Season One Timelines

[raceguy120390]

1.1 "The Race Begins" (New York City to Livingstone)

EPISODE SUMMARY: Phil introduces the teams as being "from all walks of life" and says that none of them have met before. Aside from, you know, the teammates themselves. Remember when that still happened, producers? Anyway, as the race begins by leaving New York for a country that isn't Namibia (jackasses), the colour-and-costume-coordinated "Team Guido" repeatedly annoy Frank by beating him and his almost-ex-wife to various airports on both sides of the Atlantic and on both sides of the Equator. Good work, Team Guido! Of course, these two teams, along with cabbie-stiffing and task-skipping lawyers Rob and Brennan, end up beating the last teams to the Pit Stop by over seven hours., so there's no excuse for his anger. Yet. Teams sort-of-but-not-really bungy jump and get wet at Victoria Falls before heading to a Zambian village, where many teams' understanding of the rules get scrambled along with their ostrich egg. In the end, a military couple has trouble with a map and is sent home. So that's why Osama is still on the run.

TIMELINE:

Leg Money: $90.00
Total Money: $90.00

Day One
Thursday, March 8th, 2001

Welcome to New York City, the "cornerstone of the world". Assuming you ignore Paris, London, Tittybong, N'djamena, Antarctica, New Joisey, and about a hundred and fifty other places. Phil "Quit Calling Me Probst, Dammit!" Keoghan opens the season standing atop Carnegie Hall Tower, by introducing the eleven teams to us. In order of the amount of time they will spend getting drunk at the after party when this thing wraps, they are:

Frank and Margarita, Separated Parents
Paul and Amie, Engaged
Kim and Leslie, Teachers & Roommates
Lenny and Karyn, Dating
Dave and Margaretta, Married Grandparents
Matt and Ana, Married
Joe and Bill, Life Partners
Pat and Brenda, Working Moms
Rob and Brennan, Lawyers & Best Friends
Nancy and Emily, Mother & Daughter (That Nancy can really store her liquids.)
Kevin and Drew, Fraternity Brothers

These teams are driven in a bus across the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park, the perfect place to represent a city where you are more likely to see someone's middle finger being raised at you than someone putting rubbish into a trashcan.

When Phil says go, teams run to their bags and read their first clue, which tells them to take one of three scheduled flights to Johannesburg, South Africa. All teams leave the park, determine that all the flights leave from JFK International Airport, and eventually get there, with Paul/Amie and Matt/Ana taking the subway, and all others taking taxis, at a cost of about $38, with or without a tip, Lawyers.

There, they sign up for their transatlantic flights as follows. The first flight, "Flight #1", is a direct flight on South African Air, and carries Joe/Bill, Frank/Margarita, Rob/Brennan, Pat/Brenda, and Lenny/Karyn. The second flight, "Flight B", on Swiss Air, connects in Zurich, and carries Kim/Leslie and Dave/Margaretta. The last flight, "Flight Ypsilon", is on Alitalia, connects in Milan, and carries Paul/Amie, Nancy/Emily, Kevin/Drew, and Matt/Ana.

Day Two
Friday March 9th, 2001

The eleven teams arrive in South Africa, and find their next clue, which tells them to get out of the country. To do this, teams will take a free provided taxi to Lanseria Airport, and sign up for a charter flight the next morning to a "mystery destination". Aside from the first five teams, the teams arrivals are not shown, but either Joe or Bill tells us that everybody arrived safely and they're all going to bed. G'Night, people! All teams spend the night (again, free) at the Shumba Valley Lodge, near Lanseria.

Day Three
Saturday March 10th, 2001

The teams take charters to a still-unnamed location as follows:

6:00am Charter: Joe/Bill, Frank/Margarita, Rob/Brennan
8:00am Charter: Pat/Brenda, Lenny/Karyn
10:00am Charter: Dave/Margaretta, Kim/Leslie
12:00am Charter: Paul/Amie, Nancy/Emily, Kevin/Drew, Matt/Ana

At some point, the teams are told that they are headed to Livingstone, Zambia. When their three-hour long flights land, teams find their clue sitting on top of the windshields of conveniently parked cars. It tells them to find the "smoke that thunders", then "walk the knife's edge". Sounds dangerous. But probably isn't. Teams are given the option of wasting $50, about what most teams have left, to hire a driver for the day. However, the drivers cannot navigate, so teams will be doing that for themselves. If they don't, they will be driving AND navigating. In either case, teams must first figure out that "the smoke that thunders" is Victoria Falls, whose local name, Mosi-Oa-Tunya, means "smoke that thunders", and that the Knife's Edge is a lookout point nearby, allowing teams to get wet from the spray.

Seven of the teams (everyone except Rob/Brennan, Lenny/Karyn, Paul/Amie, and Matt/Ana) hire drivers. Many of the teams are not shown arriving at the Knife's Edge (in fact, only Kevin/Drew are shown at the bridge itself).

The next clue directs teams to either drive and or navigate to Abseil Zambia, a company at the top of Batoka George... uh, Gorge, or to seek out this leg's

FAST FORWARD
Teams are given the clue "A watched BLANK never BLANKs" (No, it doesn't. Trust me.) and must work out the expression is "a watched POT never BOILs", before taking the words POT and BOIL, and deducing that the Fast Forward Pass [sic] is located at the Boiling Pot, near the base of Victoria Falls. Both Rob/Brennan and Dave/Margaretta attempt the Fast Forward, and Rob/Brennan win, allowing them to go straight to Songwe Village, the Pit Stop for this leg.

Meanwhile, the remaining teams arrive at Abseil Zambia:

2nd) Joe/Bill
3rd) Frank/Margarita
4th) Pat/Brenda
5th) Lenny/Karyn
6th) Kim/Leslie
7th) Dave/Margaretta
8th) Nancy/Emily
9th) Paul/Amie
10th) Matt/Ana
LAST) Kevin/Drew

And encounter their first:

AIR <--DETOUR--> LAND

Teams who select AIR will take a zipline across Batoka Gorge, then complete a canyon swing. All teams choose this option.

Teams who select LAND will hike down a long trail to the base of Batoka Gorge. No teams choose this option.

The teams finish:
2nd) Joe/Bill
3rd) Frank/Margarita
4th) Pat/Brenda
5th) Lenny/Karyn
6th) Kim/Leslie
7th) Dave/Margaretta
8th) Nancy/Emily
9th) Paul/Amie
10th) Matt/Ana
LAST) Kevin/Drew

At the base of the gorge, this clue is given: "Good work. Now drive yourself to Songwe Village. Warning: The last team to check in will be out of the race [sic]."

Teams arrive at Songwe Village:
2nd) Joe/Bill
3rd) Frank/Margarita
4th) Pat/Brenda
5th) Lenny/Karyn
6th) Kim/Leslie
7th) Dave/Margaretta
8th) Paul/Amie
9th) Nancy/Emily
10th) Kevin/Drew
LAST) Matt/Ana

And enocunter a:

R(/)ADBL(/)CK
teaser clue not revealed, as the task was edited out.

In this RoadBlock, the chosen team member must cook a bowlful of ostrich egg. Then, each team must eat the bowlful between them, before being allowed to check in at the nearby Pit Stop.

In many cases, people screw up, either by having both team members cooking, or by not cooking the egg at all. Based on the departure times for the next leg, I'd say the only teams who did not get penalised one way or another because of this task are Joe/Bill, Frank/Margarita, Lenny/Karyn, and Paul/Amie. And Rob/Brennan, who were able to skip the task completely.

After finishing the task, teams are allowed to check in at the nearby Pit Stop, where they arrive:
1st) Rob/Brennan
2nd) Joe/Bill
3rd) Frank/Margarita
4th) Lenny/Karyn
5th) Pat/Brenda
6th) Kim/Leslie
7th) Dave/Margaretta*
8th) Paul/Amie*
9th) Kevin/Drew
10th) Nancy/Emily
LAST) Matt/Ana, who are eliminated.

*Dave/Margaretta depart on the next leg after Paul/Amie with no televised explanation. See above for my interpretation.