The Amazing Race thread

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

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.

[BlobVanDam]

Yeah, they were just never in the running to win it. They were filling up numbers by that point.

[Big Hath]

ha! Bates was PO'd at his brother during that food challenge.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I actually forgot that we had this.  Anybody been watching it this season?

[Big Hath]

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.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

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.

[Big Hath]

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. 

[pg1067]

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.

[pg1067]

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.

[jingle.boy]

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.

[MinistroRaven]

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/

[pg1067]

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.

[jingle.boy]

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??

[MinistroRaven]

Episode 3 was really good.

[pg1067]

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.

[jingle.boy]

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?

[pg1067]

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.

[pg1067]

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.

[pg1067]

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.

[jingle.boy]

Invariably, it's COVID/safety reasons.. but yeah, I don't understand why the starts are a fixed/pre-defined interval.

[pg1067]

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.

[pg1067]

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.

[Stadler]

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. 

[pg1067]

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.

[Stadler]

No assholes that I can see, but the reality tropes abound.  "I'm doing this for [insert heart symbol]!"   

[pg1067]

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.

[jingle.boy]

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.

[pg1067]

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.

[pg1067]

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.

[jingle.boy]

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.

[pg1067]

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.

[pg1067]

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.

[jingle.boy]

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.

[jingle.boy]

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.

[Stadler]

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.