» Spoilers: Season 12 and earlier Options

[Miss Alli]

I am pinning this final warning to ensure that it can't possibly be missed.

If you can be shown to read this thread (that is, you post in it) and you are found going elsewhere on the boards and using spoiler information which you are trying to pass off as speculation, that is a warnable/bannable offense.

Seriously, it's really unfair to other posters, and it's also really lame, because it comes off like you're cheating and trying to make yourself look like you're just a very good guesser.

Please, please stop this. I have had more problems with this during this season than during any other, and I'm determined to get it stomped down as we get closer to the end. I don't want the show ruined for other people. Please don't continue to engage in this, if you're engaging in it now. Thanks very much to the great majority of you who are careful about this.

[Goldwood]

Kuwait? Awesome. Apparently there are still places TAR can go.

I'm a bit disappointed at how blurry those pictures are...but it looks like we have an all female team that makes it pretty far. Both look hot too...yay.

[Goldwood]

Shoot...double post, sorry.

This post has been edited by Goldwood: Jun 12, 2006 @ 9:28 am.

[mtlchickie]

A bit blurry, but hey, it's solid evidence and I can make out some faces so I'm satisfied.

When Bert was telling people at Tarcon that we would love next season, I don't think he's kidding. Americans in Kuwait? Let's gear up the Emmy campaign for 2007!

Also, someone posted at Tarflies saying that the start line was in Seattle.

This post has been edited by mtlchickie: Jun 12, 2006 @ 9:47 am.

[parks]

there's likely 7 teams left, meaning it's about leg 6 of the race.

That's likely the case, however, it could be that a few of the teams have already departed. It seems they are on thier way to the Kuwait Towers from the airport and it's possible some have already left.

However, considering how far they are from the US, it does make sense that they'd be down to about 7 teams. I guess it depends on when the race started - anyone know?

Taking a swag at the start date: If you figure roughly 1 1/2 days per leg, and 7 of 11 teams remain, then they'd be on about day 6/ leg 5. The pictures were posted around the 9th, so something like a June 3rd start date would seem to make sense.

[Goldwood]

I guess it depends on when the race started - anyone know?

I believe it was reported that teams might have started in Seattle on May 30th. Which still makes logical sense.

[Rube Goldberg]

When I was tracking my audition package on UPS a couple weeks ago, my tracking number wasn't working yet and I tried out some of the other tracking features. When I entered "Amazing Race" in the reference number field, two packages came up: One headed to Prague, the other to Istanbul (no, neither one of those were mine so no conniption fit on my part).

Anyway, perhaps potential pitstops? Prague would be cool, though Istanbul would be kinda surprising since they were there for TAR7.

[Masem]

Also, someone posted at Tarflies saying that the start line was in Seattle.

If the race started on May 30 (Tuesday after Memorial day), I'm curious where they would have kicked them off from in the area. It was at least decent weather, but mid-mornings (what seems to be usual start times) would have still been bogged down by traffic with everyone returning to work. Also surprising the lack of any other sightings (I don't deny the Tarfiles rumor, but I'm sure there's enough people that would recognize TAR racers in a heartbeat).
There was a folk-art festival in the Seattle Center area (where the Space Needle is) during the long weekend, but I don't know if it continued to Tuesday; that would have been ideal since it's not a big attraction in the early morning hours, and then it's 10 miles from downtown to the airport in the reverse commute direction.

A quick search of local papers don't reveal anything about any special events. I'm sure if someone had more time they can find where WRP has asked for filming rights.

[jennblevins]

As far as I know, Folklife was over on the 29th. It would have made an excellect excuse to block off part of the center grounds, though, under the pretext of cleaning up and/or doing grounds repair.

I think it's important to keep in mind, however, that flying out of Sea-Tac wouldn't necessarily mean the start line was in Seattle; there really are no other options for flying out of around here. So it's entirely possible that the start line was at, I don't know, Snoqualmie Falls or something. Now that I think about it, that would be an excellect location. You could do all the filming at the lower level, get the good visuals, and since there's only the one road/one trail in and out, if you blocked off those at the head, no-one could get too nearby. Just speculation though.

This post has been edited by jennblevins: Jun 13, 2006 @ 10:22 am.

[Masem]

That is true. There's more in the area. I first thought of a start point at Paradise on Mt Rainier would be a great view (it's a lodging area about 5000 ft up the mountain for those not from around here), but then having them race down the mountain path would be STUPID as all get out - that's at least one accident waiting to happen.

A Friday Harbor shot, where the whale pods in this area generally are around this time of year, would be a great way to introduce the race (Imagine Phil on a boat, having to go over and over his lines such that they can get it synch'd right to have "Who will win...[whale jumps up from water]...the Amazing Race?") - but then you're talking a ferry bunch to the mainland and then a decent drive back down before the airport

Point Defiance in Tacoma which overlooks the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (which is the modern version of that bridge way back that vibrated itself to death), has some stunning scenary, but the fastest way to Seatac from there includes Rt 16 which has a lot of construction on it presently.

Given that the initial drive (sans TAR1) has been less than an hour such that they aren't waiting too long at the airport for flights, I'm suspecting it's got to be something south of Everett, north of Southgate/Tukwilla, and likely avoiding anything near Belleview. It had to be out of the way to not attract attention (again, the lack of blogging suggests this), and close to the freeway system as is usually the case. Maybe they start at Gasworks Park again? Maybe somewhere off Mercer Island overlooking Lake Washington? Off one of the peirs on the waterfront? Just suggestions, can't wait to see what they use.

Hmm, May 30, and if they do end up back here like TAR6 and 9, that would have people looking for them hitting Seatac likely on July 1st or 2nd (weekends), with a typical race length - just avoiding the major rush of holiday travel traffic. Even if they don't come back to Seattle, the May 30 start date gives us TARspotters an idea when to start looking for their return stateside.

[drsmartassphd]

I hope I don't get in trouble for posting this, but these people in Mongolia acted as Ferns for a team from Alabama:
Mongolia

Username and password are both "mongolia".

Please don't tell them I sent you!!!!

[blackstone]

Let's see if I'm following this correctly.

So the race started in Seattle (first flight out from Seattle airport) on May 30th (or so based on the Tarflies/pilot sighting) and then they are in Mongolia on May 31st, having driven from Bejing to the Chinese-Mongolian border and then a train to the Mongolian city where this fern begins his report. Is that possible--travel wise? Or did they leave Seattle on the 29th? There is a change in the date going west, right?

Then on June 2nd, an Asian couple is spotted on an Air New Zealand flight from Queenstown to Auckland, en route to Singapore, and also spotted elsewhere in NZ.

Then TAR is spotted in Kuwait on June 9th at 8:15AM (7 teams and definitley leg 6 according to other spoilers). If these spoilers are correct, then we definitely have our first west-east route, and they're doing some heavy duty flying (but then so did TAR 9 in the beginning).



(edited to add the NZ spoiler & correct spelling)

This post has been edited by blackstone: Jun 14, 2006 @ 10:54 am.

[Masem]

Well, according to Wikipedia, you lose time going east to west but add in a day when crossing the International Date Line. If the first flight is Seattle to Bejing, which is a net ~13hr positive time different, and the flight's about 18hrs depending on stopovers, etc, there a 6am flight of Seattle on the 30th would arrive about 12 midnight right at the start of the 31st Seattle time, or about 1pm on the 31st that day Beijing time. There's enough time left to get them on a train and into Mongolia for the tasks. (I'm basing that plane flight time on what I've heard people say, but since it's the first leg, I'm sure TWTP can smooze to get much faster flights).

So this is strong confirmation that we have three (four on the NZ spoiler, do we have a link for that?) points now and that the race is going west-to-east. But that also means that if a standard 11 team start, we have 3 more countries/leg to hit somewhere between Mongolia and Kuwait. I've a good feeling India will be making an appearance this time around.

Also have confirmation on one team, Lynn and Karlyn, African-american women from Alabama. A first blush shows they survive until Kuwait, given this shot and this shot from the Kuwait's flickr photos. The woman with the pink shirt and visor in the first frame, also looking at camera in second shot, shares the exact same packback type with the woman in a grey with her back to us in the second shot. That's usually a sign of team partners beyond the common color theme, and since TWOP rarely uses the same partner meme in casting, this is probably Lynn and Karlyn mentioned by the Mongolian blogger.

[Rabrab]

Masem:there a 6am flight of Seattle on the 30th would arrive about 12 midnight right at the start of the 31st Seattle time, or about 1pm on the 31st that day Beijing time. There's enough time left to get them on a train and into Mongolia for the tasks.

But according to the Mongolia blog, they were in Ulaan Baator just after lunch on the 31st. If they landed in Beijing at 1 pm on the 31st, they've still got close to 900 miles to travel by car and train to get to Ulaan Baator.
That's at 15 hours of travel at a steady average speed of 60mph, and has no allowance for time spent going through customs, (and they'll have to do Customs twice--entering China and entering Mongolia,) waiting for a connection, or even taking a potty stop while driving.

The only way that I can make it work is if they left Seattle on the 29th, not the 30th.

This post has been edited by Rabrab: Jun 14, 2006 @ 12:39 pm.

[parks]

How specific / reliable was the start date spoiler? I agree with Rabrab that given the Mongolia spoiler, it's not logistically possible they left on the 30th - maybe not even the 29th.

[Rabrab]

It started out as "earlier this week", (posted on the 3th of June, I believe.) In a subsequent post he said, "My pilot buddy who saw the teams at SeaTac said he was in the South Satellite. He said there was an Aeroflot flight out of there around the same time as the NWA Int'l flights on either May 30 or 31."

But, that was in answer to a question about how many flights would be avialable for a west-to-east departure, not a request for a firmer date, and the assumption that it was the 30th or 31st had already been made.

Anyway, here's the math:

The shortest flight duration I could find was 13.5 hours, landing the next calendar day.

The distance from Beijing to the nearest point on the Mongolian border, the dual cities of Erenhot, China/Borhoyn Tal, Mongolia, is about 500 miles straight line. That's going to be 10 hours or more of driving, since the roads probably aren't a straight line, nor are they likely to be of Interstate Highway quality.

From Borhoyn Tal, Mongolia to Ulaan Baator is somewhere between 350 and 400 miles -- that's a train, according to the blog. Again, it's unlikely to be a super-express, so I think it's reasonable to use 6 to 8 hours for the train.

So, using the shortest reasonable times, I get is 29.5 hour just of transit time. Add in the Dateline bump, about five hours spent on various stops, check-ins, and connections; and a departure early in the morning of the 29th, could see the teams arriving in Ulaan Baator in the early afternoon of the 31st. If they don't have any problems.