, and I'll keep them private. I personally haven't decided on my wager yet as of now, but I promise I'll have mine posted by Thursday night (and not change them). So, after that point, don't worry about me looking at your picks.

Here's the Payout Table for the Finale.

Finale Payout Table
1st place - 2x
2nd place - Break even
3rd place - 0x

Max Individual Bet - NO-LIMIT

And, as always...

Bonus Game - Who Wants to be a "Million"aire?

The Bonus Game for this week is the same as it is every season, with a slight twist. This season, players may wager on which racer will say the word "million" first. In previous seasons, you were betting on teams, but this season, you're picking a specific person from the teams.

So, your choices for the Bonus Game will be either...
Meghan
Cheyne
Sam
Dan
Brian
Ericka

You may lay more than one wager on this game if you're not comfortable with rolling the dice on only one racer. It's kind of like betting on several different numbers in roulette. You're going to lose some of the individual bets, but you increase your chance of one of them winning. If, for example, you're convinced Brian/Ericka will say it first, but you're not sure which one, you can always lay bets on each player individually.

Such a wager could look like:
Bonus Game
50 points - Brian
50 points - Ericka
50 points - Sam

It doesn't matter which person or how many people you wager on, as long as you put a point total next to their name of how much you're risking.

The following payout table will apply.

Bonus Game Payout Table
Correct Answer - 6x
Incorrect Answer - 0x

Maximum Individual Bet - 50 points

Forms of the word "million" will count, such as "millions" or "millionaire." I'm just looking for the letters M-I-L-L-I-O-N in consecutive order. Also, the recaps don't count, only the stuff after the credits. Somehow, if no team uses the word, then no one wins the bet and all wagers are lost.

TAR15 Teams Remaining
Brian/Ericka
Meghan/Cheyne
Sam/Dan

Good luck everyone!

A 2003 IceCat original