S06.E11: The Summer of Heroes

[Guest]

(no episode description yet)

[Rachel RSL]

Oh joy, the winner is the team I disliked from the very first leg. Crappy end to a pretty crappy season.

[wintrygal]

9 minutes ago, Rachel RSL said:

Oh joy, the winner is the team I disliked from the very first leg. Crappy end to a pretty crappy season.

I liked the season overall, but could not stand this couple, so ugh, very disappointed.

Edited September 12, 2018 by wintrygal

[Pepper the Cat]

Well poop.

i am Ok with the winning team but really wanted the Mounties to win.

really liked the last challenge. I liked that there were multiple items that would work. 

I also liked that getting to the final line involved a little bit of work, the zip line, the rafting and finding the location

[Evenshorter]

Damn. Why didn't the Mounties hurry a little more while finding things in the gift stores? I figured the wrong Courtney was going to win when I saw how organized she was, checking items off her list of legs. Damn.

[SomeTameGazelle]

27 minutes ago, Evenshorter said:

Damn. Why didn't the Mounties hurry a little more while finding things in the gift stores? I figured the wrong Courtney was going to win when I saw how organized she was, checking items off her list of legs. Damn.

It wasn't the speed though, it was the organization. Taylor and Courtney found 22 souvenirs but didn't make sure they had 2 per leg, so they had to waste time going back to find the helicopter. 

I would be bitter if Adam and Courtney hadn't gained the advantage by actually racing better to get to the finish line first. I would have preferred Taylor and Courtney to win, but based on performance on this leg second was fair.

[aemom]

I liked some teams better than others, but I didn't despise anyone.

I really didn't want Adam and Courtney to win (they kind of bug me), but they made up a lot of time on this leg.

I wonder how long it took the guys to figure out that it wasn't one souvenir per store.

At least Taylor and Courtney have a bunch of trips they've won, so they did pretty well too. Taylor really did a number on his face when he crashed on the sled. He's lucky he didn't hurt himself worse than that.

Edited September 12, 2018 by AEMom
Forgot something

[EllaDisco]

Woohoo, way to go, Courtney and Adam!!  I selected them early for my pool and I'm glad they didn't let me down.  There were some tense weeks there, but if you're only going to win one leg, this is the one!

I like Taylor and Courtney, but they won so many legs, it would've been a bit boring for me if they won.  They've got lots of cool prizes.

Courtney and Adam had the right strategy on the last task - get more than two from each location so once they realized their mistake, they could switch it out without having to go back to the stores.  I imagine that bled a lot of time.

[piequinn35]

Meh winners. ?

[UsernameFatigue]

Ugh, that was annoying. A couple who should have been eliminated weeks ago wins? I can't remember if they were saved by non eliminations rounds, but do remember a few times being saved by luck alone. (ie. not getting a cab driver who got lost). Neither were all that bright or especially good at the tasks, so it ticks me off that they won. But it also disappointed me that Taylor and Courtney did not prepare for the final leg, as it is always a task that brings together what they have done throughout the race. That is about the only time that Courtney and Adam actually prepared (and I suppose the only time they really could) so good on them for that. But they still were not deserving, IMO. 

But all in all I was not impressed with this season, and don't know if I will bother watching the next one. 

Edited September 12, 2018 by UsernameFatigue

[Rachel RSL]

6 hours ago, AEMom said:

 

I wonder how long it took the guys to figure out that it wasn't one souvenir per store

I know. By the end of the season, I really liked these guys, they seem like genuinely nice people, but man did they make some bonehead mistakes throughout the race. Great attitudes though! I would have been happy if they’d somehow pulled out an upset. “Can’t drive forward looking in the rear view mirror” is my new favourite saying.

I’d actually love to see a final breakdown of times for this entire last leg. At one point, Taylor & C said they had a 45 minute lead over Adam & C. They clearly bled all of that and more at the souvenir task. I wonder how long Adam and C had been gone before they returned with the right souvenir. And I really wonder how long they all had to stand there and wait for the boys to get to the finish line lol. Bless their hearts.

[Taeolas]

Beautiful area to finish the race at, and the Souvenir task was a great way to do the end of season memory task; a real Needle in a Haystack problem. I think the first team has a slight advantage because they would be seeing 3 of a kind items that are out of place among the Banff knick-knacks; later teams would be finding 1 of a kind things. If they all arrive about the same time, it isn't much of an advantage. 

 

The NavCanada task was interesting, though being a memory task was a bit boring. I might have preferred another trainer system instead. Still, I've always been fascinated by ATC stuff in general. In University, I did 3 Coop workterms at NavCanada in Ottawa, then 2 terms at a company that does software for air traffic control displays, and finally worked for a year and a half that does Air Traffic Messaging (sent me to Greenland for a system install too :) ). I'm long out of the industry now, but still am fascinated by it. 

 

1 hour ago, Rachel RSL said:

And I really wonder how long they all had to stand there and wait for the boys to get to the finish line lol. Bless their hearts.

Usually once the race is won, I believe the producers will pull the plug for the remaining teams and tell them where to go; so it's basically just travel time to get to the end for the final filming. At least by having 3 teams you rarely get the big blowouts like early TAR:US seasons had with one team being hours or sometimes a day+ ahead of the other finalists

[Rachel RSL]

Early TAR US had 3 teams in the finals as well but they definitely learned how to control the gaps between teams in later seasons. 9/11 forced them to start using spoon fed flights instead of the teams scrambling all over the airport to find better flights. I actually really miss that aspect of the race but it’s totally understandable why they can’t do it anymore.

[Taeolas]

Yeah, I don't mind the flights being spoon fed; I just wish they would space the teams out after the airport arrival. They can do the clue tear at the departure, but everyone's going on the same flights anyway, so have a time pause after getting off the flight, maximum 1 hour between teams or something. (So if you were 5 minutes behind the other team you leave the airport 5 minutes after them; if you were 2 hours behind, you leave 1 hour after them). That still bunches the teams up so production is happy, but makes the mat arrival times matter despite airport restrictions.

 

I think the early TAR US case I'm remembering/thinking of, was a 2 part finale, that had 3 teams racing. One part was in Alaska and the other part was in the lower-48. In that case, for whatever reasons I'm forgetting, one of the teams was literally still in Alaska when the first two teams finished the race. 

 

Speaking of the clue tear, I'm pretty sure all the talking heads at the first part of the episode were still in Fredericton. It looked like they were on the trail behind the Governor's house with the Saint John river in the background. They may have been in Banff or the Rockies (I didn't pay attention much to the clothing), but it really looked like the SJ River to me as a local. :) They were here soon after the spring floods so the river would still be quite high in the banks like we saw. 

[Rachel RSL]

8 hours ago, Taeolas said:

 

I think the early TAR US case I'm remembering/thinking of, was a 2 part finale, that had 3 teams racing. One part was in Alaska and the other part was in the lower-48. In that case, for whatever reasons I'm forgetting, one of the teams was literally still in Alaska when the first two teams finished the race. 

Ah yes, Team Guido lol. They ripped open the clue in Alaska and it said “Rob and Brennan have crossed the finish line.” I don’t remember what caused them to be so far behind though. 

[EllaDisco]

47 minutes ago, Rachel RSL said:

Ah yes, Team Guido lol. They ripped open the clue in Alaska and it said “Rob and Brennan have crossed the finish line.” I don’t remember what caused them to be so far behind though. 

I thought it was something to do with transportation in Asia.  They thought the soonest flight?  (bus ride?  train ride?) was hours away or the next day, so they spent the day relaxing, instead of looking for options.  Turns out there was a much sooner option available that the other teams found.  It was a long time ago though, so my memory may be faulty!

Edit: Okay, so I looked it up.  The Guidos won a fast forward and then spent the day drinking tea, waiting for a direct bus to the pit stop.  They arrived last, but were saved due to another team's 24 hour penalty (what was THAT about?!?) but were never back in the race.

Edited September 13, 2018 by EllaDisco

[Fake Jan Brady]

Well, that was unexpected.

The finale really isn't the place for a needle in the haystack task. Blerg.

[TVbitch]

Damn. But what can be said. It was Taylor and Courtney's to lose and they blew their lead. :(

Taylor could have been seriously injured in that sled task, that was nuts. 

[Jessa]

They were my last pick to win. They do seem to both be very nice, and in love, and I hope they have a lovely wedding , and what is sure to be an incredible honeymoon.

 

But the contestant “Babe” was so beyond annoying. Good job Babe. I love you Babe. Over there Babe. I got it Babe. Ugh! 

 

Try: Honey, Sweetie, Love, or I dunno... maybe “Courtney” or “Adam”!

Edited September 19, 2018 by Jessa

[surreysmum]

I find it hard to snark when all three of these pairs would have qualified as my favourite if placed amongst any of the usual U.S. fields of contestants. I was favouring Taylor & the other Courtney, though.

I wasn't keen on the "Heroes" idea - I think it actually worked against the contestants (it kept triggering the "why exactly are X&Y heroes again?" question), and I'm sure most of the contestants themselves found the label at best mildly embarrassing. I mean, they all do very important work, volunteer or otherwise, but they weren't being heroic during all those dancing contests. (Hmm, or were they? :) )

I grew up near the Canadian Rockies. Damn, that's a scary-beautiful place. Made me homesick just watching (except for the souvenir shops - that's one part of the experience I never much cared for).

[TV Anonymous]

I made the comment about how participants were only from three provinces in episode 1 thread, and I want to make this comment to close the season off.

I find it amazingly bad that this season completely snubs the Province of Quebec, the second most populous as well as the most expansive province in Canada. Not only that there is no team from Quebec at all but also they do not have any leg even transiting Quebec. What is going on? There is a fall-out between TPTB and the provincial government?

[EllaDisco]

I've never understood the mentality of "one team from every province."  I want them to find the best teams they can, not try to fit some pre-conceived idea.  (I also wasn't fond of the hero theme.)

And honestly, I'd rather have more international legs than more in Canada.  I started watching the original series and my favourite things about it were the teams and the interesting places they went.  

Once they started getting gimmicky in the original version (blind dates, etc) I stopped watching.