Please corral your discussion of the CBS Insider videos here. Thanks.

And just who are you calling a ho, Miss Alli? (Just kidding!!)

I moved this post from the Colin & Christie thread.

Okay, I just don't get why Colin is so devoted to Brandon and Nicole. If they in fact committed this alleged taxi theft in the first leg, Colin sure seems to have forgotten all about it. Not content to pluck Brandon and Nicole from the back of the second bus line to give them those precious tickets, he then puts his team at risk of missing the bus in order to help Brandon and Nicole!

In a fascinating Insider video, three of the four teams make it back to the bus station just as the second bus is about to leave, but Brandon and Nicole aren't there yet. According to the editing, they've hung back at the travel agency, apparently dissatisfied with the fact that they didn't get as good a flight as Colin and Christie did.

And meanwhile what is Colin doing? I'm glad you asked. He's busy telling Chip & Kim and Marshall & Lance to keep the bus from departing while he goes out to the public parking lot to wait for Brandon and Nicole to arrive. Sure enough, we see him a little later as he helps them retrieve and carry their bags from their SUV before guiding them to the correct bus just as it's beginning to pull out.

I wouldn't be surprised to find out the editors pumped things up a bit, but if this clip is to be taken at face value, Colin and Christie were at risk of missing the bus themselves if they hadn't gotten back when they did. And it's even more likely Brandon and Nicole would have missed it if Colin hadn't been there to show them exactly where to go.

Colin's behavior struck me as especially absurd because I'm willing to bet Brandon would have been busy napping on the bus if the two teams' situations had been reversed.

Since this is a raaace! and not the Amazing Montessori School, I suppose this makes Colin a lesser racer than Brandon would have been in his shoes. But I can't help it if this is the type of incident that makes me love Colin even more. I just wish he'd stop wasting his energy helping someone who only vaguely realizes Colin even exists.

Moving my response to Ambi's post from the Colin & Christie so I can expand on my defense of Brandon.




I think that's a bit of a stretch as an assumption, considering all teams were rushing out of the travel agency knowing they were cutting it close. Brandon and Nicole could have just been last in line for getting the tickets and the paperwork together. They've run a smart enough race so far that I don't think they would take that risk.



I don't believe that. Not that Brandon would have done it out of the kindness of his heart (of course, neither did Colin), but Colin and Brandon have both shown that they understand some of the nuances of the race, including not instigating trouble with other teams or getting a reputation as untrustworthy, especially this early in the race. I don't doubt that, barring any stated agreements otherwise, the result would have been different if this was Leg 11 instead of Leg 4, regardless of who got to the bus first.

While the Insider videos are great, they still don't show us everything, like why Brandon and Nicole were the last to get their tickets or whether any agreements were made between the teams to hold the bus for each other.

Right. That is why I used qualifiers like "according to the editing" and "if this clip is to be taken at face value." Just like with the show itself.


From what the editors have chosen to show me and from I've heard from other teams about Brandon and Nicole, I don't believe that the presence or absence of an agreement makes any difference to them.

Sorry, Ambi, I didn't mean to imply anything by that comment. I know that's just you're interpretation of what's shown.

But taken at face value, the reason Brandon and Nicole are last out the ticket agent's office is because they were last out the ticket agent's office, not because they were trying to get a better seat.



I haven't seen anything, on the show or in the Insider videos, of them breaking any stated agreements thus far. I also haven't heard any negative comments about them, on the show or in the Insider videos, from any other racers (besides Mirna's "we're lost because we trusted somebody" BS and really, c'mon).

Sure. But I find myself wondering not just why they were last out of the agent's office, but specifically why they took so much longer to get their tickets compared to two other teams who had the same tickets.

The one rule general rule of thumb TAR editors seem to follow is that they show us events in separate locations in the order in which those events occurred in time even if we can't tell exactly how much time separated those events. With that in mind, I noticed the clip showed us all three teams already at the bus station before we cut back to Brandon and Nicole still sitting in the travel office. Furthermore, when Colin asks the brothers to "try to stall" the bus, Marshall shouts back, "I don't think they're coming anytime soon." This seems to imply Marshall was aware that Brandon and Nicole would be significantly behind them.

So I do think there's a bit a mystery as to why Brandon and Nicole are so much further behind. I guess the assumption I am making is that this was partly Brandon's choice because of the shot of Nicole calmly saying "I don't know what's gonna happen if we miss the bus." I took that comment to be directed to Brandon as a kind of reproach for their delay, and not as a request to the travel agents to work faster.

But I can also see how the whole thing could be interpreted differently. I'm just not inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt.

As for Brandon and Nicole's track record in honoring agreements, that's been hashed out elsewhere, so I'll refrain from any additional comments.

If Chip's really a "Foo-foo" drink kind of guy, that would explain his look of joy at the vodka challenge.

Since Phil said in his diary that CBS shelled out for some top-shelf vodka, it was probably rather tasteless. Chip was likely expecting some cheap, nasty tasting vodka, and got something much better.

Good 'ol Chip.

[shallow]Phil looks extremely hot in his "Phil's Diary" video[/shallow]

Of course Phil looks hot. He's had the same sunset hitting his face for four weeks now!

Watching Bob & Joyce on the insider videos makes me wish they'd shown more of them during the episodes. I know they edit the show for arcs and they do a brilliant job of it, but B&J were a nice tonic to so much of the feuding, etc., that I wish I'd seen more of them while they were around.

LOL Sneak, yeah, I was wondering why they shot Phil's diaries all at once... would have been more interesting if they'd done it location to location, but then again, Phil and the production crew don;t have much time to spare to shoot these extra segments ...

Plus Phil is commenting on what actually went on the air, so it would make sense that it would be done after the Race is over and he's back home since the Amazing Editors probably didn't complete their work until well after everyone was home again.

Looking at the almost-missing-the-bus clip, when Colin goes to Brandon and Nicole's car to get them, he pulls two two big bags out of the back. Brandon, at the same time, has a big bag himself. Whose extra bag was that?

Really good point, Mama Tiger. It makes perfect sense to me now. I was really wondering where that beach was and why he was there twice. (The first time, I just assumed it was in Argentina or something.)

I LOVE the Insider clips. Although there seems to be an imbalance of Bob/Joyce and Brandon/Nicole clips, don't you think? Luckily, I don't mind seeing either of these teams. (Plus, I doubt we'll be seeing any more Bob/Joyce clips. Unless there are really big surprises this season....)

Phil is on the beach at Santa Monica. I recognized it instantly. (From the trash barrels, if you want to know; I used to go there all the time when I lived in Lalaland.) So I figured out it was post-production interviews just from that, without seeing more than the first one.

Image of Bob and Joyce returning as a so called Ghost Team, Bob with a "DIE JERKS! purple bandana on his head

Thank goodness TAR is so NOT Survivor.

That's a reasonable thing to be dissatisfied about, although I assume they also went along with the group reasoning that Colin and Christie deserved the early flight because of their assistance in scoring the express bus tickets.

If hanging back at the travel agency had any impact on the fact that they did indeed eventually get a better flight through that travel agent, then they helped themselves. Name of the game.



I would have had no problem if Colin had quietly boarded the bus and left Brandon and Nicole to fend for themselves in boarding on time. That's also perfectly acceptable race behavior to me.

One thing I'm fairly certain of is there was no way in hell Colin was going to let it get to a point where he could actually miss the bus because he was out there waiting for another team. So maybe it was just more of his "butter them up" strategy, where he is looking for ways to help other teams early on so if he needs help from them later, he's more likely to get it. He wasn't risking much, since he knew his early flight should put him ahead of the teams bunched on that bus once they arrived in Buenos Aires.

I don't hold it against teams who play selfishly and put their team's individual needs ahead of their alliances. That can backfire on you, but in general you have a great chance of controlling the outcome in this game by minimizing your own mistakes and focusing on doing your own thing. Alliances tend to have real drawbacks as a race strategy.

I think playing unselfishly and wanting to go out of your way to prove to the other teams that you are most interested in "playing fair" is all well and good, but equally risky if you let it get in the way of helping yourself first. Dennis would probably attest to that.

In the insider Phil diary section, it looks as if he is growing a mustache. What would you do for a million dollars, indeed. Loved his snark on the pizza brothers.

There seem to be two different types of Insider clips. One type has music added, and seems to be an edited segment that they chose not to use in the episode later in the process. The other type is basically unedited footage, usually of one team or one person, with no background music. This type was probably discarded as not for the show earlier in the process than the first type.

Personally, I like watching both types, although I think the second type gives us a more accurate impression of an event.

I've just finished watching a few of the insider clips of Mirna & Charla, and near the end of an earlier clip where they're trying to catch a taxi (and Mirna is complaining that "this country" doesn't have any taxis) Charla offers Mirna a full bottle of water. Mirna complains that she can't drink because she has cow's blood in her mouth as she cracks open the bottle (it sound to me like it's still sealed) and takes a huge swig. She abruptly spits it out and to me it sounds as though she says something like "Mirna, there's gas in this!" If that's what she actually says, what the hell is that about? Is she saying that a new bottle of water is contaminated with gas? I know that it's ultimately unimportant, it just struck me as odd somehow.

Also, I've finally seen the Joyce/Bob and Charla/Mirna bag-touching non-incident and I'm heartily disturbed to know that the snide mimicking of "dis-GUST-ing" from Lance (or Shmance) was exactly what was going on in my head. I hate it when I'm in synch with people I hate.

It's been discussed in the Charla/Mirna thread that it is carbonated water, and not still.

Christ, of course; I should have realized. I'm sure that carbonated cow's blood is way worse than flat cow's bloods. Thanks, fimo, I didn't want to bring insider stuff into the racer threads.

Moved this over from the Bob and Joyce thread:

Have I said already how much I love these two? The Insider videos might just have cemented the love, between Joyce struggling not to lose it when Bob misplaces the money and Bob's taxi-flagging skills(His hand does not come down! Not once!)

And his attempt at Russian. At least that's one team that does not expect everyone in this world to "Speak English!"

From the Charla and Mirna thread:

Their 'Bargain Hunters' Insider video was somewhat ChaCha-esque but as Zron said:

See, and this made me cringe and was the thing that tempered my Bob/Joyce love. She just kept talking and talking and talking while he was looking. Shut! Shut! Shut!

I'm sure it's just a personal thing, but when I'm struggling with something like that (if I were Bob), I hate when someone is trying to tell me what to do or to "encourage" me. I know I screwed up. I know what I have to do. Shut up and let me do it! I can't think with somebody babbling at me.

OTOH, the taxi hailing thing was comedy gold! And it was cute how they tried to speak Russian to the taxi driver.

Yeah, as much as I enjoyed the relationship between Bob & Joyce, she does come off as very frazzled in this clip, and other times too.

But Joyce is really adorable when she's frazzled. The clip where she & Bob wrestle with the twins' hi-beams CRACKED ME UP. Love her. It was great to see Bob wrestling with "Meenya zavoot Bob." I wonder if they would've attempted counting in Russian while looking for walkie-talkies in Tunisia.

Yeah. I think I need a time-out.

Regarding Phil's diaries, you can tell that they were done after the race. In the one from this week he seemed positively loopy to me - like he was trying to remember any extra tidbits he could add and failing miserably. And forgetting things as well - he had to ask off camera if it was vodka they gave the racers.

He's still adorable though.

ETA: I knew it had to be shot somewhere around lalaland. Anywhere else and you'd have people coming up and snooping around the camera, like they do when the local news crews go do stories in a crowd.

I agree that he's talking from "crib notes"--finished video he's seen. Phil is always racing to stay ahead of the teams so I doubt he witnessed some (or any) of the stuff he's talking about. As for the location, all he has to do is walk out the back gate of his office/condo complex and he's standing on SM beach. The shirt and the 5 o'clock shadow are the same in each video so the whole set may have been shot in one or two evenings.

I think, on his part, Bob didn't help the situation. At one point, I think Joyce said something like, "Alright, you look for it. I'm not going to say anything else." And then Bob comes back with something like, "You agreed that I should be the one to keep the money." which just sent her off again. I think she did good with the, "Check your pockets." and stuff, because... Well, it did turn out to be in his coat pocket. Only at the end, when things were fine did she finally really let go and started chiding him about keeping the money where she told him too and that she didn't need to be anymore stressed than she already was. I think she really was doing her best in that stressful situation not to make it any worse by losing it.

I thought it was cute. They might not be Dave and Margaretta sweet, but definitely much better than Teri and Ian in terms of being nice to each other and way better than some of the young dating couples. Can you imagine Alison and Donny in that situation?

I'd really rather not. I'd like to sleep without nightmares tonight.

I guess I have 'sinned' since I cheated on my dial-up connection and paid $10 to use the internet cafe's broadband ho for 2 hours, just to see these insider clips <g>.

Ok, back to topic. Does anyone know who was the narrator of the team presentations in the Extras section of Insider videos? He sounded like he just had some dental reconstruction and was still wasn't used to the new shape of his mouth so he talked funny.

I just got a chance to see the Insider videos (I had to paste the link into the Real Player AND disable my Norton security) so I'm a little late to the game, but...

if I hadn't already hated Charla and Mirna, I would now.

My favorite part of the "Dis-GUS-ting" episode was when Mirna was talking to the camera, and the camera panned down to capture Mirna's bag, and Mirna sort of bent over to try to keep the camera on her. Ha! She's ridiculous.



This was just one more clip where I was convinced that Charla and Mirna were mugging for the camera. I got the impression that they had seen that episode with ChaChaCha and consciously decided to be "fun" like that. HATE.

Would that be riDIculous? Or if in a Spanish-speaking country, "ridiculous-ay?" Or in Ru-si-ya, "reedeecoolousss?" Either way, yes, yes she is.

Phil does seem out of it in these clips. And they're much too long. I actually got a little bored.

Yes, the Insider videos endeared Bob and Joyce to me in a way that the episodes didn't.

My theory as to why they didn't show this stuff in the episodes is that they knew these guys were due for an early exit and they wanted us to care when they got eliminated so they edited them to look sweet. But in my case, it backfired because I was kind of meh about them and therefore their elimination.

They seemed so bland on the show and I'd rather see Grumpy Bob and Frazzled Joyce occasionally because then they were showing personality and seem like real people. Bob, in particular, was very amusing and cute trying to speak Russian, hailing the taxi and getting upset (but not mean) about things like the headlights and not being able to find the money. So I'm glad we did get to see those things even if it was just in the Insider clips.

That was just too funny! (And cute!) How did Joyce keep from falling over with laughter?

I love the insider videos. It's the first thing I watch when I get to work wednesday mornings.

Watching the videos made me hate the pizza brothers a little less and increased my hate for mirna. I didnt think that was possible but the videos did it!

I thought this week's insider video of the Twinkies getting lost on the ship was both funny and revealing, especially since it was one of the segments that didn't get music or special editing. Finding the clue on the ship seemed simple the way it was edited on the show, but apparently that team's flag blindness made it a lot more difficult.

In the video, one of them asks the other one, multiple times, what the flag was about, so they did see the flag. But box wasn't right by the flag, so its not like they completely missed the box (again). I think this time, they saw the flag, but not the box and didn't stop to think that the box should be somewhere close to it. This is more a case of their GO-GO-GO attitude and the pressure of being one of the last three teams getting to them.

I also seem to remember, from the show, that the moms weren't too far behind them, and ended up leaving at about the same time, so they must have been looking almost a long as the twins. Since teams were looking for a particular gun on the battleship, and battle ships have lots of guns (some of which could have been fired from below deck, inside the ship where the twins were looking), I think a lot of teams probably took a while to find the exact one.

It was dark too, by the time the Twins arrived, so that probably added to their general cluebox ineptitude.

For those who are worried that Christie is a shrinking violet and is bossed around too much by Colin? Watch this week's insider videos. Oh my. They both can dish it out pretty well.

And the twins? Out f-bombed Amanda!

The twin's argument is priceless!

The one twin telling the other twin not to fucking swear when they were both doing it was priceless. I liked how one of them got pissed enough to threaten to quit since it was the other who wanted to do the fucking show and she didn't. Whatever, Twinkies. Oh, and love how they thought that the missing piece in the puzzle was just to make it look authentically ancient. Bwah! At least they acknowledged that Chip saved their asses and frustrated hours of wandering around looking for fucking yellow stones when he helped them. Clueless twin on learning where the route marker was: "Why didn't they tell us that? Because we had to figure it out?" Doh!

The "Colin and Christie bickering at the Hermitage" clip was painful to watch, and tedious. I actually liked that she stood up for herself because he doesn't seem capable of just listening to her. He comes across as dismissive, and I hate the passive-aggressive way he said, "okay, if you know where it is, I'll just follow you." You know he was thinking, "if you're wrong and get us lost, it'll be your fault, bitch." And he would have felt justifiably superior to her.

The expanded clip of Brandon saying that he was afraid of dark and narrow crevices and holes--still funny! And love that CBS titled that clip "Brandon on getting the shaft." Hee.

Watching Christie in the Hermitage dealing with Colin's asininity makes me want to sweep her up onto my white horse and take her away.

Uh oh, here comes mrsmello!

I loved Chip's theory on why Marshall's knees were hurting. I was glad that Christie was right about there being another map, because the way Colin said, "You guarantee it?" made me mutter, "uh-oh," to myself. She was in for a long smugfest if she was incorrect.
As for the technical watching of the videos, my insider window will only show episode four's videos, even if I click a different episode on the dropdown category menu. I'm only getting to the newest ones through the links in the episode guide. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

ETA: Thanks Grizelda! I am using Mozilla, so that must be the problem.

The pizza boys describing what the lady was writing was pretty dang funny.

But the twins fight was great. I never heard so man F bombs droping. I thought I needed to hide under something so I would get hit.

The same thing happened for me this morning. I think the webmaster is just getting out of bed.

JilliBean, I got the same thing when I tried watching in Mozilla Firefox (it was even worse in Opera); I had to switch over to IE to be able to look at anything other than the current week's videos. Very annoying.

I'm enjoying the low-key sarcasm of the blurb writer for the videos. My favorite is this one for one of Brandon and Nicole's clips: "Dating Christians Brandon & Nicole give the secret to their success so far: just staying calm. Oh, and playing fair and square." That ". Oh," makes all the difference.