Amazing Race Contest: FINAL QUESTIONS

My guess it is to announce the winner at the same time they officially announce the next contest...the one with "a great prize from a sponsor you will all recognize".

We are all anxious to see who won, but another day won't hurt. Plus with this deadline, I don't think it will get moved back again. Look on the bright side. Now you don't have to keep checking throughout the day to see if it's been posted yet. Your work productivity will go up 30%!

 

Thanks for posting the preliminary results several days ago.

 

Given that there were other players who picked the same teams I did, this implies that I got the points because I didn't opt out. I really hate to say this, but I did opt out, about 3 weeks (give or take) before the end of the race....

 

Ah, so perseverance was the trick. 'Splains much.

 

Hmm. There would be a paradox in the rules then.

"3. In addition to the questions above, a Fast Forward poll will exist which may be used ONCE during the contest for each participant. If you are the FIRST to answer this poll correctly, your time will be equalized with the current contest leader at the end of that week (incorrect answers in other weekly polls won't incur a time penalty either), thus putting you tied for the lead.
...
Yields are scored AFTER all other questions and bonus points are given that week."

It would seem that you apply the fast forward bonus before the yield penalty.

This seems to create the paradox. It would be impossible to figure out who the leader(s) is for a given week without figuring out the yield, yet the yield can't be applied until the leader(s) is determined. It seems it's the chicken before the egg problem.

If my sheet was right, on Leg 11 for the yields, two "leaders" and a "nobody" were used. So there was a maximum penalty of a -2 for the yields to the leader at the end of the leg. If indeed I would have been better of not using the fast forward, that would imply that I was only a day behind the leader. But the application of the first yield would have put me at the same time as the leader, making me a leader as well, subjecting me to a penalty as well. If the yields are applied all at once without recomputing the leader in between, then it would seem that it would be possible for someone to use the fast forward and not be in the lead at the end of the leg.

I didn't use it because I needed it, I used it to prevent anyone else from catching up by using it. I think the fast forward should apply AFTER any other type of scoring is applied, including the yields. This would prevent any type of paradox from happening.

 

Actually, not completely. It only pays up to a point, then the potential returns I think outweigh the risk. Below is a little chart that shows what the potential return is if you wait. For me the "sweet" spot was around week 10. I was fairly confident that my team would make it that far, but I wasn't sure about the whole thing. By not opting out at all, your team would have to win the race in order to get -12. But by opting out in weeks 9, 10, or 11, you may lose a few days over holding out until the end, but it would be paid back if they won as much or more then if you had waited. The longer you wait, the more risk of them being eliminated and thus giving you a serious penalty.

Code:

Leg to            Leg eliminated
opt out     9    10    11    12    Wins
9           +9   -9    -9    -9    -12
10          NA   +10   -10   -10   -13
11          NA   NA    +11   -11   -14
12          NA   NA    NA    +12   -12

 

Can you also repost the questions. The links don't work anymore due to a server crash.

Also, did you find many errors in prior weeks?

 

Leg 11 Detour 2 question (as I remember it): What other reality shows have had skydiving as a task? List show name, season, and episode number.

Leg 12 Detour 2 question (again, as I remember it): Who are on the teams for the next installment of The Amazing Race?

 

My memory of the episode is a little fuzzy, but why is the Car Paint considered a group point? Just because all 4 teams were there at the same point in time? I know that there was some additional wording to the question, so that's why I asked about the text of the question above. I wouldn't have thought that a point were all 4 teams were at different stages of a task would be considered a bunch point, only places where everyone had to wait idlely for something (airport, store to open, etc).

 

But their progress wasn't stalled. They were completing a task. Oh well.

 

Depends on your definition of "progress". They were not travelling any further; they had to wait there before they could continue with the race. Granted, they had to do something there, but they still couldn't continue w/the race until they did.

Or could they have, and taken a time penalty?

 

I was defining it as moving forward toward a goal. The goal was to finish the road block, so they were progressing. Sitting at an airport waiting for a flight isn't moving them forward towards any goal other then time. But since time is constant, it doesn't count.

I guess arging at this point is pointless. I'm just anxious to see the scoresheet.

 

While arguing is pointless, discussion is fun So...

By your definition, time spent sitting in an airport is not a group point, either. How many times did we see teams who had extra time look for a quicker flight? Their goal was to get to the new country ASAP, and some teams progressed in this goal even while waiting for a flight.