Pardolis
""It's On Like Donkey Kong"--The Amazing Race 16 Season Finale"
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The 12th Episode and Season Finale of The Amazing Race 16
< read all 3 reviews"It's On Like Donkey Kong"--The Amazing Race 16 Season Finale
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May 12, 2010
- by Pardolis
- posted in Reality Rehash
Rating:
This season, The Amazing Race has taken us to many different places all around the world. We've seen the racers travel through South America, Germany, France, Malaysia, and China just to name a few. Throughout all these different locations, the million dollar prize was on the minds of all 22 participants. Over the past couple of months, we have seen these eleven teams of two give it their all to stay alive in this competition. Along the way, eight teams fell to the wayside and now, only three teams remain. The Cowboys (Jet and Cord), The Models (Brent and Caite), and The Brothers (Dan and Jordan). All three teams have worked very hard to get to this point and now, the final and most important leg of the season is about to begin. Which team will walk away from The Amazing Race 16 one million dollars richer? We'll find out the answer in this last review of the season. It all comes down to this.
+5
The final leg of The Amazing Race 16 begins at the riverside promenade in Shanghai, which was the pit stop for the previous leg of the race. The three remaining teams open their first clue and discover that they must board a flight to their final destination city, which is San Francisco. Once they arrive there, the teams must travel to the Battery Godfrey, which is a former military outpost that overlooks the golden gate bridge. When the teams arrive at the Battery Godfrey, they will receive their next clue. All three teams are extremely excited about heading back to the United States and being in the final three. However, this doesn't mean that the race will be completely pleasant now that it's coming to an end. If anything, this final leg intensifies the animosity between our final three teams. There is one incident that proves this point to a t and it happens when the three teams are in the airport waiting for their flight to San Francisco. Brent and his wretched girlfriend arrive at the airport terminal first. When they notice that the counter is closed for the night, the two models sleep in front of the closed counter in order to hold their place in line for the next morning. Jet and Cord arrive second and get in line right behind them. When the brothers arrive on the scene, Jordan puts his backpack in front of where Cord is sleeping, thereby stealing his spot in line. When the next morning comes, Dan and Jordan stand in line ahead of the Cowboys. Jordan states that he legitimately got in line second due to the placement of his backpack the night before, but the Cowboys are not buying this. Jet and Jordan start to bicker amongst themselves and it looks as if a small fight is going to break out. But ultimately, the brothers get the tickets ahead of the Cowboys when it's all said and done. You have to hand it to the brothers. Despite all the criticism that Dan and Jordan have received for cutting in line here, it proves that they're capable of out thinking the competition. It may not be the morally correct thing to do, but at this point, the brothers can't afford to be nice anymore. It's the final leg and the brothers can't be sweet and innocent if they want to win this race. They are both not as physically strong as the other two teams, so their only hope is to use their brain power to give them an edge. This is the only way that the brothers can have a fighting chance of winning this race. Without this strategy, Dan and Jordan are destined to finish in third place. Bottom line. They'll have to amp up their strategic game if they want a chance at taking home the grand prize. Again, just because we're nearing the end doesn't mean that everything's going to be flowers and roses. All of these teams (not just Dan and Jordan) are going to have to turn it up a notch if any of them want to come out on top.Soon after backpack gate is done and over with, the teams board the flight to San Francisco. However, Dan and Jordan come up with a plan mid-flight that may give them an edge once they touch down in SF. Dan and Jordan decide to leave the economy class section of the plane (where the other two teams are) and head up to first class. This small move might give the brothers a head start in getting out of SF airport in the quickest amount of time. The brothers prove to be right. When the plane touches down in SF, the first class section leaves the plane first, allowing Dan and Jordan to have quite a head start on the other two teams. This incident has also been HEAVILY discussed on the message boards as well and I'll give my two cents on what I think about what Dan and Jordan did here later on in this review. But it is safe to say that the race is at its most intense at this point. Right before the teams get off the plane, Cord says "It's on like Donkey Kong", lol. It is a race to the finish and nothing will stand in the way of victory for these final three teams.
After the plane lands in San Francisco, all of the teams head to the Battery Godfrey outpost near the golden gate. All of the teams eventually make it to the battery godfrey and receive their next clue. The clue tells them to solve a riddle. The riddle is "I was built in 1933. I'm 210 feet tall. My insides are lined with murals painted with 26 different artists? Who am I?" The teams must figure out that the riddle is referring to the Coit Tower which is on top of telegraph hill in San Francisco. Once teams have figured this out, they must head to the Coit Tower to receive their next clue. After asking a few locals, all of the teams discover the answer to the riddle and head for the tower. Once the teams finally get to the tower, they discover the roadblock for this final leg of the race. Using a mechanical ascender, one team member must climb 120 feet to the top of coit tower. Once that team member has successfully made the completely vertical climb to the top, they will receive their next clue while at the top of the tower and then, that team member will be lowered back to the ground. This is a task that would probably scare me quite a bit if I had to do it. Dealing with heights would've been unpleasant for me as well. On top of all that, it takes a lot of upper body strength to keep climbing which can tire a person out easily. However, this is nowhere near as scary as bungee jumping, so I'd probably end up doing it if I had to. All three teams had no fear when it came to this task. Dan got up the tower very quickly and came back down with the clue. Cord arrived at the tower second and attempted to catch up to the brothers, but Dan and Jordan had already begun to leave the tower with their clue before Cord even began his vertical climb. Despite this setback, Cord completed the task quickly and got the Cowboys their next clue. Brent and little miss annoying do not do as well with this task.Their cab driver got lost trying to find both the battery godfrey AND the tower which costs them valuable time. Both of the models complain endlessly about how crappy their cab driver is and how he's to blame for them being in last place. I, however, am sitting at home thinking to myself...anything that hinders Brent and Caite is a positive in my book, lol. Eventually, the couple makes it to the tower and Brent performs the climbing task (because his whiny, irritating, annoying, prissy girlfriend is too much of a coward to do it). Brent finishes it quickly and the couple gets their next clue. Brent and Caite are in dead last right now. I hope these two don't win the race. But knowing my luck, they'll probably cross the finish line first somehow. Knowing how well these two have performed all season long, there is a very real possibility that they could come from behind and claim victory. Will it happen? God, I hope not. But I can't shake this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that Brent and Caite will win the whole thing. If that happens....god help us all. lol.
After the roadblock is completed, the teams receive their next clue which tells them to find the "yoda fountain". Teams must figure out that the "yoda fountain" is a statue of the jedi master yoda from the star wars films. This fountain is located at the home of the Industrial Light and Magic special effects company owned by George Lucas and teams must make their way there in order to receive their next clue. Once teams arrive at the "yoda fountain", they are surrounded by men wearing storm trooper outfits that resemble the troopers from the star wars films. Teams read their next clue and discover that they're going to be stepping into a virtual world. One team member must put on a motion capture suit and enter a soundstage at the Lucas studios. The other team member must then direct their partner through a series of levels inside a virtual world. Once the team has successfully navigated themselves through both levels in the game, they will receive their next clue. This task is the ultimate in terms of teamwork and concentration. The person in the soundstage can not see the virtual environment at all and they must solely depend on their partner to guide them to where they need to go. It's pretty tricky. Dan is trying his hardest to tell Jordan where to go during this game, but Jordan gets flustered and confused at Dan's directions which eats up time.This allows the Cowboys to catch up and try to gain the lead. Cord has the task of directing Jet through the virtual environment, but Cord also tries to distract Jordan by yelling false directions into Dan's headpiece. This irritates Dan very much and he cusses at Cord which causes a small confrontation between the two. Things get even more heated up when Jordan unintentionally prevents Jet from finishing the virtual task quickly by standing in front of him and blocking his path to the goal. This causes Jet to be very frustrated with Jordan, but he is able to maintain his cool about it for the most part. It's pretty obvious at this point that the Cowboys and the brothers are at each other's throats. They do not like each other at all and with the race coming to a close, the dislike between these two intensifies. This is interesting to watch because these two teams didn't seem to have a major problem with each other early on in the race. But now, that's all changed. These two are going to be fighting tooth and nail with each other now in order to make it to the end first.
After all of the teams complete the virtual reality game, the team member that directed their partner through the virtual world must decipher the clue to their next location which is whizzing by them very fast on the computer screen. After figuring out that their partner must turn his or her head slowly in order to read the clue, the directing person discovers that the next clue awaits them at the tonga, which is a tiki bar in San Francisco. The teams go to the tonga and find a heavy trunk inside the bar. The teams must then take this trunk to their next destination, which is the great american music hall. All three teams get exhausted carrying the heavy trunk down the streets of San Francisco, but all of the teams eventually make it to the music hall. Once there, the teams must perform their final task of the season which is a memory challenge. The teams open the trunk that they brought with them to the hall and discover that there are eleven posters inside. Eight of these posters are pictures of each of the eight teams that have been eliminated from the race this season. The other three posters have the phrase "non-elimination" written on them. The teams must take these eleven posters and put them in order from the first team eliminated to the most recent team eliminated. They must also put the non-elimination posters in the correct spots where a non-elimination leg happened in the race. Once a team has arranged the posters in the correct order, the teams will receive the clue to the finish line. Compared to past final tasks, this one is ridiculously easy. I could've gotten this done in 12 seconds. Most previous amazing race final tasks have been extraordinary difficult, but not this one. You'd have to be a complete doofus to screw this one up, lol. Jordan wrote down the elimination order (and other information) in case he needed to know it for the final task and his preparation pays off. The brothers complete this task VERY quickly and receive the final clue. The Cowboys have a little more difficulty with this task, but they manage to complete it quickly as well. We don't even get to see Brent and Caite perform this task since they're so far behind at the moment. But don't count them out just yet. I can't stand Brent and his disgusting girlfriend, but I still feel they could win this race. It's down to the final moments. Anything can happen.
After the final task of The Amazing Race 16 comes to a close, the racers receive the clue to their final destination. The clue simply says "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, to find the finish line, jump over to ____". The teams quickly figure out that the final clue refers to "Candlestick" park and the racers quickly head over to the legendary stadium. Inside Candlestick Park, we see Phil and the eliminated teams at the finish line waiting anxiously for the first place team to arrive. Who has won the Amazing Race? The eliminated teams look down the football field and see the first place team running toward them. Everyone cheers because the winners of The Amazing Race 16 are none other than........Dan and Jordan!!!!!!!! The underdogs have pulled off a major upset!!!!! The eliminated teams cheer them on and Phil tells them that they have won a million dollars. They both get very emotional. Jordan says that he couldn't have done it without his brother. Dan is thrilled that he was able to make his little brother's dream comes true. What a great victory for these two!!! Well deserved. Jet and Cord reach Candlestick next and become the second place team for this season. You also have to hand it to the Cowboys. They may not have won, but they ran a great race and deserve a lot of credit for being good guys and fighting it out to the end. Job well done.
Now we get to the most interesting and surprising part of the finale. Brent and Caite arrive at Candlestick Park last and come in third place for the season. Caite blathers on about how proud she is to have finished the race and to have been the last woman standing at the end. I was all set to finish this season hating Caite very much, but then out of nowhere, Brandy does something very idiotic. Caite attempts to apologize to Carol and Brandy for U-Turning them earlier in the race, but Brandy snaps back viciously and says that she doesn't want to hear "sorry" from her. She then proceeds to attack Caite right there at the finish line by calling her stupid for using the U-Turn on them and not on the Cowboys earlier in the race. While Brandy is absolutely correct in that statement, she completely lost by respect with the way she belittled Caite here. The finish line is a time for celebration and not bickering. If Brandy still can't let it go and if she has the audacity to choose this moment to attack Caite, then I have no respect for her. Yes, I've criticized Caite a lot this season, but even she didn't deserve that tirade from Brandy. It was disrespectful and uncalled for. Now I fully understand why Caite and the other racers didn't like her. You can't defend Brandy after that moment. She went way overboard and now, I'm very happy that those two did not win this game. Carol and Brandy are just terrible and bitter people, plain and simple. I never thought I'd be sticking up for Caite, but after this incident, I think I'll give her a break. I may dislike Caite, but she's a far better human being than those two old sore losers, lol.
I've been very harsh on Brent and especially Caite this season. Even though I am very happy that they both did not win the race, I will give them both credit. They got a lot farther in this game than I thought they would. They did seem like one of the weaker teams in the beginning. Caite's bickering and insistence on having her way was ruining her team and annoying me to no end. After Team Big Brother got eliminated, I was sure that these two would be the next to go. However, they hung in there and made it all the way to the finals. It wasn't just Brent doing all the work either, Caite came through as well. In her roadblocks, Caite performed very well. She conquered the noodles task, stuck it out through the task involving the counting of the golden buudhas, and didn't complain very much when she had to smash a bunch of coconuts over and over. I'll never be a big Caite fan, but she did come through and do very well on this race. I'll give her that. She wanted to show people that she was not a dumb beauty pageant winner and I think she succeeded somewhat, but not fully. It's a miracle that Brent put up with her whining for so long, but I think that she was a good partner for him on the race. She was strong and she hung in there when times were tough. I can't fault her for that. Let's just hope that Caite does not do any more reality shows so that I won't have to come up with any more two year old names for her, lol.
The Cowboys ran a helluva race overall. They truly were the team to beat and it seemed almost certain that they were going to walk away with the grand prize. They finished in first place on four different legs and it seemed as if the million dollars was theirs for the taking. They always stuck to whatever task they had to accomplish and follwed through beautifully. Their only misstep was coming in last on one of the legs, but they got lucky seeing as how that leg was a non-elimination one. But even with this error, they still performed well and ran a great race. On the previous episode, Cord mentioned a life threatening injury he received from a horse back in 2004 and how close these two brothers got after that incident. They seem like the kind of guys who can endure almost anything. They may be set in their country like ways, but this race shows that they are both capable of adapting to almost any situation within the blink of an eye. That's what makes this team such a force to be reckoned with. I won't be surprised if we see these two on a future all-star season of The Amazing Race if they ever have another one. These two were very memorable and even if they didn't win the money, they showed that they were one of the best teams out there. Good job, guys.
And now finally, we've come to the winners of The Amazing Race 16, Dan and Jordan. I have to admit, I didn't think this team would win at all. They looked very weak in the beginning and I figured it would only be a matter of time before they were eliminated. I was quite surprised that these two made it all the way to the finals, but I didn't think they stood a chance in hell of beating the two physically stronger teams in the finals with them. However, the great thing about these two is that they didn't need physical strength to win because it was their mental power that allowed them to out think the competition and win the game. I am of course referring back to the very beginning of this episode when Dan and Jordan got seats in first class on the plane which gave them a head start on the final leg. This one move is pretty much what got the win for Dan and Jordan. Unfortunately, many fans have criticized the brothers' upgrade to first class on the flight by calling this move unfair and saying that it reeks of bad sportsmanship. I don't agree with that assessment at all. The other two teams could've upgraded to first class as well, but they chose not to. Don't blame Dan and Jordan for doing something that the other teams could've done just as easily. All this hate towards Dan and Jordan is not based on logic, but rather on emotional disappointment that the Cowboys didn't win. That's it. Bottom line. Everyone's favorite team didn't win, so now everyone is finding any reason (no matter how illogical) to attack the brothers and discredit them. I've seen this type of behavior before from reality show fans who don't get their way at the end of a season and it's very embarassing to watch. Dan and Jordan have done nothing wrong throughout the season. Up until this episode, they were both really nice to the other teams. The only reason why they had to get a little dirtier in the final leg is because that was the only way they could get a win against the two stronger teams. But it's not as if they cheated. Everything they did was perfectly within the rules and some people just can't accept that. Reality show fans need to realize that things will not always go their way sometimes and accept that rather than complain endlessly about it. I would've been sad if Caite had won, but I would've also been respectful and given her credit since she does deserve that. If I can do that with Caite, then surely the angry and bitter public can do that for Dan and Jordan. They played a good game. They outsmarted the competition. They treated their fellow competitiors with respect. Stop complaining and start giving these two the credit they deserve. They pulled a major upset here which was amazing and unexpected. This is something that will stay with them for the rest of their lives, knowing that they raced around the world and pulled off a victory. Dan and Jordan, don't listen to the haters. Both of you earned this victory and I'm glad you guys pulled it off. Wonderful job. :-)Well, that's it for this season of The Amazing Race. It's been fun covering all 12 episodes. It's been a blast. Hope you all enjoyed my reviews for this show. Later. :-)
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Adrianna
June 14, 2010
Oh my goodness...that vertical climb looked scary...I did something similar once when I was a child, but it was with a large redwood tree. Of course I was wearing the protective gear too! Sounds like quite the exciting ending for the show. :)
Pardolis
June 15, 2010
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of heights, so climbing anything would've scared the crap out of me, lol. That's awesome that you were able to climb that redwood tree though. That's pretty brave of you. :-) Yeah, it was an exciting finale. Out of the final three teams, Dan and Jordan seemed the least likely to win and yet, they pulled off the victory. I was really shocked. It's always fun to see a team win that you don't think is going to win. It kind of catches you off guard, but it makes for good tv. :-)
Adrianna
June 17, 2010
You know me. I'm daring. It was frightening, but nothing compared to scaling Half Dome. I went all the way to the tip top and looked down over the edge. The main thing is to remember not to look down. As far as the team winning that was least likely...that is so you and me! We need to enter for the next casting calls. No one will think we will win, and then, bam--we win!!
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Source: http://www.realityrehash.com/amazing-race/am...eason-16-concludes.html The Amazing Race ended where it all began: the USA. The three final teams were all very different. We have Caite and Brent who were there basically because Caite wanted to "prove to the world that she was intelligent". Cort and Jet were there to experience life since they are from a small town.... yeah. And Jordan and Dan were there to fulfill Jordan's dream of just being on the race. Their … more
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Pretty great season. Bummed that those funny and cute cowboys didn't win, but still very entertaining.
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Pardolis
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I'm a 29 year oldwhoenjoys reviewing certainreality tv shows and scifi programming. I also post reviews on other topics every now and then as well. I enjoy being here on Lunch and interacting with … more
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The remaining teams travel from Shanghai to San Francisco in hopes of winning the million-dollar prize; the racers come face-to-face with Darth Vader.
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