Past Seasons Talk

[Lantern7]

I found a CD full of photos from the mid-2000s, including pics from TARCons 4-7. After feeling fits of nostalgia, I thought that I'd start a thread on all seasons of The Amazing Race.

 

Thinking about it, I'd put the "salad days" of TAR fandom at seasons 1-7. It's not that the show has become so much worse since then (though I'd expect oaths to be taken to forget about Family Edition), but I think the fans were closer-knit back then. TAR1 had the great Frats/Guido rivalry and the shock of the new. TAR2 had Team Cha-Cha-Cha, the inability for Tara & Wil to die, and the hap-hap-happiest ending in the Boston Bouncers rallying for the win. TAR3 united people in their hatred of Flo and Teri & Ian, and well as the love of the Riker twins, Ken & Gerard, and John Vito & Jill. TAR4? Mostly the Clowns going from annoying to memorable, as well as Kelly & Jon rallying past the Virgins, and the first "couple" winning with Reichen & Chip. TAR5 was the "go for broke" season, with Charla & Mirna's antics, Kami & Karli's stupidity, Chip's dopiness and Kim's ability to put up with it, the "Godels," and, of course, "MY OX IS BROKEN! THIS IS BULLSHIT!" TAR6 was a season straight from hell, with good teams going out early, bad teams staying to annoy, and the loveable Kris & Jon getting beaten to the finish by the odious Freddy & Kendra (who didn't have the cojones to come to TARCon that season). Finally, TAR7 was about polarizing fans in regards to Rob & Amber, watching Brian & Greg recover from a crash to survive a leg, and celebrating Uchenna & Joyce's upset win. Oh, and "FREE RON!" from Kelly.

 

After that, things get blurry for me. We had memorable teams like the Cowboys and Globetrotters three times apiece, but the show doesn't feel as special as it used to. The closest parallel I can think of is how Christmas isn't as "magical" when you grow out of being a kid. Still, we have the travel porn, we have Phil Keoghan (who has aged like fine wine, in stark contrast to Jeff Probst), and we have a few good memories per season. Like, say, poor Claire getting a watermelon directly to the face in TAR17. Or Andrew & Dan stinking up their season. Or the "Beakman Boys" getting a miraculous win in TAR21, defying all logic to beat out far superior teams.

 

What are your favorite memories of The Amazing Race?

[recurring dream]

Yesterday, I started rewatching TAR from the beginning so I'm about halfway through Season 1.  I'd forgotten how full of shit Team Guido was, especially re: the airport incident.  And the hubris, omigod, so full of themselves.  I'm definitely looking forward to rewatching the ending again, knowing that they end up a full day behind the 1st & 2nd place teams and don't even get to finish.  Schadenfreude at its finest.

 

How come Rob & Brennan are rarely mentioned among the great teams?  They worked so well together, hardly ever got flustered, were nice to everyone and are definitely one of the better looking teams to ever race (yes, I'm shallow).  I think they are pretty awesome and it's been so much fun rewatching them.

Edited October 27, 2014 by recurring dream

[Netfoot]

First, just let me say, I love Flo.  For all her childish tantrums and selfish behaviour, I love her.  Zach has always said that in her own way she helped the team to victory, and that he did not hold any anger towards her.  And one thing (which many other teams can not claim), is that she never tried to minimize her faults.  She never tried to say it was all in the editing.  She admitted after seeing the show, how awful she had been at times.

 

I think it is true about seasons 1-7 being the prime of TARs existence. Starting with S8 we began to get gimmicks thrown in to presumably improve the show.  Ever since then it's been stunt-casting, stupid twists in the game, and for some god forsaken reason, the urge to inject Survivorish tension between racers.  Not that there haven't been great teams and great seasons since S7, but that has largely been despite the efforts of TPTB, not, in my opinion, because of these efforts.

 

The Cowboys and Globetrotters may be memorable (if not personal favourites of mine) but I think it's a sad fact that they've been on the show three times already.  I believe that the essence of TAR is that the racers are ordinary people given the chance to compete for the prize, while traveling the world and experiencing it as they otherwise never might.  If you've been on the race already, then you are anything but ordinary, in my eyes.  The last thing I want to see is famous or self-proclaimed famous people who don't give a shit about any part of the race, and only see it as an opportunity to promote their 'brand'.  A founding principle of casting should be that nobody gets on the race that has a publicist!

[Lantern7]

recurring dream . . . while the Guidos made for effective bad guys in TAR1, I'd say that their behavior afterward made up for it, as well as their run in TAR11. Also, Guido was such a cutie-pie. Unlike Richard Hatch, Joe & Bill turned out to be okay.

[SnideAsides]

Agreed with season seven being the end of the "classic" era. For all their faults in casting, seasons six and seven at least have good locations and challenges to make up for it. From season eight onwards, we're lucky if we get two out of three. I think part of it is that season nine is when they really started forgoing interesting intrateam relationships in favour of designations like "the hippies" and "the nerds", even though it wasn't until season ten that the focus truly shifted to thinking people made good TV because they had wacky jobs or were E-list celebrities. There's a lot less of a "We Are Cowboys LOVE US!" feeling this season, since the dentists are clearly meant to be hated, and the wrestlers and food scientists are just regular teams, you know? We still have a bit of it with the cyclists trying to show how wacky they are, but it's not as if they have their own theme music or anything. I think that's a lot of why this season is working better than the last few, even though in terms of course design I'd still argue TAR23 and TAR24 are mostly better.

[etagloh]

Those very early seasons (1-5) pushed against the limits of the rules TPTB had sketched out but could only test when out on the Race itself. There's not just been a retrenchment in casting towards draaaaaama, there's been an gradual attempt to prevent strong teams from holding on to big leads, keep savvy airport navigators from nabbing especially good flights, so each leg is more or less a level start. I understand that desire, but some of the fun of TAR is in seeing things go in directions that the producers hadn't planned because it takes place somewhere they don't totally control.

 

The other change is the existence of a large TAR back catalogue for teams to draw upon, as well as the entire genre of reality TV to shape behaviour. I don't think that necessarily precludes novelty: TAR Canada managed to feel fresh with teams that presumably have watched the US version. But fans who show up now have a sense of strategy that was still being worked out in earlier seasons, while stuntcast teams come in with a sense of what they're there to perform.

 

Also, smartphones.

[recurring dream]

recurring dream . . . while the Guidos made for effective bad guys in TAR1, I'd say that their behavior afterward made up for it, as well as their run in TAR11. Also, Guido was such a cutie-pie. Unlike Richard Hatch, Joe & Bill turned out to be okay.

 

I agree that they were much better during their second run but rewatching them during their first run, it's amazing how big their egos are, even after they fuck up royally.

 

And yes, Guido was adorable :)

Edited October 28, 2014 by recurring dream

[Netfoot]

And yes, Guido was adorable :)

 

Wow, did I loathe them when I watched S1?  Rewatching a couple years later I was surprised to note how much I liked them, and how mild their escapades had been in comparison to other subsequent villeins!

[auntlada]

They started adding "bunching" after the first season, where one team was in Alaska, while the other [two??] teams were finishing the race in New York.

 

There was some bunching even in the first season. I remember Rob and Brennan talking about the airport being the great equalizer. They may not have had show-created hours of operation (I can't remember), but there were also hours of operation as early as the second Paris leg.

[HaymakerHattie]

Hey, speaking of Team Guido, (shameless plug) I talked to them for Rob Has a Podcast this week and they continue to be completely awesome. We actually talked a little bit about the fact that their "villainy" seems pretty tame these days. 

[Rinaldo]

There was definitely bunching in the first season, mostly due to just the way transportation works. As noted, airports are an equalizer, and I remember also the ferry from the south of France to Morocco (? or Algeria?). That inherently leaves just once a day. I remember viewer outrage, that first season, at a team's advantage slipping away like that; I suspect that, in advance, a lot of us had pictured teams spread out over 3 continents at the same time. (Which the reality series Lost, which premiered the same night, did sort of attempt, in its own way.)

 

In fact in the first race the last few legs, from Thailand on, had four teams separated into two pairs with a 24-hour gap between, which is the sort of space unlikely to be diminished by hours of operation. They've understandably tried to avoid that since, though one later race (can't remember which) did have a two-guy team make a bad air travel choice from Asia and end up in third place about a day behind the others.

[Netfoot]

They've understandably tried to avoid that since, though one later race (can't remember which) did have a two-guy team make a bad air travel choice from Asia and end up in third place about a day behind the others.

 

Do you mean Uchenna & Joyce, who missed their flight to Kuala Lumpur in All Stars and ended up nearly a day late?

[Bella]

No, he means another team, though I can't remember which. It was almost the Guido situation all over again.

[Brookside]

Bunching, fine, whatever you want to call it. But I still want to know why, if everyone ends up on the same flight, the ones in front get way less sleep than the ones who came in last.

[Kel Varnsen]

Thinking about it, I'd put the "salad days" of TAR fandom at seasons 1-7. It's not that the show has become so much worse since then (though I'd expect oaths to be taken to forget about Family Edition), 

The sad thing about the family edition is that it could have potentially been pretty good. I mean they had some good locations but there was a bit too much driving around the south west in the back of a camper. Which doesn't make a ton of sense because that was back in the days when the show was doing really well ratings wise so there should have been a ton of money for flights. Plus I really hope whoever thought it was a good idea to have teams of adult siblings or adult parents and adult children race against parents with little kids either was fired or something. Because that was such an obvious flaw in the race.

[Kel Varnsen]

Bunching, fine, whatever you want to call it. But I still want to know why, if everyone ends up on the same flight, the ones in front get way less sleep than the ones who came in last.

How do you figure that the earlier teams get less sleep? If the first team arrives at the pitstop at 2pm and the last team arrives at 5pm, assuming they still do the 12 hour pit stop the first team leaves the mat at 2am and the last team leaves at 5am. Whether the pitstop is 12 hours or 16 hours or whatever the teams still get the same amount of rest. Yes the team that comes in last can probably go right to the airport and buy a ticket, but at the same time for most airlines booking never closes so the team that started at 2am could have found their ticket, gone tot the airport and took a nap at the gate. 

[Kris223]

No, he means another team, though I can't remember which. It was almost the Guido situation all over again.

TAR 4 - Team Who? (I don't remember their actual names - I think one was Dave? There were lots of Steves and Daves that season).

[Bella]

Yes, that's it - I think Team Who got stuck in Australia or thereabouts while the other two teams were racing to the finish line.

[Babalu]

I think the other one's name was Jeff, and they were still in Hawai'i (after having been stuck in Australia?) when the first two teams (was that of season of Reichen and Chip and Kelly and Jon?) crossed the finish line. I think they might have been doing the task on Maui that involved digging in the sand, for which Jon had earlier stripped down.

[Maverick]

 Yes, The Goats.

[kassygreene]

If I recall correctly, that team booked a flight to Hawaii from Northern Australia? or that general area, through Sydney.  The other two teams went a different route, and the Sydney team spent an extra day in the Sydney airport.

 

The Guidos were a day late partly because even though they had that leg's fast forward, they ran out of money and took a very long bus ride from Bangkok to Phuket (I think it was Phuket).  But Nancy & Emily (??) couldn't find the marked car and wound up taking a taxi, which got them a 24 hour penalty and eliminated them.

 

The next leg was the one that really blew it - the first two teams completed the leg and checked in to the pit stop before the Guidos left the previous one.  And the frat boys got halfway through the leg before hours of operation paused them.  They bunched up with the Guidos in Beijing, but lost the race to the pit stop in the Forbidden City because the Guidos got dropped off at a gate that was closer to the mat.

 

The Race learned a lot from that first outing, including the vital importance of bunching, the vagaries of weather in Morocco (had to relocate the pit stop due to a dust storm), the absolute necessity of putting the fast forward in the same country as the pit stop (whosis went straight to the Taj Mahal while the rest of the teams had to do roadblocks, detours, and flights routed through Amsterdam), and the bureaucratic joy of dealing with Indian immigration & emigration.

Edited November 7, 2014 by kassygreene

[TheRabbi]

I think part of it is that season nine is when they really started forgoing interesting intrateam relationships in favour of designations like "the hippies" and "the nerds", even though it wasn't until season ten that the focus truly shifted to thinking people made good TV because they had wacky jobs or were E-list celebrities

 

Interesting take.I had always considered season 12 to really be the start of that era, but you are definitely right.  I thought season 9 was still a very good season - it just suffered from a really bland final 3 (which plenty of seasons have), and too many "find one out of the 500 in front of you" tasks.

 

However, I am also among those that find season 7 to be the end of TAR's golden age.  All seven are "amazing" in their own right.  6 is clearly the weakest of those, but that's mainly due to a horrible elimination order and way too much bunching (and a couple bad casting choices).  I even really liked the first All-Stars, with the exception of one glaring casting travesty (I think it was Miss Alli who said something like "Never cast a team that would genuinely ruin a season by winning it"), and the worst final task in the show's history.

 

I still eagerly await each new season, but it will certainly never match the magic of the early years.  I found 17, 21, and 22 to be very enjoyable seasons on the whole, and there are individual standout episodes in every season.  15, 16, 19, and 24 are probably the worst seasons for me (though I have to give 24 an extreme amount of props for that UCLA band opening which is just epic).  I'm also finding this season to be a substantial improvement over the last couple, though I agree it almost seems Despite TPTB, and not Because of.  The hashtags for teams further solidifies that we are only allowed to identify teams by their label now, instead of actual people.  The route map and tasks this season have been a real shot in the arm though.

[auntlada]

The hashtags for teams further solidifies that we are only allowed to identify teams by their label now, instead of actual people.

 

I really prefer the team labels to occur more organically. I know they've always had labels, but the audience -- or at least those online -- usually gave the teams different labels: Frats, Team Danza, Momily, Teeth, Team Who (yes, all mine are from TWoP because I never went anywhere else). I believe it was also Miss Alli who said the teams should never give themselves their own nicknames (possibly in reference to the Guidos, although that one did stick). I think the same should apply to the show giving teams nicknames.

[SnideAsides]

I actually mentioned how the hashtags were counterproductive to someone fairly high up in the show's heirarchy a few weeks ago - not only in that it's incredibly superficial and reminiscent of Treasure Hunters and Expedition Impossible and the other knockoffs I've probably forgotten, but also in that it drives attention away from the #AmazingRace hashtag and makes it harder for the show to trend, which it needs now more than ever with its new timeslot - and got a fairly decent reaction, so hopefully they'll be gone next season.

[enlightenedbum]

I actually extend the golden age all the way to 12, though I like 8 (obviously) and 9 less than any of the other first 12.  Nine has a great route but obnoxious people.  And 11 is probably 9th of the 12 (I don't like 4 all that much).  If say, Flo and whichever twin she dated (Drew? I think Drew) had replaced the winners and Mary and David were replaced by Bald Snark it could have been great.  I'm resigned to Charla and Mirna being on the race, even though I loathe Mirna.  And then some route adjustments so that Zanzibar leg doesn't happen and the final task isn't so stupid.

 

But I really like 12 and 10.  I think those are good casts and pretty good routes.   And 12's final task is the single best task the show's ever done.

 

13 is perfectly fine for the most part, but it starts a trend of some crap teams making the final leg and one ridiculous alpha team dominating, which is less interesting.

[MyAimIsTrue]

I'm amazed at the memory you guys have.  I've watched TAR since the first episode of season one and aside from that first season I really can't remember which racers appeared when, or where the show went when.

[NurseGiGi]

Okay, I didn't start watching TAR until the season with the Chippendale's and they're one of my favorite teams.  Was it the same season in which the Beekman's won the race?  I was so pissed when that happened.  Anyway, I came here to get recommendations for which seasons I should go back and watch and I'm guessing by the comments that would be Seasons 1-7.  I especially want to see the season with "my ox is broken!".  Any other suggestions?  Or better yet, which past seasons should I avoid?

[NurseGiGi]

I really prefer the team labels to occur more organically. I know they've always had labels, but the audience -- or at least those online -- usually gave the teams different labels: Frats, Team Danza, Momily, Teeth, Team Who (yes, all mine are from TWoP because I never went anywhere else). I believe it was also Miss Alli who said the teams should never give themselves their own nicknames (possibly in reference to the Guidos, although that one did stick). I think the same should apply to the show giving teams nicknames.

And I really hate the hashtags and I agree wholeheartedly with Miss Alli.  The nicknames should come from the fans.  I guarantee they would be more imaginative and original.

[Bella]

Okay, I didn't start watching TAR until the season with the Chippendale's and they're one of my favorite teams.  Was it the same season in which the Beekman's won the race?  I was so pissed when that happened.  Anyway, I came here to get recommendations for which seasons I should go back and watch and I'm guessing by the comments that would be Seasons 1-7.  I especially want to see the season with "my ox is broken!".  Any other suggestions?  Or better yet, which past seasons should I avoid?

 

Of the first seven seasons, I would rank them Seasons 3, 1, 5 ("my ox is broken"), 2, 4, 7, and 6. I think most people would put Season 1 first, however. 

[kassygreene]

Season 1 for sure, and Season 5 (my ox is broken).  I strongly encourage you to read the TWOP recaps of each episode after each viewing.  If nothing else, Miss Alli's take on the entire "My Ox Is Broken" incident, enumerated (in Roman Numerals!) point by point for something like XXIX or XXX points is gut-busting funny and NSFW.

[NurseGiGi]

Thanks so much, Bella and kassygreene!  Someone linked that recap of the "My ox is broken" incident which is why I want to watch that whole season so badly.  That recap, even without watching the episode, was absolutely hilarious.

[Sharpie66]

I started watching TAR at the beginning of Season 4, which was excellent in its own right. The Nutbunches episode is up there with the My Ox Is Broken episode in my ranking of Best Episodes Ever, just because it is probably the best demonstration of Killer Fatigue ever on this show, it had a fantastic fast-forward (feeding orangutans!!), and then had that really intense race to the mat between the Dating Virgins and Jon and Kelly.

 

However, my favorite season is #5, which had some of the best casting, the Bowling Moms showing up all of the women in the mixed-gender teams on how to power through the roadblocks (thus changing the rules by sheer force of awesomeness!), the Ox episode (all of it, not just the culmination at the muddy field), and then the terrific final episode, where just by sheer luck, Chip and Kim find out about the delayed plane and take full advantage of that knowledge.

[enlightenedbum]

Of the first seven seasons, I would rank them Seasons 3, 1, 5 ("my ox is broken"), 2, 4, 7, and 6. I think most people would put Season 1 first, however. 

Agree with the first four, would move four to the end.  One really great episode doesn't save the overall blandness of the cast for me.  And Kris and Jon salvage six enough for me to put it sixth, even though everyone else who survives like four episodes kind of sucks except Gus and Hera.

 

I like imagining a final three with Kris and Jon, Lena and Kristy (honestly though they probably get horribly lost at some point in the middle of the race and eliminated... but so cool and sooooo pretty), and... someone tolerable and realistic, which I'm not sure who that would be out of that cast.  Maybe Lori and Bolo?

[etagloh]

I think 1 and 5 pair well, because TAR Classic is a show discovering itself in real time (almost a beta version), while 5 is the culmination of what could be done with those original rules by teams that put a shedload of effort and smarts into how to play within them.

[Ducky]

Okay, I didn't start watching TAR until the season with the Chippendale's and they're one of my favorite teams.  Was it the same season in which the Beekman's won the race?  I was so pissed when that happened.  Anyway, I came here to get recommendations for which seasons I should go back and watch and I'm guessing by the comments that would be Seasons 1-7.  I especially want to see the season with "my ox is broken!".  Any other suggestions?  Or better yet, which past seasons should I avoid?

 

Yes the Chippendales were in the same season as the Beekman Boys-- they came in 2nd after the Beekmans.

 

Re the Guidos and Team Who? (both seasons I didn't see- I came along in season 5)- the other team that happened to was the football players Chester and Ephraim in TAR23- they had tons of delays and were eliminated at the airport in Portugal while all the other teams had already checked in

 

Chester & Ephraim encountered several air travel delays and did not arrive in Lisbon until many hours after the other teams had already finished the Leg. While still in Lisbon Airport, Phil met with them to inform them that they were the last team and were eliminated from the race.

 

 

[TheRabbi]

Of the first 7 seasons, my ranking will be 5, 1, 4, 2, 7, 3, 6.  I think the 4th season gets more hate than it deserves.  The season is pretty damn awesome.  Leg 3 had fiacre-gate.  Leg 4 was poorly edited but is one of the single most grueling driving legs the show has ever done (driving from Paris to Marseilles overnight and then another 100+ miles to both the detour and then to the pitstop).  The trains in India.  The 2 Malaysia episodes are some of my favorites of all time (Farting on the fish is not helping), swimming under the ice in Korea, and the final sad elimination in Australia.  The season should have been just 11 teams though and ditched Team Who, as they are just nobodies and not interesting, and of course get all the way to the end.

 

As much as I love 4, the fifth and first seasons are the pinnacle of the show.  Season 2 has the single most intense last 15 minutes the show has ever had.  7 is filled with memorable teams, incidents, and a controversial ending.  Then 6 is still good but suffers from some poor casting choices and too much bunching.

 

Bottom line - go ahead and watch all 7 of the original seasons in any order, and you shoudn't be disappointed.

[Lingo]

Well, it's really hard to rank them, but I'd put season 5 first, then 1 or 3, 2 or 4, 7, 6.  I love them all, but I wonder how much of our fondness for those first few seasons is due to nostalgia.  I think people have a natural tendency toward nostalgia and will reflexively prefer, and have an easier time remembering, the earlier editions of any long series of work. (It's so much harder to keep track of which season is which because the seasons don't have themes like Survivor's do). I do wonder what order a person who's only watched since Season 12 or so would put the seasons they've watched.

[innominate]

I tend to enjoy seasons with winners that I like but there were others with decent people but not so enjoyable winners. Of the first seven seasons, I would rank 6, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2 and 7 (Brian & Greg were the only redeeming reasons for this season). I know a lot of people dislike season 6 but I enjoyed it because I was an impressionable teenager who gawked at people with good looks (I think I've gotten better with that over the years). Kendra's supposed nastiness (I remember thinking she was just out of her elements and having no prior experience with the conditions in India and Africa - or whichever less desired locations in her eyes, I may not recalling it correctly - her remarks were understandable). But then I do give unnecessary leeway to people I deem attractive and I find her relationship with Freddy admirable. Yes I have daddy issues.

I thought Kris and Jon were pretty boring, Rebecca and Adam amusing in their dysfunctional-ness and the only unpleasant racer was Hayden. She was high strung but so was Flo but I would still take Flo as a partner coz most of Flo's outbursts were due to KF but I found Hayden joyless as a person. I would watch chronologically if you were planning to start from the very beginning but that's just me being anal retentive. I didn't mind season 8 coz of the playful Lintzes and that funny Italian (?) family with frustrated mum, neutral dad and two boys as well as the family with a pair of kids coz of the cute girl (I think her most memorable line was 'I can do it, daddy!). The blonde sisters were despicable though. They were bullying each other throughout their stay.

I think I might also be in the minority of liking BJ & Tyler. Season 10 was meh but the beauty queens and Rob and Kim made great eye candies. Tyler and James are good looking too but they were boring. Season 11 was unspeakable, 12 was another meh but pretty decent with the eye candies - the sisters, Lorena and Shana, 13's winner's a snoozefest though I really enjoyed the frat brothers bulldozering their way through the top 3 and TIna & Ken were interesting to watch for their bickering, unlike season 22's Chuck and Wynona.

 

I liked season 14's top 3. Victor & Tammy were pleasant, I found Jaime incredibly hot that I kinda glossed over her ugly American-ness and Luke & Margie were interesting to watch. Season 15 was subpar, enjoyed season 16 for the brothers, cowboys, cops and the rivalry between the lesbians and 'such as' models. Season 17 was so-so except for THE FIRST EVER ALL FEMALE TEAM WINNING. Everyone thought it was the season for that to finally happen with Nat & Kat and Brook & Claire.

Season 18's another unmentionable (All Stars have been crap all three times). I liked Cindy & Ernie but they're the only team I can recall from their season apart from Ethan & Jenna. Had to look up the other teams and Andy & Tommy's outing was one of the shockers TAR have had. Season 20 was pretty uneventful save for BB's Rachel irritating the living heck out of me and Dave & Rachel uptightness with each other. Really enjoyed season 21 with the shocker of winners, the colourful Chippendales, the twinnies' constant verge of annoying shrieks and the rest of the racers' vibe.

Season 22 was underwhelming though I liked Jessica a lot and even more in her All Stars season. Season 23 was enjoyable coz of the cast's dynamic and everyone knows what a stinker last season was. This is one the very few current shows I still feverishly follow - reality or not - after all these years. Here's to another 25 seasons, 300 legs and more more more = )

[choclatechip45]

Out of the first 7 seasons my least favorite was season 6. I also did not like season 7 very much because of Susan & Patrick and Lynn & Alex and their Romber hate. I recently re watched All-Stars (11) and I really enjoyed it. I know people hate it because of the winner which I completely understand, but I think that's a better gimmick than putting two random people together like they did on the second All-Stars. I really enjoyed the teams that they picked.

[Lingo]

innominate, we may have very different opinions on various seasons (Unfinished Business is one of my favorites) but if you wrote that almost all from memory than I'm seriously impressed!

[choclatechip45]

 

But then I do give unnecessary leeway to people I deem attractive and I find her relationship with Freddy admirable. Yes I have daddy issues.

I hate to break it to you, but I'm pretty sure Freddy & Kendra are divorced now.

[innominate]

innominate, we may have very different opinions on various seasons (Unfinished Business is one of my favorites) but if you wrote that almost all from memory than I'm seriously impressed!

 

Haaa had to look up season 12's eye candies, season 19's all over cast and a few other names. My obsession with this show is shameful.

 

 

I hate to break it to you, but I'm pretty sure Freddy & Kendra are divorced now.

 

Really? Do you mind sharing a link if you have one? The last time I saw their FB pages, they were still very much together and all loved up. Well I liked Freddy a lot more than Kendra so I guess I can look forward to never hooking up with Freddy anyways

[choclatechip45]

 

Really? Do you mind sharing a link if you have one? The last time I saw their FB pages, they were still very much together and all loved up. Well I liked Freddy a lot more than Kendra so I guess I can look forward to never hooking up with Freddy anyways

The Amazing Race wiki said they were and I went to their Facebook pages about a week ago and Freddy had only photos of him and his two sons. While Kendra is going under her maiden name and just had photos of herself and maybe one of the two boys.

[Sharpie66]

Boy, other than S4 and S5, everything else just runs together for me. Props to those who can distinguish between the seasons!

BTW, which season was He Who Shall Not Be Named in? That was the one I would recommend skipping, just to not subject yourself to him.

[Lantern7]

That would be TAR6. I title it "Karma Takes A Holiday," given how many nice teams wound up going out early, while the odious duos managed to stay in.

[Netfoot]

BTW, which season was He Who Shall Not Be Named in? That was the one I would recommend skipping, just to not subject yourself to him.

 

S6 may not be the best season, but I wouldn't let J*n*th*n stop you from watching it.  There were enough memorable characters therein such that it isn't the sort of gap you want to leave in your TAR coverage.

 

For instance, you don't want to miss Lena & Kristy, whose battle with the Haybales from Hell must surely be regarded as one of the toughest, and unluckiest in TAR history.  Or Gus & Hera.  Guss cried when he reached Gorée Island and many viewers cried with him.  Also, Gus really wanted to drink that beer in Berlin, but Hera said no, so...  There was a famous eating challenge -- a huge bowl of spicy soup, which had to be consumed to the last drop, while a band played loud folk music.  Particularly difficult for those who threw up into their soup, but still had to finish the bowl!

 

Plus many other memorable moments you ought to enjoy, from Adam's stuuupid hairdo -- the most ridiculous in race history, or just ever, to Hayden losing it over the padlocks at the roadblock in China.  There is so much to not-miss that I can only advise you gird your loins for exposure to HWMNBN, and watch Season 6 to enjoy all the delicious TAR goodness that you may find therein.

[innominate]

Now I feel like a rewatch from the very beginning is in order but 24 seasons should be around 290 episodes.... That's a solid 12 and a half days' worth of TAR goodness

[SnideAsides]

I'd also add that season six is bizarrely competent when it comes to task design. Sure, there's a metric assload of bunching and most of the teams who make it far aren't that likeable, but... seriously, every Detour that season knocks it out of the park. Avi and Joe searching for buoys in a glacial lagoon. The rollerski pratfall follies, plus the awesome Viking throwing games. Building Ikea furniture (or counting thousands of pots and pans). Catching fish by vomiting into the water. The aforementioned Gus beer scene, combined with sausage innuendo. The first appearance of using a catapult to fire watermelons at something, with a surprisingly tough "move this cannon and these cannonballs over here" alternative. Several of the fittest bodies this show has ever had playing water polo in skimpy swimsuits. Climbing up a fortress wall with an ascender, while He Who Shall Not Be Named takes the much slower "ride a boat to a group of buoys and find an underwater clue" option. Ethiopian hut repair. Elephant polo. The two Detours in China that managed to convey it as an industrial country without bashing you over the head with it like they'd do now. Sorting through 165,000 garments in a clothing warehouse to find two specific items somehow being the faster, less frustrating option. There are some terrible Road Blocks to balance it out, but I don't think the show has ever really come that close to a perfect set of tasks again.

[enlightenedbum]

The one problem is there were two detours that were the exact same (Iceland and Corsica).

[SnideAsides]

That's true. Corsica is definitely the one episode you could remove from the season without impacting anything. All you really need to do is find another clip of Adam crying like a baby for the finale retrospective. And it's not like there weren't plenty of them.

 

Sidenote: Is it weird that Adam has exactly the same voice as Zev?