S34.E01: Many Firsts but Don't be Last

[Whimsy]

Quote

12 new teams start their journey by travelling to Munich, Germany. In this season’s new twist, one team is eliminated at the end of every leg.

original airdate 9/21/22

[InDueTime]

Welcome back, TAR!

I enjoyed the start in the first country much better than that nonsense last season at their homes.

The Scramble was an interesting shake-up. Is it all throughout the season? I missed that. I suppose that keeps the finish placements more random if they need to drive themselves. Though, I'll miss the Roadblocks and Detours. 

Good effort, Aastha and Nina.

So far, no one's coming off as annoying to me. 

Edited September 22, 2022 by InDueTime

[susannot]

Good start.  Am I insane, or is Derek the same Derek who was JUST on the Challenge USA?  And before that on Big Brother, which I have never watched?  Anyway, he did well and I liked him.

[QuantumMechanic]

Good to have it back, but those tasks already left a bad taste in my mouth. The keg roll was fun but the other two were just dumb, especially Smash. Boring to watch and no meaningful effect on order.

When 2/3 of the tasks are Speed Bump level things that’s not a good episode.

[xcrayon2215x]

The keg roll was fun, glad to see that the Race has returned. Rich and Dom are somewhat irritating but no other teams have irritated me so far which is good. Rex is a bit over the top but it seems like in a fun way.

Edited September 22, 2022 by xcrayon2215x

[choclatechip45]

I liked the scramble. Good twist. I also forgot how much I liked Claire/Derek X together. 

9 minutes ago, susannot said:

Good start.  Am I insane, or is Derek the same Derek who was JUST on the Challenge USA?  And before that on Big Brother, which I have never watched?  Anyway, he did well and I liked him.

Yup and yup. Derek X is one away from the CBS Reality Show EGOT just needs Survivor. 

Edited September 22, 2022 by choclatechip45

[Lantern7]

Good episode. I’m sore that CBS didn’t go half-and-half with the Survivor season premiere. Turns out that’s next week. After that, TAR follows The Real Love Boat, and I’m going to end this paragraph.

As a concept, Scramble was fun. Problem is that keeping track of twelve teams spread out in three locations gets confusing, and they didn’t know how they were doing until Phil told them at the end. We did get a scene of Aubrey & David seeing Aastha & Nina running, followed by the realization that they weren’t eliminated and Phil was jerking them around. That was funny . . . and heartbreaking for Aastha & Nina.

I’m inclined to root against Derek & Claire. How many teams have been ported over from Big Brother? It’s annoying at best. Derek seemed cool in Challenge USA, but he got eliminated before things really turned to shit.

For me, Glenda & Lumumba are Team Snu-Snu until further notice. Not since shrimpy Joe from RW: Miami and his girlfriend Nic has there been a noticeable height different from woman to man.

Tim & Rex didn’t go out first. Good for them. It’s not just the age thing . . . Rex openly admitted to coaching the Jets. Yeah, he led them to consecutive appearances in the AFC Championship game . . . .but it’s still the Jets.

Tasks were fun to watch, and the locals got into all three. Ice-smashing also revealed which guys could be sought in suspicion of future violent murders. I hope no one got hurt by the broken ice flying everywhere.

[PoultryDancer]

Biggest twist of the new season: 'The Amazing Race is brought to you by EXPEDIA?!?!' What kind of backwards world am I living in? 

Ok premiere. Between having 12 teams instead of 11, and the whole 'scramble' thing, it was absolute chaos and tough to follow who was ahead of who, but glad to have it back.

[susannot]

OK, who is Rex?  Apparently he was an NFL coach?  Can someone clue me in?

[QuantumMechanic]

2 minutes ago, susannot said:

OK, who is Rex?  Apparently he was an NFL coach?  Can someone clue me in?

Rex Ryan was the defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens and the head coach of the NY Jets.

[Jules1]

Liked seeing Derek X and Claire on there. They seemed to work well together. Also liked Abby and Will. They’re so cute and loved her enthusiasm. I hope they do well. 

[anniebird]

I love the Scramble and the fact that there are no non-elimination legs......right up until one of my favorite teams gets the boot.  I am okay with all the teams so far except possibly Rich and Dom - they're just too intense and it's not fun to watch. Also, Rex' giant overly-white teeth are very distracting.

[mertensia]

I really liked this. I suspect that no non-elimination legs means people will be less inclined to form teams to help each other.

Nice starting in Munich and that little flume ride looked fun. 

I was surprised that Rex and friend did so well.

[aradia22]

I took such a long break from the show, I only taped the first episode, not knowing if I'd want to watch the whole season... one episode in and I'm hooked again. 😂 It helps to not have social media teams or anyone who is obviously trying to be a personality (yet). It feels more like the TAR I found so charming when I first started watching. 

The number of camera people at the start was hilarious. I know it was because they were going to quickly split off to follow each team, but it was still funny to me.

All the teams who started by running to ask directions from people with phones were LAME. I wish I liked the eliminated couple more but starting with this and then showing very little competence in the race... it was almost too obvious that they were going to be out first.

I don't have rankings yet but I liked the military brothers at first. I'm sorry; I'm biased towards competence. The way he busted through that ice block was so clean... it wasn't just about having muscles. But navigation will get to the best teams. I liked the fire fighter... he hacked at the ice like he was trying to break down the door of a burning building and he was encouraging and pretty positive but I was getting some KF from his dancer wife. The twins have a very compelling story. I hope they stick around. We didn't see a lot of them but I liked the father daughter team. Glenda and Lumumba seem like a cute couple. I hope they don't get KF. I didn't get much of a read on team Big Brother

Spoiler

even though they won.

I feel like the tasks were relatively simple for the first episode. Not easy but not super challenging for the level of physical fitness you'd expect from people to get through the whole race. The barrels (Roll) seemed a little unwieldly for some but I think that also had to do with how tired you were going into the task. And the logs (Saw) were challenging if you tried to power through them rather than working smarter, not harder. The father daughter team figured this out. Also, I liked the bald judge at the Roll task. He maintained the same level of enthusiasm the whole time. 

[Fretful]

Did T -Rex and The "M" brothers arrive at the PIt Stop without their bags?  I didn't think that was allowed- I was sure Phil was going to send  them back to the cars to get them.

No Express Passes for the winners.  Yay!  I always hated that advantage.

This issue I have with the No Non-Elimination is that if I were on the race and far behind on a difficult task, I would probably just stop.  I know you can always hope that someone else screwed up and got a penalty, but realistically, I'm not going to kill myself for last place.

[Skooma]

3 hours ago, InDueTime said:

Welcome back, TAR!

I enjoyed the start in the first country much better than that nonsense last season at their homes.

The Scramble was an interesting shake-up. Is it all throughout the season? I missed that. I suppose that keeps the finish placements more random if they need to drive themselves. Though, I'll miss the Roadblocks and Detours. 

Good effort, Aastha and Nina.

So far, no one's coming off as annoying to me. 

There was a Roadblock in this episode.  The clue clearly said Roadblock and only one person could do it.  The ice block smash. 

This RB made me so nostalgic for Wil vs. The Ice Block from Season 2.  My favorite bit of "action" video from any season ever complete with power drill and flamethrower.

Also the two other tasks were like two different Detours when you think about it except the teams had to do both.

2 hours ago, susannot said:

OK, who is Rex?  Apparently he was an NFL coach?  Can someone clue me in?

Like they said, 4 years head coach of the Jets and 2 as head coach of the Bills.  Extremely well known by any football fan.  And as a Pats fan we viewed him as the buffoon coach Brady and Belichick happily humiliated year after year haha.  (Wasn't Rex the one with the foot fetish or something as well?  I remember something weird about him coming out in the news).

I don't know any names yet other than DerekX and Claire.  Liked how well they did.  Also I like the short guy and his taller wife, Team Jamaica, the military bros and the lost and found twins. 

The rest are all a blur of mainly young couples which is the least liked type of team for me on TAR.  I find them pretty collectively boring and was so glad to escape them on the whole last season.  Now they are back with a vengeance, sigh.  Don't care for the dancers, former cheerleaders or especially the motivational speakers teams.  To me they are all pretty much the new version of mactors.  Well so are DerekX & Clair but I guess I felt bad for them on BB where they got screwed for no other reason than their races and weren't viewed or judged as individuals in their own right.

And about Rex, I did enjoy laughing at him so there is that.  He can stay around for a little while if his non-elimination means one of those couples above go out instead.

When they showed the team out first standing around forever at the starting line getting super exact directions and over plotting stuff I think we all knew it was for a reason they spent so much air time on that.  Either they would be brilliant and finish first or they would be first out.  So when they were falling behind well ... it was obvious they were going out.  Too bad because I liked the one who said she had fun and enjoyed every minute of it.  Also coming in last prevented one of those younger couples I always find annoying to survive another leg.  Bummer.

Edited September 22, 2022 by Skooma

[aghst]

Were they right that the pit stop was near the park where they did the barrel roll.

I think navigation played a big factor.  Also, onlookers everywhere, including the start.  Looked like most of the teams asked onlookers to look up places on their phones.  And the onlookers were American?

As far as the teams, we will probably hear over the course of the season how the prize money Is so important to them.  But pretty sure Rex Ryan should have millions already and the girl who works for Microsoft, if she’s been in her job for 5 years or more could already be a millionaire as well.

[aradia22]

Quote

For motivational speakers, they seem to get defeatist very quickly.  At least Dom does. 

I hope they don't get too much KF, but it seems likely unless they get tasks they can breeze through.

Quote

Also, onlookers everywhere, including the start.  Looked like most of the teams asked onlookers to look up places on their phones.  And the onlookers were American?

The first location is a big landmark so I wasn't surprised at a bunch of American tourists in the parking lot.

Edited September 22, 2022 by aradia22

[OutOfTheQuestion]

Did it feel to anyone else like this was going to be a "keep racing" double leg?  The landings on the met seemed strangely rushed, and Phil even announced the winners as just the first team to arrive, not Team Number #1.

[Skooma]

17 minutes ago, OutOfTheQuestion said:

Did it feel to anyone else like this was going to be a "keep racing" double leg?  The landings on the met seemed strangely rushed, and Phil even announced the winners as just the first team to arrive, not Team Number #1.

No, not to me.  A team was eliminated.  And the winners of the leg got a prize.  And no clues were handed out to tell them to keep racing.  I do agree it was a weird wording at the mat so maybe it is possible but the other stuff above seems to say it is the end of the leg.

As for the rushed landings at the mat there are 12 teams to get through and three different tasks instead of two.  The only other time there were 12 teams was back in Season 3 and that first episode seemed rushed too.

[Skooma]

5 minutes ago, Lucas Rowan said:

TAR3 and TAR34 are hardly the only seasons to have twelve teams.  TAR4, TAR10, and TAR15 had twelve teams, as well.  Although this is the first twelve-team season since TAR4 to just have a regular first elimination, given TAR10's bogus mid-leg elimination twist on the first leg, and TAR15's even worse starting line elimination.

Thanks.  I always try to forget TAR4 so I guess I blocked that fact out of my mind.  The fly in the ointment of the first 5 "classic" TAR seasons the other 4 being my all time favorites. 

And yeah now that you remind me about that horrible mid-leg elimination in TAR10 I remember being pretty upset about it.  I have no real memory of TAR15.  From TAR12 on I remember very few details.  Maybe a half dozen or so teams at best even though I've seen every single episode of the show.  But like my hard drive ran out of room to store stuff beyond the first All Stars.

It is the earliest seasons I remember the best as well as Colin & Christie's return a few seasons back since they were from TAR5 originally.  And I do still remember last season pretty clearly so far.  But the season(s) before that and after C&C's return season I have zero memory of.  Can't remember a single team let alone who won.

[Haleth]

What a fun start!  Interesting changes - 12 teams, starting outside the US, and no NELs!  Funny having the 4th wall broken at times, seeing the camera people and fans taking pics of the racers.  I hope they keep up the scramble wherever possible.  It kept the teams from knowing how they were placed.  I did miss the reactions of all the teams when Phil told them what number they were.  

The judges at the challenges were having too much fun.  They must have started Oktoberfest a few months early.  

Can you imagine finding out you have an identical twin?  How bizarre!

Rex needs to cool it with the teeth whitening.  Yikes.  (Too bad he didn't race with his twin brother.)

I don't feel strongly one way or the other about any of the teams yet but can foresee some of them being too whiney and/or shrieky.  Hope I'm wrong but the producers will certainly want to show us intra team drama.

8 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Good episode. I’m sore that CBS didn’t go half-and-half with the Survivor season premiere. Turns out that’s next week.

Oh, that's good to know!  Survivor seemed a bit over long too me and TAR too short!  Split the difference!

[Tdoc72]

On 9/22/2022 at 3:09 AM, aradia22 said:

I hope they don't get too much KF, but it seems likely unless they get tasks they can breeze through.

In the coming this season preview at the end, she seemed like she was having a breakdown.  
~~~~

Does anyone know where the Pit Stop was relative to the tasks?  Was the eliminated team correct with their theory, even though they were slow and lost?

Edited September 27, 2022 by Tdoc72

[dizzyd]

8 hours ago, PoultryDancer said:

Biggest twist of the new season: 'The Amazing Race is brought to you by EXPEDIA?!?!' What kind of backwards world am I living in? 

Travelocity was acquired by Expedia in 2015. Not sure why it only reflected on TAR in 2022. I’m sure the gnome will still be around.

[sugarbaker design]

The editing on this show is stellar.  I loved the shots of the cars racing away while the female couple were getting directions and chatting with tourists   "We're from Los Angeles."

[Lady Calypso]

Fun start to a new season! The Scramble is such a fun idea, although it DID get confusing from time to time as to who was where and had done what, but I guess that's the point. I wish we got a little more from each team, but what we did get was good. Also no NELs, which means if you're rooting for someone and they come in last, no second chances (unless there's KOR legs, which wouldn't count as an NEL leg). I mean, with now 11 teams and I presume at least 10 episodes, they'd need ONE KOR leg, at least.

I wonder if the Scramble is for all legs or it'll be spread out sporadically. I think having it each leg might get tiresome, but it's a neat concept nonetheless. It might work best with less people, though. Not, like, only five teams, but seven or eight teams.

Derek X/Claire were great to see. I liked them on Big Brother, liked Derek on The Challenge, and I'm always game for more Claire in an environment where she can actually succeed on her own (well, with Derek). And they were a great team!

I liked Team T-Rex for their name, Team Twins, and Team Newlyweds. They were all great. I didn't mind the other teams, I just can't remember their names. Rich and Dom were...interesting, but I have a feeling I won't be rooting as hard for them.

Shame about Aastha and Nina, they seemed sweet and was rooting for them to get farther.

This episode may require a rewatch.

[Pepper the Cat]

Loved the scramble. 
do not like the motivational speakers. I suspect they will not last long.

[PurpleTentacle]

I hate all the teams already. I think today I'm just really not in the mood for people being that hyper. (some will probably grow on me as they calm down)

The scramble sounded interesting at first, but if you have to do all of the tasks anyway, there is not much to it but plan the best route through the city. It would be more interesting if different tasks would lead you to other different tasks and you didn't know which were which. Of course that would be a lot of extra work for production, so we'll likely never see it.

[Tango64]

Great to have TAR back. 

I'm firmly against having psuedo-celebrities and professional reality show contestants on TAR, but Derek and whatshername were pretty likable so I'll allow it this time.

Rex and golfing buddy were a good team too, and I hope Rex can hold up through the physical tasks. But coach, treat yourself to another set of dentures. The Gary Busey blindingly white option was not a good choice.

Good to see Kevin Hart and his wife competing. They seem like a nice couple. 

The scramble was an interesting way to mix things up, but I hope it's used sparingly. Part of the fun of watching an episode is following who's in what position and the stress of whether people in the back can catch up. With the scramble, you lose that fun element.

Oh, and the ice block task was lame. A longer course with the beer barrel could have had a cheese wheel feel, and I know we all loved that.

[KeithJ]

Question about the non-elimination legs.  Maybe I'm misremembering but sometimes hasn't Phil just handed the teams a clue on the mat and they continued racing?  Technically it wasn't a pit stop so maybe we'll see a couple of those this season instead of non-eliminations?

[DEL901]

3 hours ago, Haleth said:

Can you imagine finding out you have an identical twin?  How bizarre!

You need to watch the documentary Three Identical Strangers about identical triplets who find each other by accident.  Turns out a New York adoption agency was part of a psychological experiment where they separated identical twins and triplets, didn’t tell the families about the other child/children, then assessed them for years after the adoptions as a part of experiments comparing nature vs nurture.

As for the show, the twins and Derek and Claire are my early favourites. 

[iMonrey]

First off, I don't think they did a very good job introducing the teams. Only nine of them were introduced to us before the opening title sequence. And all of the intros were pretty rushed. I imagine we'll see more of their backstories going forward, but this was the first episode, and its job should be introducing us to these people. I'm pissed off that CBS prioritizes Survivor over this show so much. They could have given this a 2-hour premier too, even if on another day. Or at least cut Survivor down to 90 minutes and give AR that extra half hour.

Other than that I was mostly happy with this. Did they say why they were starting the race in Germany? I guess it just cuts down the obligatory race to the airport for flights. I did like the Scramble twist and the self-navigating, and don't hate any of the teams yet. 

It was a big night for rainbow colored hair on CBS reality shows - a gal on Survivor had rainbow hair too.

I'm generally against Big Brother cross-overs, but if they have to have a Big Brother team, Derek and Claire are relatively unobjectionable. 

[TVbitch]

That was a bit frenetic, so looking forward to the editing calming down and to learning more about the teams. Happy about no Express Passes! Okay with no non-eliminations. Unsure about the scramble. Amazing Race Canada just had a good, tough season and hoping US will measure up!

[Haleth]

11 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

You need to watch the documentary Three Identical Strangers about identical triplets who find each other by accident.  Turns out a New York adoption agency was part of a psychological experiment where they separated identical twins and triplets, didn’t tell the families about the other child/children, then assessed them for years after the adoptions as a part of experiments comparing nature vs nurture.

As for the show, the twins and Derek and Claire are my early favourites. 

Oh, right!  I remember this!

[Kelda Feegle]

So happy to see Phil. It all seemed a bit rushed and accompanied by sooooo much screaming. As a non-american I have no idea who the known people are. I liked most of the teams, not keen on the motivational pair or the service men and have some reservations about a couple of others, really liked the team that was eliminated. Great to see no teaming up and helping others out. 

[PurpleTentacle]

Emily or Molly: "Das Biergarten!" No, just no.

Rich and Dom had such a nice planing session before sawing their log, but then seemed to put a lot of downward preassure on that saw. Rookie mistake. That will catch the teeth and make it soooo much harder to saw. You have to do a back and forth motion with basically no downward preassure. The weight of the saw will be enough for that. Luis and Michelle seemed to be doing the same thing, just not as bad.

Seems like they touched up the Friedensengel in post. At least for that wide shot. The light just wasn't there to make it glow like that.

The scramble did shake out a bit more interesting than I originally thought. It's crazy how much of a lead some teams got out of it. Now that probably would have happened with any self drive in a big city, but them not knowing where they were at all was interesting.

1 hour ago, Tango64 said:

The scramble was an interesting way to mix things up, but I hope it's used sparingly. Part of the fun of watching an episode is following who's in what position and the stress of whether people in the back can catch up. With the scramble, you lose that fun element.

It would have been nice if everytimg they showed the teams names on screen, they also would have shown the number of tasks they had already completed. That way we could ahve followed along better. They did it everytime they completed a task, but that didn't help that much when they were in the task and you were rooting for them to succeed or fail.

12 hours ago, anniebird said:

I love the Scramble and the fact that there are no non-elimination legs......right up until one of my favorite teams gets the boot. 

There will be a ton of TBC instead. They have to make these teams last. Unless they are only going 10 episodes this season?

10 hours ago, aradia22 said:

It helps to not have social media teams

I thought the social media team last season was the most fun one out of the bunch. ymmv.

9 hours ago, Fretful said:

Did T -Rex and The "M" brothers arrive at the PIt Stop without their bags?  I didn't think that was allowed- I was sure Phil was going to send  them back to the cars to get them.

The general rule is that you can drop your bags as soon as you can see Phil, but they were already wandering through the streets of Munich without their packs, when they were looking for the pitstop. So at that point, them checking in without them, should usually mean that they lose them. Which would be intensly funny in the first leg of the race. But I kinda doubt production will adhere to that standard. They would have in the first ~10 seasons.

9 hours ago, aghst said:

Were they right that the pit stop was near the park where they did the barrel roll.

Nope.

Luitpoldpark

Friedensengel

The closest would have been the Biergarten Seehaus.

The Park was actually the worst choice.

Edited September 22, 2022 by PurpleTentacle

[PurpleTentacle]

Since people have asked I mocked up this map real quick (added the pit stop to the map that was shown in the episode). Should be easier to see all the locations in realtion to each other than looking at them individually on google maps:

[aghst]

9 hours ago, aradia22 said:

I hope they don't get too much KF, but it seems likely unless they get tasks they can breeze through.

The first location is a big landmark so I wasn't surprised at a bunch of American tourists in the parking lot.

Nymphenburg is kind of out of the way, some distance from the old town center, which is the main draw.

I think I took a S or U Bahn and then a bus or walk to get to it and I arrived there kind of late in the afternoon, there weren't many people.

Like I said it wasn't just there, there were onlookers at the task stations, especially the barrel roll place, actually cheering them on.

Maybe they had big TV camera trucks or something which drew a lot of people.  Also they didn't blur out faces of these people so they must all have consented to have themselves appear on the show.

We've seen the show attract onlookers before but this leg seemed especially noticeable.

[Skooma]

6 hours ago, Lucas Rowan said:

CBS.com has every single episode of every single season if you want to brush back up on them.

Thanks but no.  I'd just forget the teams after 24 hours again.  I'd much rather re-watch one of Seasons 1, 2, 3 and 5 again for the 10th time any day.  Give me the Way of the Cha, the Frats, Charla & Mirna driving the intense version of Colin nuts and the Opposite Brothers any day.  I'm a "classic TAR" groupie.  Kind of like I'd rather watch a classic movie I love over and over again rather than seeing 10 new movies again I was pretty blah on.

57 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Other than that I was mostly happy with this. Did they say why they were starting the race in Germany? I guess it just cuts down the obligatory race to the airport for flights. I did like the Scramble twist and the self-navigating, and don't hate any of the teams yet.

This is the second season in a row they aren't doing airports.  Just flying around in the Amazing Race charter plane because of covid instead.  Last season they did have one commercial flight pre-covid.  The first leg with a commercial flight but they started from separate American airports so no airport stuff really and the the starting line was in effect coming out of Heathrow with all the teams even in London.  Then just ground transport in England and Scotland (first 3 legs) then BAM, covid shut down the Race.  The re-start was a year and a half later in Switzerland where the Amazing Race charter plane was introduced and is still with us.  So no airports now and, alas, for the forseeable future.

Edited September 22, 2022 by Skooma

[chaifan]

Am I the only one that was thinking during the raft ride that all these people were going to have to race for a day with wet shoes?  ugh.

I'm sad to see Aastha and Nina be the first team out.  I liked them.  And, they weren't totally wrong about the pit stop - it was in a park.  I liked that they at least tried to use some logical reasoning for figuring out which order to do the tasks in.

I was unimpressed with the chosen tasks.  The keg obstacle course was good, the other two rather dull.  And what do blocks of ice have to do with Germany?  At least they had to self navigate.

A personal pet peeve for me on TAR is how women with long hair rarely tie it back.  We saw a lot of that today.  But the rainbow dread motivational speaker (sorry, don't know names yet) was driving me crazy with all that hair!  That is going to slow her down at some point.  I thought her team was really getting the loser edit, same for the military brothers, so good job to TAR for tripping me up on that. 

I liked the intentional showing of the camera crews in the beginning.  I think they got a lot of recognition for the last season, shot mid-pandemic, and I think it's good that TAR doesn't feel obligated to hide them anymore. 

As someone said above, the one downfall to the announcement of no NEL's is that we may have a team that knows they're dead last at a certain point, and what will be the motivation for still completing a challenge and "racing" to the pit stop if they know they're out.  If there's a chance, no matter how slim, of a NEL, people will push through. 

[DEL901]

1 hour ago, TVbitch said:

That was a bit frenetic, so looking forward to the editing calming down and to learning more about the teams. Happy about no Express Passes! Okay with no non-eliminations. Unsure about the scramble. Amazing Race Canada just had a good, tough season and hoping US will measure up!

I think they are using the Amazing Chartered Airplane, so there is no point rushing to the airport.  Might as well just start at their destination.  

[Haleth]

It never made sense to begin a leg with staggered starts only to have all the teams bunch up on the same flight anyway. 

[Guest]

33 minutes ago, chaifan said:

And what do blocks of ice have to do with Germany?

The tasks related to Oktoberfest specifically, and ice sculptures are generally a part of Oktoberfest celebrations (as are keg rolling and log sawing). Obviously not quite the same thing as hacking apart a block of ice, but having them do an actual sculpture would have thrown the timing of the 3 tasks out of whack.

45 minutes ago, aghst said:

Nymphenburg is kind of out of the way, some distance from the old town center, which is the main draw.

I think I took a S or U Bahn and then a bus or walk to get to it and I arrived there kind of late in the afternoon, there weren't many people.

Like I said it wasn't just there, there were onlookers at the task stations, especially the barrel roll place, actually cheering them on.

Maybe they had big TV camera trucks or something which drew a lot of people.  Also they didn't blur out faces of these people so they must all have consented to have themselves appear on the show.

We've seen the show attract onlookers before but this leg seemed especially noticeable.

I think a lot of the "onlookers" at tasks through the years have been locals specifically assigned to watch, cheer, and/or heckle.

[TeeVeeWatcher]

I was legit concerned someone was going to slice their arm off with the wacky saw handling! It's a sharp tool - be careful and get your hair out of the way!

[Netfoot]

Initial impression: I have never seen a more unlikable field in the entire history of the race. In particular, Luis had my teeth on edge before he uttered his first word. Here's hoping I feel differently by the end of the episode. And can there be less shrieking, please?

The Scramble is an interesting new development. I think most teams approached it sensibly, plotting each point and routes between on their map before starting. The tricky bit will be navigating from the third to the pitstop, because they won't have it pre-plotted. One of the teams was guestimating where the pitstop might be. This would allow you to plot your path so you were closest to the pitstop when you had finished the third challenge. Unless you guestimated wrong.....

"I am centering myself on my breath and focusing on remembering why I'm here, who I am and my power and my strength." O. M. F. G! Oh, wait! Motivational Speaker. Well that explains it, then.

Barrel-rolling whistle guy is really into it! Log-Sawing guy was pretty into it too! (I would like one of those logs, and one of those saws. Or all of those logs and one of those saws...)

Roadblock. Aren't you supposed to decide who does the roadblock before reading the details of the clue? The twins read the details first.

The ice is too soft! They need Wil Steger grade ice from Season #2!

Now, I can respect a guy like the Greeter. Facial hair is to be celebrated!

Claire is a bit of a shrieker, but I guess I should not complain about enthusiasm! And also, congats to them for the first place.

With the Scramble, it is difficult to keep track of who is where. It keeps you guessing.

I had no idea as to running order, right up until teams approached the mat.

7 hours ago, Skooma said:

I always try to forget TAR4 so...

1 hour ago, Skooma said:

I'd much rather re-watch one of Seasons 1, 2, 3 and 5 again for the 10th time any day.

I can't think off-hand of any reason to shun TAR4... Now I'm curious.

5 hours ago, Haleth said:

I hope they keep up the scramble wherever possible.

I think it was a nice new gimmick and hope to see it again. But not on every leg!

3 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

I wonder if the Scramble is for all legs or it'll be spread out sporadically. I think having it each leg might get tiresome, but it's a neat concept nonetheless. It might work best with less people, though. Not, like, only five teams, but seven or eight teams.

I agree with every word of this.

3 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

I hate all the teams already. I think today I'm just really not in the mood for people being that hyper.

I know what you mean. If only there were less children in the race, and more adults! But after watching the episode  I have to admit I don't hate them all. Maybe not even most. 

1 hour ago, chaifan said:

A personal pet peeve for me on TAR is how women with long hair rarely tie it back.  We saw a lot of that today.  But the rainbow dread motivational speaker (sorry, don't know names yet) was driving me crazy with all that hair!

Do you think she'd do a Joyce Agu and shave that off for a Fast Forward? Me neither.

1 hour ago, chaifan said:

As someone said above, the one downfall to the announcement of no NEL's is that we may have a team that knows they're dead last at a certain point, and what will be the motivation for still completing a challenge and "racing" to the pit stop if they know they're out.

But there will always be the chance that the next team gets lost on the way to the Pit Stop, or arrives and is told they have to sit out a penalty. Don't give up until Phil says those fateful words!

Ok, I am pleased to see the race back, the changes (Amazing Charter Flight, no NELs, Scramble) won't be hard to live with. When the novelty wears off I hope the juvenile behaviour diminishes. Mean time, I enjoyed the episode and can't wait to see the next one!

[PurpleTentacle]

25 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

The Scramble is an interesting new development. I think most teams approached it sensibly, plotting each point and routes between on their map before starting. The tricky bit will be navigating from the third to the pitstop, because they won't have it pre-plotted. One of the teams was guestimating where the pitstop might be. This would allow you to plot your path so you were closest to the pitstop when you had finished the third challenge. Unless you guestimated wrong.....

Which they did. They played themselves. Without knowing the pit-stop the best route is clearly "Start -> Augustinerkeller ->Luitpoldpark -> Seehaus" and it remains the same once you know where the Pit-Stop is.

I think the best way to approach it is to not speculate and just take the most direct route. The pit-stop would have to be massively out of the way for your gamble, to take a much longer route up front, to pay off.

Edited September 22, 2022 by PurpleTentacle

[watch2much]

I liked most of the teams so far.  except for Rex and Derek and Claire, the rest seem pretty diverse occupation wise.  at least it's not all Youtube or Tik Tok people.

[Browncoat]

I liked the Scramble, but I also hope it's not a thing for all the legs.  I loved all the self-navigating and self-driving.  As for the rest, well, I don't have a good idea of who is who just yet, so I don't have any real opinions about the racers.  I did find the long-lost twin story interesting.  I like Motivational Speaker's hair, but it's going to get in the way, I think.

I mostly wish it weren't on at 10:00 at night.  My perennial complaint -- how do they not put a family-friendly show like this one on earlier!  It bums me out because I have to get up so early for work, so I can't play in the live chat thread.  

[chitowngirl]

10 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

I mostly wish it weren't on at 10:00 at night.  My perennial complaint -- how do they not put a family-friendly show like this one on earlier!  It bums me out because I have to get up so early for work, so I can't play in the live chat thread.  

^this! ❤️

[Skooma]

1 hour ago, Netfoot said:

I can't think off-hand of any reason to shun TAR4... Now I'm curious.

Since this is about my post I'll respond.  My reasons for hating TAR4:  I hated that cast was divided evenly between the mactors and the regular people and it was war lining up anywhere with screaming and shouting.  The mactors were primarily models who had a lot of international travel under their belt so they usually made mincemeat of the regular racers.  Both "sides" basically didn't talk with each other except to shout and scream at them.  Then poor Millie spiraled into a near breakdown and that was so sad to see.  Only the Clowns behaved like adults and got along with everyone but they got screwed in South Korea's airport for no fault of their own.  Just a bummer of a season from my point of view and much like Season 6 with the zillion mactors involved.  Model teams are not likeable teams for me other than the Wonder Twins who unfortunately seemed to encourage TAR to cast those types.

1 hour ago, watch2much said:

I liked most of the teams so far.  except for Rex and Derek and Claire, the rest seem pretty diverse occupation wise.  at least it's not all Youtube or Tik Tok people.

Well the YouTube winners last season were genuine good guys and both awesome and funny and one of my favorite teams ever.  And I personally think motivational speakers, (former) cheerleaders and even professional dancers are far worse.  They are mactors by any other name too chasing the "exposure" the show gives them.  And I am sure they all have websites/Facebook/twitter/Tic Tok and YouTube accounts too.  Can you imagine them even NOT having them?  (Well maybe not Facebook cause younger people scorn that site).  TAR is just good at playing down this stuff when they want to but you know it is out there big time.  (Also the BB team too though they were both really nice and sweet on BB which is a very rare thing).

Edited September 22, 2022 by Skooma