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General => Movies and TV => Topic started by: Sir GuitarCozmo on October 11, 2012, 11:34:32 AM
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So that we don't eat up the Survivor thread with Amazing Race discussion. DISCUSS!!
It's pretty early on, but there are already a few teams I like. I'm obviously on board for James and Abba to win. Natalie and Nadiya are already getting on my nerves. STFU!! I like Gary and Will. They're genuine nice guys that I'd like to see do well. Jaymes and James seem really dense, for some reason. Kelley's all right, Rob's a little irritating. That's all I've come up with thus far, I think.
I was a little irritated that in the 1st episode, Amy and Daniel helped Abbie and Ryan out, then A&R passed them to come in first, though it matters little, since A&D got cut in the 2nd leg.
I never followed this show from the beginning, but apparently it's a hollow shell of its former self. From what I gather it was better in every way, years ago, especially in the area of roadblocks and detours. Now, some of them are fairly mindless tasks. I'd LOVE to see some more action and some more serious challenge at R's and D's. Either way though, I still dig it.
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The task this week with the bull racing was completely pointless. Could you fail the task? It was busy work. I know it wasn't a proper challenge, but it was still a waste of time.
And obviously I too am going for James and Abba. And I wanted the cyborg chick to do better too. Shame to see that team go.
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That goes right back to what I was saying about the lack of actual challenge in some of these tasks. However, had they had to actually win, they'd have been there all day.
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The proper challenges had some difficulty, although I just didn't find them that interesting this week. They can't have found them too interesting either, since they seemed to edit over a lot of the last challenge before the check-in. All at once they just showed the first 5 teams arriving.
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I found that odd as well, though I thought the ice challenge was kind of interesting. The fish challenge, not so much.
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There's always that one challenge that only one team will do, and often it backfires in their face. I knew the fish one would be the one that only one team would do. I was kinda hoping it would backfire.
I didn't mind the ice challenge, at least what they showed of it. The fact that breaking the ice wasn't really a penalty kind of took away from it, since everyone was breaking it.
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I haven't followed the show in years (don't really watch much TV anymore) but it was a pretty fun show to watch, since I love travelling.
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Even better now that it's filmed in HD.
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I havent watched this in 6 years. It was one of the best reality game shows I've seen.
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I've been watching it since about 2005 and have loved it, for the fast-paced nature of the game, the travel aspect, as MM mentioned, and the lack of real social game aspects, like are found in Survivor or Big Brother. While I like that aspect in those shows, it's interesting to see a show like TAR that is mostly devoid of that.
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Seriously? SERIOUSLY? You're going to bitch on public television that you can't believe somebody who lives in Indonesia doesn't speak English? Are you fucking kidding me? Good riddance, you moron. I just cannot even fathom how completely out of touch you would have to be to say something like that.
I don't know what is up with Gary and Will, but those guys have dodged so many bullets, it's like they're battling Stormtroopers. I cannot imagine they're going to stick around much longer. Due to complete dumb luck by Caitlin and Brittany, Gary and will did BOTH halves of the detour and still beat them there. ONLY because C&B ended up at the egg challenge and their driver went the wrong way. So incompetent drivers strike again. That has probably accounted for MORE people being eliminated than anything else. Bad drivers. In this instance, however, the "doesn't speak English" thing irritated me enough that I'm glad they're gone. Go be a loser in America, where they speak your language.
Meanwhile, I think James and Abba'a "do our own thing" tactic could be a little tooo alienating. If they would've conversed with the others on the train and tried to make nice, it might've endeared them to the others a little, making them less of a potential target for U-Turns in the future.
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. Jaymes and James seem really dense, for some reason.
They're Metalheads what do you expect :metal
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The two Indian chicks are getting on my nerves. They are almost exactly like the two girls eliminated last night, they openly berate the people in the country and are just plain loud.
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. Jaymes and James seem really dense, for some reason.
They're Metalheads what do you expect :metal
No, that's James and Abba. James and Jaymes are the two tall blond Chippendales guys.
The two Indian chicks are getting on my nerves. They are almost exactly like the two girls eliminated last night, they openly berate the people in the country and are just plain loud.
The loud and obnoxious thing irritates me big time. They do it constantly.
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Whenever I see James and Abba, I always think Rob Zombie is racing. I like those two and hope they go far.
Another thing on the Indian chicks, I wonder if the season will go to India. I'm curious if they know the language at all
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Dhaka, Bangladesh next week. They grew up in Sri Lanka. I assume the language is probably similar?
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They might be. We'll have to see, it'd definitely give them the edge for the week.
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Finally watched this week's episode. Not too happy with the results. I'm glad the metal dudes caught up a bit, although as Coz said, they shouldn't stick to themselves so much. I expected they were going to get U turned, although luckily the other teams were smart enough to realize that it wasn't necessary for the front pack, and would have worked against them in the long run.
I wasn't happy that the generic couples came first and second. :tdwn :tdwn Every season they have the forgettable and dull couples who you can never remember. Bleh.
It was a shame to see the chicks go only because of a crap driver, especially considering how terrible those teachers are. They'll be gone next week most likely.
And I like the Indian chicks. Everyone else finds them annoying (which I completely understand), but I think they're hilarious.
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And James and Abba nail the fast forward. Killer. They now have a huge lead, time-wise on everybody else.
Until the standard bullshit equalizer of everyone getting to the airport and having to wait on a flight, basically nullifying ANY ADVANTAGE WHATSOEVER to coming in first.
No surprise that Gary and Will continued to move at a snail's pace and end up dead last. They are terrible at just about everything they've had to do.
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Until the standard bullshit equalizer of everyone getting to the airport and having to wait on a flight, basically nullifying ANY ADVANTAGE WHATSOEVER to coming in first.
I hate this also. They also use the standard "this area/challenge doesn't open until XXX time tomorrow". I know it would kill a season, but just once I want to see a team get so far ahead that they aren't even in the same country as the others anymore. But I guess Phil wouldn't be able to be in two different places for the pit stops.
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I thought this was a thread about white people.
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And James and Abba nail the fast forward. Killer. They now have a huge lead, time-wise on everybody else.
Until the standard bullshit equalizer of everyone getting to the airport and having to wait on a flight, basically nullifying ANY ADVANTAGE WHATSOEVER to coming in first.
No surprise that Gary and Will continued to move at a snail's pace and end up dead last. They are terrible at just about everything they've had to do.
Those guys were in such self denial about how terrible they were. :lol They were bragging about their "comeback" last week. They didn't make a comeback at all. There just happened to be one team who had such a shitty driver that they lost all of their time. I'm glad those teachers finally went. And I was very glad to see the generic couples knocked back a bit.
And I was thrilled to see the rock dudes grab first this week. :metal
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Rock dudes in first place again! :metal It's been a couple of weeks since they had a plane ride to equalize the playing field, so they kept their first place lead of a couple of hours from last week's shortcut. No slip-ups from them this leg.
Suck shit to the generic couple being cut up about getting second place. Deal with it.
And the Indian chicks were hilarious again this week. If the rock dudes go, they're my next choice for first place.
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still need to watch last week's episode and the latest one. Last week the DVR only got about half of it thanks to the Pats/Jets game going to overtime.
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Fucking football always fucking up TV schedules. FUCK YOU, NFL!
Yeah, glad to see James and Abba doing well. The Sri Lankan chicks are irritating as hell. STFU!! I chuckled at the end when they told the chick at the mat they were from Sri Lanka. I imagined she's thinking "Awesome, you're from a completely different country that's at LEAST 1,300 miles away!"
The scale challenge looked pretty in-depth. Real easy to screw that one up.
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Okay, fuck those Sri Lankan chicks. Fuck 'em. Period. I already didn't like them, but now I am really pissed. That's bullshit.
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Had to catch up on the last two episodes.
I'm pissed off that generic couple A came first 2 weeks in a row. That chick's face needs to go, because it's offensive to the optic sensors.
And I'm not happy about the rock dudes losing their passports. I never like when things come down to the taxi driver, such as driving off with their gear, or not knowing where they're driving to. I like teams to win or lose based on their ability to do the challenges, and to play the game to get ahead.
Even though it's continued next week, I'm pretty sure the rock dudes can't come back from that. The preview didn't give away a lot, but it did reveal that generic couple B stays in it (which already disappoints me greatly), so that means either the rock dudes go, or that generic couple B beats the goat farmers in a footrace to the finish, and the goat farmers go.
I don't know how far ahead the rock dudes are, but unless they get really lucky, we're talking needle in a haystack here.
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Had to catch up on the last two episodes.
I'm pissed off that generic couple A came first 2 weeks in a row. That chick's face needs to go, because it's offensive to the optic sensors.
And I'm not happy about the rock dudes losing their passports. I never like when things come down to the taxi driver, such as driving off with their gear, or not knowing where they're driving to. I like teams to win or lose based on their ability to do the challenges, and to play the game to get ahead.
Even though it's continued next week, I'm pretty sure the rock dudes can't come back from that. The preview didn't give away a lot, but it did reveal that generic couple B stays in it (which already disappoints me greatly), so that means either the rock dudes go, or that generic couple B beats the goat farmers in a footrace to the finish, and the goat farmers go.
I don't know how far ahead the rock dudes are, but unless they get really lucky, we're talking needle in a haystack here.
Yeah, she's slightly butter-facey, for sure. Generic couple B are the ones that won the first leg.
Yeah, I don't know how they'll come back from it at all, but I would presume that even though it's a big city, there's probably some sort of parent cab company. Find someone who speaks English and Russian and have them call the taxi company(s), at the very least. Otherwise, yeah, they're pretty much fucked. This happened to a couple a few seasons ago. The camera zoomed in on their fanny pack, still on the taxi's floor board, then watched it drive away. I get that the whole point is keep an eye on your shit, but if you KNOW the taxi is leaving with a team's stuff, to film it leaving and not say anything is not cool.
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It must be hard for the camera people to let these things pass, but of course they have to. They'd get in shit for interfering with the game like that. I'm surprised the contestants don't notice the cameras focusing on certain things like that when it happens. Maybe it's not as obvious as it seems though when you're there in the moment.
I would love for them to overcome something like that, especially after also overcoming leaving their money behind and having it stolen last episode, but I'm accepting that they're basically gone at this point.
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I agree that the cameramen shouldn't do anything about it. They aren't there to be part of the race, just to document what the racers are doing. It's the team's responsibility for their crap.
But I guarantee that more times than not when something like this happens, the show directors stage a recreation of the item being lost so they can make the show more dramatic. I bet the cameramen miss it the first time too.
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Dammit. I really hoped beyond hope that they'd pull out a miracle, but no such luck. Major bummer to go out like that.
Not even sure who I'd root for at this point. Possibly James and Jaymes. Those guys are a shit ton of fun and nice guys.
I liked the time zone challenge last night and how Ryan was all "I got this!" then he fucked it up repeatedy. When he finally got it and the instructor was laughing at what an idiot he'd been, it was fucking gold. :rollin
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Finally caught up on the last two weeks. I wish it hadn't trailed on with a non elimination leg, because it was obvious they weren't going to find their passports, and even if they did, they had no chance of catching up. :(
And this week's episode could not have gone better. I'm going for the Indian chicks now, and they came first quite convincingly. And generic couple A came last and finally went! :victorydance: Suck it.
Now I just hope that generic couple B loses so I don't have to see that chick's offensive head anymore. I would be so relieved to not even see a generic couple make it to the final.
edit: Oh yeah, and I forget to mention - who the hell gets tripped up on time zones?! I can't believe that anyone made that mistake in that Moscow time difference challenge. :facepalm:
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I was pretty disappointed to see James and Abba go out that way. Fucking sucks to go out on a technicality like that.
Natalie and Nadgonnashaddup have gotten on my last nerve for weeks. Generally it's 5 of us watching it and we've all been actively rooting for them to get eliminated. Abbie and Ryan I wouldn't have minded seeing win. But yeah, Trey and Lexi are a no for me. I'm hoping to see James and Jaymes win it still.
I thought the time zone challenge was pretty interesting. It's possible that Americans are self-absorbed enough that it would never occur to them to have to understand time zones beyond the following:
Okay, it's 8 here on the east coast, so CT=7, MT=6, and PT=5.
When Ryan finally got it and was like "I'M SUCH AN IDIOT!", it was damn funny. Good stuff.
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James and Jaymes would be my second choice to win. Basically, as long as it's not generic couple A, I'll be content.
And again, it does suck to see people go on a technicality. The rockers were doing really well that leg, and through no fault of their own, they lose. I like teams to lose based on how well they do in challenges, not based on whose taxi driver screws them over the least.
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Exactly and often times that's what happens. You unluckily picked the wrong taxi driver and you got screwed through no real fault of your own. Those kinds of eliminations suck. Also, I really hate the U-Turn. I realize that there's the advantage to it for those ahead, but it just feels bad to see people use it. I'm always proud of those who have the chance to use it and don't.
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For the most part I agree with you on the U-turn, although tonight I thought it was used very cleverly to take out a team, and I loved it.
A lot of the time teams don't use it unless they're really desperate though.
There were the nerdy dudes a few seasons ago who got eliminated because they lost their passports too, and I liked those guys. Luckily they came back in another season and got another shot.
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I have NO IDEA how Josh and Brent keep getting by. They got MAJORLY lucky to have encountered such a field leveling equalizer, only to turn around and get lost again right away, once they started driving. Anyway, Josh pulling off that tennis challenge with a fucked up ankle? Pretty amazing. Reminded me of last season, with Vanessa running on the treadmill with an even MORE fucked up ankle. It hurt just watching her go through that, but she toughed it the fuck out and nailed it. I don't think I was ever happier to see someone complete a roadblock.
I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Nadiya and Natalie weren't going home. Brent and Josh will shoot themselves in the foot again next week and end up 4th.
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Reminded me of last season, with Vanessa running on the treadmill with an even MORE fucked up ankle. It hurt just watching her go through that, but she toughed it the fuck out and nailed it. I don't think I was ever happier to see someone complete a roadblock.
no doubt. She toughed that one out for sure.
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I have NO IDEA how Josh and Brent keep getting by. They got MAJORLY lucky to have encountered such a field leveling equalizer, only to turn around and get lost again right away, once they started driving. Anyway, Josh pulling off that tennis challenge with a fucked up ankle? Pretty amazing. Reminded me of last season, with Vanessa running on the treadmill with an even MORE fucked up ankle. It hurt just watching her go through that, but she toughed it the fuck out and nailed it. I don't think I was ever happier to see someone complete a roadblock.
I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Nadiya and Natalie weren't going home. Brent and Josh will shoot themselves in the foot again next week and end up 4th.
I have no idea how Josh and Brent are still in it. They've been one of the worse teams, yet somehow have stayed in it far beyond their abilities. They'll surely be gone next week though. They're nowhere near as good as the other teams.
And I was so happy it was a non elimination round. I want Nadiya and Natalie to win it, if not then the Chippendale dudes. They're good guys who deserve it.
But if generic couple A wins, I'm going to rage.
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I'm sorry, but I damn near rage every time Natalie and Nadiya show up on the screen. They just irritate the living shit out of me. I think part of it is the CONSTANT blathering going on, no matter where they're at or what they're doing. Constantly yelling or blahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblah the whole way through a Roadblock or Detour.
I'm with you on generic couple A. GTFO. I'm hoping for a J+J win.
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Well at least we'll both be happy with a Jaymes/James win.
But we'll have to agree to disagree on Nadiya and Natalie. I love them. They're always making hilarious calls, have great self awareness, and are a tough team.
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I wasn't too happy seeing the goat farmers win (they've been losers the whole way), but it wasn't the generic couple, so I'll take that as a consolation. And James/Jaymes won the cars, so that was great. :tup
It was sad to see the Indian chicks go at the final 4, but as usual they did it in style.
Hopefully next season has some good teams. I enjoyed keeping up with this one, guys!
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It was kinda WTF to see them lose horribly all fucking season, then get lucky enough to move ahead at the last second. The ONLY reason they ended up winning was because of an equalizer a couple weeks ago that allowed them to catch up with other teams that were already 10 hours ahead of them. The got majorly lucky. I would've preferred to see Jaymes and James win, but whatever. Glad they got the cars.
Indeed. The only thing is that this show is a little more difficult to discuss than Survivor, where you get a lot more character development. It's a much more interpersonal game than Amazing Race.
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True. This is more like "I like team A. Challenge was bad." But at least it's something more to discuss. :lol
Just a couple more months until the next season though. :tup
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Spoilers for next season's cast. Doesn't sound very promising:
https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/the_amazing_race_22/2012_Dec_09_cast-location-spoilers
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Nothing that really sparks my interest, but I'll wait until there's something official before I judge. For me the whole show hinges on the teams.
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Indeed, and hopefully the teams will surprise me and be worth a damn.
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I'm really not that hard to please. Just give me a good bunch of cool minority teams to go for that I can easily summarize for discussion purposes, and a team or two of hot chicks who are kinda hard to tell apart at a glance but on closer inspection you realize that only one of them is hot, and the other one is kinda brutal, when when you take them as a package deal, it averages out to pretty good.
Like the redheads. There was the hot one that was in Playboy, and then there was the not so great one, but when you take them together, they still averaged out to a team of hot redheads. Good times.
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:tup
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Sunday, new premiere of Amazing Race. Info on the cast and a new twist:
https://www.examiner.com/article/the-amazing-race-2013-season-22-cast-and-new-twist-revealed
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And The Amazing Race too? We're spoiled.
Can't say the teams looked all that exciting at this point. Why must they always include so damn many generic couples? Even after a whole season, I can never tell them apart.
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I know it, but there's good in that also. You can, it would seem, more objectively find someone to cheer on, based on their merits. As opposed to the fact that they're celebrities.
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I just want some distinctive teams that are going to have some personality. When they're generic couple A/B/C, you know there's no chance of any personality there. They're just dead weight in team choices.
Every other team is always in with a chance of me rooting for them once I actually see the show. Plenty of potential there. But I love it when they have some out of the ordinary choices, like the stunt midgets, or the deaf guy and his mother. I don't like genericons. They haven't had great challenges lately, so at least choose some teams I want to win.
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Yeah, challenges HAVE been fairly lame lately. I remember seeing challenges that left people so physically drained that they almost couldn't finish them. Then there was the one where they had to do a carnival style "hit the thing with a huge sledgehammer and ring the bell" kinda challenge to proceed. Well, the last two teams on that leg were two guys and two scrawny chicks. There was NO WAY the chicks would be able to muster the strength to hit the target hard enough to ring the bell. That kinda wasn't cool.
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One of my favourites was a literal needle in the haystack challenge, which I believe they did a couple of times.
I love the kind of challenge that can either take them 15 minutes with skill and a bit of luck, or could take them all day if they get frustrated and tired.
Now the challenges just feel like formalities to pad up time inbetween taxi rides. The result is more likely to come down to simply who got the shit taxi driver. If the challenges took a bit more time and skill, it would help minimize that issue, and also keep the players who have earned their way, instead of luck of the draw.
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Oh, God yes. Bad taxi drivers/unfamiliarity with reading a road map are the majrity of reasons teams lose anymore. The speedbump the Beekman guys had to do last season? Go here, get an ice cream cone, wait for the vendor to f*ck with you some, then eat it.
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That was barely a punishment at all, even taking into account the fact they initially went to the wrong ice cream vendor. :lol
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Reminder - premiere just started!
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Ahh. Amazing Race.
How sweet the sound.
:hat
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I was particularly turned off by what a bunch of losers we ended up with at the end of this episode. Pathetic.
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Haven't been following this season, so I have little to add. Just wanted to post and show my support for the forum race-ists.
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Fortunately, it JUST started on Sunday night, so there's still plenty of time to start following. Same with Survivor, tonight is the 2nd episode.
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I forgot to reply to this thread after seeing the new episode!
I was particularly turned off by what a bunch of losers we ended up with at the end of this episode. Pathetic.
Me too. What a bunch of sorry losers to basically give up on the first leg. I'm glad one of those loser teams was generic couple A, because that penalty is carrying over to next week. Good luck with that, idiots. I can tell you're real fighters.
Pissed off that generic couple B came first. Can't say there are any teams I particularly care about at this stage. But the challenges were an improvement. The sandcastle one was the kind of challenge I discussed earlier, that could take you 5 minutes, or 5 hours.
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Geez, what a bunch of loser teams they chose this time! There is not a single team that I particularly like, or want to win at this point.
In the very first episode we have a group of teams give up and take a 4 hour penalty on a challenge that involves making sandcastles. Smart move, especially when it ends up being no plane trip to equalize the field on the next leg. First episode, and they already have that many quitters.
Then this week we have the doctors so close to giving up on the water challenge before even attempting it, and the older guy wrecks his foot running to the finish.
I'm guessing that next week the father/son team is gone. They'll either attempt it and run last because of the injury, or they'll just have to pull out making for an obvious outcome.
At least the challenges have been continued to be good. Neither of those swimming challenges seemed like a much easier alternative, and I liked the stilts one.
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As soon as the brothers suggested taking the penalty, I about shit. I was seriously irritated. Glad they stuck it out and did the challenge, even if they did come in last. So yeah, challenges have been cool and I can't say I'd have fared any better in the underwater challenges. This is where teamwork comes in handy. If Mrs. C. and I were doing this, she swims like a fish, so she'd have had no problems with going down for the shells. Like the one team did. One went for shells while the other stayed on and opened them.
I was quite surprised that for such a serious injury as the dad had, that he was able to stay as composed as he did standing there on the mat. Damn. But yeah, they're probably gonna be out next week, it seems.
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Are you going for anyone at this stage, Coz?
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Not really, yet. I actually was kinda rooting for the doctor brothers, but that clearly didn't work out. David and Connor would've been another choice for me, but I'm pretty sure they're not going to come back from that injury. So very possibly Chuck and Wynona would be a next choice for me.
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I like Chuck just because of his epic mullet, so if I was going for anyone it would be them. They don't seem like the kind of team that will last very long though, tbh.
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Kinda what I'm thinking. Did you see when they were trying to get back on the boat, as his wife was trying to climb in, he basically grabbed her by the ass and pulled her up into the boat? I was chuckling about it, because it came off looking really kinda odd.
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I must have missed that, although her run to the checkpoint was quite pitiful. :lol
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Kinda what I'm thinking. Did you see when they were trying to get back on the boat, as his wife was trying to climb in, he basically grabbed her by the ass and pulled her up into the boat? I was chuckling about it, because it came off looking really kinda odd.
that was hilarious. It looked like he was pulling a large tuna into the boat!
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Even funnier was the fact that it didn't look like she was doing much to help herself. She just slide face down onto the deck. :lol
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I really didn't expect the father/son team to keep going with crutches, so I admire them for giving it a shot.
Sure, they skipped a challenge (and it was a smart move to offload the express pass to a team you know isn't going much further), and the dad didn't have to do the individual challenge, but the fact they kept marching on without any complaints was great to watch.
I didn't expect a continued leg this early in the race, as they usually pull those out later in the game, so we'll see how they do next round.
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My wife's cousin won the amazing race one season.
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Yeah? Who was it? That's pretty cool.
Also, yeah, I was surprised at the father/son. Really good guys and everyone seems to really like them. I don't know how much longer they can keep this up. They're going to have to drop out at some point, if they don't come in last.
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Yeah? Who was it? That's pretty cool.
Also, yeah, I was surprised at the father/son. Really good guys and everyone seems to really like them. I don't know how much longer they can keep this up. They're going to have to drop out at some point, if they don't come in last.
Tyler Denk.
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That was (I think) the first season I watched TAR, so it's tough to remember. Looking at the cast, they're all vaguely familiar. I'm sure he had some amazing (pardon the pun) stories.
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Yeah? Who was it? That's pretty cool.
Also, yeah, I was surprised at the father/son. Really good guys and everyone seems to really like them. I don't know how much longer they can keep this up. They're going to have to drop out at some point, if they don't come in last.
Considering they're currently first, they may last another episode. It really comes down to the challenges.
They got lucky in this episode to have the express pass, because fishing is the kind of challenge that could potentially have taken forever. And they came to a situation where they simply couldn't do a challenge because of the ankle disability. What about if they come to one where both challenges are ruled out? Could they have done the swimming challenges like that? What about the skydiving one? Who knows what else is in store.
And there's only so long the son can do the individual challenges. At some point, the father has to make up even numbers there. Is his ankle going to heal while racing flat out every day? Unlikely. He's going to have to pull out for his own safety at some point.
I'd be surprised if they don't come to a challenge soon that the show simply can't and won't let them do. But I hope they can hold on longer, because it's by far the most interesting thing to happen this season, and it's a hell of an obstacle to overcome. That's something I wanna see.
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It's one of the most interesting things to happen in many seasons, honestly. You don't want to see the guy hurt himself further, but at the same time, I cannot help but cheer the guy on. The way he was skipping around on those crutches like that says the guy must have some serious upper body strength.
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It's one of the most interesting things to happen in many seasons, honestly. You don't want to see the guy hurt himself further, but at the same time, I cannot help but cheer the guy on. The way he was skipping around on those crutches like that says the guy must have some serious upper body strength.
The guy was flying on those crutches like a boss. He didn't complain, he just kept going with the belief he could do it. If they'd come in first place without the express pass, then I would have been really impressed. I think this is the most interesting aspect of every week they manage to survive. It's just a matter of luck with the challenges. I don't think his ankle will heal too well during the race, so they'd have to fight through every challenge just as hard until the very end.
I basically assumed they were gone this week. I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong. I still feel exactly the same about next episode, and I hope to be pleasantly surprised yet again.
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And they survive another week with another first place. That express pass really put them in a good position to hold on. By the looks of the preview, I don't get the feeling they're leaving next week either.
And WOOOOOOOOOOO generic team B is out! What a bunch of losers, coming in last with an express pass still in hand. :lol So glad I'll never have to see that idiot's spiked hair again. It was offensive.
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Yeah, just unreal that they've come in first AGAIN. And bye-bye generic couple B. I had nothing against them, except that 1) they were slightly douchey abot who to give the second express pass to, despite the deal they'd made, they were kinda waffling about giving it to Dave and Connor and 2) John's inability to just put his pride aside and use the damned thing. She was PISSED. You could tell she was trying to put on a nice face, but was seriously pissed off inside and he was all "Well, no big deal, we tried, it was out of our hands." Um, no dipshit, it was totally in your hands. You could still be in the race if you'd have used the express pass. But whatever, I like Chuck and Wynona. I had to chuckle when he crawled through the opening and ran along the beach, completely clueless as to where he was going.
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I'm glad to see Chuck stay too. His epic mullet deserves to be seen.
But yeah, I have no sympathy for the couple coming last. To leave the game with the express pass and then be like "oh well, I don't need a million dollars" is such a loser attitude. Even the host looked stunned by their loss under those circumstances. Entirely their own fault.
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It's like getting voted out with an immunity idol in your pocket. Completely unnecessary, though in with Survivor, you never know for sure if you need to use it or not. Here, they knew that after switching tasks that they were well behind the others and should've used the EP to go ahead.
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This is definitely much worse than leaving Survivor with an immunity idol, which was an obvious first thought for me too. In Survivor you can get blind-sided and get voted out without knowing. In The Amazing Race, you are seeing your opponents overtake you, and there comes a point where you realize that you're most likely last.
It was just pride, plain and simple. The dude didn't want to "waste" it on such a theoretically easy and quick challenge, then didn't have the humility to just cut his losses and stay in the game. There was no achievement in losing when you literally have the option.
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She wanted to knock that nonchalant "Oh well" look right off his face.
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I admire her composure, because I bet she was pissed. I expected her to interrupt him mid speech and give him hell.
It was extra hilarious considering he made the point earlier in the episode about how detail oriented he was to the point of being anal, more so than her, and yet it took him over an hour to pick out the right board with something they'd seen.
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I know, but honestly, I'm not sure if I'd have figured out what to look for either, though I'd like to think it would have stood out to me.
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I assure you I would not have gotten it any quicker than him. I suck at that kind of memory thing.
But I also assure you that at some point in that hour, I would have definitely realized "fuck it, I'm no good at this and I don't want to lose" and would have used the express pass sitting in my pocket. :lol
I won't blame the guy for being bad at a particular challenge when I couldn't have done any better, but his attitude throughout the whole thing made him a fool.
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ha, the most boneheaded move I've seen on this show yet. They had to know they were near the back of the pack when the decided to switch tasks. That is when you use the express pass! It is for that exact situation!!
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Exactly. No explanation for it other than bone-headed pride.
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when Chuck & Wynona were getting into their canoe, all the unintentional double entendres were hilarious. The wife and I had to pause the show to catch our breath from laughing.
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when Chuck & Wynona were getting into their canoe, all the unintentional double entendres were hilarious. The wife and I had to pause the show to catch our breath from laughing.
I recall laughing at the one about spreading her legs. :lol
I was so disappointed that generic couple A stayed in when they were so close to losing. Never underestimate another team's ability to suck!
I just do not care about a single team this season at all. Aside from the generic couple, I could not care less who gets eliminated each week, or who wins. They really need to step up their casting, because it's been steadily downhill for several seasons now.
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Pam and Winnie majorly screwed themselves. Also, Katie (with the doctorate) - it's no wonder in the first episode that they said they don't have many friends. That chick is a major pain in the ass.
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You know you're in trouble when you switch challenges TWICE. I can't recall ever seeing that done before. Even switching once is often a death wish.
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I recall laughing at the one about spreading her legs. :lol
he also said something like "slide your hand farther up the pole and push harder". :rollin There were a couple more I think.
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I'm actually kinda glad that Chuck and Wynona are gone. She's useless. Damn near all she did the entire time was whine and complain about how difficult this or that was, whine about having to run to get ahead, or whatever. It got irritating really quickly. I recognize the fact that they're the oldest team on the race and that some of it IS probably hard, but it was ALL THE TIME with her. Have they NEVER actually WATCHED Amazing Race before? It's a lot of work.
Plus I always got a little weirded out the way he would grip her chin when kissing her. It just felt like a very "I'm in control" kinda move. Just odd.
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Yeah, that was always little creepy and forced. Even though she was dead weight, he was a bit of a dick to her all episode.
And I still couldn't care less who wins or loses this season (aside from generic couple A). The casting has really let down this season. Bunch of loser teams with no personality, or just plain annoying.
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Wynona needed to be put out of her misery.
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Every week, the continuous complaining was getting irritating. How many times did we see Chuck running with BOTH of their packs? Plenty.
Yeah, he was being a bit of a dick last night, but I don't know if she gets pissy because he's a dick or if he's a dick because she won't stop complaining.
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Every week, the continuous complaining was getting irritating. How many times did we see Chuck running with BOTH of their packs? Plenty.
Yeah, he was being a bit of a dick last night, but I don't know if she gets pissy because he's a dick or if he's a dick because she won't stop complaining.
It's probably circular like that, and I don't think either of them are unjustified in the way they act, but they both acedt out a bit further than they needed to.
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I'm sure the race brings the worst out in some couples. They are under constant stress during the legs. Chuck and Wynona seemed like very nice people otherwise - even if he did have to haul her into the boat like a fish, joke about tying the dog collar around her waist, and prod her up the hill like a cow.
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Stupid hockey players had a perfect chance to U-Turn the generic couple, but they used it on a guaranteed loser team instead. What was the logic behind that?? And they came in second because of that lost opportunity. Could have had $10k each too. Idiots.
As usual, the generic couple is probably going to win it. Aside from them, I couldn't care less who wins. This season has been the worst season for teams of the ones I've personally seen.
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I *really* thought that the hockey team would get a penalty for carrying the barrels, since the challenge was "Rollin' Whiskey". I thought it had instructed them to roll the barrels.
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YES!!!!!!! Generic couple A didn't win it! :victorydance:
I think there was some luck involved with the challenges. In the briefcase challenge, it just came down to where your particular guy was, since there wasn't all that much you could do to speed up the process other than run. The baseball challenge didn't seem to take too awful long, and the ball pit challenge came down to finding the balls more than getting them in order (although I suck at geography, so I'm not saying it would have been an easy challenge either way).
But not to take anything away from the hockey players. They did a great job in that final leg. The generic couple played just as well, they just had the worse luck in the briefcase part.
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Yep. I was quite pleased to see the hockey players win it. The roller derby moms seemed to have continual problems with reading comprehension. It said 1100 PA Ave. It never once mentioned the White House on the clue. They walked right past the clue box at the ball park. They dicked up the food-serving challenge over and over and over.
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Yeah, they were just never in the running to win it. They were filling up numbers by that point.
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ha! Bates was PO'd at his brother during that food challenge.
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I actually forgot that we had this. Anybody been watching it this season?
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yep, we're watching it. Kind of interesting I suppose. Although the new "selfie" thing they are doing this season is really getting on my nerves.
The blind dating doctor/nurse team is hilarious. She is getting on his nerves so much. I don't have a team I'm pulling for other than the Olympians I guess.
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I haven't really settled on a team I'm hoping to see win yet either. It seems the blind date thing hasn't really taken off like maybe they'd thought it might, but it was an interesting concept, nonetheless.
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of the blind date teams, Bergen/Curt, doctor/nurse, and the lawyers are clearly not interested in a relationship (yet). On the California team, the girl seems interested, but the guy hasn't reciprocated anything that they've shown on TV. And for the remaining team (cant remember their names - she is a Vegas performer), I imagine they are getting busy whenever they aren't on camera. :lol
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So...no activity in this thread for a couple of years.
Anyone still watching the show?
My wife started watching during season 11 (all stars), and I got into it shortly after, and we watched religiously until around season 26 (blind date), when my wife started losing interest. I still watch regularly, but the last few seasons just haven't been memorable. The last season I thought was really good was season 25 (winners were Amy and Maya). It seems like CBS has changed a lot of the things that made this show really good, including almost completely eliminating having "regular" people as contestants. They also seem to have very little personal interaction anymore and no real travel issues (e.g., do I take the chance on the two-connection flight that is scheduled to land earlier or play it safe with the one-connection flight?).
Anyway, the season 30 finale is coming up this Wednesday. I don't really dislike any of the remaining teams, but I don't have a strong preference either. Hopefully the two hour finale will be entertaining, and I really hope that they get back to having "regular" people as contestants.
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No one bit at this thread when I resurrected it four years ago. Maybe now.
The show's 32nd season aired in the fall of 2020 (despite having been recorded two years earlier) and was generally regarded as one of the worst seasons -- largely because of an early-season alliance that dominated and took most of the suspense out of the season.
Season 33 was in progress in late February 2020. After three legs had been completed, they suspended the race because of COVID. The race resumed in September 2021 and concluded in October. Obviously, they modified things because of the ongoing pandemic, including keeping the race entirely in Europe.
Season 33 premiered this past Wednesday with a 2-hour episode. One team was eliminated, and the second leg ended without an elimination. The third leg will be broadcast next week, and the preview indicates we'll be getting footage of the announcement to the teams about the suspension of the race.
It will be a season unlike any other, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how things play out. Hopefully at least a few people here are watching.
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mrs.jingle and I are watching - even though we're not huge fans of the franchise. We've been fans of the Holderness's for a while, so that is partially why we got roped in.
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I am watching season 33, catched it live on CBS. I am a fan of TAR so its my wife, I installed a VPN and watched from season 1 to 32 nonestop with her to prepare for current Season.
Season 32 was a let down because of the mentioned alliance, one of the producers was asked if they plan to restrict alliance to occur in the future and apparently it will be something they will introduce in upcoming seasons.
What did Amazing Race’s creator think about the alliance?
The cast bonded so much that they created a massive alliance plus a sub-alliance, with teams agreeing to help each other out.
While I love when, say, one team points another in the right direction, alliance or not, I definitely did not love when teams shared answers to help each other finish challenges. That resulted in the alliance effectively eliminating other teams, right up through the penultimate episode, never mind shortcutting their way through challenges.
“I’m going to be really honest with you,” Doganieri told me. “I think we’re going to have to put a rule on that in the future.”
The producer talks more in-depth about that here:
https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2020/12/amazing-race-32-producers-interview/
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mrs.jingle and I are watching - even though we're not huge fans of the franchise. We've been fans of the Holderness's for a while, so that is partially why we got roped in.
When they were introduced in the first episode, my wife commented that she'd seen a bunch of their videos. I'd never heard of them before the cast was announced, and I'm usually down on "internet famous" people on TAR (which has been pretty common over the last 10 seasons or so). Also, if there's a douchier sounding name than Penn Holderness, I don't know what it might be. That said, they weren't at all obnoxious, and I actually thought Penn was pretty amusing -- especially when he seriously overthought the mail train challenge.
Season 32 was a let down because of the mentioned alliance, one of the producers was asked if they plan to restrict alliance to occur in the future and apparently it will be something they will introduce in upcoming seasons.
Yeah...I've read those interviews, and I hope they actually did something like that. It's funny because alliances have existed since day 1 but never on the scale that they did it on season 32.
My early favorite team is Raquel and Cayla (the flight attendants). They seem like they'll be fairly strong, and Cayla has a real sexy nerd girl vibe. The only teams I didn't really like were Akbar and Sheri and the twins.
Spoilers ahead regarding the first two episodes and some other information that, while public, not everyone might know: I was kind of bummed that the cops got eliminated first. First boot is always kinda sad (with a couple notable exceptions). It will be VERY interesting to see which two teams were still alive when they suspended the race in 2020 but did not return when they resumed last September. I'm guessing that one of the teams will be Connie and Sam because I saw something on either Facebook or Reddit that they just had a baby, so Sam would have been at least halfway through her pregnancy when the resumed the race. I figured there might be at least one "couple" team that broke up and wouldn't return.
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mrs.jingle and I are watching - even though we're not huge fans of the franchise. We've been fans of the Holderness's for a while, so that is partially why we got roped in.
When they were introduced in the first episode, my wife commented that she'd seen a bunch of their videos. I'd never heard of them before the cast was announced, and I'm usually down on "internet famous" people on TAR (which has been pretty common over the last 10 seasons or so). Also, if there's a douchier sounding name than Penn Holderness, I don't know what it might be. That said, they weren't at all obnoxious, and I actually thought Penn was pretty amusing -- especially when he seriously overthought the mail train challenge.
Season 32 was a let down because of the mentioned alliance, one of the producers was asked if they plan to restrict alliance to occur in the future and apparently it will be something they will introduce in upcoming seasons.
Yeah...I've read those interviews, and I hope they actually did something like that. It's funny because alliances have existed since day 1 but never on the scale that they did it on season 32.
My early favorite team is Raquel and Cayla (the flight attendants). They seem like they'll be fairly strong, and Cayla has a real sexy nerd girl vibe. The only teams I didn't really like were Akbar and Sheri and the twins.
Spoilers ahead regarding the first two episodes and some other information that, while public, not everyone might know: I was kind of bummed that the cops got eliminated first. First boot is always kinda sad (with a couple notable exceptions). It will be VERY interesting to see which two teams were still alive when they suspended the race in 2020 but did not return when they resumed last September. I'm guessing that one of the teams will be Connie and Sam because I saw something on either Facebook or Reddit that they just had a baby, so Sam would have been at least halfway through her pregnancy when the resumed the race. I figured there might be at least one "couple" team that broke up and wouldn't return.
To your last point, like the couple that was 7 months into their relationship after having met on Love Island??
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Episode 3 was really good.
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Episode 3 was really good.
Agree. Legs where the racers have to drive themselves somewhere are always good for some amusing moments. It was somewhat reminiscent of the Scotland leg on season 22 (playing the bagpipes and dealing with large whiskey barrels).
I was almost anticipating the end of the episode more than the episode itself, and I'm hoping for more of the racers' reactions to being told things will shut down and some new introductory materials.
It's interesting that four teams couldn't or chose not to return, and they're apparently bringing back the singing cops and father/daughter team to fill in some of the gap. I'm hoping that they were able to get the non-returning teams to join at the finish line, although Caro and Ray breaking up may make it impossible or impractical for everyone to be there.
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Wonder why the French Train Heroes, or the Viral-Dancing Husbands didn't return. I got the whole pregnant woman and Love Island breakup issues, but what's with the former two?
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Wonder why the French Train Heroes, or the Viral-Dancing Husbands didn't return. I got the whole pregnant woman and Love Island breakup issues, but what's with the former two?
From what I've read, one or the other of Anthony or Spencer had an injury that prevented them from coming back, and the brother of one of Taylor or Isaiah died.
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Well...we now have the first team to be eliminated twice in the same season. Kind of a bummer because I liked Michael & Moe, but they shot themselves in the foot both of their legs with poor execution on the detours. The odd thing was that I thought the belt-making task would be quicker than the flag routine, but that obviously wasn't the case. Akbar & Sheri were woefully behind after the roadblock but were able to make up the ground by completing the flag routine and jumped ahead of the two teams who made the belts.
That said, I didn't like the way they did the restart. I would have liked if they had considered how the teams placed at the end of leg three and released them in order and then released the two returning teams 15 minutes after the last team. They basically went straight onto the waiting buses to the roadblock, so they might as well have had the starting line at the roadblock location. It also seems like detour selection will be more important than ever, and self-navigation will play a bigger role than it ever has with increased self-driving in lieu of public transportation.
I'm still pulling for the flight attendants, but Ryan & Dusty are obviously the team to beat at this point.
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That said, I didn't like the way they did the restart. I would have liked if they had considered how the teams placed at the end of leg three and released them in order and then released the two returning teams 15 minutes after the last team.
I didn't realize when I posted the above that Michael & Moe and Arun & Natalia had an UNAIRED speed bump. A little annoying that they didn't air or even mention it, but that explains why Akbar & Sheri, who seemed to be way behind the other two teams, finished fifth.
As for last week's episode, what's the deal with starting the teams in groups of two 15 minutes apart? Why not do what they've always done and start them based on their finsih time on the prior leg?
The more I watch this show, the more maddening it becomes that they don't explain the rules.
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Invariably, it's COVID/safety reasons.. but yeah, I don't understand why the starts are a fixed/pre-defined interval.
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Invariably, it's COVID/safety reasons.. but yeah, I don't understand why the starts are a fixed/pre-defined interval.
I'm sure you're right that that's the root reason, but I'm struggling to make the link between COVID/safety concerns and bunching up the teams the way they did. It's really emphasizing what's always been the reality of this show: winning or even doing well in a leg really doesn't matter; all that matters is not being last.
One thing I have long wished the producers would do is publish the rules that the teams have to follow, as well as the full text of all the clues. Even if they went back to an older season and did it, it would shed a lot of light on how things really work.
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So...last night's episode was interesting. Ryan & Dusty fell WAY behind and then POWERED back after switching detours. However, the last couple legs have seemed very linear. Not a lot of room for jostling for position. There also don't seem to be any route marker challenges, which seems weird. A natural consequence of the COVID precautions, I guess.
Also, Raquel and Cayla are one of my favorite teams in a long time.
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My wife is watching this, and I've sat in on a couple. I'm struggling with it, and I can't really tell why.
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My wife is watching this, and I've sat in on a couple. I'm struggling with it, and I can't really tell why.
I started watching TAR about 1/2 way through season 11, which aired back in 2007 (it was an "all-star" season, so it's not where I'd recommend anyone to start). One of the more interesting part of the show for me was watching the teams scramble to get the best flights and seeing how they had to scramble when confronted with the choice between a direct flight and one with a tight connection that was scheduled to arrive 15-20 minutes earlier than the direct flight (among lots of other scenarios). Is the next location close enough to walk, or should you get in a cab (with limited $$)? Those were the decisions teams had to make.
If you don't know the background of the current season, it began in late February 2020, and they shut down production because of COVID on February 28, 2020. At that point, two of the original eleven teams had been eliminated. When they restarted, four of the surviving teams could not return for various reasons, so the allowed the two previously eliminated teams to return, so they restarted with seven teams. Because of COVID, they have intentionally kept teams off of public transportation, including commercial flights. As a result, this season is very watered down. Since the restart, the legs have basically been: leave from the pit stop and either take provided private transportation or drive yourself to the first location, do a task, then get to the next location, do another task, and then get to the next pit stop.
It's very must not a typical season, and I can see why it might not grab the attention of someone who isn't already a fan. The best thing about this season so far is that you don't have any really assholes in the cast.
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No assholes that I can see, but the reality tropes abound. "I'm doing this for [insert heart symbol]!"
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So...last night's episode was both good and bad. Certainly makes me want to visit Corsica. Absolutely spectacular scenery. The challenges were pretty good, although the net stitching challenge wasn't exactly riveting TV, and the underwater challenged seemed like more of an early season challenge. It would have been interesting if there had been more than two teams on each boat and they weren't working together. It was a very linear leg, with almost no room for position changing. The only difference between the start order and the finish order was the bottom two teams switching spots. I think we're really seeing the limitations of a season with no commercial/public transportation and sticking to remote/unpopulated areas. We've also had two non-elimination legs in the four post-return episodes (and will get one more in one of the four remaining legs).
I think the cast is great, but I think there might actually be too little inter-team drama.
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I really hope Arun/Natalia get a speed bump next week. I too like all of the cast, but c'mon... fair is fair. They've finished last three times now.
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I really hope Arun/Natalia get a speed bump next week. I too like all of the cast, but c'mon... fair is fair. They've finished last three times now.
Agree, and the weird part of this is that they (and the singing cops) DID have a speed bump in the first post-return episode, BUT IT WAS UNAIRED. They didn't even tell us that it happened, and it only became publicly known because of interviews with eliminated teams and recaps that some of the teams are doing after each leg. The whole point of speed bumps (aside from slowing the teams down) is to have another task to show.
Prior to the institution of the speed bump in season 12, they went through a bunch of other stuff. On seasons 1-4, there was no penalty for being last on a non-elimination leg. On seasons 5 and 6, the team coming in last on an NEL had to surrender all of their cash, so they were forced to beg during the pit stop and at the start of the next leg. On seasons 7-9, they upped the ante and made the last place team surrender all cash AND all possessions (other than their passports). The "mugging" penalty was abandoned because it was distasteful to watch teams beg in third-world countries and because it was largely ineffective (only 1 team out of 16 was eliminated in the leg after being "mugged"). On seasons 10 and 11, the last place team was "marked for elimination," which meant the team would suffer a 30-minute penalty if it didn't finish first on the next leg. Not bad in concept, but watching teams sit around at the pit stop hoping that every one else didn't check in wasn't exactly great TV.
The speed bump isn't typically difficult or time-consuming. Most of them simply slow the team down for 10-30 minutes, but they sometimes make for fun footage. The speed bump on the first post-return leg looks like it would have been fun to watch, which makes it really odd that they didn't show it or even mention it.
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Catching up on things here....
Last week's episode was the third in a row with the same top 3 teams in the same order. The 4th and 5th place teams have gone back and forth, and Lulu and Lala got eliminated -- apparently because they got more lost than Arun and Natalia.
We've apparently got three legs left with four teams, which means tonight's leg is almost guaranteed to be a non-elimination. It looks like there is a "needle-in-a-haystack" type challenge coming up, so that may shake up the order a bit.
Also, apparently, season 34 is scheduled to begin in May. Hopefully it looks a bit more "normal" than this one.
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That no stone unturned challenge was brutal. All luck, and completely correlated with the finishing order. Terrible challenge. Another NEL, no U-turns so far this season, and everything else we've discussed.... this isn't a terribly interesting season.
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That no stone unturned challenge was brutal. All luck, and completely correlated with the finishing order. Terrible challenge. Another NEL, no U-turns so far this season, and everything else we've discussed.... this isn't a terribly interesting season.
It wasn't quite on the same level as the hay bales from seasons 6 and 15, but it was a good one. I thought it was interesting that no one did the other side of the detour, but yeah, this season's big issue is the lack of inter-team drama (which could have been enhanced with u-turns or yields) and the very linear nature of the legs. It'll be interesting to see how the final two legs play out next week.
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Well...the season ends tonight, and the winning team will be paid a mere five months after having crossed the finish line who had to wait nearly a year and over two years to get paid. I really hope Raquel and Cayla won, but I'm mostly hoping for a leg that isn't as linear as the past several legs have been. Also hoping for an epic final memory challenge. They didn't have one two seasons ago, and last season they had it on the penultimate leg, and it was pretty watered down.
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Very happy for the Holderness’s. I would’ve been fine with Raquel and Kayla winning it - even with their unsportsmanlike tactic after the foley challenge.
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And no offence to Arun/Natalia as people, but I’m glad a team that finished last on 3 separate occasions didn’t make it to the finale. The best 3 teams were in the finals.
Fun season to watch.
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Still having a hard time with the idea that "Social Media Personalities" is a job title. :(
I know, I know, "Get off my lawn". I know.
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Still having a hard time with the idea that "Social Media Personalities" is a job title. :(
I know, I know, "Get off my lawn". I know.
I think it's a dumb "title" for sure. People like the Holderness's who are self-employed entertainers, and are able to reach a wider audience via the ease of distribution that "social media" channels allows them to... I got no problem with that as a job/career. "Influencers" is a bullshit job, afaic.
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Don't watch the show, just popping in to say that the Holdernesses are pretty funny (my wife follows them, so I wind up seeing a lot of their stuff by osmosis), and they actually live around here, so good for them.
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Very happy for the Holderness’s. I would’ve been fine with Raquel and Kayla winning it - even with their unsportsmanlike tactic after the foley challenge.
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I was SUPER disappointed with the outcome. I was predisposed to dislike Kim & Penn, but I had ZERO issue with them based on their appearance on TAR. However, the editors gave Kim & Penn the Adam & Bethany treatment. If anyone doesn't know, there was a team on s25 of TAR composed of Bethany Hamilton and her husband. I didn't know who she was at the time, but she lost one of her arms in a shark attack while surfing, and they made a movie about it. During s25, the editors pushed the "OMG! Bethany is so awesome and brave!" narrative to ridiculous extremes. They couldn't have been nicer, but I found myself getting annoyed by how hard the editors shoved her down our throats. Kim ("OMG! She's so amazing to overcome anxiety!") & Penn ("OMG! He's so amazing to overcome ADHD!") got much the same treatment.
But like I said, I didn't really have any problems with Kim & Penn. My disappointment resulted from REALLY wanting Raquel & Cayla to win. They won the penultimate leg and were out in front for most of the final leg but got tripped up by that final memory challenge. And, while that sucked, I thought it was a really well-designed challenge and was generally happy with how the final leg was constructed. It's also kinda cool that I've been to the Home Depot or Stubhub Center (or whoever has the current naming rights for the home of the LA Galaxy), including the neighboring tennis arena where the final memory challenge was performed.
This season had several superlatives:
- Kim & Penn are the oldest winning team ever (eclipsing the prior mark by two years), and they are the second (Penn) and fourth (Kim) oldest individual winners. Interestingly, had the race not been suspended, they might not have broken the record (I'm not sure whether their listed ages were as of the start or end of the race).
- The route was the shortest route in show history (excluding "the Family Edition," which was almost entirely confined to the U.S.).
- This season visited the fewest continents and countries of any season (again, excluding "the Family Edition").
All in all, it was definitely "The Amazing Race Lite." Supposedly, season 34 will start running in May and hopefully will air sometime during the 22-23 TV season. I hope they're able to make it look a little more "normal."
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Very happy for the Holderness’s. I would’ve been fine with Raquel and Kayla winning it - even with their unsportsmanlike tactic after the foley challenge.
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when Raquel wished that she'd told the passerby not to give directions to Kim/Penn. Sure, gameplay, but a 2-minute minor imo. I mean, why not just slash their tires if you want to slow them up?? :lol I'm being mostly facetious, but I think it was a bit of a cheap thought - even if they didn't actually do it.
Another thing I noticed was how Kim/Penn kinda got hosed on the piñata challenge, in that the mini-donkey was COMPLETELY hidden from Kim's view behind a larger piñata.
I'm not sure I saw what you saw in the "shoving down" of Kim's anxiety and Penn's ADHD. IMO, it was no more or less than Dusty's anger, Ryan's jail-time, Raquel/Cayla being unemployed flight attendants, or Lala/Lulu's twin connection. It's just a part of their individual storylines/personalities.
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I've said this before: reality TV is now all about the "backstory". And as I've also said before: when EVERYONE has a story, NO ONE has a story. It's ridiculous; I saw the episode where they had to find the medallion under the stone, and while it was interesting to see the guy struggle with his anger in real time, that was enough. They didn't need the whole backstory of "I'm doing this for my KID!" Tha fuck. I wonder if you asked the kid: would you rather have your dad crawling around flipping stones or have him home with you?
Sorry if that is negative, but it's ridiculous.
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Very happy for the Holderness’s. I would’ve been fine with Raquel and Kayla winning it - even with their unsportsmanlike tactic after the foley challenge.
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when Raquel wished that she'd told the passerby not to give directions to Kim/Penn. Sure, gameplay, but a 2-minute minor imo. I mean, why not just slash their tires if you want to slow them up?? :lol I'm being mostly facetious, but I think it was a bit of a cheap thought - even if they didn't actually do it.
Meh...wishing she'd said it is a far cry from actually having said it or, as happened in Kuwait in s10, pushing your opponent away from a local in an effort to prevent the local from giving the same directions to the opponent.
Another thing I noticed was how Kim/Penn kinda got hosed on the piñata challenge, in that the mini-donkey was COMPLETELY hidden from Kim's view behind a larger piñata.
Hard to say, but I imagine everyone had the same set up.
I'm not sure I saw what you saw in the "shoving down" of Kim's anxiety and Penn's ADHD. IMO, it was no more or less than Dusty's anger, Ryan's jail-time, Raquel/Cayla being unemployed flight attendants, or Lala/Lulu's twin connection. It's just a part of their individual storylines/personalities.
You're not wrong -- especially about Ryan's incarceration. It just felt like K&P's sitch got way more screen time than most of the other things you mentioned. Or it could just be my perception.
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Hard to say, but I imagine everyone had the same set up.
Perhaps, and editing messes up everything, but later when R&D were there, the tiny donkey was pretty easy for them to see from the gazebo. Again, editing can make anything completely misleading.
I'm not sure I saw what you saw in the "shoving down" of Kim's anxiety and Penn's ADHD. IMO, it was no more or less than Dusty's anger, Ryan's jail-time, Raquel/Cayla being unemployed flight attendants, or Lala/Lulu's twin connection. It's just a part of their individual storylines/personalities.
You're not wrong -- especially about Ryan's incarceration. It just felt like K&P's sitch got way more screen time than most of the other things you mentioned. Or it could just be my perception.
Or a third alternative, because they were the winners, the show (consciously or unconsciously?) wanted to have the audience form more of a connection to them over the other 2 finalist teams? I mean, naturally the 2 finalist teams will get the most screen time when all is said an done. I'm sure if Akbar/Sherri had made it to the finals we'd be "Enough with them both being collegiate basketball players and very competitive - WE FUCKING GET IT ALREADY! :lol Hell, I 'got' that enough with just the 3 episodes they were in!
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Season 34 of The Amazing Race premiered last night.
A couple of twists this season. First, there are 12 teams, which makes this only the fifth season to have that many, the first since season 15, and the first since season 4 to have 12 teams and not have one team booted in a surprise early elimination. The other twist is that there will be NO non-elimination legs this season. In the past, after the first few legs, you'd often see teams near the bottom of the pack audibly hoping for an NEL.
They also talked about this being the first season to start outside the U.S. (they started in Munich, Germany), but that's not true. Last season effectively started in England after all catching flights from major cities near their homes to Heathrow and then being held at the airport and released at the same time (they also did something similar in season 28).
As with just about every season going back at least 10 seasons, the cast is probably mostly recruited as opposed to "normal" people who went through the full application process. We've got yet another team who had previously appeared on Big Brother. Gag! Fortunately, they were mostly non-obnoxious in the first episode. We've also got former NFL coach and current analyst Rex Ryan, who's racing with a golf buddy. According to an interview he did on Dan Patrick's show yesterday, he lost 50 pounds for the Race! This is definitely the most box-checkingest season yet of TAR.
Last night's episode was a bit of a mess. Instead of having a linear leg, they did a "scramble" format. The teams were simply given a map and three addresses and were permitted to go to those locations to do the challenges in any order they wanted. This made it even more impossible than usual to tell in what places teams were in. So far, no one comes across as super likable or unlikable. The cast seems relatively bland. Of course, with 12 teams, it's hard to get to know anyone after only 45 minutes (60 minutes less commercial time).
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Season 34 of The Amazing Race premiered last night.
A couple of twists this season. First, there are 12 teams, which makes this only the fifth season to have that many, the first since season 15, and the first since season 4 to have 12 teams and not have one team booted in a surprise early elimination. The other twist is that there will be NO non-elimination legs this season. In the past, after the first few legs, you'd often see teams near the bottom of the pack audibly hoping for an NEL.
They also talked about this being the first season to start outside the U.S. (they started in Munich, Germany), but that's not true. Last season effectively started in England after all catching flights from major cities near their homes to Heathrow and then being held at the airport and released at the same time (they also did something similar in season 28).
As with just about every season going back at least 10 seasons, the cast is probably mostly recruited as opposed to "normal" people who went through the full application process. We've got yet another team who had previously appeared on Big Brother. Gag! Fortunately, they were mostly non-obnoxious in the first episode. We've also got former NFL coach and current analyst Rex Ryan, who's racing with a golf buddy. According to an interview he did on Dan Patrick's show yesterday, he lost 50 pounds for the Race! This is definitely the most box-checkingest season yet of TAR.
Last night's episode was a bit of a mess. Instead of having a linear leg, they did a "scramble" format. The teams were simply given a map and three addresses and were permitted to go to those locations to do the challenges in any order they wanted. This made it even more impossible than usual to tell in what places teams were in. So far, no one comes across as super likable or unlikable. The cast seems relatively bland. Of course, with 12 teams, it's hard to get to know anyone after only 45 minutes (60 minutes less commercial time).
My wife is watching it; I think I'll pass and let her tell me what she wants me to know. I'm really done with these shows that basically have a loose premise - it is loose, because the rules seem to change whenever it's convenient - but are really intended to give screen time to quasi-interesting people. I find myself checking out of these shows the minute after I decide if I think they're hot or not. Yes, that's shallow, but that's all these shows really deserve. THEY are shallow.
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Resurrecting this thread....
I got bored with season 34 pretty quickly. Very dull cast and, like season 33, not terribly competitive. I think most veteran watchers of the show could predict the winning team from the get-go.
The producers of TAR are doing something unprecedented (although maybe other "reality" shows have done this). The 35th season was run in October and November 2022. LOCATION SPOILER: the season was run entirely in Latin America (except for the starting and finishing lines) - I assume this was still for COVID-related reasons. The 36th season was run in June and July 2023 (apparently, it's back to being a global race). Because of the pending strikes, both Survivor and TAR are getting 90-minute slots in CBS's fall schedule (on Wednesday nights). However, instead of running the fall 2022 season in the fall 2023 time slot, CBS is going to run the summer 2023 season as season 35 - with the fall 2022 season presumably being planned as a mid-season show (or, I've seen speculation that it might go straight to streaming, but I doubt that if the strikes persist much longer since the networks will need this sort of programming).
Doesn't really matter to me what order they get run in, but I imagine that whoever won the fall 2022 season is more than a little annoyed since they won't get their money until their season actually airs. I just hope that they were much less stunt-casty with these seasons and that the Race starts to look more normal now that COVID restrictions on travel have (mostly) been lifted.
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Currently watching S34E7, I agree, all of these teams are BLAND, maybe except for the army team, which is the one me and my wife are rooting for.