sinycalone

The Alliance of 5 teams was a Survivor/Big Brother tool.....not something most of us want on TAR. For Superfans, they had to know that....but didn't care.

Gary and D did mention on Twitter (and I think on their podcast) that they were donating their money (if they won) to charities.

According to Gary/D's post-race interviews and their Twitter account, all the teams remained friendly enough to hang out, and to have group chats afterwards. Of course, after viewing the race on CBS, there might have changed, lol.

Gary and D are still good friends....check out their Twitter accounts. In fact, they were on good terms with the rest of the teams after the race....group chats, meet-ups, etc. (I wonder if after viewing the race on CBS they still have that attitude towards a few of the teams...like the VBallers, lol.)

But their wanting to work with one other team would have left the other two teams to either work together or individually...and with a chance to succeed.

Eat, Sleep, Mingle...included in the first 12 seasons of TAR. There was no isolation in those days.

I really think the ESM aspect had a more positive than negative effect on the racers. One of my favorite seasons - #12 - included a lot of downtime fun for the teams : swimming in the Adriatic, eating together in various cities, etc. Yet, that was a very competitive season. Whether they stopped the ESM because of one incident (sports bra - ha, ha I remember that) or because they wanted to minimize any personal interaction at all....it was a mistake. If the alternative was to isolate the teams wherever possible....where is the access to one of the major goals cited by most teams before the race: encountering new cultures, and learning more about them?

Another reason for the streamlining of flight arrangements: Each year during the past decade or so, airlines have been trimming the number of flights substantially. They wanted as few empty seats as possible. That means roaming around the airport for better flights is kind of fruitless in many locations. And could mean (as we've seen) some teams having to wait many hours for alternatives. Of course, during the pandemic airlines have implemented COVID-19-related safety measure that have reduced the number of seats even further.

According to Rossi, he and his teammate were literally not permitted to leave their rooms during quite a few pit stops. I would imagine, when they were in remote areas, the restrictions would be less stringent.

Until I read that post-race interview with Alexander Rossi....I was not aware they were isolated in their hotel rooms, either. I thought Alexander was exaggerating...but apparently not. I knew they were not permitted to go back for lost or forgotten articles after a leg was finished...even if the items were close by. I was also aware the eat, sleep mingle aspect had been eliminated (I believe after season 12). However, I thought they might be permitted to go out as long as they alerted production and were within a certain distance from their hotel (maybe as suggested for a Mountain Dew and sandwich). I think the only times racers actually intermingle during their down time is on long flights/bus rides/boat trips...and when forced to sleep outside a museum or shop due to HOOs. Gary has said he would do the race again for charity...and De might agree to it under those circumstances. If they had a "run for charity" race I would hope they would include athletes, writers, musicians, etc....but not pack it with actors.

If you will recall the two Indy race car drivers a few years ago....Alexander Rossi had the same issue with the race. He hated being cooped up in hotel rooms for as many as 24 hours in one stretch. That part of the race was extremely disappointing and frustrating for him. (His partner was not quite as upset). He loved the race overall...but would never do it again because he (like D) wanted to see more of the countries they were visiting, not spend endless hours in isolation.

From Gary on Twitter. Interesting: Gary Barnidge @garybarnidge· 1h @DeAngeloRB just for clarification we made an alliance with the Beard Bros after the 1st episode to get us two teams to the final which is why we say they didn’t keep their word. AND Not upset about any of that from the edit it may seem that way but we actually had an alliance after 1st leg with beard bros and didn’t know they turned on us til then. Plus he was upset with other things not deal with race and just boiled over

We can only hope and pray that does not happen again.

And G/D helped the other teams, too....that's what probably really pissed him off. The Alliance ruined the season for me, too.

I've forgotten: were Hung/Chee and The BFS at the tile task when The Bros were still working on making the tiles? And if they were, did the Bros tell them about the oiling step before leaving?

Normally I would agree with your second paragraph....however D/Gary had three teams working together to exchange info, protect their backs, The NFLers were pretty sure the siblings would get no such help.

At this point in the race, I don't think worrying about who you are facing in the next leg is vital. Concern yourself with surviving the current leg....and you UTurn accordingly. Every time I see/hear a team debating hypothetical situations -- it reminds me of the idiot who had the Express Pass and did not want to use it because they might need it on a future leg. His team was last at the time....and floundering at the task. They were eliminated.

The only problem with the NFLers UTurning one of the alliance teams....far less likely for one of them to be eliminated, then the Siblings.

If Riley/Maddison had gotten to the UTurn first, they would have U-Turned the NFLers. Let's say the BFs got there next....they would have UTruned Riley/Madison...burning the board. Thus, D/Gary would have been pretty much guaranteed to finish last. Instead D/Gary reached the UTurn first. The Vballers did not UTurn another team...they did the only thing that made it almost a certainty that the Siblings would be gone. No one was trying to just cause another team to drop a spot....they wanted a team OUT.

If the NFLers hadn't U-turned the Siblings, and it was just a 45minute difference on their arrivals at the mat, then the D/Gary probably would have been eliminated considering how long it took DeAngelo to do the tiles vs Eswar. Without the UTurn, D/Gary would have been behind the siblings on the way to the mat. Also, if they had Uturned Maddison/Riley or any of the other teams, no way D/Gary would have had two teams behind them. Riley/Mad. would just have uturned the siblings...none of the 3 in the alliance were going to uUturn each other. Considering how much quicker the Vballers did the tiles.....the extra time they spent on the garden would have been easily offset by the tile challenge advantage. All of the other teams did the tile challenge faster than DeAngelo., The goal of the UTurn by the NFLers was to make it less likely they would be eliminated...and that's exactly what happened.

This. Yikes....her ego was definitely involved in her reactions.

U-turning any of the other teams would most likely not have eliminated them...certainly not Maddison/Riley. It was the last U-turn of the season...and it was a great time to use it. Late in the season, U-turning a strong team....especially when you are not certain where they are at that point...would not have been a smart play. Plus, I suspect Aparna was offended that two "dumb jocks" dared to U-turn her. DeAngelo was certainly right about one thing...Aparna let her emotions take over.

I think the editors wanted to demonstrate the difference between Aparna's stating at the beginning of the episode that her team would have no problem using the U-turn...and her reaction to being U-turned. It was all part of the game...until it happened to her team.

DeAngelo has been able to do certain tasks quickly (the cello for one), so I think he was convinced he could zip through the tiles. He also has shown that he can recognize when he needs to take more time for a challenge (at the Kazakhstan movie studio -- he asked Gary not to rush, he required more rehearsal). The tiles task was an instance where he just did not take that time to step back...and they paid. As some mentioned earlier, if DeAngelo had done the Day-O task at the beginnin of the race, , Gary would have done the tiles -- totally different results most likely. What Aparna called out to DeAngelo was just a spiteful, immature tirade....and D has heard the best of the NFL trash talkers. No comparison.

My pronouns in my first paragraph may have confused you....I meant the BF told Hung after the BF had been alerted by the Bro. I did not mean that W/J should have assisted teams not in the alliance ....just that they never provided much help to the Mine 5 in reality. The maps turned out to be pointless at the start of that leg...but it was an attempt to help the alliance.. Inside the market in Manaus all the alliance were shouting out directions and pointers to each other. Yes, James did help at the table. I just think overall W/J have benefited far more than any other team in the alliance.