Fake a marathon finish?

I'm soooo behind the times, I know, but my group of athletes is still talking about the Biggest Loser debacle with Dane, last week's kicked off contestant, who a few days later, was in a photo depicting him crossing the finish line of an Arizona marathon with his wife.

The apology and story that is coming out does not add up. How do you get picked up at mile 17 because you won't make the six hour cutoff, get dropped at mile 20, and be seen crossing the line at - what first appeared 3:53 because of shot lightbulbs - 5:53? There is no way going only 3 miles put you 7 minutes under the cutoff. You would need to be driven further.

When my husband and I watched last week's show, recorded on our trusty DVR, we were shocked - SHOCKED, I tell you - that he finished in 3:53. Man, did I feel like a total slow poke. Although we were both shocked and amazed, we attributed it to his past athletic prowess, and his wife's seemingly in shape body.

Nonetheless, it was actually 5:53. Whew. But, then you skip out on 3 miles and say you feel good about what you did because you went back and ran the other 3. How is that completing a marathon? Granted, that is remarkable that you did 26 miles in one whole day, but I can go run two half marathons, one in the morning and the other in the evening, and still not complete a marathon. And you're not going to give the medal back, and apologize because you don't know "runner's etiquette" but feel you accomplished something great and don't feel the need to be stripped of the medal (which by the way was given to him from the race director even though they knew he was driven 3 miles)???

Unfortunately, Dane was a cool guy, and I think he got cut early and for the wrong reason (it was obvious the blue team didn't know how to play the game - Dane will KEEP YOU FROM CUTTING ANY MORE TEAM MEMBERS!).

What NBC should have done, instead of the field producer worried about getting a shot before the race closed, was pay the race director a little extra moolah that NBC has lying around and keep the race open and keep the time rolling. And, couldn't special effects fill in the dots where the missing lightbulbs should have been so there wasn't a two-hour time confusion? I mean really...