The Bowling Moms were basically the first team to sort of slip into the Final Four. However, while they had five bottom finishes – including a non-elim and two second-to-last place placements – they did have a couple of good legs and finished strongly. They didn’t make a lot of terrible moves; they really just didn’t have the physicality to compete. I’d take them over Dandrew.

Season 6 – A weak year as far as I am concerned and the first real Dandrew comparison
Freddy/Kendra – a first, two seconds, and a third with mostly top half finishes
Jon/Kris – three first, three seconds and two third – and nothing below fourth ever. Another later win as well
Adam/Rebecca – one first, bottom half every other time, including the Leg 10 non-elim.
Hayden/Aaron – a first, three wins and a second, one bad non-elim leg

OK, Adam/Rebecca. Specifically, Adam. He is the best analogy to both Dan and Andrew so far. He always seemed to mess things up– remember the Fast Forward? The salt lake? The Ethiopian task? And they had the following placements:
Leg 1 – 7 out of 11
Leg 2 – 6 out of 10
Leg 3 – 5 out of 9
Leg 4 – 6 out of 8
Leg 5 – 6 out of 8
Leg 6 – 5 out of 7
Leg 7 – first
Leg 8 – 5 out of 6
Leg 9 – 4 out of 5
Leg 10 – 4 out of 4 – Non-elim

They managed to survive the final cut thanks to Rebecca’s last minute lock find. The worst finalist to this point, hands down.

– Another season dominated by a couple of teams presents us with the second real competition for Dandrew
Uchenna/Joyce – two firsts, a second and four thirds – and despite a bad late non-elim, a really gutsy finish
Rob/Amber – four wins, a second and three thirds – and ran into only one bad task…the last one.
Ron/Kelly – a first and five seconds after an almost early exit and a ninth leg non-elim.
Meredith/Gretchen – a surprising second place highlighted a lot of bottom finishes. The oldest Final Four team. Their record:
Leg 1 – 6 out of 11
Leg 2 – 7 out of 10
Leg 3 – 7 out of 9
Leg 4 – 7 out of 8
Leg 5 – 7 out of 7
Leg 6 – 5 out of 7
Leg 7 – 5 out of 6
Leg 8 – 4 out of 5
Leg 9 – 2 out of 4
Leg 10 – 4 out of 4 – eliminated

So, Meredith and Gretchen also have a list of poor finishes along the way to the Final Four. However, they do have a second place. They are much, much older than the college buddies. And Gretchen had her head cracked open halfway through the race. Meredith also had an injured foot that was never mentioned. Maybe this explains why she climbed on the elephant.

Season 8 – The much maligned Family Edition. It’s finalists really didn’t do too badly.
Linz – one win, five seconds, two thirds and this despite almost getting bounced in Leg 1
Bransen – three first, a second, two thirds and a non-elim
Weaver – a first, two second, three thirds and a non-elim
Godlewski – three first and a two thirds – and a non-elim before their Leg 10 exit

Really, for the infamously bad season the top four teams really deserved to be there. They all performed very well – even the wacky Weavers.

Season 9 – This season was dominated by two teams, with the truly dominant one losing in the end.
BJ/Tyler – three first, three second, and a third – and two non-elims. For all that they annoyed me; they did manage to overcome some classic gaffes – BJ forgetting to wear his shoes (sound familiar, Dan/Andrew).
Eric/Jeremy – five first, four seconds, only one fourth and then non-stop twos – one of the best teams in the history of the race
Ray/Yolanda – a first and three thirds
Joseph/Monica – three seconds and four thirds before their Leg 10 ousting

I would say that Ray and Yolanda could be an option because of so many middle and bottom of the pack finishes, but they did win a leg and have a few solid performances. They just got lost constantly. I’d put them behind The Bowling Moms in quality but still a better team than Dandrew, Adam/Rebecca and Meredith/Gretchen. Joseph/Monica was a bit better than you think as they were in the top half almost every leg.