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TAR_4_life
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TAR Live!
« on: Oct 14^th, 2005, 3:31pm »

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Wednesday's at 1PM-2PM EST, 10AM-11AM PST

hosted by Jon (of Jon/Al from TAR4! Cheesy

)
and.........some other person Wink

www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race8/finish_line

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Kendra
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Re: TAR Live!
« Reply #1 on: Oct 14^th, 2005, 4:01pm »

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WHAT a horrible time! I'm at school Sad

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Heather
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Re: TAR Live!
« Reply #2 on: Oct 14^th, 2005, 4:14pm »

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Aww that is a bad time! Sad

Why didn't they have one before? lol

(yay though, they picked Clown Jon as the host! Nice pick! Cheesy

)

« Last Edit: Oct 14^th, 2005, 4:14pm by Heather »

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http://www.tengaged.com/user/supergoten
^please click this link as often as you want, give me free money on tengaged Cheesy

JP
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Re: TAR Live!
« Reply #3 on: Oct 15^th, 2005, 12:12pm »

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Yay!!! Go Jon!!!! Cool

(I'm at the office at that time. Maybe I'll try to finish my work before watching. Grin

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Deekeryu
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Re: TAR Live!
« Reply #4 on: Oct 15^th, 2005, 5:11pm »

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The other person hosting is Sarah Bernard. Looking at her bio, she's a contributing editor for Elle and New York Magazine and appears as a television and pop-culture expert for VH1 and CNN.

I hope they archive these shows.

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Mango Tango
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Re: TAR Live!
« Reply #5 on: Oct 18^th, 2005, 3:56pm »

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on Oct 14^th, 2005, 4:01pm, Kendra wrote:

WHAT a horrible time! I'm at school Sad

I agree, I'm at school too! Angry

If only it was 3-4 pm eastern then i can have time to see it!

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JP
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Re: TAR Live!
« Reply #6 on: Oct 26^th, 2005, 4:04pm »

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RNO recaps it! I'll try to post the article every week in this thread.

The Amazing Race 8, The Finish Line: Episode 4 Schroeder Family
by Sandy Lamparello -- 10/25/2005

Welcome to the first installment of a brand new Internet talk show, The Amazing Race: The Finish Line! Here well get all those burning questions answered. I dont know about you, but I know the one question Id ask is how a family from New Orleans managed to get lost in New Orleans, and thus was eliminated from the race. Will Stassi ever stop talking? And what was the deal with the Weavers? Lets see how our hosts do on their first day

So here we are, the first ever Amazing Race 8: Finish Line, the Internet talk show undoubtedly spawned by the success of Survivor Live. (Fortunately we dont have the annoying Jenna Morasca hosting, however.) Our hosts are Sarah Bernard and Jon Weiss. Sarah is a contributing editor and writer for several magazines, and a pop culture expert and commentator for CNN and VH1 on TV. Jon is one half of the popular clown team of Jon and Al from The Amazing Race 4.

Not only are Sarah and Jon going to interview the eliminated family each week, but they are also taking viewer calls. This could be interesting. Their first guests are, of course, the Schroeder Family from New Orleans, LA. The Schroeders were Philiminated in Episode 4, which ironically ended in New Orleans. Dad Mark, his wife Char, and Marks children Stassi and Hunter join Sarah and Jon in the studio. I must comment that because of the way she is sitting on her chair, Sarahs skirt, while probably not exceptionally short, leaves little to the imagination.

Sarah starts off by telling the Schroeders that she did not expect them to be eliminated, and asks what happened. Mark says they were so used to being in control the first few legs of the race, they were really on top of things, but they just started to fall apart and not being able to find the Southern Colonel for four hours did them in. The next morning they couldnt get back on top of their game and the drove 20 miles in the wrong direction while looking for the park and had to backtrack. They knew unless another team made a bigger mistake than they did that their race was over.

Jon says that Stassi repeatedly said that every minute counts and it came true in this leg. Stassi says that it was so close, as they were finishing and being eliminated, the Weavers and the Gaghans were there watching them step onto the mat. In case anyone missed it, we get to see a clip of the end of the leg. As Sarah introduces the clip, Char says, Roll that beautiful bean footage. Jon says he is almost crying watching the clip. Char says they watched the episode with the Paolos and some friends, so this was the first time they had been able to see it on their own and get emotional about it. Sarah offers to show it again but they decline. Jon liked Marks comments at the end of the episode, that his family played a fair game, they had fun and they all support each other. Jon thought it was wonderful and absolutely loved it.

Sarah asks what everyone thinks about fathers listening to their daughters more and Mark says fathers maybe should listen to their sons more. Sarah asks Stassi if she was really upset about the moment when the Sheriff told them about the Southern Colonel Mobile Home Park and she thought it was the right place but nobody listened to her. She says yes, that moment and when she didnt want to take the 8:00 ticket, and so many other moments, if she had just forced them to follow her advice it would have made a huge difference. Stassi doesnt want to blame anyone else though, so she says she could have been more assertive and made a bigger difference.

Sarah says they are all blaming themselves and Char says that is who they are as a family. They are competitive but they take responsibility for their actions. No one person was responsible for letting anyone else down; they were a team so they are all responsible. Sarah says Mark was ashamed of losing so early and thats pretty strong. Mark says it was their hometown, they felt like they had a really good chance to go really far in the race and they felt like they disappointed so many people by getting out so early, and in particular in New Orleans. Sarah says the other teams were looking to them as the team to beat. Mark says that makes it even more disappointing. Char says their team number was number one, their car was number one, and everyone was looking at them to be the team to beat. Stassi says it felt like they were going to succeed and it was a shock.

Jon asks if taking the 8:00 ticket instead of the 7:40 ticket was the determining factor, or was it not taking 55 South? Mark says it could have been either. On the race you get to make one mistake and can still make it through, but they made two mistakes in two days and it was just too much. Char makes a football analogy and says they had to focus on the whole game and not rely on that last-second game-winning touchdown. If they hadnt made all the other mistakes then they wouldnt have been looking for that touchdown that never came. They cant blame it on any one person.

The first caller is Tom from Takoma, who says he was sorry to see the Schroeders voted off. He then corrects himself to say he was sorry to see them come in last. Tom asks how they felt seeing all those parts of New Orleans and how theyve been affected by Katrina, was it hard on them? Mark says that the French Quarter was largely unaffected and is reopening now, but it was difficult seeing the places where he grew up devastated by the hurricane. Its the outlying areas that are destroyed and that was hard to deal with.

Jon says the Rogers family (from Shreveport, LA, eliminated in Episode 2) has been instrumental in helping out the Schroeders. Mark explains that they went to stay with them and Char says they were there for two weeks because they had nowhere else to go while the flood waters were rising. Char goes on to explain that they had a car accident as they were evacuating, and wrecked both their cars. Char hit Stassi in her car. Jon asks Stassi if she is going to sue, as Char explains she hadnt had a car accident in 20 years and here she hits Stassi. Denny Rogers sent a car to pick them up and take them to safety in Shreveport.

Jon asks about their home and Mark says they had about two and a half feet of water in their house so everything below three feet was lost, and if you think about it almost everything in your home is below three feet. So their house has been gutted and it will take six months to rebuild. But the city is starting to come back so they are encouraged by that.

Char says she works for Ritz Carlton/Marriott and they have 12 hotels back up and running. There is nightlife in the French Quarter every night and life is slowly getting back to normal. The essence of New Orleans will come back. And, Sarah points out, Café du Monde reopened just that day. Char says it wasnt hard for them to watch because the city is already coming back.

Jon asks if they are glad that they did one leg of the race in New Orleans and Mark says he isnt so sure. They point out that other families got lost in cities that they knew well so hes not sure how much of an advantage it really is. Sarah says one thing that viewers dont get to see and may not realize is that the teams all got to be good friends. They all still keep in touch and formed some tight bonds. Stassi says they all still e-mail each other almost every day and it is helping keep them positive. Jon agrees that it is a unique bond that they form with the other racers. Sarah says they all must feel a bond with Jon then.

Our next caller is LeeAnna from Canada. She asks what their favorite Roadblock or Detour was, what families do they still keep in touch with, and she wishes them well. It was sad for her to see them eliminated so close to home. Their favorite competition was the shrimp, they had a good time with it, it was fun, and they were in first place. They were sorry that more of it didnt get shown on TV. Sarah asks what things they wished had been shown on TV and they start singing the fish heads song, and say they also wish they had shown more of the bike ride at Talladega Speedway.

Sarah asks Hunter what his favorite thing on the race was. (Id forgotten Hunter was there) Hunter also thinks the shrimp day was fun but says his favorite day was the first day when the excitement of the upcoming race was ahead of them. And they were the most rested and smelled the best on that day too.

As for the families they are close with, besides the Rogers family they are close with all but one, Mark says. He does not elaborate but they go on to say they received donations of money, food, clothing, and lots of support from their fellow racers and it was a bond they didnt expect going in.

After a short break, they try to take a call from Mark in Chicago but he seems to be MIA. So they move on to Scott from Nashville. Scott is there and he says he has a lot of friends from south Louisiana and he is proud of how the Schroeders played the game. Its like his second home and he was happy to see them playing well. He wants to know how much fun it was to be picked to be in the race and did they enjoy being in it? Stassi says he has no idea how much fun it was. They loved every single second of it and were upset when they were eliminated because they wanted it so bad.

Sarah next introduces a clip that she calls The Schroeder Family Meltdown Montage. Its chock full of all the emotional moments, bad decisions, and screaming matches from their last episode. Mark and Stassi call each other ugly. Good times! The clip ends with Mark telling them to stay on 20 West instead of getting on 55 South. Sarah asks if its hard to watch and they say it is but its a little funny, and a little embarrassing.

Jon asks what happened with the Southern Colonel, the Sheriff told them where to find it but it still took them a long time to get there. Mark says it was inconceivable that they would send them to a mobile home park, and Char says the clue just said Find the Southern Colonel in Hattiesburg, MS. They might as well have been looking for a piece of gum on the bottom of their shoe. (Ummm, Char, wouldnt a piece of gum on the bottom of your shoe be pretty EASY to find?) Stassi says they went to two different KFCs and Mark wanted them to go look in the bathroom. They asked several groups of college students and they all pointed them to KFC.

Sarah says it must be hard to be stuck in a car for all that time with your family, it must be stressful. Jon says its dealing with four different personalities and opinions and at times people dont get listened to.

Sarah tries again to take a call from Mark in Chicago, and after several tries he is finally there. Mark asks why there was such animosity towards the Weavers. He says they looked kind of weird but he doesnt know what happened to make the Schroeders so hostile. Everyone seems puzzled by the statement that the Weavers looked weird, but Stassi says that viewers dont get to see everything that happened and there was a lot that went on at pit stops where the Weavers were trying to be very underhanded and sneaky. They were spiteful and rude and the viewers didnt see that so it made the Schroeders look like jerks.

Jon asks if they were just doing that to play the game and get ahead but Stassi (doesnt anyone else in this family talk?) says maybe so but they didnt play the game fairly. They crossed the line and broke every rule they could. Char adds that the Weavers didnt play with integrity and says all the families agreed with them. Mark adds that they wanted it so badly and they had fun but all the Weavers did was whine and complain and say that they wanted to go home. He asks why they came on the show then and what did they think they signed up for. (I agree completely!)

Jon says the stress once you get on the race is unimaginable and some people dont react well to that. Its beyond what you can explain and makes people do some really ridiculous things at times. Sarah says she is amazed that there werent more people ending up in conflict, that she would expect fewer friendships and more competition.

Next caller is Cindy from L.A., and shes there on the first try! She asks the Schroeders if going on the race brought them closer together and if they found things out about each other that they didnt know before. Mark says they learned to trust in their kids more, that they are able to handle responsibility and are much more capable than he had realized. They lived up to the responsibility with flying colors. Sarah asks how their normal life has changed, then says that nothing is normal in their lives now anyway. Mark says it didnt change the family dynamic but Char says it made them appreciate even more what they do have, especially after losing everything in the hurricane.

Sarah says she would have expected them to be more upset about losing but they have stayed positive and have an amazing attitude about it. Stassi says they could not be upset after meeting 40 amazing, interesting, funny, and kind people who they have become great friends with.

Sarah asks why they wanted to go on the show in the first place. The ladies point to Mark and he says this was such an amazing opportunity and they could not have replicated the experience. He wanted his family to experience it together, because they had already traveled all over the world as tourists. Hes been a big fan of the show, and a big fan of Jons apparently, and he thought it would be great for his family. Its a fabulous, unique experience that he couldnt have bought. He and Char had talked about doing it before and when they saw they were looking for a family of four they knew they had to go for it. Stassi says they had no doubt from the second they sent their tape in; they just knew they would be picked. They had no doubt in their minds that they were destined to be on the show. Char says with 20,000 families applying they were so honored to be picked.

Sarah asks if they prepared for the show at all and everyone laughs. Mark says they worked out together, and the kids went to personal trainers. They read books about travel and bought bootleg copies of every season of The Amazing Race and watched them all together. They watched three or four hours every night and studied the strategy and other points of the race. Jon asks if all the preparation really helped them and they say no, a lot of it comes down to luck, decision making, and teamwork. Jon says for the most part they did that well, at least until the last episode.

After the break, Sarah sayswith apologies to Jonthis season is the most difficult because with four people instead of two there are more personalities to deal with. Jon says the important thing is to establish a leader for the team and that clearly was Mark, although they now know it should have been Stassi, Sarah comments. Jon says the key is listening to each other and considering all decisions to be made. He asks them what happened when they arrived at the pit stop and Phil paused before telling them they were eliminated. Char and Mark say they knew it was an elimination leg but Stassi says she never thinks she is out until the very end. She had hope that they would still be in it.

Our next caller is Aaron from Los Angeles. Aaron is a big fan of Jon and Al. Awww. He wants to know what moment in the race the Schroeders would have done something different. Stassi says they should have kept going into different trailers and looked for an earlier time. Everyone pretty much agrees but Char says they werent 100% sure that there was a 7:40 ticket left. But they had searched through 25 trailers and it was late so they were tired and just took the 8:00 ticket.

Sarah asks about their decision to switch from cutting wood to playing Blackjack during the Detour, and we see a clip of that. Char sounds so excited to be going to New Orleans! Sarah compliments Char and Stassi on the bright pink boas they wore while playing Blackjack and they say they stained their necks, so on the mat they looked like they had severe burns. But the lumberjack outfits they had to wear for the other Detour task were ugly. Jon asks them why they changed from cutting wood to playing Blackjack, and Mark says at the time they did not realize that the whole family had to beat the dealer at the same time. That made it much more difficult than it seemed when they read the clue. But they did finish quickly and headed to New Orleans.

Char says they knew the toll on the Causeway (over Lake Pontchartrain) is $3.00. So they threw the toll at the booth and about halfway across the Causeway they were pulled over. Apparently the toll was $2.00 more because they had the luggage rack on top of the Suburban, which they didnt realize. The police officer wanted them to come all the way back to the toll booth but they convinced him to take the rest of the toll money and let them go. Thank you, Officer Gallow!

Its time for another call, and Sarah says Jon might recognize the person. Its Al! Jons fellow clown and partner from The Amazing Race 4! Al says hi to Jon, and congratulates the Schroeder family. He tells them to be proud of themselves; they ran a race with integrity and were so humble. It was great for America to watch. You never know what will happen and luck plays a big part in The Amazing Race. Al adds, speaking of stress, there was a point when he and Jon were in Malaysia and Jon got stressed out and ran out of the taxi without anybody else. No cameras, no partner, nobody. Jon explains that he thought he saw the flag and he just took off. But they won that leg so it ended up just being a funny story.

Al asks the Schroeders if they are going to do something else as a family or have they had it after The Amazing Race? Mark asks Al what he has in mind. Char says Mark wants to go on Survivor (well, Rob and Amber did it in the other order, why not?), Stassi wants to go on The Amazing Race All-Stars, but Char and Hunter (is he still here?) have retired. Mark says Stassi juggles so she could be a clown too! She confirms this, and Jon says Al could place her somewhere. Al says he hopes to meet them someday and wishes them well.

Mark is our next caller. He says he is calling from somewhere that sounds like George Washington and The Amazing Race is a huge hit in the farming community. He goes to meetings once a week and everyone talks about that weeks episode. He asks them why they wanted to go on the show, was it the adventure of the whole thing or the money? Stassi says it wasnt the money, they dont need the moneywell maybe they do now. Char says they do need it now. Stassi says they didnt need the money at the time and they wanted to do this amazing adventure together and experience what it was all about. Jon says it is the adventure of a lifetime; they will never look at a cab or an airport the same way again. He says competing against other teams for the chance to win a million dollars is amazing. The Schroeders say they never look at a black Yukon XLT the same again. They will always be looking for cameramen when they see one.

Sarah asks what is in the future for the Schroeders. She says so much of their life is up in the air because they are rebuilding but there is so much going on. Stassi is in her senior year of high school (is it all about Stassi?) and this must have been a great way to start her school year off. Stassi says it was a great way to start it but with the hurricane New Orleans, she hasnt been as focused on the show as they might have been, so its hard for them to enjoy it as much as they would. But its a great thing for her to have done and its what keeps her happy these days. (I didnt know the show was called The Amazing Stassi) She has a fantastic potential college entrance essay. Jon asks her about the prom and she tells him its far away and she hasnt thought about that yet. Jon is sure she will get lots of offers for dates.

Sarah asks Hunter what has happened to him and he says random people have been coming up to him at school and telling him he did a great job, people he doesnt even know. He says that at least he has fans though; his parents have only gotten one compliment from someone in New Orleans. Apparently Dave Muster is their only fan. Char even walked up to the paparazzi in New York City and showed them Marks photo on USA Today and they didnt care. Stassi is appropriately mortified. Char says maybe they look different in person.

Sarah says viewers dont think about the grooming, sleeping, and eating practices during the race but they can play a huge part. Char talks about brushing their teeth in the field when they were sleeping in tents, and how the women got together and washed each others hair. Mark didnt worry about that because his hair was very short at the time, and once again Hunter disappears into the background.

We see the clip of next weeks show and Sarah thanks everyone for joining in. The Schroeders seem like a great family, even if they did get emotional and implode in this last episode. I hope they are able to rebuild their home before too long, and can get settled back into a regular routine. If you see them on the street, say hello! Ill be back to recap next weeks Finish Line for you, and I hope youll join me!

http://www.realitynewsonline.com/cgi-bin/ae.pl?mode=1&article=articl e5804.art&page=1

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Mr. Spooky
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Re: TAR Live!
« Reply #7 on: Oct 27^th, 2005, 6:39pm »

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thanks for posting! Grin

VERY long, but i read about half of it

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JP
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Re: TAR Live!
« Reply #8 on: Oct 28^th, 2005, 10:18am »

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I read ALL of it. Cheesy

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JP
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Re: TAR Live!
« Reply #9 on: Nov 7^th, 2005, 2:00pm »

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The recapper was having a hard time recapping the show... I would have loved to watch the show. Sad

**********************************

The Amazing Race 8: The Finish Line, Episode 6
by Sandy Lamparello -- 11/07/2005

It's an exceptionally sad occasion for Sandy this week, as her favorite team, the Gaghans, shows up to answer some questions. Not only do we find out why they waited for the Paolos at the fast forward, but maybe, just maybe, we get a little insight on why everyone hates the Weavers! Sandy has as much of the details as CBS.com will give her, inside!

Here we go, time for The Amazing Race: The Finish Line! My colleague Jenn and I [Associate Editors Note: Dont forget the loveable Associate Editor!] are trying to recover from the trauma of seeing our favorite family Philiminated. Its tough, but we must go on. Thats what they would want us to do, right?! At least we get this one last look at them before we will be forced to move on! Lets see what Bill, Tammy, Billy, and Carissa Gaghan have to say. Im at the mercy of the CBS Video Player, which is not being particularly cooperative, unfortunately.

Hosts Sarah Bernard and Jon Weiss greet us. Whoa, the show is on at 2 PM this week. Thanks CBS, for keeping us on our toes! Jon and Sarah agree this weeks episode was a great one, and promise an equally great Finish Line. As always, they will be taking viewer phone calls. (The sound quality on my clips is really bad today. There is another sound track playing along with the Finish Line sound, its REALLY annoying! Lets see how long it takes before I get fed up)

Unfortunately for them (and for Jenn and me) the Gaghans are in the studio with Sarah and Jon today. Sarah gets right down to business, saying she hopes the Gaghans are not too sad to be there. Tammy says no, they arent, they are very happy and its all good. Jon says they were a very well-liked team and they were competitive and ran a great race. Bill says their number one objective when they were getting ready to start the race was to have fun. They definitely did that so it was a success for them. (I LOVE this family!) He says more than that but I cant hear it because of the other sound track. I dont know how much of this I can take

Sarah says Billy and Carissa were the youngest competitors ever on the show and there were some advantages to that. They are all in fantastic shape, and Carissa remarked in Episode 1 that she was little so she could run faster than everyone else. Sarah asks if there were any disadvantages to that, pointing out that the Linz family are all around the same age. Bill says yes, when it came to strength challenges they had things to overcome. He and Tammy had to step up and take charge and they did that. The major disadvantage he saw was with navigation, when they had to read maps in an unfamiliar location they could have used three people to bounce ideas off of and make sure Dad wasnt going the wrong way. That was what they needed, but every team has its strengths and weaknesses. Jon says Carissas keen eyes helped out a lot. I wish I could tell you what Bills response is but the sound is so bad I cant. All I can make out is something about clue boxes. Sorry.

Sarah says she has never seen a family that was as calm as the Gaghans were, and asks if that was just the clips they chose to show. Were they actually screaming at each other like the Paolos and CBS just didnt show it? Or were they always complimenting each other like we saw? Bill says thats who they are, they support each other and screaming at each other doesnt motivate them. Tammy says thats their family dynamic, she was still mom even though they were on a race. She was making sure everyones clothes were folded and that they had clean underwear.

Our first caller is Anthony from Connecticut. He feels the nice guys finish last, and compliments his hometown team on a race well run. He wants to know what their most difficult moment was and Bill says it was pushing the Amish buggy. Hes run 11 marathons but that was hard. Although they had less weight to push, they didnt have two adults who could switch out and give the others a rest. The other teams were asking them how they pushed the buggy and Tammy says it was the endurance they have from running marathons, they know they can always give more, unlike the other teams who felt they were at their limit.

Jon asks if after that challenge they were worried about what might come next. Bill says at that point they finished in second place and their goal was to stay at the top. And again my sound is so screwed up I cant understand the rest. Tammy says something, and Bill didnt want anyone sitting down, but thats all I can hear.

Jon says they didnt seem to make any alliances through the race, that they were focused as a team. Tammy says everyone was friendly, they hung around with whoever they were with and worked with them. Whoever was on the second bus or the second plane worked together. Bill says they helped every team at some point and every team helped them at some point. It was part of the whole feeling of the race and it started the first night of the race, when they camped in Pennsylvania. The first three teams pitched their tents and then they helped all the other teams as they came in.

Sarah says it seemed last night that everybody hated the Weavers. (I know I did such hypocrites!) She introduces a clip that illustrated how everyone really felt about the Weavers. This should be good (Incidentally, I love the nicknames these teams have for each other the Desperate Housewives, the Rugrats, the Brady Bunch, Florida. I wonder what names they had that didnt get shown) The Paolos yield the Weavers. Everyone rejoices. The Weavers declare their Christianity and then mock the other teams, starting with ridiculing the Paolo family for being in front of a garbage truck. (I wonder how they would feel if there werent people in the world who were willing to pick up their garbage?)

Tammy likes being the Rugrats team. (Have I mentioned that I LOVE this family?) The Gaghans were not surprised that the Paolos chose to yield the Weavers and Jon asks why that was. He wants to know if it was just that they didnt spend much time with them but when they did they didnt like what they saw, or were they truly disliked because of things like what they saw on the clip. Tammy says they actually got along with the Weavers. Bill says he thinks it all started early in the race, when there was a long Pit Stop in Virginia and a lot of the teams were downstairs commiserating and getting to know each other. The Weavers had come in first place in the leg and they spent most of their time upstairs in their room isolated. That was their race strategy but it separated them from the rest of the teams. When they later tried to change that it was not well-received. It was difficult because nobody trusted them anymore and things just got worse and worse and bad things were said back and forth between all of the teams.

Sarah says the Weavers did not say the nicest things and Bill says it was embarrassing to watch. At least I think its Bill, now my picture has frozen so I can hear the two sound tracks but cant see the video. It sounds like Bill and not Jon, so Im going with Bill. Sarah wonders how much the teams heard, saying the viewers could of course hear everything but she doesnt know if the racers heard it as they passed. She specifically mentions the comment about the garbage truck in the Paolo family picture. Aha, my picture is back! Jon makes a face indicating that he doesnt appreciate the Weaver familys comments. Sarah says when you look at their profile you wouldnt expect that kind of treatment by the other teams. She would have expected a widow and her kids to have everyones sympathy, especially after what they went through at the race track. Bill says he gave them the benefit of the doubt about a lot of things but in the end everyone has to be accountable for how they act and the things they say. (Yes! Just saying youre a Christian and better than the other teams doesnt give you the right to be nasty. Thank you Bill!) He knows it was hurtful for the Paolos to hear some of the Weaver familys comments on last nights episode.

Jon asks a question but my sound is going crazy again. My laptop is about to launch into orbit Bill says they are great friends with all the other contestants and they stay in contact.

Linda from Texas is the next caller, but she doesnt appear to be there. And after that my clip freezes and I cant get it to play any further. Hopefully Part 2 will be kinder to me

After the break, my sound problems continue. Ill muddle on though and keep hoping they improve. The next caller is LeeAnna from Canada (shes called every week so far!). LeeAnna first tells Sarah and Jon they are doing a great job with the show, and then says the Gaghans were her favorite team. She was sad watching last nights show. (Join the crowd LeeAnna.) The Gaghans say thank you, and LeeAnna asks if they would have won, what would they have done with the money? Carissa thinks for a second and then says she doesnt really know. Sarah asks her if she would spend it at FAO Schwarz or on American Girl stuff and she shakes her head no. Tammy says Carissa is not a dollie girl. (I wasnt either. I like Carissa even MORE now!) Bill says he suspects the money would have gone towards college education and they would have had an ATV in the family. Billy says he would have five TVs in his room. Jon asks why five TVs, and what about a GameBoy or something? Billy says he might buy an XBox or Playstation and Sarah says thats so over GameBoy.

Sarah says they really liked Costa Rica and said they would like to go back there, so maybe they would do some traveling with the money. Bill says they loved it and hes like to go back and experience the volcano again, and the ocean. It was a beautiful, tropical place and it had everything they like to do on vacation. Turns out the Gaghans have another daughter, Kelly, who was not old enough to go on the race, so they would love to take her there to experience the country. In case you were wondering, Kelly stayed with her grandparents while the rest of the family was on the race.

Doris from Canada is the next caller, and she says the Gaghans are amazing. Billy is like her little idol and she was crying along with them last night when they were eliminated. She admires their positive attitude and she tells Tammy and Bill they should be proud because they have some great kids. (I agree wholeheartedly!) Doris wants to know what their favorite roadblock or detour was. They immediately rule out the coffee bean roadblock. Tammy asks Carissa what her favorite was and she says riding the Jeep through the mud. She says a little bit more but, once again, my sound is on the fritz. Bill asks Billy what his favorite thing was and he says Centrifuge. Tammy says that was a little disappointing, because if they had known what it was they would have had both Billy and Carissa doing it. They talk about it a bit more, and Tammy says they were disappointed that they didnt get to do more stuff while they were there. SpaceCamp was going on at the time and they were watching the other kids do everything and they really wanted to take part.

Sarah says they were always complimenting each other, and they were up for everything. She says even at the scary double bungee jump challenge, they were ready and excited to do it. Jon says if he had seen the Paolo family at the fast forward he would have left, and asks if they ever had second thoughts about waiting. Billy smacks his dad and Jon asks what that is all about. Tammy says Billy didnt want to stay, and Billy says the only reason they stayed was because the others wanted to do the bungee jump. He knew the Paolos would do it, and proclaims himself the brilliant mind. Bill made them wait, and he explains that they had talked to D.J. and the rest of the Paolos at previous pit stops and knew he was terrified of heights. The one thing he kept saying was how he hoped he didnt have to bungee jump, so he thought they would not complete the task. If it had been any other team they would have left but they thought the Paolos would not be able to finish. He felt their chances were better than 50/50 that they would get the chance to do it, so they decided to wait.

And now my clip resets for some reason and I cant play past this point. WHY does this have to happen with the Gaghans?

After the second break, well, I dont know what happens. I hear Sarah saying Welcome back to The Finish Line and then I hear it again. And again. And again. Ive been trying for two hours to get it to play and I just cant. I really wanted to see what the Gaghans had to say too. What I did get to see only reaffirmed my admiration for them! What a great familythey have nothing to be ashamed of; they ran a great race and can keep their heads held high. Great job, Gaghan family! Youve got a BIG fan here in Washington, DC!

Stay tuned to see who is Philiminated on Tuesday. Ill be back to recap next weeks Finish Line (back at its regular time of 1 PM Eastern) for you, and I hope youll join me! Lets hope the CBS Video Player is kinder to me then

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Re: TAR Live!
« Reply #10 on: Nov 11^th, 2005, 8:46pm »

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i read the whole thing this time! Cheesy

i cannot imagine that family with another child. it just, doesn't seem right. i can't see Billy as an older sibling to 2 sisters, and i can't see Carissa as an older sister at all! weird....
i wonder how old she is?

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Re: TAR Live!
« Reply #11 on: Nov 24^th, 2005, 1:37pm »

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I'm late again! lol. This is for the Paolo Fans.

The Amazing Race 8: The Finish Line, Episode 7
by Sandy Lamparello -- 11/14/2005

Time for another edition of The Amazing Race: The Finish Line! The Paolos were Philiminated this week, so parents Marion and Tony and sons Brian and D.J. are our guests. The Paolos (right) fought a lot during the race, but had some nice family moments, too. Lets take a look and see what their thoughts are about their experience. But wait - wheres co-host Jon?

Before I get to the recap, I want to thank the readers who wrote to help me solve the CBS Video Player problem. Its working much better this week and my laptop is no longer in danger of experiencing the miracle of flight.

Sarah, wearing a very interesting necklace, welcomes us to the show. Her usual co-host Jon Weiss is off doing clown stuff this week, so joining Sarah is the host of CBSs The Early Show, Harry Smith. Harry says he has a picture of himself with the clown team of Jon and Al in a prominent place in his office. But it turns out that Harry is not just a fan of The Amazing Race - he and his Early Show co-host/weatherman Dave Price actually followed the racers on the first leg of AR 6.

We see a short clip of Harry and Dave in Iceland (is anyone else hearing Avi and Joe singing New York Jews in Iceland in their head? No? Then neither am I), which includes Harry pulling on his long underwear. He says it was so much fun and he was happy to be able to experience it. The producers wanted them to stay behind the actual racers but they kept catching up, so they had to stop along their leg.

Sarah reminds us that they will be taking viewer calls, and introduces the Paolo family. Marion, Tony, Brian, and D.J. are smiling as Sarah says they finished in first one week and the next week they were eliminated. Tony says thats how the race goes - you cant count on anything. One week youre at the front of the pack and the next week youre out. Thats why the racers always have to keep going, because you never know.

Sarah asks what the key moment was that led to the Paolos losing. D.J. says the key moment was not listening to their mother on their way to the Grand Canyon. They had a plan but it backfired because they hit some traffic on their way. Marion says she thought she would be the downfall of their team because she is not as strong as the men, but she had a plan and she always tried to think things out in advance. She knew there was more than one entrance to the Grand Canyon and she was trying to tell everyone to wait and see exactly where they needed to go.

Harry asks Marion about the detour where they were bailing water out of the boat. She kept saying they should flip the boat but the rest of the team said they couldnt do it. However all of the other teams did flip their boats. D.J. says she said it 20 times, and Tony says they had tried but werent able to flip the boat. Marion says the reason she had to say it 20 times was because they never listened to her. Brian says if they could have made the boat levitate to the shore, they would have. (Even if they DID try before, wouldnt it have made sense to try again after more water had been bailed out?)

Sarah introduces a clip of The Paolo Family Elimination Montage. We see Tony being rescued by the rescue swimmers and hear his son helpfully yell at him not to drown. Clips of challenges, bickering, and criticism. And, of course, D.J. threatening to drown his mom as they were bailing water out of the boat. The clip ends with their Philimination.

Back live, Tony says they had a great time on the race and they are so glad to have done it. They have no regrets. It was an unbelievable experience and they had a ball. Sarah asks about some of the split-second decisions they had to make, such as which detour to do and who would do the roadblock. She asks if it was still smart strategy for them to do all the heavy lifting of the sugar cane, and they all seem to say no. Marion says they had a plan going in - they were going to rely on themselves and do tasks that they could control. They werent going to rely on gambling or animals, or looking for something in the woods somewhere. They wanted to take control so they choose their tasks accordingly.

Harry asks Tony about the swimming task - what happened to keep him from getting back? Tony says he went out too fast; he was out of breath and his body just shut down. It was right after breakfast, so it was just too much for him. D.J. says the problem was that Tony still thinks hes 25 and he was watching all these young people do the task, so he thought it was easy. Sarah points out that they did beat those younger teams at times. Brian says Wally Bransen was like Mark Spitz. Marion says Wally was swimming very well but he was going the wrong way, so they were trying to tell him to keep going. His girls finally got him to swim the right way. Brian says it was fun and it had no bearing on the race, so they can just look back and laugh about it now. Tony says even though he was drowning he was having fun.

Our first caller is Tammy from Pennsylvania. Tammy says that D.J. said he yielded the Weavers because they were the last team and she wants to know if this is true. If not, what is the real reason they yielded them? And why does everybody despise the Weavers so much? D.J. says there were two reasons they yielded them. The first was because they were last - if they yielded a team that was right behind them then they would eventually be able to catch up, but if they yielded the last place team, they thought it would ensure an elimination. The other reason they yielded the Weavers was, predictably, because of their actions on the race. D.J. says after watching the last few episodes, words cannot describe his feelings for the Weavers. D.J. says that if people have been watching the show, then they understand why everyone hates the Weavers. It developed from the very beginning. (Okay, but we want specifics!)

Harry says hes had all the Philiminated families on The Early Show and the one thing hes noticed is that all of the families have formed such a tight bond, except for the Weavers. He mentions the help for the Schroeders after Hurricane Katrina, and again asks where the animosity comes from. Brian says when the Weavers said they couldnt trust anyone, it was like they embraced the fact that they are loners. No one tried to make them the loners, but its not a coincidence when eight out of ten teams dont care for one other team. Sarah asks how the Paolos handled it when the Weavers basically backed them up against a wall and demanded to know why they yielded them. D.J. says he was honest with them - he wanted to eliminate a team and thats part of the game.

The next caller is Jon Weiss. Awwww, Harry is okay but I really miss Jon this week! Jon first says that the last time he talked to Harry, Harry told him he was a loser. But Jon still loves him. He tells Harry not to get too comfortable in his chair. D.J. says they really wanted to see Jon today; they saw Harry this morning. Jon says their family is great; they made us laugh and cry and he was rooting for them. D.J. says Jon and Al did the same for them. Jon says what people dont realize is that the race gives you so much more than you expect. Its not just the chance to travel around the world and win a million dollars, as Tony knows; it brings the family closer and makes them appreciate each other.

Jon tells Marion she was right so many times on the race but nobody listened to her. Marion says theyre still not listening to her. They all share a laugh. I like the Paolos; the boys really seem to have gained a new respect and appreciation for their mom. Yeah, they fought, but what family doesnt? If my family went on the race there would be dead bodies buried all over the world. Jon wishes the Paolos well and says he is looking forward to meeting them. Hell be back next week in his regular spot.

Sarah says she heard that the Paolos thought she wasnt rooting for them on the race, but thats not true. D.J. and Brian say that she always talked about how mean they (especially D.J.) were to Marion and they felt like she never had anything good to say about them. Sarah says she is just sensitive to them being mean to Mom but she does like them and she was hoping they would do well. Harry says the Paolos took some warming up to because they were so hostile to one another, but over the course of the race viewers could see that, though they fought like crazy, they always came together as a family and they supported each other. D.J. says even their friends commented after the first two episodes because there was so much nastiness. Marion says anyone who knows them knows that they fight and then its over with. They are mad for that moment but they get over it.

Sarah asks if the Paolos feel that during the first two episodes they did not show enough of the hugging and lovey stuff. The Paolos say there was no lovey stuff to show. Marion says the first three days, they were ready to kill each other. When they were last in their home city there wasnt much to smile about. Sarah says the home city thing has tripped up a lot of teams this time. Marion says for the record they do know where SoHo is and they knew how to get there, they just couldnt find the store. They asked a FedEx man, a UPS man, a policeman, and even rolled down their window to ask a passerby (but it turned out he only spoke Italian - thats New York for you!). They had zero luck that day and were very fortunate to make it farther than that.

The next caller is Kim from New York, and she has a question for D.J. Marion jokingly asks if Kim is single. Kim says she was sad to see them eliminated because they were her favorite team. The Paolos all say they are sad, too. She asks D.J. if, after watching himself on TV, he regrets the way he spoke to his mom or the way he acted towards her. Marion laughs as D.J. says the first two episodes were hard to watch and he could have been nicer to her, but in the middle of the race it was stressful. He says when they talk at the dinner table, whoever talks the loudest always gets their point across, but thats just how they talk. They do love each other and they are all tough. They talked about things after the race and as they were watching the episodes, and they do bicker but their lives are not like that every day.

After the break, Sarah asks why the family wanted to go on the race to begin with. Everyone points to Marion and she raises her hand. Brian says Tony and Marion had been talking about doing it for a long time and they never thought she could do it. Brian was interested in doing it, too, and D.J. wanted to do it, but with a cousin or with his dad, who he considered more his physical equal. He never thought he would do it with his mom. He thought the way they bickered they wouldnt be able to do it together.

Sarah is surprised to hear that it was Marion who wanted to do the race, since most of the other families were very physically active and Marion admitted that she was not physically strong. She says she had a threefold reason. First, she had had a hard year with her mother going through heart surgery, and she wanted to get out of the house. Second, Tony could have retired, but with her taking care of her mom and not being able to go to work he had to keep working, so she wanted to give them a chance at a little more financial stability. And finally, she wanted her sons to see a little bit of how the rest of the world lived, what other people have and dont have and how they relate, and just gain a little bit more appreciation for their own lives.

Harry points out that Marion got everything but the money, and she laughs as she agrees. She was in a win-win situation no matter what, because even if they were the first team eliminated they would get a four-week vacation, since the eliminated teams dont return home until the end of the race. They would get to go to sequester city and relax.

Chris from Chicago has a question for the boys. She says it was so great watching them, it was like watching her own family. She tells D.J. he should be ashamed of himself for how he treated his mom, and now Chris knows what its like for her own mom when her siblings treat her badly. She hopes that Marion gets a ton of endorsements and that we get to see a lot more of her. Marion makes her pitch for a sneaker commercial with Tammy Gaghan, because they both wore the same sneakers for the whole race. Tammy is a marathon runner and Marion cant run to save her life, so she thinks it would be a hilarious commercial. Sarah asks what kind of sneakers they were, and Marion says Asics.

Gary from Massachusetts is next, and Sarah says he has a different kind of question for them. Garys been a fan of the show for a long time but this season is the best because of the Paolos. He asks if there is something different they would have done to get farther in the race. They all say they wouldnt have done anything differently. They ran the race of their lives and did the best they could do. They were on a hot streak in Panama and Costa Rica, and they made one little mistake in the Grand Canyon that cost them the race. Brian says at that point someone had to go, so they dont keep stewing over that one decision. They made a lot of other mistakes that didnt come back to haunt them but this one did. He feels bad for Tammy Gaghan because she has nightmares about the coffee bean, but it wasnt like that for them.

D.J. says he was really worried that when they were eliminated it would be because of Marion and running, and he didnt want it to happen that way. He knew he would be yelling and it would look really bad all around. But they just made a strategic decision that didnt pan out. They all did their best and Marion did better than he thought she was going to do physically. Nobody let each other down; they all pulled through when they needed to. Marion says every team out there could have won the race; they all learned from each other and helped each other. Luck played a big part in the race and sometimes they had to stop to read a map or because it was nighttime.

Harry says there is so much adrenaline pumping through you all the time while youre on the race; even he felt it when he and Dave were following the racers in Iceland. He says when the racers finish a task and go to open the next clue to find out what they have to do, their hands are shaking. The Paolos agree that the tendency is to jump into the next thing, whatever it is, and its like that for the whole race. You have to train yourself to do the opposite of what your instinct tells you. Teams that settle down, read the clue, think it through, and make sure they dont lose the clue will do best. Slow and steady often wins the race.

Brian says that is what they learned after the first and second legs. After their mistakes at the beginning, they realized that they had to know where they were going before they start going there. D.J. says they just survived the first two episodes and they thought they would be gone. But once they slowed down, read the map, and took their time, they became better racers. They were actually able to move faster once they slowed down.

Sarah says viewers rarely see the racers eat because they dont eat that much, they rarely drink water, and they dont sleep that much either. She mentions a shot of Brian eating a bagel and how strange it was to see that. The teams are under total stress, both in their tasks and because there is no time for food and water and sleep. Tony says they always tried to go as far as they could without going to the bathroom or eating - they just had to keep going. Marion says sometimes they didnt go to the bathroom for 12 hours. They all lost weight on the race. But they ate as much as possible on the pit stops.

Tammy Gaghan is on the phone, and the Paolos call her The Taminator. They are happy to hear from her and Marion says when they meet a little girl named Tammy from Connecticut and she was nicknamed The Taminator, that is the ultimate in love and respect from their family. Tammy tells them they look great and the Paolos say the Gaghans were their inspiration. Tammy thanks them for their kindness, especially after they were eliminated, and says she still has the red coffee bean tacked up in her office.

Brian says Tammy was just impressive; she and Bill had to do so much on their own because their kids were so small, and they did it all. All the other teams agree that if it was just Bill and Tammy on the race, they would have had a hard time beating them. The Paolos considered yielding the Gaghans because Bill and Tammy were so hard to beat. They were scared of them but the still love them. Tammy loves them, too. Awww! Tammy was sad seeing them go last night, and she had to watch it by herself because Bill is in Singapore on business. But he did call in the middle of the show and ask for the play-by-play.

Sarah remarks that all the families are so tight knit and viewers dont really get to see that part. They only really get to learn about it on The Finish Line and through other interviews after the show is done. The boys confirm that they did stay tight with most of the families. They have been to visit them all over the country and other families have come to visit them. Tony mentions the Aiello family and says they had four men but were still the third team out, so strong and fast doesnt really mean anything on the race - its a race. Brian says the race has been the New York massacre, and if they all ran the race again any team would have the chance to win.

Sarah brings up the Weavers again, saying that every team is tight except for them, and introduces clip of their interactions with the other teams last night. One of the Weaver girls says she would rather be hated for who they are than loved for who they are not, and they are being hated for being who they are. (Yeah, hypocrites and rude, nasty people.) They are here to be competitors, not to be buddy-buddy with the other teams. The Weavers corner D.J. and demand to know why they were yielded when they were already in last place. D.J. says its because the purpose of the yield is to knock another team out. The Weavers are shocked. (What happened to that competitors thing? Surely they should understand) The Godlewskis comfort the Weaver kids as their mom drives around the track, and the Weaver kids mock them as soon as they walk away. Yeah, real moral and classy team they are, those Weavers.

D.J. says the Yield is part of the game and he wouldnt have been offended if someone had yielded his family. He continues that the one thing he hates and that drives him crazy is when someone says one thing and then acts another way. He may be loud and he may fight a lot, but whatever you hear from him is how it is - its the truth. Most of the other families were like that and they never disrespected other people.

The one thing that really aggravated D.J. the most was when they asked why everyone was buddy-buddy for the million dollars. The teams became friends because they were all friendly and got to know each other. They have genuine friendships that will last for a lifetime and it has nothing to do with the money. None of the other teams was even thinking about that. It was just known that when things got to the final three or four, all bets were off and the teams were on their own. But until that point, whoever they were with helped each other out. They all hung out together during the pit stops, but the Weavers were always off by themselves.

D.J. was bothered that the Weavers talked about living the Christian lifestyle, but then they were making fun of peoples work ethic and how people look. They made fun of people who tried to console them and were just overall very nasty. He doesnt want to be harsh but thats how they acted. Harry says when the Godlewskis tried to extend themselves emotionally to the Weavers and show them some generosity of spirit, the Weavers just pushed them away. Marion says they were always crying and bringing up that their father died and the other teams felt for them, but the Weavers just werent receptive to them. Harry is interested in what the Weavers side of things will be. D.J. says they havent had a chance to speak yet but Sarah says they can call.

Sarah says during a lot of the race the Paolos were vying with the Bransen family for the same spots. The Paolos say they were together a lot and Sarah says they really helped them at one point, like when they clued them in on a flight. Marion lists other times they helped the Bransens, and they discuss how everyone helped each other at various times throughout the race. At the point they helped the Bransens get on the plane things were kind of at a head with the Weavers, so the Paolos really wanted to give the Bransens a leg up. But it wasnt because they were all ganging up on the Weavers; they had isolated themselves.

Harry asks them about when they thought they were in last place and they were putting all their clothes on and underwear over their clothes. Tony says they thought they were last because D.J. was ten laps behind everyone else at the racetrack. When they got to the pit stop, they were sure they were in last. D.J. says when they pulled in and he only saw three cars he knew they werent last so he told Marion they should just go. Marion wanted to stop and put their clothes on just in case, but then she wanted to hide from the camera. Brian and D.J. laughed at her. Laughs all around at the difference between the Godlewskis thongs and the Paolos tighty-whities. Sarah notes the possible endorsement opportunities

Will from Florida is the next caller, and he says when this season started he had his doubts, but the Paolos made him want to give the season a chance. He grew to like them and they always came through. He praises everyone for various tasks they completed and then asks Marion about why she seemed disappointed to go to Arizona. Marion says she really thought they were going to stay outside of the U.S. and the most frustrating thing was that they had to fly through JFK Airport and she was only an hour away from home. She wanted to go home and take a shower and get freshened up, but they couldnt. Then, when they got to Arizona, it was hot, so they could have really used it.

After the break, Sarah once again mentions that, in addition to having interviewed all of the teams from The Amazing Race, Harry has done a leg of the race himself. So he is an actual Amazing Race insider and the Paolos can feel a kinship with him and maybe add him to their e-mail list of other racers. Harry says he always feels such an affinity for the racers when they come on the show because he knows what they have gone through. His family is glued to the TV every time The Amazing Race is on and they feel like they are going through it all with the teams.

Everyone discusses the things that go on but dont make it to air. D.J. tells a story of when they were in a race with the Linzes for the mat, and two of the Linz boys helped Marion the final few feet to get to the mat. He was surprised they didnt show that. Marion says they are great kids and Harry says they are hilarious. Sarah says online a lot of the chatter had been that the Linz family would win hands down but it hasnt turned out that way either. Marion says she always thought the Gaghans were going to win it, even though their kids were so young.

Sarah introduces a clip of the Godlewski familys highlights from last night. They did a lot of things wrong but they caught up in the end. We see them bickering during the painting task, losing a reservation at the airport, arriving at the racetrack in first place, and completing the roadblock. The Paolos laugh as they watch the clips. They all say getting from JFK to Newark for the better flight to Arizona was amazing, number one because of the time it takes, and number two because it was 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning and who wants to go to Manhattan and get a cab to Newark at that time? Marion lives in NYC and she would never do that. She is surprised the Godlewskis did it but thinks they just may not have known.

Sarah asks what impressed them about the Godlewskis and Tony says when they got to JFK and there was no reservation for them, they disappeared and nobody knew where they were. They were very short on money so it was amazing that they were able to get to Newark and get the better flight. Brian says they were haggling with the taxi driver to get to Newark.

D.J. says that although the racecar looked like fun, it was the hardest thing he did on the whole race. It was hot and 50 laps in a circle put a real strain on him. He is impressed that Michelle did it and got right out and was ready to run. The Godlewskis are a very strong team. Marion says everyone who came out of the cars was soaking wet, it was grueling. D.J. says if he could run the race again with just one other person, he would take Sharon Godlewski or one of the Linz boys.

Valerie from Alabama is the next caller. She wants to know how the Paolos felt when they saw the Weavers making the comments about the garbage truck in the photo of their family at the Yield. She also wants to know if they have apologized and what the Paolos relationship with them is now. Brian says, surprisingly, it didnt bother him. He doesnt know why but maybe he just expected them to do that. He calls it a Weaver thing to do. Tony says he is the one who works as a garbageman and that truck paid for their house. He is proud of what he does and its not all bad. (Amen, Tony! Its an honest living and you SHOULD be proud!) It didnt bother him either.

D.J. feels the Weavers were just doing themselves in with that comment. He says right now there is no relationship between the Paolos and the Weavers. They dont keep in contact like the other teams do. Marion says the thing to remember is that they are kids - they are 14, 16, and 19, and they react as kids. She feels for them having lost their father in the last year and their mother is trying to keep them together. She says the reactions of the kids didnt upset her, but if she had seen that kind of reaction from Linda, that would have been different. But she doesnt think Linda would act like that.

Harry says Marion is such a good woman (I agree!) and she says she is just telling the truth. Sarah asks Harry if he would he feel as sympathetic as the Paolos feel if he were on the race. D.J. corrects her that Marion feels sympathetic. He apparently doesnt. Neither do I. Marion continues that she can see the Weavers side of it. They are not the worst people in the world and she does feel for them. She says its like when you have ten kids. On the race there were ten families. In that situation, you have seven or eight who will get along just fine, but there are one or two who just cant get along and who cause trouble. Thats what happened on the race, and its not anyones fault. Harry sees a book in the future, containing Mama Paolos wisdom. Id buy it!

Brian says he agrees with his mom to an extent, but he observed the Weavers having breakdowns that other teams later overheard were all an act. That was part of their strategy and the other teams didnt like it. D.J. says he also heard that, but Marion did not. Brians trust for them went out the window when he heard that. D.J. mentions when they were on their way to the Grand Canyon and the Weavers tried to sabotage the Linz family. He says yes, its a way to play the game, but nobody else tried to sabotage another team like that. They never tried to get someone else to hold another team up. The Weavers played a very different game than that rest of the teams. Harry mentions Boston Rob and how he lied and cheated his way through the race, and Marion says that played during his season. (Id add that he was honest and upfront about how he was playing, while the Weavers play the perfect angels but are playing dirty.) Marion continues that this season they all played fairly, so it didnt fly.

I like the Paolo family, and Im sorry they didnt get to go further in the race. They did go a lot farther than I thought they would after the first episode, though. It really seems that theyve learned a lot about each other and became closer as a family through their race experience, and all the money in the world wont buy you that. Good job, Paolos! You, too, have a fan here in Washington, D.C.!

Four teams remain, which means more excitement yet to come! Sarah introduces a clip of next weeks episode (there isnt one this week) and we see Christine Godlewski take a tumble and Nick Linz make a giant splash. Looks like another good episode! Stay tuned to see who is Philiminated next Tuesday. Ill be back to recap the next Finish Line for you, and I hope youll join me!

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Re: TAR Live!
« Reply #12 on: Nov 30^th, 2005, 1:16pm »

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The Amazing Race 8: The Finish Line, Episode 8
by Brian Towers -- 11/28/2005

Another non-elimination leg means no team to interview on The Finish Line! Luckily, CBS.com is willing to make up for it with special guest star Oswald Mendez, one half of "Team Cha-Cha-Cha" from Amazing Race 2.

Welcome to my guest-recap of The Finish Line, CBSs Internet talk show about The Amazing Race. The show is hosted by Jon Weiss, of The Amazing Race 4 and New York magazines Sarah Bernard. Usually they have the most recently Philiminated team as guests

While watching the show, I started to get very excited as the dreaded and dreadful Weaver family was falling farther and farther behind. When the Godlewski family got to the Yield before them, I actually giggled aloud the Weavers much-anticipated elimination was at hand. And then poof, no Philimination this week!

Even worse than missing out of the Weavers getting theirs was the prospect of recapping a chat show with no guests! However, they seem to have prepared for that possibility by lining up interesting players from other seasons to fill in. This weeks substitute guest is Oswald Mendez, the taller member of Oswald & Danny from season two. You may remember that they finished fourth and came across as the calmest players ever to appear on the show.

Oswald says that people were nice to them, giving them rides and upgrades, because the team treated people with the proper respect. Sarah says, That sounds so easy, and Oswald replies, It IS easy! Well, yes, but he never had to face the unspeakable horror that is Utah, did he?

Jon says the racers tend to rush up to people, they are all tense and sometimes they dont make sense. But Danny and Oswald were relaxed and seemed to enjoy the cultural differences they encountered. Oswald says he and Danny travel a lot so they tried to look at it as just another trip. But, theres a camera around, so dont do anything your family will be ashamed of. Just enjoy the ride. He was actually considering a round-the-world trip himself at the time of the show.

The boys were not planning to apply for the show. They stumbled across a casting office after going to a movie and were talked into applying. They didnt take it very seriously, and when he got a callback a week later, Oswald wasnt sure what it was about! But they flew to L.A. and got selected. Jon says that because they were so natural probably was one of the big reasons they were picked. Jeepers, thousands of people literally stand on their heads to get on the show, and these guys fall into it!

Sarah directs conversation to last nights episode. They run clips of the Linz family predicting their first-place finish, and then actually doing it. Sara notes that many are predicting the Linzes will win, and Jon adds that they are strong, positive, and work well as a team.

Sarah says she doubts she could run the race, but would like to wear a tiara and stand beside Phil and say, Welcome to Miami! Ha!

She asks Oswald to comment on the four-person version of the game. He likes the kids on the teams, and the way their parents instill the feeling of adventure in them. Sarah notes that for many east-coasters, seeing Utah and the Grand Canyon would seem as foreign as Hong Kong to them. Jon hopes the show will encourage people to visit some of these places.

Sarah takes this opportunity to disagree with the Weavers she says that Utah is NOT ugly. Myself, I LOVED that scenery and actually had to force myself to watch the people at times. Jon calls the Weavers very negative towards places and the other teams. He adds, What you put out, you get back.

Keith from Kentucky is the first caller today. He wonders if they were surprised by the Weavers non-reaction to not being eliminated. Jon says yes. He and Al were fortunate enough to have been saved like that once, and they found focus from it and were determined to get serious and have some success. Oswald also had the experience they were resigned to going to Sequesterville in New Zealand and he wasnt sure how he felt about being saved, either. He says they had already checked out, mentally.

The next caller is Jeremy from Chicago, who noted that last night it was obvious that there were two teams who disliked the Weavers, and the Bransens trying to stay out of it. He asks, what would you have done? Oswald says he and Danny tried to make different choices from the other teams to stay separate from the people who were actually creating the havoc as much as possible. He didnt create any alliances or even expect the others to remain friends after the race. He adds that he still keeps in touch with some of them, but does not name names.

Sarah notes that with only four teams left, the animosity is evident now. Jon and Oswald both agree that people get uglier as the race nears the end.

The next topic is again the Weaver family. Sarah notes that many of the snippy comments are made out of earshot of the others and wonders why they have generated so much bad feeling from the other teams. Jon notes they alienate themselves by staying separate when the teams come together. He also talks about the comments they made at the second racetrack, but Sarah points out that the offended team didnt actually hear those comments. Frustratingly, the discussion goes no farther too bad, because I think it needs to be explored in much more depth.

Mark from Washington State says Go Weavers and wonders if the other teams are irritated because the Weavers seem to be having such a great time. Huh? What show is he watching? He also likes it that Phil encouraged them so strongly in the last episode. Oswald comments that Phil has always been that animated, but it was never shown in the earliest seasons.

Jon thinks it may be possible that for the other teams, stress might be a factor in the Weaver hate. Sarah isnt sure that some of what they do is an act, like singing when they hit the mat. Sarah adds that if its strategy to be irritating the other teams, then, maybe its good game play. Yes, all those spiteful garbage truck and boob-job comments made only among themselves, those are real strong strategy moves

Both hosts admire that the Weavers are still in the game, though Jon reminds us of some bad direction decisions last night. Well, you cant get voted out in this show. Oswald relates that he was very surprised to hear harsh comments from other teams he thought they were friendly with.

Sarah runs the Everybody Hates the Weavers compilation from last night. Sarah noticed the new nose and boobs comment and wonders, are the Linz boys are going to get some work done? She wonders. Why do they say things like that? Jon isnt sure but thinks such comments are unnecessary and They may be a very nice family, but what you see on TV it doesnt seem very nice at times.

Oswald reminds us were seeing an edited version of what happened. Sarah is anxiously waiting to talk to the Weavers, to see if they think they were being unfairly edited. Oswald says no one should ever claim they were edited badly, because those words did come out of their mouths. I totally agree. This is Family Edition, no one is going to use fakery and tricks to make a family look like Satan-spawn.

Back to the phones. Jan from Long Island asks how it would be if Jon if he could run the race with his two sisters and brother. He laughs and says, Extremely difficult. Ahh, Jan is Jons sister!

Oswald thinks he could run the race with his siblings, because hes the older brother and would be giving all the orders! Seriously, he says it goes back to the chemistry if your family can get along, running the race would be fine. My opinion, weve seen the Gaghan family show us you can function just fine as a unit of four. Four adults would be harder, but the Linz family is doing pretty nicely. Oswald thinks if he ran the race with his parents, hed kill them. Sarah accuses him jokingly of being a Paolo. Oswald adds, Im not a Menendez brother, Im a Mendez brother!

Sarah wants to talk about dad Bransen, she thinks the girls are going to give Wally a heart attack if they keep him performing extreme feats like bungee jumping. Jon says dad Bransen needs to be less wishy-washy when it comes to making decisions.

Michael from Virginia is a young lad of 14. Sarah calls him a girl by mistake, and feels bad about it. He notes that in season one, Team Guido was made out to be the villain. Whos the villain this year? OK, hes a kid, I say give him a break. Jon says, Without question, the Weavers.

Oswald says the Guidos were much worse, and Jon agrees. I say, lets wait and see the whole act before passing final comment. Sarah asks what Michael thinks. He thinks it was the Paolo family who were the villains, and it just switched to the Weavers after the Paolos were eliminated. Sarah calls that an interesting take on it. She didnt see the Paolos as villains, and notes they got along well with the other teams. Jon liked the Paolos as well and talks of how they came together at the end. No, D.J. had some bad moments but they were not villains.

Maria from Canada wants to talk about the Weavers as well. She disagrees with the earlier Go Weavers caller, saying she doesnt think they even want to be in the game. She recalls for us when they thought they were prisoners on a bus in the south, and last night when they all but quit. She thinks theyre dragging the season down. Sarah asks Maria if she thinks that is their strategy. Maria says, maybe.

I still say no, thats who they are the throwing of garbage out the window at the Pink Ladies, thats not strategy, thats just no class. Oswald thinks theyve lost their competitive edge, and are setting themselves up to fail. Jon doesnt understand why they stop to eat so often. Well, theyre teenage kids, Jon, thats just what they do.

The next caller is Monica, who is a friend of Oswald. She recalls when Oswald and Danny went shopping in Hong Kong, it was so relaxing for them. Oswald passes on the life lesson, It pays to pamper yourself, kids. Sarah observes that although many would benefit from slowing down, Jon never slows down. He disagrees, though, saying that you have to slow down when you read the clues to make sure you understand what youre doing. He feels too many teams start going before they really understand what they should be doing.

Sarah steers conversation to the camper trailers that the teams drove this week. Clips are run to show that manipulating them is not easy, but at least its fun to watch, especially when Christine Godlewski is directing activities. Jon noted that the Linzes were smart enough to always position themselves pointed ready to head out. Oswald admits he doesnt understand all these driving issues.

The previews for next week are run. We see a collision of two balloons containing the Bransons and the Linzes, and the Weavers snarkily confront the Linzes about the Yield.

The hosts thank Oswald for coming on the show, and we are done!

Stay tuned to see who is Philiminated next Tuesday. Sandy will be back to bring you all the details of the next episode of Finish Line for you. In the meantime, let me know what you think at the eAddress below.

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