> I prefer watching Gretchen and Meridith allow a taxi
>driver to take them somewhere and then tell him they
>don't have any money to pay him.

Eggszactly, Wheezus... why is there no outrage against Gretchen and Meredith fleecing a cabbie -- which is certainly more illegal than a wink-nudge-wink deal to bribe a security guard to not tell anyone, especially if you KNEW going into the cab that you didn't have enough money -- but there's far more outrage over Romber who's just been doing what it takes to win a game?

I said it on another board... there's a big double standard going on. People are too quick to jump on Romber over the tiniest things, but overlook it when others such as Gretchen/Meredith fleece a cabbie or Brian/Greg put their cameraman/soundman in danger by recklessly driving so fast that they swerved and flipped over.

The point is? Let it go about all the little illegal-or-maybe-not-quite-so-illegal things and just enjoy the freakin' show. You watch TAR because you obviously like the show so just grab a bowl of popcorn or duck eggs and enjoy it.

Scratch and sniff
"Tsk, tsk. Pepe's messing with the newbies again." Spidey, 3/30/05

Its NOT illegal to pay a busdriver not to open a bus door. Bribery is giving money to elected officials or judges or a person like that. Giving money to a bus driver/slipping a few bucks to a security guard isn't going to get anyone arrested. As reckless as Rob's driving was Brain and Greg should get the electric chair for nearly killing their camera guy.

The camera guy had a couple of bruised discs and a neck pain. Not exactly something to send someone to the chair over. Brian and Greg probably ran into a trouble spot, because if you listen to the audio during the accident, you hear Brian telling Greg to keep the car on the road and Greg replying that he's trying, but he's having a hard time maintaining traction because of the sand. Finally, even in the most extreme caes, like vehicular homicide and hit and runs, the death penalty is not used.

I find it hilarious when Rob and Amber are excused for something, then and other teams that have equal or less offenses are smacked down by the same people, for the same, or lesser crimes

Actually, as much as I liked them, I do think that the camera guy would have a case against the brothers, if it weren't for that pesky release of liability paper he undoubtedly signed with the network.

I wish one day one of the teams would get a speeding ticket or get pulled over by the police. Or someone getting detained at the border for customs/passport matter. THAT would be good television. And that would teach these (ugly-american) contestants to respect the countries they are visiting.

Maybe it had happened in previous seasons, *shrugs* i've only started watching the show this season.

Otherwise, i don't really think there's any REAL law broken here other than reckless driving we have seen in most of the teams. OOo don't forget the rigged scale at the Chilean market! It's easy to scam ppl with fish, you can stuff the fish with ice and make it heavier than it is etc.

Bribery- n. the crime of giving or taking money or some other valuable item in order to influence a public official (any governmental employee) in the performance of his/her duties. Bribery includes paying to get government contracts (cutting in the roads commissioner for a secret percentage of the profit), giving a bottle of liquor to a building inspector to ignore a violation or grant a permit, or selling stock to a Congressman at a cut-rate price. Example: Governor (later Vice President) Spiro T. Agnew received five cents from the concessionaire for each pack of cigarettes sold in the Maryland capitol building. The definition has been expanded to include bribes given to corporate officials to obtain contracts or other advantages which are against company policy.

<Comments: Romber did not pay off a government offical or employee

Fraud- n. the intentional use of deceit, a trick or some dishonest means to deprive another of his/her/its money, property or a legal right.

<Comments: Teams do not have a legal right to information

RECKLESS Endangerment- n. operation of an automobile in a dangerous manner under the circumstances, including speeding (or going too fast for the conditions, even though within the posted speed limit), driving after drinking (but not drunk), having too many passengers in the car, cutting in and out of traffic, failing to yield to other vehicles and other negligent acts. It is a misdemeanor crime. A "wet reckless" is a plea in a drunk driving prosecution allowed to lessen the penalty when the blood alcohol level is close to the legal limit.

<Yeah, they probably speed from time to time.... big Bad Romber

~Tim~

fighting for peace is like fvcking for virginity.

You wait. That bus diver will be called out by someone as a government employee and we'll have a raging debate over whether or not he is one - regardless of the fact that the whole issue is frellin ridiculous in the first place.

He's a criminal? Pfft. I am sure most of the haters are really disappointed he is so nice and supportive to Amber. It makes the whole "he's a horrible human being" argument a little hollow.

He's obviously the devil incanate to some people and no amout of logic, common sense or evidence of his good nature will change that.

I'm afraid you might me right, the rabid ROMBER haters don't respond well to logic or common sense.

~Tim~

fighting for peace is like fvcking for virginity.

Well, I gues I'm an exception. I don't like him, but I wouldn't go so far as to say he's a criminal. That would just be silly.

'nutz: Proud member of the inoffensive OT Triumvirate... and Shroomhater! - shroom go boom!

No, you're not, I counted at least 3 Romber haters that spoke up in his defense in this thread. I sometimes wonder if the minute anyone says "I don't like Romber" the rest of the post is automatically ignored. Sort of like Bart Simpson's dog: "blah, blah, blah, blah, dislike Romber, blah, blah, Rob"

Sort of like Bart Simpson's dog: "blah, blah, blah, blah, dislike Romber, blah, blah, Rob"

Or Paula Abdul...


New from Sigs by Syren!!
Keep lookin' up, cuz that's where it all is. o-

I said some haters, Tim said "rabid" haters.

Where does anyone get from this that we are lumping all Rob-haters together?

There are good reasons for some people not to like ANY of these contestants. Personal preferences and all that.

I don't think everyone who dislikes Romber is spewing their hate utter baseless abandon, but there are indeed some and you need go no further than this thread to see it.

I was just going to make that same point. Most Romber haters are excluded from my comment. There do seem to be a few (the rabid) one's that fit what I said, but by no means was I refering to everyone who dislikes Romber.

~Tim~

fighting for peace is like fvcking for virginity.

>I am sure most of
>the haters are really disappointed
>he is so nice and
>supportive to Amber. It
>makes the whole "he's a
>horrible human being" argument a
>little hollow.

I'm quite happy to see Rob get along with his fiance. Wish more people would behave the same in moments of stress.

>He's obviously the devil incanate to
>some people and no amout
>of logic, common sense or
>evidence of his good nature
>will change that.

Evidence of his good nature? When will I be seeing that? I'll have to tape it so I can review and look for the smallest thing to pick on. No, really - good nature? Not amused nature, or fun-loving rascal nature, or "I'm marryin' a hottie with a million bucks so I have nothin' to lose" nature, but actual good nature from Rob? You've seen this? Who was he good to, besides Amber? Either I missed that brief moment, or the unholy producers have covered them all up so that I would have someone to root against in their morality play.

You obviously have been so fixated on hating him you didn't notice, but Rob has been nice to just about every local he's encountered on this race. And I have never seen or heard of a single instance when he has done something "not nice" outside the context of competition. (Which of course I am sure he has done, but that just makes him hunam like the rest of us) He is always commenting on how grateful he is to have been born with the luck he has. And he is kind, supportive and encouraging to his fiancee/teammate.

*I* see a heckuvalot of "good nature" there. But I suppose it's more difficult for those blinded by hatred.

>You obviously have been so fixated
>on hating him you didn't
>notice, but Rob has been
>nice to just about every
>local he's encountered on this
>race. And I have
>never seen or heard of
>a single instance when he
>has done something "not nice"
>outside the context of competition.
> (Which of course I
>am sure he has done,
>but that just makes him
>hunam like the rest of
>us) He is always
>commenting on how grateful he
>is to have been born
>with the luck he has.
> And he is kind,
>supportive and encouraging to his
>fiancee/teammate.
>
>*I* see a heckuvalot of "good
>nature" there. But I
>suppose it's more difficult for
>those blinded by hatred.
>
>

Excellent post! ITA. I haven't seen Rob get 'hated on' by a whole country yet (Hello Lynn!). I have seen him help fix a man's truck, give a boat pilot his beloved Red Sox cap, and help push a stalled van out of traffic. I've seen lots of good nature shown by Rob.

>You obviously have been so fixated
>on hating him

Why do you hafta say that I hate Rob? Did I curse him or his heritage? Did I make fun of his regional accent? Did I SAY " I hate Rob" like others have said? Or did I just ask a rhetorical question followed by a post that was fairly tongue-in-cheek?

>you didn't
>notice, but Rob has been
>nice to just about every
>local he's encountered on this
>race. And I have
>never seen or heard of
>a single instance when he
>has done something "not nice"
>outside the context of competition.

Just a technicality here, but just because someone does not do something "not nice" doesn't mean that they are doing nice things, i.e. being a good person, as you suggested he was.

>He is always
>commenting on how grateful he
>is to have been born
>with the luck he has.

Again, saying that you are lucky does not necessarily mean that you are nice.

> And he is kind,
>supportive and encouraging to his
>fiancee/teammate.

And I have conceded that as a good trait for Rob or anyone.

>*I* see a heckuvalot of "good
>nature" there. But I
>suppose it's more difficult for
>those blinded by hatred.

The funny thing is, although I am not blinded by hatred, I think there are people who are blinded by their unquestioning support of someone that they have never met and could not possibly define adequately. Again, the point I was making was based on observation. The point you seem to be making is based on the absence of evidence to the contrary (excepting his good treatment of Amber).

Sheesh, you try to poke a little at one Desperate-Attenion-Whore and his millionaire wife and you get smack comin' at you left, right and center.

Unless you know Rob personally, you might want to relax a little. Me poking at him does you no harm. You saying that I am blinded by hate puts me off a little.

Sheesh, you try to poke a little at one Desperate-Attenion-Whore

They're Media Whores. We're Desperate Attention Whores.

Unless you know Rob personally

There are trusted and respected people in this community who do. Who we gonna go with, people we trust and respect, or people (and I'm really not generalizing this to you at all) who come in and whimper about how there's such a thing as "cheating" on a TV show, or that anything about the opportunity to "race" for a million dollars is "unfair"?

>They're Media Whores. We're Desperate
>Attention Whores.

Thanks for clearin' that up.

>Unless you know Rob personally
>
>There are trusted and respected people
>in this community who do.

Didn't know that. Do we have old friends of his here, or just people who met him after they became fans of his? 'Cause that would make a huge difference on how you 'know' him or how he comes across in a conversation.

>The funny thing is, although I
>am not blinded by hatred,
>I think there are people
>who are blinded by their
>unquestioning support of someone that
>they have never met and
>could not possibly define adequately.

I have been surprised that so many get angry at criticism of Rob. Bashing of Reality TV contestants is about viewers' personal feelings and criticism is often exaggerated. I remember thinking people were too harsh with Amber during Survivor Australia--I think she was frequently called dumb dumber and dumbest in a variety of ways. Don't know what it is about Rob, but reading these threads, I feel like I need videotaped evidence and signed affidavits to support what I say about him and even then, there will be those who get angry if it's negative. There's a lot to like about Rob. But I don't like arrogant-backstabbing-con artists-who-are-proud-of-it and Rob is certainly that IMO. And as for the death penalty for him, I'm opposed to it--it would leave Amber without a job.
Charter Member: Club Anti-DAW