S35.E12: A Sunset, Seattle Scramble

[aradia22]

Quote

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 feel like everyone was doing this a bit which is something I liked about this cast (other than them mostly being pretty genial and good-natured). Like Joel lived in France and has made lots of crepes. Todd and Ashlie and Robbin lived in Germany. I like having a competitive cast that's well-traveled and has unexpected skills. 

[chaifan]

5 hours ago, aradia22 said:

I like having a competitive cast that's well-traveled and has unexpected skills. 

In Corey & Rob's audition tape, Corey said he speaks four languages.  I don't think that ever came up (on screen, at least) in the race.

[Ancaster]

Does anyone know whether John (?) has a true photographic memory, or just a really, really good one?

[QuantumMechanic]

20 hours ago, Ancaster said:

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.

You'd be surprised.  I have a friend who's a director at Meta and we've talked about what comp packages are these days and you might be amazed what even right-out-of-school compensation is at the FAANGs. $250+K total comp starting out is not a rare thing.  It's a whole other world.

Edited December 18, 2023 by QuantumMechanic

[aradia22]

Quote

In Corey & Rob's audition tape, Corey said he speaks four languages.  I don't think that ever came up (on screen, at least) in the race.

Yeah, I'm assuming he's counting English and ASL and whatever he chose for his foreign language credit. So that would leave one other language. 

It's funny watching their recaps since it sounds like he has experience in almost every conventional American sport. An exaggeration as I don't think he mentioned golf or tennis, for example, but it feels that way sometimes. 😅

[Ilovepie]

What a wonderful season this was! Like many here, I was a little disappointed by Rob & Corey's third place finish, and it seemed underwhelming that the best team this season won, but it was well deserved. But all three teams were great in one way or another, and I can't be too sad about it. Greg and John were so dominant that it's hard to begrudge them the win. Still, it's a pretty good consolation prize to be able to say you completed the entire race even if you didn't win, and I love seeing the camaraderie amongst all the teams at the finish mat. Reminds me of my other favorite reality show, GBBO.

This cast across the board was great, and the countries visited were beautiful and challenges were interesting.  This will go down as one of my favorite seasons ever.

 

[Skyfall]

Greg and John were 45 MINUTES behind Joel/Garrett after glass blowing.

 

[snarktini]

On 12/13/2023 at 11:47 PM, Fukui San said:

Also, as a fellow, ahem, portly gentleman, even more so than Rob, I would not be able to complete that Grab task even for a billion dollars with a month to try to do it.  Steve would have had a tough time.

I don't think my physical form would have been able to do that at all. (Same with the massage -- that would have been physically unsafe for my back, and even if it hadn't created injury some of those moves would surely have given me a debilitating sciatica flareup. I know my body, and that would have damaged it.)

Then again, my physical form means I would never have made it through the race at all lol.

On 12/14/2023 at 5:28 PM, vousviou said:

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.

I loooove those views! It was maybe Corey who said he was taking a beat to take it in because "when will I ever have this kind of view again" and I thought...just come back tomorrow and you can see most of it from the observation deck.

On 12/17/2023 at 6:59 PM, QuantumMechanic said:

You'd be surprised.  I have a friend who's a director at Meta and we've talked about what comp packages are these days and you might be amazed what even right-out-of-school compensation is at the FAANGs. $250+K total comp starting out is not a rare thing.  It's a whole other world.

Yeah, I live in Silicon Valley and know a lot of tech folks. I can't speak to entry level but a friend at Google earns 250K (they have more years of experience, but not in a tech role) and others in mid/senior but not management tech roles can earn 400K+. (I don't remember if both are at Google but at least one is.)

Need has nothing to do with it, and shouldn't have anything to do with it. They earned this! It's a competition they wanted to experience and they did. But yeah sure they don't "need" it as much as a delivery driver trying to get a service dog for his special needs child. With their publicity he'll surely be able to achieve that goal.

[tkc]

For reference, here are the locations from the final leg. The unmarked red pin in downtown Seattle marks the Space Needle.

 

[mbluecpa]

On 12/14/2023 at 7:11 PM, aradia22 said:

And it was probably a little sketchier cornering random strangers to use their phones at night. 

I pass the gas station near the trapeze location (where two of the teams got directions) on my way home every day. The Mr asked of that scene “do they realize they may have just gotten directions from a couple of crack heads?”

We finally watched the finale and I got to read all the great comments here. One minor thing I didn’t see addressed: were the teams allowed to ditch their bags at some point, or maybe have production handle them? Surely they could’ve left them in their cars in Seattle but I didn’t see big backpacks when they boarded in Dublin. 

Given the Space Needle was open to the public and fairly crowded when they were there, I assume the show ran some decoy teams alongside the final 3? 

[PurpleTentacle]

On 1/13/2024 at 5:10 PM, mbluecpa said:

We finally watched the finale and I got to read all the great comments here. One minor thing I didn’t see addressed: were the teams allowed to ditch their bags at some point, or maybe have production handle them? Surely they could’ve left them in their cars in Seattle but I didn’t see big backpacks when they boarded in Dublin. 

Usually teams check backpacks on their last flight and pick them up at the airport once they are done with the race.

But in general you are allowed to ditch your backpacks whenever you want. You could even come on the race without one. You are probably going to regret it, but nobody is forcing you to bring one. Quite a few teams swear on just bringing one and giving that to the stronger team member.

On 1/13/2024 at 5:10 PM, mbluecpa said:

Given the Space Needle was open to the public and fairly crowded when they were there, I assume the show ran some decoy teams alongside the final 3? 

I have no confirmation for this season. But usually the teams eliminated out of the final ~6 run decoy.

[kirklandia]

I'm a little late to the party!
I tried to watch The Amazing Race many seasons ago, but just couldn't get into it.
Then yesterday I got my alumni magazine, and saw an article about the winners. John graduated from Northwestern University in 2018. So, yeah, his family could be rich. But I went to Northwestern (Class of '74!) and my family was most definitely not rich. Admission is needs-blind.
When I saw that the final episode was filmed in the Seattle area, where I currently live, I had to watch it. It was definitely fun to see all the local places that were featured. I think they did a pretty decent job.  Although it was a real waste of Chihuly Garden and Glass.  Not the ideal setting for a race!
I got a real kick out of the "grunge" challenge at the Showbox. I saw some great shows there, back in the day. (Pre-grunge!)

Please don't judge our local bands by those sound checks! The Black Tones are fabulous.

Marymoor Park is a 640-acre county park on Lake Sammamish.  It hosted the WOMAD USA festival for four years back in the day.  Still a great concert venue where, more recently,  I have seen the Decemberists, Alabama Shakes, Kamasi Washington, Khruangbin...  

So, not somebody's backyard. (But, practically in my backyard, a 20-minute walk on the Sammamish River Trail from my apartment.)

And I don't think even I could find the Clise Mansion there in the dark.

[Kel Varnsen]

15 hours ago, kirklandia said:

Please don't judge our local bands by those sound checks! The Black Tones are fabulous.

I like the Black Tones too. Plus their lead singer, Eva Walker, is a DJ at Seattle radio station KEXP, and she is an amazing DJ.

Edited May 5 by Kel Varnsen