S19: Talk

[Rusun]

A closer look at the seasons since Unfinished Business is due.

•     The admittedly low-key cast got shafted for All-Stars 3 (UB is the de-facto AS2), especially Bill/Cathi.
•     It's certainly one of the best recent routes, both in terms of new countries and rarely visited ones.
•     Although the teams bungled half of them, it was the first and only appearance of back-to-back W-Turns.
•     There was a Hazard and Double Elimination? Oh, right...
•     The penultimate leg proved intensely satisfying, however lackluster the finale.

[TheRabbi]

The route was good, though the tasks I remember being underwhelming.  I remember there being several iterations of "memorize a line and recite it later", of which one was more than enough.  The double elimination was a terrible idea (even though it gave us a season with Bill and Cathi who proved to be lovely).  It made the NEL's far too frequent (and yeah I know that races of yesteryear had 4 NEL's, but they also had 13 legs).

 

The cast on the whole was just unmemorable.  I'm not saying the casting department did a crappy job, because there was a good deal of diversity and dynamics, but they didn't really result in anything worth remembering.  And I had a lovely time mingling with those racers that attended TARCon.

 

As for All-Stars, I'd say Marcus and Amani also got shafted by casting.  They were a pleasant and decent team to watch.  Andy and Tommy may have been great racers from a finishing perspective, but I can't recall a single thing they did.  Wholly unmemorable alpha-male team (a la David and Jeff).  Plus All-Stars was stacked with M/M teams already (5 of 11 before Bopper got axed).

 

Solid route map, with Thailand being the only country that was visited more than once prior I believe (not counting that really fast stopover in Germany en route to Belgium).  And I believe the second Thailand leg was a last minute replacement leg for Nepal if the spoilers were to be believed (I hope so, because I remember that leg being dreadful).  The one problem with the route was that the Atlanta finale was possibly the worst finale the show has done.  For me its probably a tossup between this or the DC 22 finale.

[SnideAsides]

I remember hearing somewhere that the map task in the Atlanta finale was supposed to be a regular Road Block, but they changed it at the last minute because of the emergency Bangkok leg also being designed to have two Road Blocks. Still wouldn't have been a great leg, but it's decent enough. (I get the hate for it, but I think it was a better finale than TAR4 or TAR23 either way.)

[Rusun]

Funny, I'd heard that Laos was the intended destination and got scrapped thanks to mudslides and landslides. 

[SnideAsides]

Yes - they replaced Laos with the Bangkok leg, and it was easier for them to get two Road Blocks on short notice than it was to get a Road Block and a Detour.

[Whimsy]

Since some older seasons are available to view on different platforms, we are starting all episodes threads for each season.

[Supay]

The eighth episode is the season's overall finest - and would basically reign as "Best Scandinavian Leg" until the country's own revisit three years later - though the eleventh's Switchback to Family Edition is arguably the most memorable.

Edited January 10, 2016 by Supay

[Supay]

Now the first (gentle)man to join the Margaretta, Nancy, and Renee club of deceased racers: RIP, Pa, and stay strong, Ma ~!

Edited June 11, 2016 by Supay

[Babalu]

2 hours ago, Supay said:

Now the first (gentle)man to join the Margaretta, Nancy, and Renee club of deceased racers: RIP, Pa, and stay strong, Ma ~!

Could you give us a name please? I have no idea who "Pa" is. I did Google Season 19 racer, and it looks like the oldest one was Bill Alden, but I don't see any obituaries for him. Thank you.

[Supay]

Whoops, my apologies to you, the late Mr. A, and his teammate: "With great sadness, I am sharing that Amazing Racer Bill (Season 19) has died from pancreatic cancer. He was an incredible man - full of adventure, humor, love and advice! The week before he died, we watched our season and shared, once again, the surreal feeling of being on that extraordinary journey. It was magical for us. As we watched each season, we actually felt a part of the competition and bet on the outcome of each episode. You have all played a part in our lives so we feel a bit connected. Our wish is that you continue to fill your lives with purpose and passion. Life is short - live with vibrance." - Cathi Alden

[cherrypj]

I really like Bill & Cathi plus Andy & Tommy. Neither team complained (or we were never shown): they just did what they had to do. Amani & Marcus were replete with football cliches, but they just did the work, too. Refreshing! Andy & Tommy were a super strong team (six 1st place legs): I wonder who had the most 1st place finishes without actually winning.

Contrast with Ernie & Cindy. I wanted to like them. I really did. They're just meh.

[Star Aristille]

On ‎9‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 4:06 PM, cherrypj said:

I really like Bill & Cathi plus Andy & Tommy. Neither team complained (or we were never shown): they just did what they had to do.

Andy & Tommy weren't likable at all.  They were dull, boring, bland, and unmemorable.  I cheered when they got axed.

[cherrypj]

On 9/6/2017 at 7:11 PM, Geenee said:

The answer to the bolded is a certain envy-hued team eight seasons later. 

Oh, yes, thank you!

[Roccos Brother]

VOMIT VOMIT VOMIT VOMIT

[Roccos Brother]

I think I would have been fine with just about any other team winning except for NO-BROWS Cindy and NARROW-SHOULDERS Ernie, especially after they u-turned Bill and Cathi.

Favorite teams – Ron and Bill (Yay for the gays! But boo for being first ones out!), Bill and Cathi (really wanted them to win), the blonde twins (I normally never care for the “pretty girls” team, but they had a positive and appreciative attitude about things)

Likes –

-       Adorable racing bunnies!

-       Copenhagen, Hans Christian Andersen (“I NEED MORE DRAMA!”) and Legos!

-       Belgium waffles!

-       Tintin! Super adorable challenge with costumes!

-       GONE WITH THE WIND FABOLOUS!

Dislikes –

-       Survivor alumni that already won $$$. GREEDY!

-       Tommy and Andy’s comment about religion.

-        Zac’s homophobic comment about men in tights.

-       One too many football/sports references.

-       Nobody appreciating GONE WITH THE WIND FABOLOUS-NESS!

-       Cindy’s lack of eyebrows.

-       Ernie’s lack of shoulders

[dgpolo]

I really liked this season and most of the racers. In the final I wish that Jeremy and Sandy were out and Bill and Cathi in but I didn't really dislike anyone.

I think Ernie and Cindy were good racers overall but were so focused they let small things trip them up. Final city 'curse' seems to be in place. Marcus needed to calm down.

I quite liked the typing task, it seemed like something I could figure out.

Of Andy and Tommy's 6 leg wins, 3 were because someone else made a mistake, first was the money at the orphans where they were one of the few (Laurence! of all people and Kaylani/Lisa the others) that saw the sign. Racers need to pay attention to everything (how many say 'it doesn't matter' about something in a task - the twins in Egypt come to mind just brushing off the puzzle pieces that went with the map in TAR5, or the hookah hoses a few races ago, or the chairs on the beach here).  Jeremy looked like he almost focused on the sign but then left anyway. But at least this got rid of Ethan and Jenna.

A&T also won a leg because Laurence and Zac used too many buckets at a task, and then another when Justin and Jennifer didn't pay their truck driver. So they were pretty lucky too.

Did not like Laurence especially when he wouldn't let Zac take notes on the Spirit House.

Can't believe Bill and Cathi spent 4 hours! looking for the first clue.

Or that Jennifer just STOOD there doing nothing for so long before going back to the start where Justin had the clue, and where the end of the task was.

I wondered why Jeremy and Sandy chose to do the churning when they had -seen- the rabbits and had to know it would be quicker?

When they were doing the body building task Cindy had some pretty serious looking bruises! where did she get those? I don't remember her falling down? Unless the bed did it to her?

Loved the whole Copenhagen to Brussels leg, I usually read while I watch and I found myself paying attention to the screen during the whole leg.

The cab drivers really decided the final three. I'm not sure if they all worked for the same service and Andy and Tommy's didn't or if they just 'bonded' while waiting for the high wire task when A&T's cab took off first. They also looked like they took some people to the dancers before it was time for the dancers? Unless that was just where they had to drop people off for the shoe task?  But cabs have determined winners and losers before and will again so it works for me.

I was a bit disappointed that no one recognized Ernie and Cindy when they handed out clues in a future race.

I enjoyed this one. I don't mind if they go back to countries they've been to before, I'll never get there so seeing them again is just as good as seeing them the first time.

Edited July 31, 2019 by dgpolo
never mind i was wrong

[Fukui San]

For some reason I barely remember this season at all. I remember that Marcus Pollard raced, and that's it. Looking at the cast list I had forgotten about Ethan and Jenna. Being Asian I thought I'd remember an Asian winner especially, but Ernie & Cindy, complete memory hole.

[dgpolo]

7 minutes ago, Fukui San said:

For some reason I barely remember this season at all. I remember that Marcus Pollard raced, and that's it. Looking at the cast list I had forgotten about Ethan and Jenna. Being Asian I thought I'd remember an Asian winner especially, but Ernie & Cindy, complete memory hole.

There's an Amazing Race Wiki but I like to look at this site when I'm trying to prod my memory, it makes me laugh sometimes:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/TheAmazingRace19

[Michale]

My wife and I have been binge-watching Amazing Race since mid June of 2019..  It's pretty exciting to be able to watch an entire season back to back per week..

We just finished Season 19 and we both noticed something.  It seemed that every team was making an extra special effort NOT to step on the Pit Stop mat but rather toe the side of it opposite Phil...

Does anyone know if this has any special significance??  Where teams sliding off and getting hurt?? Is it a marketing thing to keep the TAR logo pristine??   

Curious...

[Giuseppe]

On 11/3/2019 at 5:19 PM, Michale said:

We just finished Season 19 and we both noticed something.  It seemed that every team was making an extra special effort NOT to step on the Pit Stop mat but rather toe the side of it opposite Phil...

Does anyone know if this has any special significance??  Where teams sliding off and getting hurt?? Is it a marketing thing to keep the TAR logo pristine??

I just finished re-watching this season and I noticed that too! (I think I noticed it in the previous season as well, but maybe not...I've literally been re-watching back to back to back seasons and everything's running together now).  I thought maybe they had had one too many slip and falls from people jumping on the mat, so they told the teams to not step on it. But towards the end of this race, Phil was telling teams to 'jump on that mat' when they arrived, so I have no clue.

When I started this re-watch, the ONLY team I remembered was Ernie and Cindy, and that's probably because the finish line was in Atlanta where I live, and they won. But for most of this season, I really must have been barely watching when it originally aired because this entire season was a mystery to me. I vaguely remembered the body-building pose-down challenge, but that's it. Not to say it was a bad season because I actually enjoyed it a lot this time, but I agree that the finale was very lackluster...disappointing since I'd been hoping the race would start or end in Atlanta for a long time. 

Marcus and Amani were awesome. I wish they had raced again.