Great analysis, CTgirl. I have participated in these threads in the past, but not as much as I'd like to here.I think the only way N/J aren't eliminated next is if R/C stumble, which can't be ruled out; they finished first this leg through some good fortune for which they deserve credit (researching the airlines). Ronald is a Jekyll/Hyde character: we've seen his evil side come out a few times, but when he suppresses it, and his hernia cooperates, he does well. Is this the best a parent/child team has done on the Race since, say, Momily? (Poor Momily. If they hadn't melted down after losing the FF to the Guidos, they'd have eliminated them!)
TAR has had a history of dysfunctional teams that go a long way, mainly because one member is an awesome Racer (Zach, Colin, Brandon, Rebecca, and Lyn come to mind). I do not see N/J as such a team; Nate isn't that smart a Racer, and at this point Jen is his "Kim-shaped-backpack." It took everything Zach had to carry Flo to the finish (from what I understand; I never saw the actual season), and I don't see Nate doing the same with Jen. Her heart is so not in this, and it's obvious (or should be!) that they have no future as a couple. And Nate doesn't have enough to compensate.
N/D could be our Comic Relief team a la Meredith/Gretchen in TAR 7. They muddle along, doing just enough not to get eliminated. I think the slowness with which Donald did the RB is a foreshadowing that their inability to keep up might do them in. Fortunately, they have N/J to keep them around for another leg. And I hate to say it (okay, I LOVE to say it), but Nick, you're not exactly the brightest Racer we've ever seen.
Our contenders, then, are K/V and TK/R. I won't rehash CTgirl's excellent points. The question is, who's getting the winner's edit? It'd be easy to say TK/R, but what I'm seeing is a possible replay (of sorts) of TAR 6.
From a likability standpoint, it's unfair to compare K/V to the loathsome Freddy and Kendra or, for that matter, TK/R to Kris and Jon, one of the most popular teams of all time. But from what unfolds on the Race, I think the comparison is apt. I think that K/V ultimately will have the savvy to go for the jugular when it's crunch time, which TK/R may not, as was the case with F/K over K/J. "Hakuna Matata" only gets you so far, and it doesn't help when you make One Fatal Error as Jon did when booking the flight back to Chicago. We've seen evidence of K/V's aptitude in this last airport scene, even though they more or less swerved into the right flight to go on.
TK/R are a team of mystery, but I'm led to believe that, like Kris and Jon, this is leading to a runner-up edit.
Apologies if I rehashed anything else upthread; I was solely responding to CTgirl's post.