Amazing Race 13
Episode Eleven:
VDNKh Park, Moscow, Russia,
Pittock Mansion, Portland, Oregon
Writing a summary of the final leg of the Amazing Race is always hard; the winners are already known, even if the producers stretched it out as long as they could to build the suspense. Although I find myself saying I really don’t care who wins, as the winner must by default be the best team—I must actually care, otherwise why am I so anxious as I see the first glimpse of a cab arriving at the final venue and the still unknown team running for the finish mat.
So I may drift a little on this summary to figure out how they got to 23 days (approximately four to five days longer than my guestimate), and I think a brief look at luck and skill may be interesting.
As with most final legs, Phil doesn’t just start with a summary of the Amazing Race to the penultimate Pit Stop, but rather reminds us that 11 teams left Los Angeles in a race of nearly 40,000 miles across five continents, and they treat us to scenes of most of the teams on the race and a representative view of Detours and Roadblocks in most of the countries they visited. Of course there is also a review of the eliminated teams in the order of elimination, and it is no longer a question of who will be eliminated next; but rather, who will be the first to arrive at the final Pit Stop.
We are told that the teams are starting from the final Pit Stop at the VDNKh park after a mandatory rest period. I noticed with this edition of the Race that Phil started to use this expression more and more, rather than saying the stop was the usual 12 hours. Which raises the question, for logistical purposes were one or two of these mandatory stops actually 36 rather than 12 hours.
In any event, Nick and Starr are the first team to depart the Moscow Pit Stop, leaving at 10:56 PM. The Frat Boys are the second team to depart, leaving the pit stop at 2:28 AM. And Ken and Tina are the final team to depart: at 3:30 AM. So there was actually quite a gap between the teams (4:34), however the wait for a flight from Moscow is likely going to serve as a Time Out, with all three teams catching the same flight.
Route Info: Portland Oregon
The clue the teams get as they leave the Pit Stop tells them to fly to the final destination city—Portland Oregon. Phil tells us that this is a trip of more than 5,000 Phil miles, and once they are in Portland they have to find their way to the Tilikum Christian Camp and Retreat Center where they will find their next clue.
We see Nick and Starr looking at a Lufthansa flight on the Internet, and we hear Starr say that a 7:05 AM departure through Frankfurt looks like the best flight. We cannot see the date, but the cost of the flight is $4,623. We also see that Starr has looked up the Tilikum Center on the Web, and gotten directions.
Most likely the teams travelled from Moscow (DME) to Portland (PDX) on Lufthansa, after stopping in Frankfurt (FRA). Lufthansa flight 3189 leaves Moscow (DME) at 7:05 AM arriving in Frankfurt (FRA) at 8:40 AM. This segment takes 3:35 and covers 1,264 miles. Lufthansa (code sharing with United) Flight 468 leaves Frankfurt (FRA) at 9:55 AM, and arrives in Portland at 11:50 AM. Despite the local times, this segment takes 10:55, and covers 5,213 miles. The cost of this flight in Dec. 2008 is $8,498.00.
This would have the teams entering Russia from Sheremetyevo International Airport (SVO) and leaving from Domodedovo (DME) airport. The clue likely directed the teams to the appropriate airport. This distance from the Pit Stop in the park to the airport is approximately 9 miles and takes 0:30.
View Larger Map
There is a glimpse of the gate information sign for the flight to Frankfurt from Moscow as Ken and Tina are boarding, and they were on Lufthansa flight 3189. But the date looks like it was 14/05/2008, which is one day later than I expected.
View Larger Map
Route Info: Tilikum Center
This is the first opportunity for a quick discussion of luck and this episode of the race. I have been hard on the Frat Boys and other teams for not reading clues or making stupid mistakes, but here is simply an example of bad luck on the course. The Frat Boys are third in the queue at the Portland airport for a cab, and they get a cab driver that appears to be both a fairly inexperienced driver and fairly unknowledgeable about Portland and vicinity. And vicinity is key as the Tilikum Center is approximately 42 miles south of Portland, and according to the driving directions, takes about 1:09.
View Larger Map
Detour: ‘High and Dry’ or ‘Low and Wet’
A detour is a choice between two tasks, bearing some relationship to the country, state, or city where the team finds itself. In Oregon, the detour is tied to skills associated with the timber industry.
In ‘High and Dry,’ teams must climb steps nailed into a tree to a height of 30 feet, traverse a 40 foot horizontal log between two trees, and then jump for a trapeze to retrieve one half of their next clue. If either team member misses their half of the clue, then they have to perform the task again until they are successful.
In ‘Low and Wet’ (which no team tried although it likely could have been completed faster), teams use a log bridge to walk 850 feet across the water, to a clue waiting on shore.
Tina, who is afraid of heights really struggled on this one, mostly because of the combination of safety harness and close-up camera that the team’s had to wear. I was a little concerned that they had not checked her hardhat was on correctly (with a baseball cap under it), so in addition to her fear, she ended up fighting her rig. I really was wondering what else might be wrong with her harness.
Route Info: Bridge of the Gods
When the two halves of the clue are put together, the teams find that they are to travel to the Bridge of the Gods, where they will have to ride a 2,000 Phil feet zip line to the island below to get their next clue. There is another description of the bridge here.
This is actually quite a trip, basically it is back to Portland and then east on Interstate 80 as shown in this map. This provides a bit of a clue as to how Nick and Star finished the detour before Ken and Tina, but Ken and Tina get to the bridge first, as the distance is 72 miles and takes 1:35.
View Larger Map
Yah gotta love Google Maps. This shows the bridge and the island, and where I think the teams touched down (1,580 feet), versus where a 2,000 foot zip line would finish. Regardless, it is clear why this made such a good location for the next task.
View Larger Map
And another little diversion, just as there should be an age limit on talking like Yoda (see discussion of Geeks from the second leg), Tina and Ken are definitely too old to have an imitation of Mr. Big saying ‘million dollars’ as part of their repertoire.
Route Info: You’ve Come A Long Way, How Much Do You Remember
Teams must now answer one question from each of the ten legs of the race. The questions could be based on Route Info (1, 6, 9); Detours (2,7); Roadblocks (3, 5, 10); or Pit Stops (4, 8). The question number was also relative to the Race, so the first question would be about Salvador, Brazil, and the 10th question about Moscow, Russia. The teams had to answer the questions in numerical order by finding the correct picture that represented the question in one of 150 Amazing Race Clue Boxes. Imagine playing Concentration in a huge field.
The game board where the teams had to place the pictures that they thought were correct was very unsophisticated—it looked like it was made from a sheet of plywood and the pictures kept falling out onto the ground. Based on the time it took for the green light to appear when a person put a correct picture into a slot in the board, I think a producer standing on the same side as the teams had to signal someone to turn on the light.
Again, I like it when a team is a true fan of the Race, and anticipates this sort of task in the last leg that questions the teams on where they have been. The first of these that I remember was when the race ended in Red Rocks, Colorado, and teams had to correctly place each countries flag in the order in which it was visited. In one of their interviews, Nick and Starr said they had anticipated such a task, and had kept a log which they had studied on the flight from Frankfurt. They started this task second, but completed it first. Meanwhile, the unlucky Frat Boys were trying to get their reluctant cab driver to even drive the speed limit.
It isn’t clear how long this task took, but I am guessing it took some time, and with the distances that the teams had to run to get to all the clue boxes, completing it would have been extremely tiring.
Route Info: Portland Building
Teams then had to travel by taxi to downtown Portland and locate the Portland Building, and then search the area for a green dinosaur, which is actually located across the street in the Standard Building. They will find their next clue near the dinosaur.
In keeping with the early ‘green’ theme from the stop in India, the Race appears to have Hybrid (Prius) cabs waiting for the teams at the parking lot at the bridge to take them back to Portland. According to Google Maps it is 42.5 miles from the bridge to the Portland Building, and takes approximately 45 minutes.
View Larger Map
So back to luck. As they are pulling up to the Portland Building Nick reads the sign on the Standard Building out loud. Then as Starr is going to the back of the cab to get her pack she immediately spots the dinosaur in the window of the Standard Building. Then when they are retrieving and leaving the building, skill becomes a factor as they try to minimize the likelihood of Ken and Tina seeing and following them.
Route Info: Alder Street Cart Pods
Teams must now travel on foot to the Alder Street Cart Pod, and there they have to find the cart with food from the last country they visited (Russia). Once there they will receive their next clue.
The distance from the Portland Building to the Russian Food Cart is about a half-mile.
Route Info: Travel on Foot to Where the Magic is in the Hole
Teams have to figure out that this is Voodoo Donut, a local Portland landmark of sorts. Nick and Starr ask a lady near the carts if she knows: ‘Where the magic is in the hole?’, and she says no. They keep shouting it out and someone tells them it is Voodoo donuts and sends them in the correct direction. Again the distance is about a half mile.
But when Ken and Tina arrive, the person who told Nick and Starr she didn’t know immediately helps them, answers their question about whether Nick and Starr have been there, and gives them a (allegedly) shorter route to the donut store then the one they took. I would have take in as she just overheard the guy helping Nick and Starr, but the fact she knew a shorter way made it seem as if she may have figured out it was the Amazing Race.
View Larger Map
Route Info: Pittock Mansion
Teams must now make their way to the finish line at the Pittock Mansion.
Both teams struggle to find a cab in downtown Portland, which leads me to conclude it was a Saturday or Sunday when the race finished. When they finally find a cab, Nick tells their cab driver that he will pay $70 bucks to get there as fast as possible.
View Larger Map
It ends up that the mansion is only about three miles from the donut shop, and the driving time is about 10 minutes, although it is likely uphill all the way, but in the end, it is Nick and Starr who arrive first.
Because they probably do a bunch of interviews and arrival shots, we never can tell how close the second place team was, but I suspect Ken and Tina were pretty close and then had to wait out of sight until the producers let them go to the finish line. I also suspect the producers just went and got the Frat Boys and brought them there to finish the taping in a reasonable time.
Wrapping It All Up
By my count, Nick and Star came in first place 6 times on the Race, and Ken and Tina came in second place 5 times, so the end was in many ways the ending was par for the course on this race.
In his wrap up Phil specifically says that the 13th race took 23 days, crossed five continents, and almost 40,000 miles.
I think the teams used 18 days to complete the race, but as I was calculating this, I began to wonder if part of the delay was due to having to get the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to issue new passports for Toni and Dallas, and then get them to Portland for the finish. They may have held the teams 36 hours in Moscow, then moved them to Frankfurt. Because all three teams were on the same plane they could hold there indefinitely without really impacting the results. In any event, I don’t have any real desire to figure out where my count is off, because there are not likely enough clues in each episode to figure it out.
All in all this was a good race. Good teams, even if some were a little freaky at times. Good countries, locales, and route over all. Some tasks did not seem up to the usual standards of the race, and thankfully no team embarrassed themselves or their country, but rather, were pretty good ambassadors, remembering to say thank you and trying to keep their desire to win in check as they raced through other people’s cities and countries. It really isn’t that surprising that the Amazing Race continues to win the Emmy for its class of programming.
So this leaves me already looking forward to Amazing Race 14…