Messup

Anyone else puzzling over how the finale will work with only nine players? Curious if the finale will use some of the unseen holes or if those are all being saved for season 4 since they filmed these two seasons consecutively.

I actually think they may watch each other. I'm not sure on that, but I'm not sure it would help too much and sometimes it does feel like a group of contestants does much better than average (like the women at Ho Ho Hole this week) so maybe that's why? Of course that could just be by chance, but it's the impression I've gotten. I also just can't see the producers of this show really bothering TBH lol.

Decent episode. Agony of Defeat and Turfing USA seem to be a package-deal this season, similar to Diving Range and Buns and Weiners last year. Good to have a week off King Parthur, though the Parcade and Putt-a-Saurus have both been used four times in a row and could be rested. More interesting is that next week is listed as "Family Night" - I really hope this means a special episode (like Australia did) and it's not just some obscure quote from the episode.

Agreed, The Distractor was definitely upgraded this year, very happy with it. It also made a nice diversion from all the other holes this year being strictly crossing obstacles. I think I've found a few reasons why this season doesn't feel quite as special as the last: 1. There's less character in most of the holes. Last year we had the pirate, the judges and even some guest hosts. This year we do have the knight, but his character is basically just riding the horse and not talking, so it's not quite the same. 2. Several of this year's holes don't allow for too many hard falls. Things like Parcade, King Parthur's Court, Donut Hole and Holey Matrimony all have their moments, but most people just kind of fall straight into the water/blocks. I like them all and King Parthur and Holey Moley both provided exceptions to the rule last night, but there are just more misses than hits on them. 3. The weeks off. I assume y'all know, but we have three weeks until the next episode :( This season also had the break last week and started a couple of weeks later (plus episode 3 was delayed where I live because they did a special on the building that collapsed), so it's been a lot less stable than last year. At least it'll go well into the Fall this year anyway! While we wait, any speculations on what Holeywood will entail? Trap-Tee-Ze looks good as well, but I hope they're not just saving it for the final. I still feel they made a mistake holding a regular hole (Clowning Around) to only be featured in the finale last year. They should save Big Foot Wedge as the ultimate round and use the others in the main season!

The dinosaur ribs aren't meant to be "crossed". Until this season, not all holes were obstacle-based and in this case, the point is staying on the ribs as.long as possible and then trekking through the mud. This isn't a show like Wipeout where EVERYTHING is intended to be a passable obstacle (and a lot of Wipeout's obstacles in later seasons weren't beatable at all anyway!). I would be willing to bet the obstacles are much harder than they look. This week's competitors were pretty bad on the obstacle holes, but I don't think ANW competitors would do much better on all of them. I'd say most weeks the competitors give decent effort. On the horse, it's pretty clear that they either started with contestants straddling it and then realized that was too easy or started with contestants side-saddle and thought it was too hard. I'd be willing to bet all of the times it appears as a final round it will be straddling and all of the times it's earlier on it will be side-saddle with his they film it. I do agree I'm not as into this season as the previous one, but it's not bad at all so far! I feel like the telestrator was alright for one week, but isn't doing much for me all season long. Wipeout did better with at least using it to create unique drawings. Finally: Has anyone noticed that the ball always seems to speed up in Dutch Courage this season after the camera cuts away from the first shot? Like it looks like it won't really reach the hole area, but then it cuts to a wider spot and shows the ball speeding toward the hole. Am I crazy about that?

The dinosaur ribs aren't meant to be "crossed". Until this season, not all holes were obstacle-based and in this case, the point is staying on the ribs as.long as possible and then trekking through the mud. This isn't a show like Wipeout where EVERYTHING is intended to be a passable obstacle (and a lot of Wipeout's obstacles in later seasons weren't beatable at all anyway!). I would be willing to bet the obstacles are much harder than they look. This week's competitors were pretty bad on the obstacle holes, but I don't think ANW competitors would do much better on all of them. I'd say most weeks the competitors give decent effort. On the horse, it's pretty clear that they either started with contestants straddling it and then realized that was too easy or started with contestants side-saddle and thought it was too hard. I'd be willing to bet all of the times it appears as a final round it will be straddling and all of the times it's earlier on it will be side-saddle with his they film it. I do agree I'm not as into this season as the previous one, but it's not bad at all so far!