They ended up with four hours worth of penalties for using personal belongings to settle their taxi bill. Do you think it was fair, or was four hours too much?
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They ended up with four hours worth of penalties for using personal belongings to settle their taxi bill. Do you think it was fair, or was four hours too much?
Yes, it was fair. They pretty much had extra money in their hands by packing extraneous items. They should have just used the begging tactic. Who really cares about karma when you're racing in one of the most dirty and competitive races out there?
I think 2 hours per offense is alot, BUT, they knew the rules ahead of time. I'm sure they are given a rule book that they take with them, (which I wish I could see). Just like the sisters couldn't be checked in until they had their fanny pack with whatever Phil said they needed. Rules are rules people, you need to follow them!!!
They knew what the rules were, that seemed obvious by the interaction with Phil, it was a concious choice they made. They could have left their belongings behind but chose not to do so. The sisters couldn't since they didn't have their travel documents and consequently were assigned their own time penalty of the travel time to and fro to gather the stuff they had to have.
eta: there must be different time penalties assessed for different things. In Rob and Amber's season Rob clearly knew he would be assessed a 4 hour time penalty for not finishing his task. He chose to take the risk and convinced others to do the same.
You would have thought after the penalties last time on the show, they would have learned to follow the rules. So maybe it was that big a penalty because it was the second time they ran afoul of the rule book.
I think the penalty was quite justified because of the nature of the offense. If I know pawning off personal belongings would only cost me 30 minutes it would be at times worth taking the 30 minute hit and doing the illegal thing. 30 minutes is a very short time frame in this race, especially when you're waiting for someone to hit the mat that's stuck in an hours worth of traffic. If you quickly take the 30 minute hit it still gives you a great advantage in the race, but a 2 hour penalty will make them think twice and likely decide against commiting the infraction.
I think that they were and were not fair. If tampering with a Roadblock or Detour only gets you 30 minutes, then it should be 1 hour per case and not 2. I think that 2 hours for the personal belongings was a bit excessive, but rules are rules.
As far as other penalties go, one of the most common ones (the one that killed Heather and Eve) is driving somewhere that it says to walk-that case is 30 minutes plus however much time you gained. I believe Reichen and Chip got one of those penalties as well. Going over the speed limit has resulted in penalties. Not doing a Roadblock is 4 hours, and there have been other cases in which teams chose not to do it-the best known case was in TARA 1, episode 3, when teams had to dig for a little surfboard-most teams took the penalty. Not doing a detour is a 24-hour penalty, and it only has ever happened, at least I think so, to Nancy and Emily.
I didn't think it was not fair at all. 30 minutes per offense would have been enough. This must be a new rule for this season because I've never seen this penalty in season's past.
But, have we ever had a team that committed two transgressions in the same leg of the race before? :shrugQuote:
Originally Posted by harleyswife;3414755;
I think 4 hours may have been a bit much, even if penalizing them was fair (which I think it was). I don't know about 30 minutes a piece, though. Most penalties are 1 hour, so why not one hour a piece? :shrug
The hour sounds more than fair. I'm still guessing that they wanted to make such an infraction so severe that they would discourage any team from chancing it. Even an hour difference between check in times is very common. The two hour infraction just may be a game-loser, and so very few people would take the chance. It would change the face of the game if the racers started to trade goods from home. There would be no end to the contraband you can take to another country that means little to the racers but would be very valuable in trade in some countries. I think this example likely discouraged any future racers from trading items not purchased on the race. They had to have been warned about this rule, as the brothers didn't seem surprised at all. I'm wondering if the length of the penalty would have been an issue with fans had the brothers only committed the single infraction. Two hour penalty-leaving them about 70 minutes behind the sisters. Not so bad, especially if the flight times allow for an equalizer to occur. Some penalties are so severe, like not completing a roadblock, that you may only see it happen once or twice during the lifetime of this series.Quote:
Originally Posted by lobeck;3415031;