Since last night’s season finale of The Amazing Race aired, one of the most popular topics of discussion buzzing around the internet is whether Dan and Jordan cheated in their move from coach to first class on the flight from China to San Francisco. The verdict’s in and it seems the team didn’t break any rules.
As its fairly widely known among Amazing Race viewers that contestants must fly coach class to their destinations, seeing brothers Dan and Jordan get a big lead early on in the race after finagling their way up to First Class and thus, getting to exit the plane much sooner than the other two teams was sure to irritated viewers. It didn’t help that many fans weren’t crossing their fingers that the two brothers would win. (Let’s face it, if Jet and Cord had thought to make that move, a lot of us would’ve been cheering them on). But did they deserve a penalty for what they did?
E! Online’s Kristin Dos Santos checked in with CBS on the matter and their ruling is that the two men were within the rules as they didn’t purchase the First Class tickets: “As long as Amazing Race teams purchase a coach ticket, a network representative confirmed to us today, they are absolutely allowed to upgrade to first or business class.”
So they talked their way up to First Class, which is apparently kosher as far as the rules go and you have to admit, it was a smooth move as it gave them a lead they never lost (though the cowboys did come pretty close to catching up with them in the end). I know I’m not alone in wanting Jet and Cord to win and given the lame line-cutting prior to the controversial class-bump on the plane, it would’ve been poetic justice if the cowboys had managed to slip past the brothers in the final moments but that’s just not how it went down.
I am curious as to why CBS opted not to show any of the footage of Jordan and Dan sweet-talking the flight attendant to score better seats. Was that the airline’s call? Perhaps the flight attendant in question refused to sign the form to let the show show them on TV or maybe the producers decided that a brief recap of how the brothers made it to the front of the plane was sufficient. Regardless, not showing the footage does give the maneuver a stinky odor (which may just be the lingering aroma leftover from the line-cutting shown earlier).
