My question: Are Andrew and Dan the worst team to get this far in the history of the Amazing Race?

I think they are, but it is worth taking a look.

Andrew and Dan so far –
Leg 1 – 7 out of 11
Leg 2 – 8 out of 10
Leg 3 – 7 out of 9
Leg 4 – 6 out of 8
Leg 5 – 6 out of 7
Leg 6 – 5 out of 6
Leg 7 – 5 out of 6
Leg 8 – 4 out of 5
Leg 9 – 4 out of 4 – not eliminated.
Leg 10 – 2 out of 4 – Qualify for the Final Three, thanks to unbelievable errors

So that means the BEST they did was beating out four teams in the first leg of the race and getting second place this week after Dallas lost all his money and passports. They have actually managed to cling to life – banking on either someone else screwing up worse. They had five consecutive weeks of either second to last or last place finishes. If you compare to their immediate peers – Ken/Tina have three first place finishes and two second place; Toni/Dallas had a win and four second place finishes; and Nick/Starr have won six legs.

However, they are still alive and if they keep getting insane amounts of luck – they could win the whole thing. What you must add on to their insane ineptitude is that they repeatedly do each task incorrectly.

They couldn’t churn the doohickey to make the fuel;
they couldn’t manage to iron anything, etc.
they not only voluntarily left their shoes at a task and switched detour options three times!

The last one was most egregious because Dan manages to figure out a way to fail at marching! Marching! This is just synchronized walking! You can train animals to do that. My two-year-old can march. The Italian Army can march! I think you can somehow figure out how to teach fish to march before Dan can get it right. Dan looked like Elaine Benes trying to dance. I think if you tried hard enough you could get February to March.

OK, I’m done.

So, how do they stack up against the other 12 seasons’ Final Four teams? If you haven’t watched the earlier seasons, then I would stop reading and go do spend some quality time with your family. I’ll see you on the next Top Chef.

Still here?

OK…Here is each season and how the Final Four did in the first 8 legs.

Season 1 – Arguably the strongest Final Four ever as each team managed to win legs.
Rob/Brennan – three wins, including the ninth leg, and five previous thirds. They also dominated the end of the race.
Frank/Margarita – two wins and four seconds.
Joe/Bill – one win and five second place finishes, but the ninth leg marked the ultimate error that killed them.
Kevin/Drew – three wins and a second place.

So no one here.

Season 2 – Again, each team won legs before giving us the best finish of all 12 seasons.
Chris/Alex – two wins and three second places, and a third, but endured a non-elim
Tara/Wil – a first, two second and five thirds
Blake/Paige – won their legs late and had a first, a second and a third place finish.
Oswald/Danny – win three of the first eight

Blake/Paige did manage to simply hang on, but other than losing their money and some other wacky behavior, they were somewhat strong. Perhaps they were 8th of the first eight Final Four, but they are superhuman compared to Dandrew and other candidates.

Season 3 – Not as good as the first two groups, but still a solid foursome in a lot of ways
Flo/Zach – had a win and four second place finishes in the first half of the season before Flo lost her mind in Leg 9 in their non-elimination. Zach’s awesomeness overcame Flo’s insanity in the end. Have either Andrew or Dan shown any of Zach’s mettle?
Teri/Ian – awful in the beginning, but came on to win a first and a third place later on and actually won two late legs as well.
Ken/Gerard – won three legs and had three seconds
Derek/Drew – won four legs and had a second and third after almost bowing out in the first leg.

Again, all four were better teams, albeit with a few more chinks in their armor.

Season 4 – Somewhat boring season, but still solid
Reichen/Chip – won Leg 9 and had four seconds and a third. They too struggled off the bat and later almost got eliminated in the Final Six.
Jon/Kelly – four third and one non-elim, won leg 10. Leg 9 was their awesome come-from-behind fourth place finish.
David/Jeff – also a bad start, but two wins and a third before a Leg 10 non-elim and a disastrous ending
Jon/Al – a first and four seconds and a third

Similar to Season Three and arguably worse, but apart from some near misses, all four performed well enough.