The Amazing Race: Family Edition--Live Thread

WOOHOO! Linzs won!! :) Thanks so much for the thread. hate to see you give this one up jonny.

Okay ... I'll host the next thread, but it won't be "live". AI and TAR are both on the same night.

After seeing the preview for next season, I'm having second thoughts :)

same time?....better not be

If it's the same as last year, AI (the performance show) will be on at 8/7, followed by TAR at 9/8. You can still watch both :)

Apprentice ends tomorrow night as well....I'll have nothing to watch until 24.....night, Jonny

It'll be a long month :) Good night, Buddy. Thanks for not abandoning me, LOL

NEVER.....

:)

My local news (Cincinnati) had the mom on the phone. She said that the kids totally kept the news under wraps and that Alex can now go to med school.

Sweeet! I recognize where the race is starting...

SJ, thanks for your all your work on this thread, where did they finish Niagara Falls?

Looks like TAR is going back to it's old formula. Also glad the Linz's won, but weren't they the ones who sportsbet(or some online betting service) at the start of the season had to drop the betting on?

Yay! Linzs win!

See y'all in February. Looks like they're going back to two person teams. Russia and Japan look like two destinations. WooHoo!

Where? ;-)

Also glad the Linz's won, but weren't they the ones who sportsbet(or some online betting service) at the start of the season had to drop the betting on?

Yes they were or "someone" who knew them was. Someone obviously leaked the information. So much for integrity "I guess", but if you knew you won the million dollars it might be hard to hide the smile because I know I would be grinning from ear to ear.

I actually hoped the Bransons would have won. To me, the Linz family acted like clymers more than once during the race. The Weavers were goofy too and more than a little annoying at times and SHOULD be fined for littering on the highway.

I know from experience, traveling together can be stressful. I drove 15,000 miles over 3 months in the summer of 1984 from California to Key West to Maine & New England and back across the northern states to complete my task of visiting every state in the U.S.

Did you notice how many teams didn't bother to put their seat belts on?

Didn't the previews last night look really good? :)

---looks so much better than the Family Edition.

The Family Edition was a bit of a dud imho. At least the Weavers lost.

(((TAR Recap Ping)))

The final CBS recap is posted separately below for everyone’s convenience.

And find out who won the GMC Yukon in the surprise final challenge!

WHO DEY? LINZES WIN WHEN IT COUNTS

After a seemingly endless string of second place finishes throughout the race, many times due to careless mistakes of their own, the Linz family ran an error-free final leg to narrowly edge out the Bransens and claim the one million dollar prize as winners of THE AMAZING RACE. After struggling through the final leg, the rival Weaver family settled for a third place finish.

MYSTERY SPOT
Touching down in the mystery destination on the first charter flight, Wally Bransen quickly realized he and his daughters were in Toronto, Canada. Opening the clue waiting at their marked vehicle, the Bransens discovered they had to drive one mile to La Tour CN, the world’s tallest building, proceed to the top observation deck and, using binoculars, search for the next clue in the expanse of the city below.

With the Linzes and Weavers landing neck and neck in Toronto, all three Teams arrived at La Tour CN and began scanning the streets below for their clue. Eagle-eyed Lauren Bransen spotted the cluebox at almost the same moment as Alex Linz. Both Teams quietly left the observation deck together as the Weavers kept searching in frustration. Soon, however, Rebecca spotted the cluebox near a dock and headed down 1,100-feet back to the ground.

SMOOTH SAILING
The Bransen and Linz families arrived at the dock tied for first place and opened their clue to find the final Detour: Ship or Shoe. In Ship, Teams would sail across Toronto Harbor to a ship, the Kajama, where one Team member would climb 100-feet to the top of the mast and retrieve a nautical flag. In Shoe, Teams had to find the Bata Show Museum, choose a pair of shoes, and search through 100 women for the one woman who fits the pair selected. As the Bransens left for the shoe museum, the Linzes set sail on the Toronto Harbor. With the Weavers close behind, the Linzes arrived at the Kajama where Tommy climbed to the top to retrieve the flag. Opening their next clue, the Linzes learned they had to drive 81 miles to Queenston, which is on the Canadian side of the Niagara Gorge. Once there, they would take a jet boat ride up the gorge to the Niagara Whirlpool and grab their clue from a buoy. As the Linzes took off, the Bransens, after struggling to to find their Cinderella at the museum, finally made their match to start the drive to Queenston with a million dollars on the line. Still in third place, Rolly Weaver climbed to the top of the Kajama trying to keep his family in the race.

CRUISE CONTROL
Arriving at the boat ramp in first place, the Linzes cheered as their powerful boat hit cruising speed across the deep blue water. Getting drenched as the boat plowed through the whirlpool, the Linzes arrived at the buoy, opening the clue that instructed them to travel in their boat to the final destination city, Lewiston, New York. Seeing the Bransens pull up right beside them, both Teams knew the race to win it all would end in New York.

When they arrived at shore, the Linzes opened their clue to find their last Roadbock and final task of the race. In this Roadblock, one team member needed to use jigsaw pieces to complete an enormous puzzle of Central and North America. After completing the Roadblock, Teams would make their way to the finish line.

PUTTING IT TOGETHER
Nick Linz volunteered to put the puzzle together for his Team and began sorting through pieces as Wally Bransen stepped up to perform the task for his family. With nothing to do but look on in nervous anticipation as Nick and Wally battled for a million dollars, the Bransen daughters and Linz siblings cheered and encouraged their father and brother respectively. Soon, both Wally and Nick began filling in the holes, placing the Canadian provinces first along with the southern states. A frustrated Alex looked on, saying, “Does Nick not know where Oklahoma goes?” Eventually, it came down to a battle of placing the small New England states in the right spots. As his tense siblings looked on, Nick fumbled initially, but locked in his final state, while Wally still had one left.

LINZ SIBLINGS WIN ONE MILLION DOLLARS
Running through the park, the excited Linz siblings were greeted by the cheers of the eliminated families and Phil, who informed the siblings from Ohio that they had won the one million dollar prize. A thrilled Alex said, “This is all for mom and dad and everyone back home.” On her role, Megan remarked, “Throughout the entire race it was difficult for me to keep up, but I did keep up and I think I have proved that to myself and my brothers…I ran with the boys.”

EVERYONE’S A WINNER
Settling for second place, the Bransen family reflected on their experience. A tearful Wally remarked on his daughters, “They’re great ladies and they just proved a lot to me. It was a great experience to have the time with the girls.” Equally as emotional, his crying daughters said, “You couldn’t ask for anything else in a father. We love him to death and we wouldn’t have made it through this without him.” Arriving on the mat in a distant third place, the Weavers were proud of their accomplishments as well. Rebecca said, “Our dad was the main leader and now that he’s not here, it’s been special to just work together and know that we can get through things in life.”

Nick Linz summed up his family’s experience, commenting, “On the race we made a lot of friends, but we played the game the way we wanted to. As a family, we wouldn’t have it any other way. Running THE AMAZING RACE as a family is the opportunity of a lifetime.”

BUT THE RACE ISN'T OVER YET ...

Phil reminds the Linzes (in case they've forgotten) that they've won the million dollars and for them the race is over. But for the Bransens and the Weavers, one final challenge remains.

Phil explains that in the field beyond the finish line are several boxes. Inside each box is an icon. The icons are shaped like things that were seen in the race (boats, planes, rockets, etc.) The challenge is to place those icons on the appropriate area of the giant jigsaw map that they just completed (example: the hot dog icon matches with New York, the rocket icon matches with Alabama, and so on). The first family to place all the icons in the right place will win a new GMC Yukon!

As the other families cheer them on, the Bransens and the Weavers run to the boxes, grab one icon at a time and run back to the map. The race is close, but the Bransens win and the Weavers are defeated yet again :)

The challenge ends with the Bransens climbing aboard their new Yukon and driving off into the sunset.

Click here to see video of this last challenge.
http://www.cbs.com/gmc/

Well, that's that! This Amazing Race is over. The next Race will begin in February--and since no one has volunteered to host (and since this next Race looks sooooo much better than the Family Edition), I'll continue to be the host. You're stuck with me! :)

See you all in February!

SJ, thanks for your all your work on this thread, where did they finish Niagara Falls?

Thanks :) They finished in Lewiston, NY, which I guess is right next to the Falls.