S35.E12: A Sunset, Seattle Scramble

[shura]

17 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

No way would I have walked out on the Space Needle. No way. I would've been making my own rough Express Pass to get out of that.

But they were wearing helmets! It’s perfectly safe if you wear a helmet, I’m sure…

An interesting moment at the band staging task. Rob and Corey actively tried to hide from the brothers where they found that amplifier (or whatever that piece of equipment was). And then one of the brothers goes and helps them by pointing out that they are missing some cables. I know that he was looking for the cables himself and it wasn’t all altruism, but still, I felt a little awkward on Rob and Corey’s behalf.

[Hera]

17 hours ago, Jodithgrace said:

I would have been happy with any of the three teams winning, but I was so impressed that Greg and John kept their cool, even though at one point, at the glass blowing challenge, I think, they were in third. Yes, they were young and athletic but it did take one of them 2 tries at the trapeze, and they couldn’t figure out the hidden amp thingie for the longest time. So it was really the memory task that won it for them. Well done, I say. 

I came here to say the same thing. Any of the three teams could have won it. Rob and Corey might have been in it if they had been better about getting directions (and—let's face it—if Rob had completed the trapeze task a bit faster). Joel and Garrett could have won it if they had spotted their error on the kayak task sooner. John and Greg were a very strong team and deserved their win, but it was absolutely not a foregone conclusion for much of the leg.

Count me among those who wished that the final task had been a bit more difficult. Lugging kayaks isn't riveting as a viewer, even if it does exhaust the teams. But the other tasks, plus the fact that it was a scramble rather than a pre-determined sequence made for an enjoyable leg nonetheless. Though, as others have noted, because the scramble tasks were set up in a straight line, pretty much everyone was going to end up doing Grunge second.

I think part of Rob and Corey's strategy in choosing the order they did was to try to avoid the other teams at tasks. It's not a bad idea if you're worried about having to take turns or getting psyched out. And if John and Greg are your competition, getting psyched out is a legitimate concern, especially if you're at something physical like the trapeze task.

It's always hard when you have a consistent front-running team like John and Greg on a season. If they win, it's anticlimactic, but if they lose, it potentially feels like the winners are somehow undeserving or won based on luck (either their good luck or the front-runners' bad luck). But that nitpick aside, this was an excellent season.

[dizzyd]

Winners’ interview

Nice interview with the Franklin bros and would love to see them again if they ever race again. Was hoping for some “That’s what we do” at the finale mat, because I loved when they did that to encourage each other and themselves as a team. It was one of the fun quips like “we’re the out of towners” and “follow the beard” as opposed to “come on, dad!” And even though my favorites, Rob and Corey and close 2nd favorites, Joel and Garrett didn’t win, John and Greg were my close 3rd and this is definitely a season I will rewatch. I expect the next season to air would be the one that filmed before this and was postponed for editing to the 90 minute format but due to more Covid related travel restrictions than this season, will probably not be as satisfying but hope subsequent ones will be as good or better. Kudos to the casting and international location and challenge design teams for making this such an enjoyable season. 
 

R&C interview  So much respect, love their relationship. 

Edited December 15, 2023 by dizzyd

[chaifan]

From the interview linked above...  there was a part of the final challenge that got edited out:

Quote

Greg: Honestly, the hardest part about that challenge were the pictures. I don't know if they showed it in the race. But we had the different challenge names, but then we also had to match the photo of where the [Pit Stop] was with the country. That part was difficult, especially in Asia where a lot of temples looked similar.

That's really interesting. Because you could write down Roadblock prompts and Detour options after a leg to memorize them. But it's a lot harder to write down a visual description of the Pit Stop to study.
John: Yeah, I mean we had time on our hands, and there are artists who play this game. But it's gonna take a lot of time to draw those places.

So, I will take back my previous comments that the memory challenge seemed a bit lame. 

I do wonder where in the world those pictures went, since we didn't even see a glimpse of them.  Totally separate board? 

Great interview with Greg & John. 

 

[vousviou]

5 hours ago, KenyaJ said:

20 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

No way would I have walked out on the Space Needle. No way. I would've been making my own rough Express Pass to get out of that.

I've developed a fear of heights in the past decade or so, so even just watching them up there made me sweat. The slope on the roof made it 100 times more terrifying to me.

I didn't think I had a problem, but when I went to the CN Tower in Toronto, it has a section of the observation deck with a glass floor. You can see how thick it is, but stepping on it and looking down still gave me a serious case of the creeps. I can't blame anyone on the show who struggles.

[aradia22]

Ahh! That was so fun. There was a lot of bunching (which is not my favorite) but it legitimately got tense for me when it seemed like Joel and Garrett might be winning this. I was so happy for Greg and John and their joy at the mat was infectious. I think what really helped in this finale was all of the teams making mistakes and/or struggling with the challenges. Also, an unspoken additional challenge to this finale was all the nighttime driving. 

The space needle seemed like one of those tasks that's pretty pointless except for getting footage for the show and giving the racers a fun experience. I do appreciate that they made both team members do the challenge thereby allowing at least the first few people to enjoy the experience rather than trying to speed through it (because you really couldn't build a lead on the other teams).

There really is a lot of Chihuly art everywhere. Anyway, none of that seemed to matter until the scramble really started.

The first stumble for one of the teams was at the trapeze task. By his 5th attempt, Rob got his legs over but it really became clear watching Joel and Garrett that you had to do it quickly to not lose all your momentum and still achieve the catch. Credit to him for succeeding on his eight try. Honestly? It did look pretty fun. I thought you'd have to be impossibly athletic but it seems like you can figure it out with enough practice and perseverance. 

Greg and John then stumbled at glass blowing. Another very fun hobby! Though probably not when you're under a time crunch. I'll be interested to watch their recap. They succeeded on their 6th attempt and seemed to struggle more than the other two teams with getting the globe to the correct size (4 inches) and not having it crack when they broke it off. I don't know if they were rushing or just had a lot of struggles. It's not something you'd think you could pick up that quickly but the two other teams succeeded on their first attempts. Of course, those were the first attempts they got to the judging stage. 

Two great challenges and two hobbies I might want to try. The people at both locations also seemed super encouraging. A physical challenge with a clean pass or fail that wasn't just about strength and a skills challenge that forced teams to slow down and get it right. Great choices. 

The grunge challenge where they played roadies was a little less interesting though very tricky. I did not like the mean judge, even if he fit the venue. The bands seemed friendlier but they all sounded terrible. Maybe it was the sound system. I could kind of tell that at least the last two could sort of sing but oof, overall it was tough to get through. The challenge designers weren't really being that diabolical as it seems like that's how you'd set up that equipment anyway but it wasn't perfectly straightforward either. And it's a subtle mindset shift after each team had started with a task where instructors were guiding them to have something they had to do on their own that just felt like a physical challenge with some assembly. If it had been that basic, it would have been a boring task. 

I worried for John and Greg again at the grunge task but thankfully they finally figured it out. The editors were having fun showing how many times they lifted up the lid with the amp attached to it. 

Joel and Garrett got through the trapeze task in three tries. When the last team got there, John took one try and Greg took two. Joel and Garett really put in a good showing this episode as a team with strong navigation that struggled an average amount but not too much at any task. Of course their downfall was at Kenmore Air Harbor with the kayaks where they had to remember all the Roadblocks and Detours. This was a diabolical task to me because I think those names they assign to the tasks are horrible and sometimes barely make sense. 😅

I think it's easy to say Joel and Garrett made a fatal mistake at the memory task but really I think every team struggled about the same amount. That's what made the finale interesting. In a perfect world, John and Greg wouldn't have missed the amp so many times. Or Rob would have gotten through the trapeze task quicker. The race was very tight and Greg and John also found ways to make up time given how they kept falling behind so credit to them. 

Greg and John were the first to complete the memory task and get to Clise Mansion. I felt bad about it because they seem perfectly nice but I really started rooting against Joel and Garrett around the memory challenge and it was a thrill to see Greg and John appear at the entrance. John was so excited he kept stumbling. His happy little claps were so cute. Rob and Corey ending up third was the most shocking part but everyone was so good-natured about the result at the mat. I loved this cast (for the most part). 

Meet back here for season 36. I'll probably miss the first few weeks until April. 

[OlderThanDirt]

Did anyone else see that the wing came off the brothers' plane as they were running to the mat? I wonder if they made him run back to get it.  I guess its purpose was to give them the address in Kenmore, not like when they had to bring the Amazing Gnome to the mat.

[aradia22]

First off, I'm glad everyone agrees those bands were terrible. I do think some of it was the sound system but yeah, not a great showing. I wonder if they were real bands or just cobbled together by the show. And if the instruments were in tune and if they'd ever rehearsed or performed together before. Because, yikes.

Quote

A few people keep mentioning that Greg and John "have money".  Where is this coming from?  Are they uber wealthy?  Just solid upper middle class?  Obviously they've had a lot of different opportunities in life, so are people just assuming, or is there something in their bio?  I don't think it matters.  They ran an excellent race, and deserved every bit of that win.

I love them so I don't understand where the animosity is coming from. But then, I don't root for underdogs, I root for competence and excellence and even if they stumbled a little this leg, they've definitely shown that during the race and even in this finale given how tight they kept it even struggling with the tasks. I think the evidence for them having money is that they both work in tech (John at least works for Google) and they have a lot of experience but nothing that puts them beyond upper middle class. John studied music composition in college. But that just means he has musical talent since he was studying piano since age 6. If having a college degree makes you privileged, so are most people on the race this season. Their family has a home in Michigan so they have experience kayaking. But no one is mad at Corey for having a good job or having lived different places or having the chance to travel and play a ton of different sports. I think it's weird to play a game of who is more privileged and judge them for stuff outside the race when they've always been pleasant and friendly and haven't been arrogant about their backgrounds. 

Quote

Most legs won, but still lost:  Bring back the teams who won the most legs their season, but didn't win the final leg.

Almost winners:  bring back #2 and #3 teams.

First ones out:  A race of all teams who were eliminated on the first leg.  (Boy, would it suck to be the first one eliminated, again.)

The first two would be very fun ideas to assemble competitive teams. The last one sounds fun on something like Taskmaster but, while I'm sure some teams made silly mistakes or had travel issues leg one, it might result in a pretty painful season if they all prove to be incompetent. 

Quote

So did two of the teams say they were very familiar with the Seattle area or may have actually lived there?  Only Greg and John weren't familiar?

Only Joel and Garrett weren't familiar with Seattle. John and Corey had some passing experience with Seattle. But everyone was getting phone directions anyway.

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Not sure if they're alpha.  Just collectively younger and fitter than the other teams.

They didn't win just because of being more fit.

They won on the kayaks task and they navigated well.

Also they fell behind in glass blowing and grunge and they stayed even-tempered, didn't argue with each other, stayed positive and when they saw their opening on kayaks, they performed.

Yeah, they're athletic but arguably they have "soft" skills. They can run but they're not as strong as say Liam and Yeremi. They shine in puzzles and attention to detail. I think the glass blowing really got to them because they were not thinking straight on the grunge task. And even when frustrated, they stay focused on the task and persevere. It would have been easy to get mad at the glass blowing when the calipers were repeatedly just shy of 4 inches. 

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It’s possible that Rob and Corey benefitted from doing the trapeze task first since they had the facility to themselves. I don’t know what would happen if two teams were making their attempts at the same time. They may have to alternate attempts and wait. With Rob needing nine attempts it might have been a large delay. 

Yes, and did anyone see how many furnaces there were at the glassblowing task? I think having too many teams bunch up would have been awkward just for safety. The grunge task was the only one that seems to accommodate three teams the best and even then, they would sort of run into each other bottlenecking at door. 

Quote

Did anyone else see that the wing came off the brothers' plane as they were running to the mat? I wonder if they made him run back to get it.  I guess its purpose was to give them the address in Kenmore, not like when they had to bring the Amazing Gnome to the mat.

Yes, John fist-pumped so hard the wing flew off the plane as they ran through the gate. He then stumbled... and stumbled again right as they reached the mat. You could see the excitement in their bodies as they ran towards Phil. 

[iMonrey]

8 hours ago, aghst said:

Not sure if they're alpha.  Just collectively younger and fitter than the other teams.

They didn't win just because of being more fit.

They won on the kayaks task and they navigated well.

Also they fell behind in glass blowing and grunge and they stayed even-tempered, didn't argue with each other, stayed positive and when they saw their opening on kayaks, they performed.

To clarify, I didn't mean to imply they only won because they were younger and fitter (although that certainly helped, especially in the trapeze task). They were always the front runners, and it was always their game to lose. Yes, they performed when they needed to and very much deserved their win. 

But when the obvious favorites win, I just don't think it's as interesting or exciting as it would be for an underdog team to win. I went into this expecting Greg and John to win, so no surprise there. And I'm only human, I can't help being disappointed my favorite team lost, and it takes something away from the finale for me. Not a lot, still liked the season overall, but yeah. I'm a little disappointed.

[Dobian]

I was pulling for the Civil War guys (yeah that's what I called Joel and Garret all season!), and they would have won if they hadn't transposed those two kayaks.  But I was fine with whoever won because I liked all three teams.

I thought the edit on Rob and Corey was horrible.  They were in first place at the beginning of the scramble, and while Dad had some trouble on the trapeze, it looked like he made it by the fifth or sixth try.  Meanwhile, Greg and John had all kinds of trouble with glass blowing and were definitively in third place after grunge bands.  So for Rob and Corey to drop into third place, either they were a lot slower on the trapeze than I thought, or they were very slow on the glass blowing (but they heavily edited their glass blowing and only showed them needing a second demo).

I thought the finish felt weird.  Why did they make the final leg at night?  Then the final mat was in some little park that looked like an office park with the building in the background, dark night and poorly lit so you couldn't really see anything beyond the mat itself.  So many seasons have either ended at some iconic location or at least at a place that felt grand, a stadium or a place with some scenery.  You couldn't even hardly see the other racers when in past finishes you got a good look at all of them.  This race felt like it ended in someone's backyard.  Come on location team, you can do better than this!

[aradia22]

I thought the nighttime finish made things more interesting. For one, you couldn't track placement during the leg or at the post-race interviews from the amount of sunlight. Navigating in the dark probably made things more difficult with teams straining to read signs and not miss anything. And it was probably a little sketchier cornering random strangers to use their phones at night. Last season (34) also ended at night and I think they did a much better job designing this leg. I like that they interacted with local businesses in a meaningful way because for two tasks, they're used to giving lessons (vs. labeling bottles when they don't need/want your help) and there was something more intimate about the way it ended with the memory task and the mat location vs. the two big auditoriums in the season 34 finale where it felt like they were still trying to keep the racers separated from people.

[Ancaster]

Since I don't think anyone has mentioned it - they really, really lucked out with the weather for the Space Needle challenge.  Those clear views of Pungent* Puget Sound are definitely not the norm, even with global warming.

 

*  Shout out to Click and Clack, The Tappet Brothers, stars of NPR's car and domestic advice show.  Yes, really.  Inspired and hilarious!

[Netfoot]

6 hours ago, OlderThanDirt said:

The polar flights from Europe to Seattle are not bad.

"Coming in from London from over the pole, flying in a big airliner. Chicken flying everywhere around the plane. Could we ever feel much finer?"

[North of Eden]

No pun intended but it's amazing that the producers can display such brilliance and complete idiocy in the same episode.

The scramble was brilliant, exciting, and shook things up. I hope it's here to stay.

The idiocy is every finale insisting on having confessionals during the race when the team's demeanor always gives away at least one of the losers. From Rob and Corey's first confessional, it was clear they were toast.

Congrats to the winners but I can't believe they risked it all by actually HELPING another team in the final leg! WTF with telling about the power cables? But it was also LOK every time they lifted up the amplifier. It was their "Big W" moment as fans of ITS A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD will understand.

Good season overall but what comes next is the big question. The 90-minute format was a gift from the writers's strike....will they keep it forever now?

Anyway, see some of you at next week's SURVIVOR finale board.

[Phebemarie]

I don't think Seattle is always cloudy and overcast in the early fall (which is when I think this was filmed).  Of course, I live on the Oregon coast, so I'm just making an assumption based on the weather here.

Yes, I was disappointed that Rob and Corey fell behind...but when looking back over their normal placement in other legs, they were often in that third place position.  I was afraid they'd go out in fourth place where a lot of my favorite teams of the past have been eliminated.  

I liked the brothers. So talented and consistent.  I kind of got tired of Joel and Garrett calling themselves the underdogs when they had won several rounds in the past.  They were a strong team, too.  

[chicagofan]

1 hour ago, Phebemarie said:

I don't think Seattle is always cloudy and overcast in the early fall (which is when I think this was filmed).  Of course, I live on the Oregon coast, so I'm just making an assumption based on the weather here

This race was run/filmed from June 13 to July 8 of this year.

1 hour ago, Phebemarie said:

 I liked the brothers. So talented and consistent.  I kind of got tired of Joel and Garrett calling themselves the underdogs when they had won several rounds in the past.  They were a strong team, too.  

Joel and Garrett only won one leg - leg 10 in Sweden when they got good directions to the subway station and Greg and John, Rob and Corey and Steve and Anna Leigh were in a pack that kept getting misdirected and ultimately raced each other to the mat for 2nd, 3rd and 4th place (Todd and Ashlie were eliminated).

Edited December 15, 2023 by chicagofan

[PurpleTentacle]

16 hours ago, Corgi-ears said:

But the teams all did the same task (the roadie) second, thereby converging -- and Rob and Corey got there second. And the map we saw had glassblowing and roadie-ing close to each other. So Rob and Corey drove the longest distance back and forth, did the trapeze nine times in total between the two of them, and were still quicker at that point of the race than the Brothers.

They still lost quite a bit of travel time, doing the tasks in that order. They could have been there first.

That they already did the Grab does not matter, it only matters that other teams did that one faster. Clearly it didn't take as long as the Glass.

13 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

That didn't help but they seemed to finish the glass blowing close to the same time as G&J did with the trapeze.  It really looks like navigating from the glass blowing (which could've been farther away from the kayak task) was their biggest issue.

We have no idea when either team finished their tasks. You can't trust the edit.

Also yes, the self drive goes to my first point of not doing the tasks in the obvious order. Best case you come out even, worst case, as it seems was the case here, you just wasted a bunch of time. The harbour location is waaaaay out of the way but the third location would have put you quite a bit closer to I-5, from which it is a straight shot (take that and then the WA-522 and you are there). So less driving and easier navigation.

11 hours ago, illdoc said:

It's not the "start with furthest" that is a problem. After all, if the next task/finish line is near downtown, you are closer to that and it might be an advantage.

No, you never have an advantage. That is an error that is easy to make, but also easy to spot when you think about it for a bit.

Let's say the final memory task is directly next to Glass. One team drives to the end of the line (Grab) first, does the tasks backwards (Grab -> Grunge -> Glass) and now they are directly next to their final memory task. Let's say that's 20km total.

Now let's look at another team. They do the tasks in the obvious oder: Glass -> Grunge -> Grab. After they have done their tasks, they have to drive back all the way to Glass, to do their final memory task. Now they have driven the exact same distance our first team has, 20km.

So you see, best case you come out even.

But now let's say the final memory task is directly next to Grab. That would mean our first team (out of order) would need to drive nearly 30km, while our second team (in order) only has to drive 10km. Doing the tasks out of order is a huge gamble with literally no upside.

I don't really begrudge Rob and Corey for making that mistake in the heat of the moment, but if you have time to think about it, it's an obvious mistake.

Map for better visualisation:

Edited December 15, 2023 by PurpleTentacle

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

22 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

I do like a scramble for the final leg, but this one was just dumb. 

[...]

The trapeze challange seemed unfairly physical, especially for a final leg. It's just frustrating to see a team that made it through the whole race run at a wall during one of the challanges, not because they can't see the solution, but because they physically can't do it. 

I agree about triangulating a scramble, or inserting some other hint that choosing order wisely is good strategy. Maybe creating challenges and making it clear that one is about luck (needle in a haystack), one is about brains or fine motor skills (when will adrenaline make that most difficult?), and one is about brawn (when will you best be able to tackle a physical task and still have energy to complete the leg). I love the scramble concept so it’s not just a first-in first-out line of boring tasks as final legs tend to be, and I hope it's here to stay.

Unfairly physical is relative. I practice flying trapeze as a hobby. I was able to do knee hang without having any other athletic background, with caveats I'll explain below. As a bucket list / date night activity, it’s all about timing and letting physics and the lines puller do the work. I would not have been able to swim out to a buoy or climb endless flights of stairs to get my next clue, but that doesn't make the physical aspect of the Race any less fair.

I am sure there were several practice rounds without a catcher before Corey’s “first try.” Knee hang is the very first trick recreational schools teach, and a fair number of people can get the timing good enough to catch by the end of the first class.

I felt all the Rob though. I took several classes (averaging seven turns per class) to be able to invert with catch timing, and a couple more after that to catch consistently. Rob had the added challenge that he probably needed to look for someone signing the prompts. Flying trapeze is all about timing, and beginners have it drilled into them to listen for the calls. You need the "ready!" / "hep!" to leave the board at the right time, and you need the “legs up!” / “hands off!” / “hep!” to complete the knee hang and catch at the right time. Hard enough to get that right when you can hear the cues but your brain has the zoomies trying to figure out what your body is doing. More difficult if you’re relying on visual cues (such as the catcher clapping).

19 hours ago, Tdoc72 said:

It did seem hard. But it seemed like on the first try, you had to put your feet on the bar between your arms, which were far apart. When they went back to the start for the second (or more) try, they let them put their hand very close together and bring their legs around the ropes to the bar. (I’m probably not decribing it right but if you go back to anyone’s second attempt, you’ll see by looking at their hands.) I think that helped a lot, although God knows, I’d still be trapezing. 

The straddling around the bar is called hocks style, and I'm glad that was given as an option for the guys who needed it. Tucking/piking under the bar simply isn't possible for some people depending on body proportions (arm length compared to torso and legs), no matter how athletic they are or how much flexibility and compression strength they have. I struggled with trying to pull my legs between my arms for two or three classes before an instructor finally taught me hocks, and only then was I able to progress. To this day, I do every trick I can hocks style, and skip any that can only be done with a true tuck or pike under the bar.

15 hours ago, Netfoot said:

It must have taken TPTB quite some time to round up three such awful bands. Awful, not awesome. 

[...]

A comment on the race itself: Phil opened the episode saying "This season, The Amazing Race returned to it's roots." And I think that anyone who is a fan of the race will have to agree that this season was objectively better than what we have become accustomed to in recent years. I hope TPTB take the evidence of their own eyes into account. Classic TAR didn't become classic because it was what they did first. But because what they did was great! A return to those roots produced another latter-day "classic" episode.

Take the hint, people!

While I didn’t enjoy any of those bands’ style of music, and yes my ears did bleed, I’m hesitant to blame the bands themselves. Have you ever heard a cell phone recording of a very good live show? The bootleg sounds horrific. I’ll give the benefit of the doubt that production goofed the audio setup. I mean, they’re professionals, and goofing the audio is unlikely…but I’d rather think that than think TAR hired three terrible bands for the evening.

Those hugs among the winning and waiting teams at the finish line looked genuine. This is what happens when you cast likable teams. The Race speaks for itself, no need to stunt cast or manufacture drama to be enjoyable to watch. Take heed, producers! Bickering is not entertaining. Amazing scenery and clever tasks are entertaining.

Final random thought. “Coarse language” in the tv rating indeed. They edited the glass blowing to sound as dirty as possible.

[One Imaginary Girl]

21 hours ago, chaifan said:

A few ideas I think would be fun for "special" seasons:

Most legs won, but still lost:  Bring back the teams who won the most legs their season, but didn't win the final leg.

Oh no.  You know what that would mean: S27's Justin and his arrogance and that hat.

[chaifan]

11 hours ago, aradia22 said:

The first two would be very fun ideas to assemble competitive teams. The last one sounds fun on something like Taskmaster

I love my TAR as it is, but I've said this a million times - a TAR/Taskmaster crossover would be a blast!  I'd love to have them do a leg in England, and have The Taskmaster take over for at least one (if not all) challenges.

I know, not going to happen.  And what are the chances any racers would have a clue about Taskmaster?  But it would be hilarious.

Here's Joel & Garrett's post-race interview:

https://parade.com/tv/the-amazing-race-35-joel-strasser-garrett-smith-finale-interview

Joel did start a fundraiser to get a service dog for Garrett's daughter:

https://www.givesendgo.com/SmithFamilyServiceDog

$25,000 (out of $60,000 needed) raised as of the time of this post.

[zapper]

20 hours ago, Jaundiced Eye said:

And I'm sorry, but those bands were TERRIBLE. If that's representative of today's music scene in Seattle, color me disappointed. What happened???

And they were not that far at all from Seattle Opera and KING-FM classical!

[Good Queen Jane]

There was only one trapeze and the order was determined by taking a slip at the clue box. Considering Rob's struggles. it was good that he and Corey got there first so they had plenty of time to do multiple attempts without waiting in line behind the others. John and Gregory had to wait for Joel and Garrett to finish their turn before going on the trapeze. I think it would have been very frustrating if all three teams had to keep alternating to get the task done.

[Lovecat]

19 hours ago, eel2178 said:

I was expecting to hear, "I used to make my own bongs, so I have a lot of experience in glass blowing," but, alas, TAR was finally able to find a task that wasn't from something in their history which gave them the extra practice they needed to excel and breeze their way through it.

 

My husband and I actually have done a lot of glassblowing (we made all of the favors for our wedding), so we would have CRUSHED that challenge...if we hadn't still been clinging to the outside of the Space Needle and sobbing hysterically, that is.

[borealis]

22 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Not a fan of Grunge so it's hard to say but all three of those bands sounded horrible to me.

I am a fan of grunge, and yes, they were horrible. The only redeeming value was the song about the spider in the room, because the subject reminded me of the song 'Lullaby' by The Cure, which is also about a spider in the room.

[proserpina65]

22 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I'm not clear on where the kayak challenge took place. Rob and Corey were betting on the glass blowing challenge being closest to it which is why they started with the trapeze. Maybe the glass blowing was actually furthest away. And they apparently got lost for a little while. 

That was my thought as well, that the glass blowing was actually farther from the kayak task than the trapeze task was.

21 hours ago, aghst said:

I would have thought all the teams would have taken notes during the race but it seemed like they were all doing it from memory, including Greg who supposedly had great memory.

The Beards definitely took notes during the Race because they almost left their notebook behind at one of the tasks in Asia.  But they wouldn't have been allowed to use their notes during the final task and who knows if anyone thought to write down the names of each task.

 

[meep.meep]

14 hours ago, OlderThanDirt said:

Did anyone else see that the wing came off the brothers' plane as they were running to the mat? I wonder if they made him run back to get it.  I guess its purpose was to give them the address in Kenmore, not like when they had to bring the Amazing Gnome to the mat.

Did we have a Gnome-free season?  Huzzah for that.

I was rooting for Greg and John so that was a great ending!  I really appreciated the structure of this final leg since it let both members of the teams participate fully.  Having a final memory task dependent on a single racer to complete always sucks.  They did all of these together.

[proserpina65]

13 hours ago, Dobian said:

So for Rob and Corey to drop into third place, either they were a lot slower on the trapeze than I thought, or they were very slow on the glass blowing (but they heavily edited their glass blowing and only showed them needing a second demo).

They were ahead of Greg & John after the band set-up, so it wasn't the trapeze task which was the issue, and they didn't appear far behind after the glass blowing.  It was navigational problems getting from the glass blowing to the kayaks which made them bleed time.

12 hours ago, North of Eden said:

The idiocy is every finale insisting on having confessionals during the race when the team's demeanor always gives away at least one of the losers. From Rob and Corey's first confessional, it was clear they were toast.

I've never been able to determine teams' finishes based on their confessionals.  I know some of you claim that you can.

9 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

Did we have a Gnome-free season?  Huzzah for that.

Awww, I kinda missed the little fella.  Although how he would've done the trapeze task perplexes me.

[Good Queen Jane]

32 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

Did we have a Gnome-free season?  Huzzah for that.

Unfortunately, the Gnome has gone to live permanently in Sequesterville (TWoP reference), as he was the symbol for Travelocity, which was bought out by Expedia. Which brings up the question, do they still sequester the eliminated teams while the Race is being run? The teams out early used to get to stay at a fancy resort until the end of the Race so they wouldn't return home early and tip off who was eliminated.

[chaifan]

21 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

They were ahead of Greg & John after the band set-up, so it wasn't the trapeze task which was the issue, and they didn't appear far behind after the glass blowing.  It was navigational problems getting from the glass blowing to the kayaks which made them bleed time.

I think in a scramble it's really not possible to tell who is "ahead".  You can't simply go by Rob & Corey finished 2 tasks ahead of Greg & John, because they weren't the same 2 tasks.  I'm just guessing here, but it makes sense that - even if perfectly executed the first time - the glass blowing task would take the longest, with both instruction and doing the task.  Then, the trapeze, again due to instruction time, getting hooked up, etc.  The band set up would take the least time.  So, at a certain point, R&C had finished 2 tasks, but still had the one task that would take the longest for anyone to do.  This is one reason I really like the scramble format for the finale - it really keeps me guessing as a viewer where people really are (location and timewise) until the end.

I agree it was navigation that ended up putting R&C so far behind, though.  Or at least it's how it appears due to the edit, as they seemingly got the glass blowing on the 2nd attempt.

I did think it was funny that Greg/John inadvertently gave Rob & Corey a hint on the cords.  I dont thing G/J were actually expecting a helpful answer, it was more for verification if they're really missing something obvious or not. 

[KittyQ]

15 hours ago, aradia22 said:

The bands seemed friendlier but they all sounded terrible. Maybe it was the sound system. I could kind of tell that at least the last two could sort of sing but oof, overall it was tough to get through.

I was surprised how terrible all the bands sounded. Since they all sounded bad, I figured it had to be at least possibly due to the sound system in the venue. I did actually hear a performance by one of the bands on a local radio show and they sounded 100% better than on TAR. Sadly, this task didn't do any of those bands any favors in getting recognition. 

[Teriacky]

I was just so happy that all six members of the three final teams got along during the entire race and listened to one another without yelling, belittling each other or refusing to listen to their partners.  There was genuine love and respect between the partners of each team. 
 

… we need more of this. 

[smartymarty]

17 hours ago, aradia22 said:

It’s possible that Rob and Corey benefitted from doing the trapeze task first since they had the facility to themselves. I don’t know what would happen if two teams were making their attempts at the same time. They may have to alternate attempts and wait. With Rob needing nine attempts it might have been a large delay. 

 

5 hours ago, Good Queen Jane said:

There was only one trapeze and the order was determined by taking a slip at the clue box. Considering Rob's struggles. it was good that he and Corey got there first so they had plenty of time to do multiple attempts without waiting in line behind the others. John and Gregory had to wait for Joel and Garrett to finish their turn before going on the trapeze. I think it would have been very frustrating if all three teams had to keep alternating to get the task done.

I worried about the same thing, but then thought I saw a second trapeze set-up. Weren't the slips for one-two-three at the Space Needle, not the trapeze?

[Good Queen Jane]

51 minutes ago, smartymarty said:

I worried about the same thing, but then thought I saw a second trapeze set-up. Weren't the slips for one-two-three at the Space Needle, not the trapeze?

There were definitely slips at the trapeze. Corey remarked about them. I think there was a second trapeze set up in another room for demonstrations. John and Greg came into the same room that Joel and Garrett were finishing up to do their attempt.

Edited December 15, 2023 by Good Queen Jane

[JenMD]

Rob and Corey's Parade.com interview is up; they're so lovely.  Corey confirms it was directions to the last task that did them in.

Quote

Well let's start with how things ended. From our perspective, it looks like you fell out of it when you got lost going to the final task. Was it as simple as that?
Corey: Yeah. Sadly, it really was just as simple as getting lost. And we felt like we really crushed those tasks. Sadly, it's The Amazing Race, not The Amazing Task Accomplishments. The crux of the game is getting from point A to point B. And we managed to throw a point C somewhere in there that did not belong. The nerves really get to you. And so when you stop and ask someone for directions, we're trying to move as quickly as possible and probably could have been a little more careful with the notes that we had taken. We, unfortunately, also grabbed a couple of people that were in hurries. They were like, "Oh, my Uber is here, I need to go." So we were scrambling to write the notes down. And I remember, at one point, I wrote directions, where the last two turns I flip-flopped. So I made a note to myself, "Remember, these are switched. So I need to look out for this one instead of this one." And then, in the craziness of everything, I forgot that I had switched those, and just didn't see the street that we needed to turn on. And we didn't notice it until it was a little too late.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

On 12/14/2023 at 9:18 AM, chaifan said:

A few people keep mentioning that Greg and John "have money".  Where is this coming from?  Are they uber wealthy?  Just solid upper middle class?  Obviously they've had a lot of different opportunities in life, so are people just assuming, or is there something in their bio?  I don't think it matters.  They ran an excellent race, and deserved every bit of that win.

For starters they are, IIRC, software engineers at Google, so each one’s share of the prize is definitely less than two years’ and quite possibly less than one year’s compensation.

There’s also buzz out there that their family is also quite well off, but I don’t know about that one way or the other.

[Roccos Brother]

I felt indifferent towards the beards for most of the race, but by the end, I wanted so badly for them to win.

As much as I loved the brothers and found them to be adorable - I don't feel they needed the money. They have so much going for them already - both are young, smart, handsome, athletic, and working in tech.

Middling season overall for me.

[fishcakes]

I just finished watching a few minutes ago, and I'm not crying, you're crying. All the teams were lovely people. Anyway.

Since there's some debate about whether it was a mistake for Rob and Corey to do the trapeze first and then work their way back, I live here and I can say it wasn't. The Space Needle, where they started, is just north of downtown, the glassblowing place and the grunge place are in downtown, and the trapeze place is about 3 miles south of the grunge place. Since this was filmed in July and it was late enough to be dark, there wouldn't be that much traffic. At that time of day, probably a 10 minute drive.

Not knowing what was coming after the scramble, I was initially worried that Rob and Cory might have put themselves in a worse position, but since the kayak place was in Kenmore, which is 15 miles north of Seattle, it really didn't matter in which order they did the scramble tasks, since they all had to go south to finish the scramble then north again. Someone upthread said the trapeze place is closer to I-5, but this isn't accurate. Both the trapeze place and glassblowing place are just a few blocks from I-5 on-ramps. And I do think it worked out better for them to be at the trapeze place alone and not potentially having to wait out another team finishing.

As an aside, I've probably driven past that trapeze place a hundred times, and this episode made me want to try it. I won't, but I briefly considered it, which is the main thing.

I have always disliked grunge, and this episode did nothing to change that. Those singers -- my god, pick a key! I did think it was nice though that the one singer was able to sign, "good job!" to Rob.

[JH Lipton]

Sorry I'm late, but here's the final chart:

 

On 12/14/2023 at 9:18 PM, Phebemarie said:

Yes, I was disappointed that Rob and Corey fell behind...but when looking back over their normal placement in other legs, they were often in that third place position.  I was afraid they'd go out in fourth place where a lot of my favorite teams of the past have been eliminated.  

Rob and Corey came in 3rd in 4 legs out of 12 with 3 2nds and 2 4th place finishes, 1 each of 1st, 5th and 6th. Greg and John had 5 1sts, 3 2nds, 2 3tds and 2 8ths. Joel and Garrett had 3 2nds, 3 3rds, 2 7ths,  2 9ths and 1 each of 1st and 4th

[Ducky]

15 hours ago, fishcakes said:

Those singers -- my god, pick a key! I did think it was nice though that the one singer was able to sign, "good job!" to Rob.

Came here to mention this- I caught that instantly (am deaf & use ASL) and was so happy that they showed that! :) :).  

Sad that Rob & Corey came in third due to navigation (as mentioned in above snippet of their interview.  But happy with Greg & John winning.  R/C and G/J were my two favorites.  Lukewarm-ish on Joel & Garrett but good on them for 2nd place (the 'underdogs' angle was a bit too played up for me). 

This season was a good one.  No teams that were utterly awful- either in actual task performance/navigation or personality-  only mildly to moderately irritating (coughS&ALcough).

As for Greg/John being well-off... yes they are in tech and likely pulling down six figure salaries but they both live in high cost of living cities and taxes will eat into the salaries as well.  I say good on 'em- they can invest the million and retire early or help out others- whatever they decide.

 

Oh and I definitely would love to walk on the Space Needle!  My brother lived in Seattle for about 5 years- sadly I never got a chance to visit him but did visit a friend of mine who lives in Poulsbo (now) twice.  Didn't do the Space Needle though (yet) due to $$$$.

Edited December 16, 2023 by Ducky

[ljenkins782]

On 12/14/2023 at 9:45 PM, aradia22 said:

First off, I'm glad everyone agrees those bands were terrible. I do think some of it was the sound system but yeah, not a great showing. I wonder if they were real bands or just cobbled together by the show. And if the instruments were in tune and if they'd ever rehearsed or performed together before. Because, yikes.

I love them so I don't understand where the animosity is coming from. But then, I don't root for underdogs, I root for competence and excellence and even if they stumbled a little this leg, they've definitely shown that during the race and even in this finale given how tight they kept it even struggling with the tasks. I think the evidence for them having money is that they both work in tech (John at least works for Google) and they have a lot of experience but nothing that puts them beyond upper middle class. John studied music composition in college. But that just means he has musical talent since he was studying piano since age 6. If having a college degree makes you privileged, so are most people on the race this season. Their family has a home in Michigan so they have experience kayaking. But no one is mad at Corey for having a good job or having lived different places or having the chance to travel and play a ton of different sports. I think it's weird to play a game of who is more privileged and judge them for stuff outside the race when they've always been pleasant and friendly and haven't been arrogant about their backgrounds.

I liked the brothers, but have to admit that John started to wear on my nerves a little with the way he seemed to have some experience or background that related to every task, like I studied abroad here or I speak this language, etc. But he could certainly back up the talk, so they deserved to win after dominating the whole race. 

I like an underdog story so I was rooting for the bearded guys, they were the unlikeliest duo to make the finale. Rob was also unlikely, but Corey was young and fit and had a good attitude, so I wasn't too surprised they made it. 

I just remember judging the beards a little harshly at the start and then found them more endearing every week and their friendship was lovely. How frustrating to find out they lost by minutes.

Also, related to the above about the brothers, I think I would have liked to see the older guys take it just because they are older and aren't going to have another shot at a million bucks like this, while two young guys with great jobs have potential to do very well. Not a great reason, but I'm the same way with Survivor, I like to see the million go to someone without a fortune of their own.

Overall, what a great cast and great season, the Amazing Race casting people need to be hired for more reality shows, they've found some great people in recent seasons. 

[QQQQ]

Wait, were those real bands?

[Ancaster]

On 12/14/2023 at 7:55 PM, North of Eden said:

 

Congrats to the winners but I can't believe they risked it all by actually HELPING another team in the final leg! WTF with telling about the power cables? But it was also LOK every time they lifted up the amplifier. It was their "Big W" moment as fans of ITS A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD will understand.

 

What's LOK please?

[Ancaster]

22 hours ago, JH Lipton said:

Sorry I'm late, but here's the final chart:

 

Rob and Corey came in 3rd in 4 legs out of 12 with 3 2nds and 2 4th place finishes, 1 each of 1st, 5th and 6th. Greg and John had 5 1sts, 3 2nds, 2 3tds and 2 8ths. Joel and Garrett had 3 2nds, 3 3rds, 2 7ths,  2 9ths and 1 each of 1st and 4th

Thank you lovely statistics person for doing this!  I appreciated it!

[Ancaster]

  

On 12/14/2023 at 9:18 PM, Phebemarie said:

I don't think Seattle is always cloudy and overcast in the early fall (which is when I think this was filmed).  Of course, I live on the Oregon coast, so I'm just making an assumption based on the weather here.

 

I'm in Portland, and whenever I've been to Seattle it's pretty much always been overcast, drizzly, or downright raining.  More than what I left behind in Portland, and that's saying something!  According to Mr GoogleMcWeatherHat, Seattle has 226 overcast days a year; that's a lot.  So I would say The Amazing Race was rather lucky with the pretty weather and views they had for the Space Needle Walking.

 

Edited December 17, 2023 by Ancaster

[Ancaster]

On 12/15/2023 at 4:55 PM, QuantumMechanic said:

For starters they are, IIRC, software engineers at Google, so each one’s share of the prize is definitely less than two years’ and quite possibly less than one year’s compensation.

There’s also buzz out there that their family is also quite well off, but I don’t know about that one way or the other.

I think someone said that perhaps one of the brothers works for Google.  And I doubt your average mid-twenties Google engineer (I'm sure there are a lot of them) is making $500K a year.

And so what if their family is upper middle class, or whatever.  Should they not compete because of this?  Because they were fortunate enough to be given a good education?

Edited December 17, 2023 by Ancaster

[Skyfall]

it really was 2 minutes and the plan was for the finish to be at sunset but the plane was cancelled.

[Ancaster]

(doublish post)

Edited December 18, 2023 by Ancaster

[Ancaster]

3 hours ago, Skyfall said:

it really was 2 minutes and the plan was for the finish to be at sunset but the plane was cancelled.

Thanks for linking that!  So much fun, and what great guys.  I'm sure they've reached the goal for the dog by now.

I do have to say though, if I were the bearded one's wife, that beard would be seriously trimmed or whacked off before he could touch me.  It bothered me during the race how much he used it as an accessory (wiping his tears, etc), but the amount of stroking and grooming in the video is just beyond, something.  Imagine if someone was playing with their hair that much and then handed you a sandwich or touched your face?  Yuck.

[North of Eden]

11 hours ago, Ancaster said:

What's LOK please?

Bad typing!

Meant LOL

[Ancaster]

43 minutes ago, North of Eden said:

Bad typing!

Meant LOL

LOL 😉

I did actually check because there are lots of them that are, according to my kids, used frequently that I don't know!  LOK!