S28.E04: Get It Trending

[needschocolate]

I don't think having so many teams hit the mat at once was due to bad leg design.  There was airplane (and Chocolate shop HOO) bunching in the beginning, but, IMO, there needs to be some bunching occasionally or else the outcome of the show becomes too predictable (and the show would be difficult to film if teams end up too far apart).  The reason why they ended up so close was due to all the helping.  First giving out the answer to the bench sitting mad it possible for the teams to be on the same train.  Then the working together on the flags kept the teams close enough to end up on the mat together.  With all the helping, the only way for someone to end up behind everyone else is if they got lost, which the models did.  

 

Brody has a crush on Blair and it looks like the feeling it mutual - my initial reaction was "Geez, they are going to have some loud children."  But then they both ended up quieter than they have been on previous legs - which I was thankful for.

 

A few other things I am thankful for this week ---

 

--- the models apparently didn't realize that the other teams were sharing the answer to the bench seats.

 

--- The model who complained about no one helping her on the flags blamed it on no one wanting to help the last place team, instead of saying "Nobody is helping me because they are all mean awful people" or "Nobody is helping me because they are all jealous because I am prettier then they are." I feel that there have been contestants in the past who would have taken one of the latter two views.

 

"What language do they speak in Switzerland?"  "Swiss."  They could've said French, German and/or Italian and been correct, but SWISS?

 

I have a friend whose parents were born and raised in the German speaking part of Switzerland and spoke their native tongue when she was growing up.   She says that she speaks Swiss, she doesn't say she speaks German.  When she has visited Switzerland, she can converse well enough speaking the Swiss dialect she learned as a child, but when she traveled into Germany, no one could understand her - even when she tried to make her speech more German sounding (with what she remembered in her German classes in high school.

 

I don't feel like we have sufficiently mocked Blair for her pathetic attempts to get everyone on the train to "hit the floor" in an attempt to hide from the trailing team, like she was auditioning for a reboot of Duck and Cover. Hilariously, and appropriately, absolute no one paid her any heed.

 

Oh, that's what she was doing! I missed something and couldn't figure out why she was laying on the floor.  I just chalked it up to a really weird flirting style.

 

I don't understand why it took all of the teams such a long time to figure out the flags.  They all seemed astounded by the revelation that "this is a map" when to me it was extremely obvious that it was a map.  The countries were listed on the board in random order, and certain countries were highlighted.  The map had the same number of rows as the the flagpoles.  They all seemed so self-satisfied when they figured that out, you would have thought they had solved some complex law of physics, not simply that the names of the countries on the map corresponded with their location in the flagpoles right in front of them.

 

The first time someone had the "Oh! This is the map!" epiphany, I thought they were just being boned-headed or fatigue had set in early or, in these days of GPS, were unfamiliar with maps, but after others did the same thing, I wondered if it wasn't as obvious as I thought.  I believe the viewers saw the flag poles from above and could easily see how the layout resembled the map.  Perhaps when standing between the flags, it isn't as simple to see that they are in 4 rows

Edited March 8, 2016 by needschocolate

[ForeverAlone]

I've seen maps like those for those types of layouts in other places. I don't know if that map was there for all visitors to see, or if it was something specific for the Race. But in any case, I have seen layouts like that, so it I don't think it SHOULD have required a lot of brainpower to figure out. And these sorts of puzzles should be force the teams to look at things in different ways (because there are different ways to complete that task- from either actually knowing what the flags were from memory, or figuring out the map to see what flags were which). Unfortunately, we saw that most teams took the easy way out and shared answers. This is not the first time we have seen this on the Race, but it pisses me off when any team does it. As for the race for the Pit Stop, I can see one train to a Pit Stop, but not multiple connections, when there is significant time between connections that would allow for bunching. Even if all the teams had done their own work, there probably still would have been bunching, because of the amount of time between train connections. 

[liqidclark]

I thought it was pretty funny when Makeup Girl tried to get everyone to duck and hide on the train. Did she think the camera crew would hide, too? Surely, she's just contriving memorable TV moments at all times rather than racing, but if you pretend it's real then she's funny for a second or two.

Edited March 8, 2016 by Liqidclark

[RCharter]

I thought it was pretty funny when Makeup Girl tried to get everyone to duck and hide on the train. Did she think the camera crew would hide, too? Surely, she's just contriving memorable TV moments at all times rather than racing, but if you pretend it's real then she's funny for a second or two.

This is the perfect way to put it, but this is how I'm starting to feel about everyone.

[spritz]

It didn't surprise me at all that the 2 teams of two athletic males finished one-two in the foot race. The only real suspense about the foot race was the order of finish for 3rd place to last place.

 

I don't think having so many teams hit the mat at once was due to bad leg design.  There was airplane (and Chocolate shop HOO) bunching in the beginning, but, IMO, there needs to be some bunching occasionally or else the outcome of the show becomes too predictable (and the show would be difficult to film if teams end up too far apart).  The reason why they ended up so close was due to all the helping.  First giving out the answer to the bench sitting mad it possible for the teams to be on the same train.  Then the working together on the flags kept the teams close enough to end up on the mat together.  With all the helping, the only way for someone to end up behind everyone else is if they got lost, which the models did.

 

 

Whether one should describe the leg as badly designed or not, I think this leg (like so many legs in recent seasons) was deliberately designed to minimize separation of the teams.

 

I think a lot of the helping is due to the fact that so many teams are in close proximity to one another throughout the leg. It forces them to interact with one another, or not, if they choose not to. And too many choose to. Too much helping makes the race less interesting imo.

 

I have noticed that this season, as well as the past couple of seasons, there have been so many legs where multiple teams have arrived at the pit stop virtually at the same time. I don't remember that happening so often in seasons past. The producers apparently prefer all teams to be in close proximity to one another. I assumed that they have ordered the race designers to maximize the chances that teams are as close to one another as possible.

Edited March 8, 2016 by spritz

[North of Eden]

Ugh..just wow...there was so many things wrong with this episode.

 

*In the title...its the Amazing RACE....don't tell these Youtubers that because there was SO MUCH HELPING that the eliminated team EXPECTED to be helped. After all that was what 99% of the episode was about until someone...Blair I guess bought a clue that you don't want to help someone behind you.

Every week I hope that someone will get eliminated BECAUSE they helped someone.

 

Brodie trying to get something going with Blair when her father is RIGHT THERE?! Are you serious? That just seems skeevy to me...and he looks 35 and she's what 20?

 

Interestingly enough the Jerks of the week were not the racers but the two contrarians that insisted on playing their chess game when it was clear something a TV program was shooting. For 364 days plus 23 hours a year they can hang out at the bench and play games when ever they want but they just HAD to be here during the time the show was shooting and wouldn't move. The swiss army knife wasn't the only tools in this episode. Checkmate!

 

Then there was the Eureka moment when I realized that the reason I have had a dislike and aversion whenever Tyler came on the screen wasn't just because he's an insufferable fame whore but because he looks like the son or twin brother of one of the top five most annoying reality show contestants ever...Chaos Kass from SURVIVOR.

 

Why is Phil surprised to have a bunch of the map..they way they set it up with the trains it was more likely to happen than not.

 

One last note...I sure miss the "Head Turn" shots from the opening of the early seasons. I just kind of liked it and they've dropped it for many seasons now. It's a lot better than having Cole and his mom popping up from the bottom of the screen like they were in the corn field on HEE HAW and about to tell a joke.

Edited March 8, 2016 by North of Eden

[etagloh]

They could have run to the ticket booth and asked if the train could be delayed a few minutes

Their connection wasn't with the famously 'on time to the minute' Swiss railway, the one associated with the funky clocks and watches, but no, it was probably not a train that could be 'delayed a few minutes'.

 

or asked someone if they could buy the correct change from them, or ran for the train and dealt with it on the train.  What is the conductor going to do?  Stop the train, have it back up into the station, and throw them off?

Most likely: throw them off at the next stop and issue a hefty fine. There have been occasions where teams have skipped paying for tickets on trains and got away with it -- the short Schiphol-Centraal train in Amsterdam comes to mind in a previous season -- and it's not been considered the right thing to do even in a raaaaace situation. And not many European train services allow you to buy tickets once you're on board, only the hyper-local ones where the station you're departing from doesn't have a staffed ticket office.

 

Interestingly enough the Jerks of the week were not the racers but the two contrarians that insisted on playing their chess game when it was clear something a TV program was shooting.

You're really convinced that the chess-players weren't at very least told to stick around -- and what to expect from the teams doing the task -- by whoever on TPTB is there to set up and prep things?

 

First giving out the answer to the bench sitting mad it possible for the teams to be on the same train.  Then the working together on the flags kept the teams close enough to end up on the mat together.  With all the helping, the only way for someone to end up behind everyone else is if they got lost, which the models did.

But six of nine teams by necessity had to do the bench-sitting because of the limited slots at the SAK task, and given how the 'correct' answer seemed to be almost arbitrary, based on the numbers teams were getting from doing the task, it was inevitable that they'd end up either overhearing or sharing or some kind of collaboration. (The main separation at the bench task was from finding it in the first place.) That meant they got bunched on the tram to the flag task, and bunched on the train to the Pit Stop.

Edited March 8, 2016 by etagloh

[Netfoot]

You're really convinced that the chess-players weren't at very least told to stick around -- and what to expect from the teams doing the task -- by whoever on TPTB is there to set up and prep things?

 

What, you mean: Sit on the bench and prevent the competitors from completing the task?  That doesn't work for me.

[etagloh]

What, you mean: Sit on the bench and prevent the competitors from completing the task?  That doesn't work for me.

 

Sit on the bench and require teams to interact with them, so it wasn't simply an empty bench and a relatively dull task. Works for me more than the alternative that they were willing to have their chess game repeatedly interrupted by racers' arses, and didn't either move away or lose their tempers on-camera. Same as the jitney-bus task in Cartagena, where I find it easier to believe that the people travelling were given a bit of cash by TPTB to hang around the route and get on the bus.

[Supay]

But six of nine teams by necessity had to do the bench-sitting because of the limited slots at the SAK task

 

Yea, that's one of the more unfortunate trends of recent TAR's shrinking budget:

 

• Season 27: Detour in the second Argentine leg, 6 teams with a wooden horse and 3 with a carriage
• Season 26: Detour in the second Thai leg, 5 teams doing Water/eggs/prayers and 4 Wheel/billiards/felines
• Season 25: Detour in the second British leg, 6 spaces for Viking torch-making (only 5 used)
• Season 24: Detour in the second Sri Lankan leg, 4 teams with an elephant and 3 with papier-mache a la pachyderm droppings

 

Incidentally, answer-sharing has been an issue during other Swiss episodes, namely, the one with Liechtenstein during Unfinished Business as well as those cheaply-made trivia tasks in Lucerne during Season 24.

[goldeneye]

As for the trains, not sure how the train schedule would have been then, but the Geneva to Martigny direct trains are once every 30 minutes - but the train from Martigny to Vallorcine and Vallorcine to Chamonix are both once an hour, with the Vallorcine to Chamonix trains timed for arrivals from that Martigny-Vallorcine train and gives 5 minutes connection time.

 

Moreover, in Martigny, it gives about a 3-minute connection time between trains and I believe it may not be a cross-platform transfer at Martigny station, while at Vallorcine it is.

 

If one had enough time at the Geneva train station, it is possible to try to buy all three tickets there, but I am not sure if any team knew that before hand (much less knowing that this journey required 2 changes of train).

[millennium]

It's a lot better than having Cole and his mom popping up from the bottom of the screen like they were in the corn field on HEE HAW and about to tell a joke.

 

I must be getting punchy -- I can't stop laughing at this.

[valen]

My high school students know who these contestants are. They watch Youtube videos all day long. The starts seem much more accessible than A list movie stars. I have no doubt, since high schoolers also don't seem to know boundaries, that they would swarm a Youtube star. 

 

ETA: My husband watches a lot of those "Best of" countdown shows. He knew Zack because his magic tricks are often on there.

Edited March 8, 2016 by valen

[proserpina65]

Late to the party - never mind

Edited March 8, 2016 by proserpina65

[proserpina65]

Man, people on here are just bound and determined to minimize the popularity of people they claim to have never heard of.

I've never heard of any of them, but then, I don't spend much time on Youtube and had never heard of Vine before now.  So I'm perfectly willing to accept that, among people who do spend far more time on the internet than I do, these teams might be familiar and popular, especially with young people.  It's just as likely that young people in Colombia watch a lot of Youtube and Vine videos as it is that they watch AR enough to know about their camera operators.

[proserpina65]

Yeah, if I was one of those teams racing on this leg and I was eliminated by literal seconds (particularly if my team was one of the first ones finished, but all the later teams were equalized at the train stations), because of the bunching from the train station to the Pit Stop, I would be pissed as all get out. While I can see the need for SOME equalizers (though I would love to see how a race would turn out if there were no operating hours equalizers, only transportation equalizers), I don't think there should be anything close to equalizers on the way to the Pit Stop. That's just poor race design. 

But TPTB couldn't have guaranteed that all the teams ended up on the same train.  That's down to the teams working together on the flag task.  So I don't think it's poor race design at all.

[blackwing]

One last note...I sure miss the "Head Turn" shots from the opening of the early seasons. I just kind of liked it and they've dropped it for many seasons now. It's a lot better than having Cole and his mom popping up from the bottom of the screen like they were in the corn field on HEE HAW and about to tell a joke.

I miss the head turns as well!  Of course, the best one was Teri and Ian during their first season, season 3.  Perfectly synchronised, slow head turns.  They looked like lizards slowly turning their heads and focusing on their next meal.  I hated Ian so much that season, but they still have one of the best intros ever.

 

The new graphics for the names on these new intros are nice, but I miss classic old school TAR intros.  Cole looks ridiculous popping up, and I've mentioned how much I hate the blue girls intro.  They look like they are taking prancing baby steps on the catwalk, and don't forget the steely stare and the hand on the hip at the end.  Ugh.

 

I've always been curious about exactly when these intro shots are filmed... before the race even starts?  Or after it's all done, and these are just post-production things done in preparation for the show airing?  I like to think it is done after the race is over, and I've always tried to read into the contestants' expressions how happy they are, and wondering if that is any indication on how well they did.  I remember the team of Boston firefighters (?) a few seasons ago.  Their intro was in full gear and they looked pissed.  This was the team that went out on the first leg, and when the credits switched midway through the season to show a scene of the teams on the race, their scene was of them tipping over in their canoe.  Too funny,

[viajero]

Wait.  They were given cell phones to take on the race?!??

 

According to Blair, they were given cell phones with most of the functions disabled so that they could take selfies and their own videos. I think they've done that in most recent seasons.

 

Among other things, Blair used her phone to film little tutorials during the race.  For instance, she did one on how to quickly braid your hair while stuck in the back of small taxi, scrunched up next to two big men (her father and the sound guy), after having spent the night on the floor of an airport.  Not sure how useful it was for most of her viewers, but it was kind of cute if you are not overly bothered by excessive perkiness.

 

 

I don't own a TV.  Last TV I had went up in smoke when the house got hit by lightning, in 1996.  I get all of my video, including TV programming, off the net.  I watch YouTube often.  I have no objection to the internet as a content distribution medium.  None at all.

 

But when anyone is free to create "content" and post it online, it stands to reason that the result will be little islands of quality in a vast ocean of dross.  What constitutes quality and what constitutes dross?  That will depend upon who you ask, because everyone has their own sense of taste.  

 

As you say, quality is entirely subjective.  But YouTube and Vine are in a sense the ultimate free markets.  There is very little promotion of any specific channel and only minimal outside interference or regulation that affects the exchange of a value (the viewers time) for a good (the videos).  Thus, I would argue that total numbers of subscribers and views are relatively good measures of the value placed by the market as a whole on any individual YouTuber`s content. 

[iMonrey]

 

I think the cameras might make people do a doubletake and wonder why they might know them but it's not something that has happened before except with a few times with Rob and Amber and Jonathan from NKOTB,

 

That we've ever been shown. Obviously the editors are not going to include footage of random strangers going up to the racers and asking them why they are being filmed, what show they're on, whether they are on Amazing Race, etc. But you know this must happen all the time. There are international versions of this show in other countries. Teams are always (more or less) color coordinated. You see a group of these teams at an airport - or anywhere - with a camera man and sound man assigned to each team, you've ever seen The Amazing Race, and you put 2 and 2 together. 

 

I think it just serviced the story that these people are "famous" by including this footage in this edition even if it happens all the time, even when teams aren't "famous." 

 

I'm not saying Tyler and Korey, or some of the others, aren't recognized from their You Tube videos or Vines or what have you. I'm just saying - this probably is a regular occurrence on this show no matter who the teams are. "Hey look! Amazing Racers! Let's see if we can get a picture!"

Edited March 9, 2016 by iMonrey

[etagloh]

But TPTB couldn't have guaranteed that all the teams ended up on the same train.  That's down to the teams working together on the flag task.  So I don't think it's poor race design at all.

 

But teams were pretty much guaranteed to arrive at the flag task close together, because they were pretty much guaranteed to arrive at the bench counting task close together. Since according to goldeneye the train from Geneva runs once every 30 minutes, and we saw the trailing batch of teams catch up courtesy of a train connection, either TPTB miscalculated the separation offered by trains en route to the Pit Stop (which I'd call bad leg design) or knew that teams would be bunched (which I'd also call bad leg design).

 

The fundamental element of good leg design is that it rewards good racing -- if a team navigates better or aces the tasks or takes a gamble that gives them an advantage, then they deserve to win the leg. The leg winners this time won a foot race in the slush. Arguably no team really did anything outstanding to deserve a win, and it was definitely a 'transitional' leg designed to land teams in Europe and set things up for the next leg in the Alps, but the overall design seemed more conducive towards a NEL or TBC. (Cash prizes as opposed to Travelocity holidays sometimes reflect weaker legs.) 

[zoey1996]

Every week I hope that someone will get eliminated BECAUSE they helped someone.

 

 

 

 

Like last season, when Team Texas were chivalrous to the Cheerleaders, came in last on a non-elimination leg, and were eliminated the next week due to the killer speed bump?

 

Blair + Brodie = Blodie?  Blrghh.

 

I googled Broken Chair, and saw a picture of the chair with a broken leg, which wasn't obvious to me during the program.  It symbolizes opposition to land mines and the like.  

[iMonrey]

 

The fundamental element of good leg design is that it rewards good racing -- if a team navigates better or aces the tasks or takes a gamble that gives them an advantage, then they deserve to win the leg. The leg winners this time won a foot race in the slush. Arguably no team really did anything outstanding to deserve a win, and it was definitely a 'transitional' leg designed to land teams in Europe and set things up for the next leg in the Alps, but the overall design seemed more conducive towards a NEL or TBC. (Cash prizes as opposed to Travelocity holidays sometimes reflect weaker legs.)

 

That's why I was certain it was going to be a TBC. But - there wouldn't have been as much bunching if Kurt and Brodie hadn't given the answer to the Detour to a bunch of other teams. 

[In Pog Form]

Ashley: "We had to do it seat by seat, and one of us had to be sitting at all times. We couldn't lay the papers out and measure that way either."

What does "seat by seat" mean? It's a bench. There are no individual seats. What was stopping them from leapfrogging each other by 30 feet at a time?

An again, how do you prohibit the mental act of multiplication, something that can even happen subconsciously?

 

In fact, their accounts over there provide a lot more background info if you're interested.

Given how stupid these people are at reading and remembering clues even 5 minutes later, I'm not confident in their memory of the clues' text months after the event.

They are providing their own interpretation of the clue. Whether the clue itself actually prohibited these things or doesn't contain loopholes is an entirely different matter.

Edited March 12, 2016 by In Pog Form

[Netfoot]

What does "seat by seat" mean?

 

seat

  noun

1. a thing made or used for sitting on, such as a chair or stool. synonyms: chair, bench, stool, settle, stall; More
2. a person's buttocks.

Edited March 12, 2016 by Netfoot

[Bouquet]

Maybe it is a generational difference. I am Gen X, and we were raised to be more independent, and millenials seem to be more about teams.

 

Yes, the connectedness of the Internet has made recent generations more cooperative.

 

Also, because younger people, and especially these YouTube stars, carry out much of their social interactions on the permanent public record, they're very protective and cultivating of their public reputation. This is why I think help is so often being asked for and given in this season, and why there's less bad-mouthing behind people's backs. Though helping reduces your chance of winning (unless you're calculating on a quid pro quo), refusing to help tags you as a #selfish #bastard, and trash talk tags you as a #hater #bully #troll. The models' biggest worry is not that they were eliminated, but that there's now a #whiny #quitter crack in their public front.

[HawaiiTVGuy]

On 3/6/2016 at 11:50 AM, Jobiska said:

I'm not thrilled with a focus on showmances, but I don't think it's that new to the show, starting with Flo and one of the twins, then Eric and Danielle, then oh shoot the guy who lost the fanny pack who was teamed with his mom...name?...and one of the women...they'll do at least a little focus on it if it's there.  Sure, Tyler and Korey were cracking themselves up with their silly hashtag, but I don't think this editing focus is confined to gimmick seasons.  I think they blew it up in this one because due to the leg design the two got to snuggle.

Blair seemed as young as she is when she was trying to get everyone to crouch down and hide in the train so the models wouldn't see them through the windows.  

I thought for sure the show had made an error with the caption "Chamonix" until I looked it up on Wikipedia and found that "Chamounix" is an old spelling.  I think I'm picturing some retro-looking Olympics poster or something in my mind!

I think that every factor plays in in airport familiarity.  1) the cameras are going to draw attention that something is happening but 2) I think once people look at what the cameras are looking at, these folks are legitimately being recognized, and 3) they are at exactly the level of fame that they welcome the attention, hoping it will build their brand, and knowing the friendliness to the audience helps.  If I saw an A-list movie star or sports legend or whatnot in an airport, I'd be too shy to approach, figuring they'd want their privacy, but if I saw someone I knew from YouTube or suchlike (the only one I knew beforehand was Tyler, but maybe from one of the few other channels I watch), I'd probably feel they'd be more welcoming.  

I don't mind these teams and I don't think the race is dumbed down.  It's early yet, also.  

I think the whole showmance angle is even more played up in this season due to unique relationship of all the racers.  They are all kind of in the same "social circle" and many of them have passing knowledge of each other and there could have easily been some pre-race crushing going on.  And as everyone has talked about here, there is a lot more ready collusion going on and not as much outright competitiveness.  So it isn't surprising at all to me that the racers are acting like a bunch of kids at a summer camp when it comes down to their reactions to a budding romance.  And as Scott indicated by his comment to Blair in the next episode about once she gets her boyfriends straight, then can talk about her wedding, Blair is not exactly the type to find "dating" a very exclusive type of activity, so her "not lack of interest" is not surprising either.

I personally have not heard of any of these YouTubers before the race except for seeing ads of Tyler's stuff while watching other stuff.  But I don't find the fact that people would recognize them and people feeling comfortable mobbing them being surprising or sketchy either.  The YouTubers make a living being personable and audience friendly, and they also put themselves out as being kind of "one of the people".  They are not the "A-List" celebrities that fly private jets, have entourages and wear way too expensive stuff, giving off a sense of exclusivity that is not associated with YouTubers.  So general public reactions and comfort in approaching them is not surprising, especially in places where celebrity sightings are probably not as common as like LA or NYC.

[HawaiiTVGuy]

On 3/6/2016 at 1:06 PM, fishcakes said:

 

Also, at one point she walked up to Blair at a flagpole and asked her a question and Blair completely ignored her, not looking at her and not responding. So while I thought the model was being a little whiny, the other teams could have been more polite about not helping. I remember waaaay back to season 3 when one of the Bald Snark guys simply said, "I'm sorry, I can't tell you," when Hump It Teri asked him where something was toward the end of a leg. It is possible to race hard, yet not be a jerk about it.

I agree, it was a very uncomfortable position all around.  Blair and everyone else probably could have responded to her directly, but I don't know if saying, "sorry we can't help you because you are last, so we all have to go now and help each other to keep you last" helps the situation either.  I think if it was only a single person by themselves, it is easier to say, "sorry can't help you", but when you are colluding with other people, and then having to pretty much tell someone they are being excluded, that just makes things awkward all around.