S31.E01: You're In Our Race Now

[chitowngirl]

1 hour ago, Ilovepie said:

I guess, but usually there is some overt advantage to being first, like an earlier flight. This time, there was a big race to the airport for what? Closer seats? Zzzzz.......

I think it was a lost opportunity. It seems like they have really scaled back on people booking their own travel, and I miss it, much like the teams driving themselves around. So much organic drama in the show has resulted from these things, and it’s really missing.

I think the scaling back is simply the fact that it’s a different world than the early seasons of TAR.

[Halting Hex]

4 hours ago, mikewho said:

[Christie] DID say 'Run them over!' at some point, but it was not when she saw the people crossing the street. Maybe it was ducks or something.

It wasn't ducks, as Colin explained in a post-race interview.  (This was also where I learned about the flat tire on the final leg, IIRC.)  It was a TAR production vehicle that was driving in front of Colin & Christie's bus to get shots of the bus in traffic.  Christie was (IMO understandably) stressed because the production vehicle was going slowly in order to get a good shot and blocking the bus from going as fast as Christie wanted, since they had to make up a good chunk of broken-ox time.  She was being (mostly) sarcastic.

The nearest analogue I can come up with is Dallas and his mom (or was it the mom who was named "Dallas"?  I forget) being annoyed because production lost his passport in Russia on TAR13.  Sometimes production is the greatest "task" of all…

[dgpolo]

33 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

I think the scaling back is simply the fact that it’s a different world than the early seasons of TAR.

What I was going to say, but you were much more succinct.

[North of Eden]

Quick shout out to Halting Hex  a couple posts up above me...anyone who uses Jess as an avatar is A-Okay in my book!

Anyway it's almost too much to process so I guess until the herd thins out I'll target the low hanging fruit.

Rupert: His babytalk/tye dyed shirt schtick is so tired and old that its one of the few things in this world that predates the late, great Notre Dame.

I could have gone the rest of my entire life and never see Tyler again. I despise attention whores, and he's a card-carrying member.

Kind of cool to see Rachel and Elisa running the race together while Brendan is home with the baby.

I"m sure a lot of people like Becca but I can still recall the episode where she was revealed as a poser. There was some kerflufflle with their passports and she got real nasty, real quick and I was like...oh, there's the real Becca when she dropped her mask.

Some of these choices are really questionable Art and JJ, Brent and other unmemorable guy, Even Colin and Christie (One memorable quote doesn't ear a ticket back). Also, there was missed opportunities...Janelle should have been paired with Kaysar...they had a huge following that was shipping them on their first season...one memorable post at the old TWOP called them Shannon and Sayied from LOST. Now bringing them back together would have been a real treat.

Back to Rupert...as much as I don't like him, I was getting frustrated if he wound up squandering the opportunity the four-hour penalty provided for him. Lucky for his wife (who is likable) he came through.

[Rachel RSL]

59 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

I think the scaling back is simply the fact that it’s a different world than the early seasons of TAR.

You’re spot on. The first season of TAR was the only season that was filmed before 9/11 and it was filled with people running through airports, scrambling to get on a faster flight, or booking different connections through different countries. That all changed for obvious reasons and they usually ended up spoonfeeding the teams a selection of flights. It wasn’t as fun as before but at least there was some benefit to hustling. Now I think they’ve just gotten lazy and realized it’s easier from a production standpoint to have them all on the same flight whenever possible.

Edited April 20, 2019 by Rachel RSL

[Giuseppe]

26 minutes ago, North of Eden said:

Some of these choices are really questionable Art and JJ, Brent and other unmemorable guy, Even Colin and Christie (One memorable quote doesn't ear a ticket back).

One memorable quote?? I think he had several...broken ox, yes, but also "I'm packin' it!", and saying Hakuna Matata to the security dude. But I'd venture to say that it wasn't even just the broken ox quote that made him memorable. It was, as others have also pointed out, his (and Christie's to an extent) extreme intensity, focus, and win at all costs attitude - the likes of which we hadn't really seen on TAR yet at that point - that made them such a  memorable team, not to mention the rivalry between them and Mirna and Charla. Many people have been hoping for their return at some point.

I agree with your other point tho about Janelle and Kaysar racing together. That would've been nice to see.

Edited April 20, 2019 by Giuseppe

[Rachel RSL]

23 minutes ago, North of Eden said:

I’m sure a lot of people like Becca but I can still recall the episode where she was revealed as a poser. There was some kerflufflle with their passports and she got real nasty, real quick and I was like...oh, there's the real Becca when she dropped her mask

I also remember that episode and can honestly say that if my racing partner lost his passport for the 2nd time (It was revealed in interviews after that Floyd had already done it one time that wasn’t shown on camera.), I would be pissed too. If I remember correctly, all she did was kind of snap at him in a bitchy tone and that was it. It’s not like she berated him for hours and never forgave him. I would have been way bitchier about it, to be honest.

[lianau]

5 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

That was a decent first episode, much better than I was expecting.  My absolute favorite first episode was in (I think) S12, the one where they flew to Ireland and had the hysterical donkey task.  (I know someone will correct me if I'm wrong. 😉 ) 

You're right 😃 . I loved those donkeys, they had personality .   We need more donkeys . And ducks , remember the duck herding roadblock  (not sure which season had them )

Also  who was the guy in this episode who committed one of these hilarious TAR fuck ups of missing the obvious clue  after climbing wet Mount Fuji and sliding right back down .

[North of Eden]

56 minutes ago, lianau said:

You're right 😃 . I loved those donkeys, they had personality .   We need more donkeys . And ducks , remember the duck herding roadblock  (not sure which season had them )

Also  who was the guy in this episode who committed one of these hilarious TAR fuck ups of missing the obvious clue  after climbing wet Mount Fuji and sliding right back down .

Brett maybe? Can't remember his name for sure but damned if he doesn't look like JJ Abrams buddy Greg Grunberg? who played the Oceanic Pilot of the doomed ariliner on LOST as well as about a million other things including HEROES. He's a dead ringer for him.

[millennium]

Surprised to discover my disdain for the Afghanimals burns as bright today as it did seven years ago.   Hope they choke again, and choke hard.

Most of the older racers were just plain embarrassing.

I have never watched an episode of Big Brother, so I have no opinion on those cast members.  Janelle looks like she's had some plastic surgery but I don't understand why that's so frowned upon.    Another of the racers, a blonde woman paired up with the guy who has longish dark hair, has one of the worst nose jobs I ever saw.

I blanked out on who Rachel was until they ran the infamous "the Amazing Race is supposed to be good and fun" clip.   I get why people don't like her, but I have always enjoyed her because she knows she's a caricature and doesn't pretend otherwise.

The chocolate sandals looked about as appetizing as the wooden sandals.  Is Japan utterly devoid of challenge ideas that don't ape Asian game shows?

[millennium]

2 hours ago, North of Eden said:

I could have gone the rest of my entire life and never see Tyler again. I despise attention whores, and he's a card-carrying member.

I could like this a hundred times.

[green]

4 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

I think the scaling back is simply the fact that it’s a different world than the early seasons of TAR.

No it is just TAR showing it's age.  It is like a paint by numbers show now.  How can it not be after all those endless years?  The main difference is the increase in airfares but now they aren't allowed to do multiple bookings and spoon feed so much of the flights (how I miss BIG time the airport scenes) so they save money that way.

If you mean the world is less safe now I disagree totally with that.

TAR2 started off less than 4 months after 9/11 when the world was far more dangerous and many Americans were in a state of paranoia about all things foreign.  It almost caused the cancellation of this show that embraced the world.   TAR2 had to switch out it's original first destination as well.  They were scheduled to go to Buenos Aries but because of a synagogue bombing in BA they switched to Rio instead.  BA would have to wait until TAR5.

Colin & Christie's TAR5 got diverted to a back-up (Dubai) leg when the original Istanbul leg was pulled within a day or two of them going there because of a major terrorist bombing in Istanbul and curfews throughout the city.  Istanbul would have to wait until TAR7. 

In TAR3 in Morocco Team FireCop got taken by a shady cabbie to a far off the grid area and TAR's private British security team had to be brought in quickly to back up the Racers who refused to hand over their passports to a rather sketchy looking so-called "official."

And with no GPS and such TAR1's team of Paul & Aimee were lost in the Sahara Desert for hours with their camera crew's emergency cell phone out of battery power.  Search teams went out looking for them.  Hours and hours passed but they finally saw a line of trees and drove to it and accidentally stumbled on the oasis pit stop much to the relief of everyone. 

That was a close call.  Followed by an emergency weather alert that a major sandstorm was coming and everyone fled the oasis to the nearest town some hours away to avoid another disaster.  Also they had to wait in India 2 or 3 days because they were having last minute visa problems about getting into China after it had been set up months before.

These days it is a piece of cake by comparison.

3 hours ago, North of Eden said:

Even Colin and Christie (One memorable quote doesn't ear a ticket back).

Are you kidding?  Colin is one of the most iconic Racers of all time.  Their team held the record for many seasons of winning the most legs in a Race because they were damn good and usually way ahead of everyone else.  That's what Colin's ox being broken contrasted so wonderfully with.  He had been the undisputed king of the race up until then.

And Charla & Mirna were great at working the airports but Colin pulled off connecting flights from Russia to Egypt that got them there over a half day ahead of everyone else.  Half a freaking day.  The guy was both intense and a early mastermind of the race.

Then Colin vs Mirna was one of the biggest TAR match-ups ever.

C&C were an automatic invite to All Stars (TAR11) and only didn't appear there because Christie was pregnant at the time.  That team is one of the top TAR Hall of Fame teams as one of the very best race teams of all time and one of the most famous ever as well.  Well, Colin is.  Christie was just along for the ride.  But since we had already survived Flo she didn't seem too bad by comparison I guess.

Edited April 20, 2019 by green

[Halting Hex]

3 hours ago, Rachel RSL said:

[Airport drama] all changed for obvious reasons and they usually ended up spoonfeeding the teams a selection of flights.

There was classic airport drama at least as late as TAR 12, when the chemistry siblings (I cheated and found out they were named "Azarea and Hendekea") went from front of the pack to out, when trying to make a tight connection from Vilnius (Lithuania) to Dubrovnik (Croatia).  I think there may have been one or two more classic scrambles since then but that's the last one I remember.  No, wait, I'm wrong; there was the leg in TAR 21 when Monster Truck Rob (so called to differentiate him from Lumberjack Rob, although the latter was first out and thus gone by the time this happened) and Kelly (Kelli? Kellie?) "broke away from the pack" so that they could sit in the airport in Hong Kong for hours, waiting for their connection, and ended up wayyy behind…but they were saved by an Hours of Operation bunch, and the whole thing was moot.  And then there was TAR 23, where Chester and Efrem (the NFL linemen team) got hung up by a wretched connection (IIRC they had to change their plans twice) and were eliminated.  So not as prevalent as it was early on, but not quite extinct.  

For the most part, spoon-feeding is limited to the opening leg, as I understand it.  The "designated travel agents" can lead to a lot of copy-catting of itineraries, but they're not locked into particular flights, as I understand it.  But I might be wrong, I admit.

4 hours ago, North of Eden said:

Quick shout out to Halting Hex  a couple posts up above me...anyone who uses Jess as an avatar is A-Okay in my book!

Thanks.  (I made it myself, from a screen-grab. [/dork])

[30 Helens]

10 hours ago, MVFrostsMyPie said:

Is it a rule or just a norm for Tokyans to have clear umbrellas? 

Ha! We wondered about all the clear umbrellas at my house, too. I thought maybe they all stopped by the same street vendor.  A quick Google check tells me that’s pretty close to accurate— the convenience stores all sell the same clear disposable umbrellas when it rains, and people like them because they don’t clash with any outfit.

9 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Perhaps I'm in the minority but I hated Charla and Mirna.  The entitled  attitudes not to mention those voices!  

Minority, maybe, but you’re not alone. The constant whining drove me up a wall.

9 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

The fat jokes are especially irritating since Eliza's clearly a stick figure by nature, so she can't really claim any high ground there.  

What irritated me was Eliza and Corinne’s contempt of Rupert because “he’s so oooold.” Ladies, you are 37 and 40 respectively. Rupert is 55. Yes, you are younger than he is, but you’re not exactly teenagers yourselves. Also, you are far too old to be acting like bitchy prom queens.

I kind of liked Eliza on Survivor for her expressive jury faces and general bluntness—“It’s a fucking stick!” never fails to make me laugh— but if this is what she’s really like, I’m totally over her.

[Kel Varnsen]

11 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

I think the scaling back is simply the fact that it’s a different world than the early seasons of TAR.

I kind of wish that they made the directions at least harder because of the rule changes. Back in Colin and Christie's first season there were no smart phones so looking up the address and directions to a location wasn't possible. Now it happens all the time.

[Haleth]

8 hours ago, green said:

And Charla & Mirna were great at working the airports but Colin pulled off connecting flights from Russia to Egypt that got them there over a half day ahead of everyone else.  Half a freaking day.  The guy was both intense and a early mastermind of the race.

I was going to mention this. Aside from the broken ox my best memory of Colin is being so far ahead of the rest of the pack. Didn't they arrive at a destination before Phil got there?

I miss the airport drama too. Being able to negotiate the fastest route should be a challenge teams have to face. 

Edited April 20, 2019 by Haleth

[North of Eden]

 

 

 

8 hours ago, green said:

Are you kidding?  Colin is one of the most iconic Racers of all time.  Their team held the record for many seasons of winning the most legs in a Race because they were damn good and usually way ahead of everyone else.  That's what Colin's ox being broken contrasted so wonderfully with.  He had been the undisputed king of the race up until then.

Have to disagree.. Colin as you say in your second line is iconic...but it should be an amazing race TEAM that is iconic that should be in the reality show showdown. The iconic teams are where both the racers are memorable...think Bopper and Mark,  Charla and Mirna as you have said, the Frats, Guidos, Flo for her ineptitude and her partner and his patience of a saint...in short Christie is a blank slate that doesn't really stand out enough to be memorable. I would bet if you put her in a line up with wives/girlfiends from other teams over the seasons most couldn't even pick out who she was. 

[Netfoot]

Iconic teams like Bopper & Mark?  Is that a joke?  Romber, the BQ's, Cha-cha-cha, Charla & Snarla, Zach/Flo, Momily... and Bopper & Mark? 

[North of Eden]

2 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

Iconic teams like Bopper & Mark?  Is that a joke?  Romber, the BQ's, Cha-cha-cha, Charla & Snarla, Zach/Flo, Momily... and Bopper & Mark? 

Okay well, half of those people I mentioned in my post but yes of course Bopper and Mark are iconic!  It's hard to believe I have to explain this but why do you think they were asked back for another season? Nobody could have foreseen Bopper getting medically disqualified at the last minute...that's why it didn't work with Mark being paired up with the Kentucky Blonde...because Bopper AND Mark were an iconic team.

[mikewho]

14 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

It was a TAR production vehicle that was driving in front of Colin & Christie's bus to get shots of the bus in traffic.  Christie was (IMO understandably) stressed because the production vehicle was going slowly in order to get a good shot and blocking the bus from going as fast as Christie wanted, since they had to make up a good chunk of broken-ox time.  She was being (mostly) sarcastic.

That's right. Thanks for reminding me. I remember she was deeply concerned about when that sound bite was inserted. TAR is known for inserting comments that were actually made elsewhere, and also 'Frankenbites.'

Dallas was the son. I was at that TARcon and you could say Dallas was buzzed when he got there. Several times I heard his mom say, 'Oh, Dallas! NO!'

[Halting Hex]

10 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

the convenience stores all sell the same clear disposable umbrellas when it rains, and people like them because they don’t clash with any outfit.

Well, I wouldn't think that black clashed, particularly, but there's a benefit to the clear ones, I suppose.

10 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

21 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Perhaps I'm in the minority but I hated Charla and Mirna.  The entitled  attitudes not to mention those voices!  

Minority, maybe, but you’re not alone. The constant whining drove me up a wall.

I'm with you.  I think Mirna is a horrible, bitter person at her core, and Charla lost me when she (successfully) weaponized her dwarfism by getting special treatment with her "I need a doctor-o" line.  Thus neatly contributing to "my condition makes me helpless" stereotypes and doing some Ugly American "you speak-o Fake-o English, si?" monoculturalism, all in one blow.

(It's arguable that Charla was simply "leaning in" by taking advantage of others' prejudices, I suppose, but I still found that off-putting.  As well as a general disdain for faking illness to gain advantage, when there are other people with actual medical needs whom you might be pre-empting.  But JMO.  Anyway, I rooted for Colin every step of the way, and took great pleasure in ChMirna's elimination, personally.)

[lexington11]

3 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Well, I wouldn't think that black clashed, particularly, but there's a benefit to the clear ones, I suppose.

I'm with you.  I think Mirna is a horrible, bitter person at her core, and Charla lost me when she (successfully) weaponized her dwarfism by getting special treatment with her "I need a doctor-o" line.  Thus neatly contributing to "my condition makes me helpless" stereotypes and doing some Ugly American "you speak-o Fake-o English, si?" monoculturalism, all in one blow.

(It's arguable that Charla was simply "leaning in" by taking advantage of others' prejudices, I suppose, but I still found that off-putting.  As well as a general disdain for faking illness to gain advantage, when there are other people with actual medical needs whom you might be pre-empting.  But JMO.  Anyway, I rooted for Colin every step of the way, and took great pleasure in ChMirna's elimination, personally.)

You nailed exactly why I couldn't stand Charla & Mirna either. I don't like anyone who blatantly plays the poor me/pity card to get ahead, and that was their MO during the whole race. 

[Browncoat]

I still give Charla props for toting that side of beef, though.

[theschnauzers]

On 4/19/2019 at 8:37 PM, Rachel RSL said:

You’re spot on. The first season of TAR was the only season that was filmed before 9/11 and it was filled with people running through airports, scrambling to get on a faster flight, or booking different connections through different countries. That all changed for obvious reasons and they usually ended up spoonfeeding the teams a selection of flights. It wasn’t as fun as before but at least there was some benefit to hustling. Now I think they’ve just gotten lazy and realized it’s easier from a production standpoint to have them all on the same flight whenever possible.

There were budget constraints that came into play as well, that led to the elimination of the 13th leg after season 12, the gradual elimination of fixed length pit stops, the bunching that now occurs on every leg at some point, neutralizing culminating leads, and all that was in order to avoid extending filming much beyond 21 to 23 days. Hence why self driving rarely occurs.

Edited April 21, 2019 by theschnauzers
typos

[albinerhawk]

I've been rewatching some classic Amazing Races from years past to deal with withdrawal. I knew there was an upcoming season, but for some reason thought it was in May. Today, I just googled to get the date and found out the premiere had already aired! So glad I only missed one episode. Funny thing is I'm currently rewatching Season 20 which featured J.J. and Art plus Rachel and Brendon. The episode that I just finished really showed J.J. at his worse, personality wise. So I was not happy at all to see them representing TAR. It was a little sad to see Art though, time has not been kind to him. They dominated Season 20 along with Major Dave and his wife, also Rachel. 

I was not a fan to see Colin and Christie back. I didn't like them in Season 5, but I liked them today. I think I prefer the more laid back racers, like the cowboys, who just calmly do their thing with no drama. 

I've never seen an episode of BB, and have seen only early seasons of Survivor. Stunt casting seems to be something of an epidemic unfortunately. I stopped watching MasterChef when they appeared more intent on keeping contestants who were good characters over their ability to cook.

[theschnauzers]

2 hours ago, albinerhawk said:

I've been rewatching some classic Amazing Races from years past to deal with withdrawal. I knew there was an upcoming season, but for some reason thought it was in May. Today, I just googled to get the date and found out the premiere had already aired! So glad I only missed one episode. .

Actually, if you go to https://www.cbs.com/shows/amazing_race/ , the episodes are available there and on the CBS All-Access app. And it’s available on I-Tunes

Edited April 21, 2019 by theschnauzers

[Morrissey]

13 hours ago, Haleth said:

I was going to mention this. Aside from the broken ox my best memory of Colin is being so far ahead of the rest of the pack. Didn't they arrive at a destination before Phil got there?

That is hilarious. It would have been such a treat if Colin and Christie had waited for him at the Pit Stop. "Phil. You are the first team to arrive. However. You didn't complete the Roadblock." 

[Kelda Feegle]

On 4/20/2019 at 11:44 AM, Rachel RSL said:

I also remember that episode and can honestly say that if my racing partner lost his passport for the 2nd time (It was revealed in interviews after that Floyd had already done it one time that wasn’t shown on camera.), I would be pissed too. If I remember correctly, all she did was kind of snap at him in a bitchy tone and that was it. It’s not like she berated him for hours and never forgave him. I would have been way bitchier about it, to be honest.

I travel a fair bit both with and without my OH and you always need to know where your passport is, I would flay alive someone who lost theirs and that's without the stress of the Race.

[theschnauzers]

30 minutes ago, Morrissey said:

That is hilarious. It would have been such a treat if Colin and Christie had waited for him at the Pit Stop. "Phil. You are the first team to arrive. However. You didn't complete the Roadblock." 

There was one instance where Colin and Christie got a day ahead of the remaining teams, and lost much of the advantage because production wasn’t ready. Whether that’s the same instance I’m not entirely sure when it’s 15 years and this sort of thing isn’t in the episodes. Even with his meltdowns, they were spectacular racers and very innovative for the period of Race history.

[Morrissey]

2 hours ago, theschnauzers said:

There was one instance where Colin and Christie got a day ahead of the remaining teams, and lost much of the advantage because production wasn’t ready. Whether that’s the same instance I’m not entirely sure when it’s 15 years and this sort of thing isn’t in the episodes. Even with his meltdowns, they were spectacular racers and very innovative for the period of Race history.

Colin could teach a TAR class on how to book the best flight. I would have to rewatch the episode in question, but I'm fairly certain that the other teams were still stuck at various airports in and around Russia when C & C stepped onto the mat in Egypt - which ultimately resulted in the one day advantage. 

They were the perfect racers in a perfect season. It's bittersweet to see them back, because they're both a reminder of the early glory days and a reminder that TAR has jumped the shark several years ago. 

I'm hoping for a revival. 

[SVNBob]

On 4/19/2019 at 3:57 PM, Quilt Fairy said:

Except for the beautiful octopus sand sculpture, that first task was absolutely meaningless since apparently they were all on the same flight to Japan. 

Found out more about this.  There was apparently a second task at the beach before they all left for the airport, and the scramble to get the first clue was more for this second task than an airport scramble.   The whole thing was cut, not for time, but for eventual irrelevancy.

More details in the No Elimination Info Spoiler thread for those that are curious.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I don't watch Survivor or Big Brother, so I wasn't very excited about this season's theme/casting. On the other hand, because I don't watch those shows, it is almost like getting a season of mostly unknown teams since I don't know which of them are idiots or assholes (or both).

I didn't love that there were two needle in a haystack tasks.

It cracked me up that the Survivor and Big Brother teams were talking about how great they were going to be at TAR and then we saw things like non-TAR teams just standing on the sidewalk saying, "I don't know what to do." On the other hand, I guess I should be glad that their first instinct wasn't to walk around yelling, "ENGLISH! ENGLISH?!" at people in Tokyo.

Rupert's partner gets points for not giving him a big fat "I told you so." She specifically suggested looking across the street and he said no. Two hours later, they finally went across the street and there was the clue box.

[sigmaforce86]

2 hours ago, SVNBob said:

Found out more about this.  There was apparently a second task at the beach before they all left for the airport, and the scramble to get the first clue was more for this second task than an airport scramble.   The whole thing was cut, not for time, but for eventual irrelevancy.

That explains a lot.  I would have argued that there was an advantage to going the first task quickly in that you don't wear yourself down and take off for the airport hot, sweaty and dehydrated even if you would have the flight time to recover.  But having to get to a second task makes their urgency more understandable.  I was also having flashbacks to Caleb's collapse from heat stroke in Survivor Kaoh Rong after digging in the sand too long so I was hoping the clue was easy to find or they'd get it quickly before someone dropped (but that's just projecting there was probably no real danger of that happening).

Finally got to watch the episode last night - Some teams I hate on principal like Rachel/Elissa, there is nothing in this world that will make me enjoy having whining crying dramatic Rachel on my TV screen, Eliza/Corinne I thought I could give or take until their mean girls intro; they can go anytime too.  Colin does seem a little different but personally I don't know if I can buy that whole "I'm zen now" thing vs the fly off the handle temper tantrum bully I remember; I'm giving him a wait and see on that.   On the like side I enjoyed Team Fun the first time around and I get that the bubbly cheer can wear after awhile but I still like watching them and they have a good attitude about the race.  The rest I just don't know, some I remember some not but none jump out yet as hope they win or hope they're gone soon. 

I did enjoy the first episode though - I wanted to like Team Rupert, he's never bothered me but they do not seem to be cut out for this show.  He does just fine on Survivor when he's in one place but if that's the urgency and skill he and Laura put into navigating they are not going to last.  Wandering the streets (slowly), not trying to ask for directions, searching random places like wells that have no amazing flag logo on them but passing by the brightly lit and obvious inflated slide that would have taken them no more than two minutes to check out?  Not a good start at all.

I tend to think about random weird things when watching so I'm dying to know - in the shoe task they put the shoe's back each time so if a team already tried that shoe and another team asked for it did they clean the shoe or was the second team biting on a wooden shoe that already had another teams spit on it?!? 

[theschnauzers]

Quote

I tend to think about random weird things when watching so I'm dying to know - in the shoe task they put the shoe's back each time so if a team already tried that shoe and another team asked for it did they clean the shoe or was the second team biting on a wooden shoe that already had another teams spit on it?!? 

It looked to me during the task as time went on, the shelves began to look more empty, so my guess is that the shoes weren’t reused. Colin mentioned on his IG account that all the shoes were coated in a hard white candy, so I take from that that sanitation laws would have prevented a reuse of the shoes made with wood.

[albinerhawk]

9 hours ago, theschnauzers said:

Actually, if you go to https://www.cbs.com/shows/amazing_race/ , the episodes are available there and on the CBS All-Access app. And it’s available on I-Tunes

Thanks!

I should have clarified that I got to watch it on the CBS web site. I just watched it late. I was glad I had only missed one, since it was easy to catch up. 

Edited April 21, 2019 by albinerhawk

[jah1986]

I am so happy to have my show back. I don't watch Big Brother so don't have any opinion of those teams. I do remember Rachel from her Amazing Race seasons and am waiting to see if I like her better racing with her sister than I did before.  It is a real treat to finally have Colin and Christie back. I didn't like them on their season but they were undeniably good racers. In my opinion what hurt them in their season was the "betrayal" by Chip and Kim.  That kind of blindsided Colin and never seemed to recover his control and he started making mental mistakes.  Maybe that's why he's so Zen now. I am curious to see how they do this season.  I'm just tired of seeing Rupert on my tv.

[Seelouis]

Is Rupert going to race around the whole world with that stupid toothpick in his mouth?  Ugh. 

[Rachel RSL]

9 hours ago, jah1986 said:

In my opinion what hurt them in their season was the "betrayal" by Chip and Kim.  That kind of blindsided Colin and never seemed to recover his control and he started making mental mistakes

The only thing that hurt them in their season was bad luck with a cab. Colin really was great at the thinking/planning aspect of the race. In the final leg, he not only called ahead to have a cab waiting for them at their destination city, he specifically requested a driver who very familiar with the city. What they didn’t show on camera was the flat tire that cab got, basically putting them out of the running. I’m still so bummed about that. I really can’t wait to see how they’ll do 15 yrs later!

[Netfoot]

9 hours ago, jah1986 said:

In my opinion what hurt them in their season was the "betrayal" by Chip and Kim.

Colin, as he sat out that Yield, had the most frightening "If Looks Could Kill" face I've ever seen, before or since.

[SVNBob]

17 hours ago, sigmaforce86 said:

I tend to think about random weird things when watching so I'm dying to know - in the shoe task they put the shoe's back each time so if a team already tried that shoe and another team asked for it did they clean the shoe or was the second team biting on a wooden shoe that already had another teams spit on it?!? 

During Eliza's 39 attempts at that Roadblock, we did see her say once that she knew one sandal wasn't the candy before she bit it because she saw there was already a bite mark in it.  And she wasn't actually sure if it was from her or not.

[Wandering Snark]

On 4/19/2019 at 11:06 PM, millennium said:

Another of the racers, a blonde woman paired up with the guy who has longish dark hair, has one of the worst nose jobs I ever saw.

*laughs* It's part of Nicole's quirky charms, she has a nose that looks normal from some angles and completely butchered from others. Once you notice it it will drive you crazy... well that and the way she talks.

Every time someone starts talking about the casting of late in TAR I always say I'd rather have a Race with racers I might not like to watch over having no Race at all. This is what has been done to try to keep the show going. I don't mind so much... though whether such things ARE necessary to do in order to keep the season buys coming in is another debate.

[alegtostandon]

On 4/17/2019 at 8:38 PM, Ananayel said:

I liked Rupert his first go on Survivor. I liked him less and less each time. And now I'm completely over it. If he was ready to give up after a bit of wandering, it won't be long.

I haven't been able to watch TAR for several seasons, because of the stupid stuntcasting like strangers, blind dates, youtubers etc. So I was beyond thrilled to have my show back! I actually turned a corner on Rachel a while back, so she can stay for a while. Love Victor, don't mind Janelle and Britney. But I am here for Colin/Christie, and I'm betting the Intense Colin overtakes Zen Colin about halfway through, and I can't wait.

Being a competitive reality TV addict, it's fun to see people from all 3 of my favorites competing against each other. Rachel has really grated on my nerves in the past,  I did like her sister during her BB season tho, if memory serves me,  there were not too many that season to cheer for. 

Mr. Tostandon suffers from severe leg cramping at night.   We felt bad for the boarder patrol guy. 

[AZChristian]

9 hours ago, SVNBob said:

During Eliza's 39 attempts at that Roadblock, we did see her say once that she knew one sandal wasn't the candy before she bit it because she saw there was already a bite mark in it.  And she wasn't actually sure if it was from her or not.

I'm usually crocheting while I watch TV, so my eyes aren't always on the screen.  BUT . . . I seem to remember a really quick shot where one of the people working in the "shoe" store was in the back of the shot, and it looked to me like she was cleaning off the shoes with something that looked like a Clorox wipe.  I assumed from that that they were re-using the shoes, but they were cleaning them off first.  If I can find that scene on my "On Demand," I'll see if I can get a screen shot.

ETA:  FOUND IT!  About 24 minutes in; just about one second on screen.

Edited April 22, 2019 by AZChristian

[PamelaMaeSnap]

I really wish that on one of these All-Star editions, instead of recycling some drama mamas for the third or fourth time, they'd bring back Chip and Kim. My favorite winners ever (my favorite team was Flight Time and Big Easy). 

[Diana Berry]

Hiding my head, but I actually like Rachel.  I saw on her Instagram  Brendon made some kind of great research on lung cancer while working on his Doctorate.  Go Brendan.

[Melina22]

10 hours ago, alegtostandon said:

Being a competitive reality TV addict, it's fun to see people from all 3 of my favorites competing against each other

I totally agree! No complaints from me. 

[Booklady1017]

On 4/19/2019 at 3:29 PM, blackwing said:

"... which you can enjoy, AFTER the race."  No, dammit, Phil, I want to enjoy my Easyshare camera NOW!

LOL!!!!!!!

On 4/19/2019 at 3:39 PM, Twopper said:

I like Becca and Floyd, especially Floyd so I hope they do well.  Becca can get on my nerves, but I think she is mostly ok.  

Agreed!

 

On 4/19/2019 at 4:41 PM, Kel Varnsen said:

I would say not just the challenges but everything. I miss the crazy long drives through multiple countries, or the directions that told you to fly from one city to another but figure out your own multi-leg flights. 

I do miss that aspect of the traveling too.

 

On 4/20/2019 at 12:11 AM, Ilovepie said:

I guess, but usually there is some overt advantage to being first, like an earlier flight. This time, there was a big race to the airport for what? Closer seats? Zzzzz.......

I think it was a lost opportunity. It seems like they have really scaled back on people booking their own travel, and I miss it, much like the teams driving themselves around. So much organic drama in the show has resulted from these things, and it’s really missing.

I miss that too. I liked the suspense it caused trying to get on that first flight and trying to make your own arrangements to get on the flight that gets you there the quickest. 

[blackwing]

On 4/19/2019 at 11:45 PM, green said:

No it is just TAR showing it's age.  It is like a paint by numbers show now.  How can it not be after all those endless years?  The main difference is the increase in airfares but now they aren't allowed to do multiple bookings and spoon feed so much of the flights (how I miss BIG time the airport scenes) so they save money that way.

Agreed, I really miss the flight scrambling.  Many of the flights now seem spoonfed.  Either that or there is only one real option, because more often than not, "all teams are now heading to _______".  In the past I remember you didn't have to take the spoonfed flight, you could try and find a better one.  I wish more people would do that.  I wish the spoonfed flight was actually not the best one and people who were willing to book a risky connection could get a benefit of maybe an hour or so.  I do remember in the early days, you could book multiple flights and then take the one that was least delayed.  Or you could even buy more seats.  In TAR Classic I think Rob and Brennan contemplated booking all of the few remaining seats on the flight for the final leg, but decided they didn't want to play that way.

On 4/20/2019 at 8:49 AM, North of Eden said:

Have to disagree.. Colin as you say in your second line is iconic...but it should be an amazing race TEAM that is iconic that should be in the reality show showdown. The iconic teams are where both the racers are memorable...think Bopper and Mark,  Charla and Mirna as you have said, the Frats, Guidos, Flo for her ineptitude and her partner and his patience of a saint...in short Christie is a blank slate that doesn't really stand out enough to be memorable. I would bet if you put her in a line up with wives/girlfiends from other teams over the seasons most couldn't even pick out who she was. 

I echo the sentiment of others that "Bopper and Mark" are hardly an iconic team... they only got invited back for the second time because the one guy shaved his head and the other guy fainted and couldn't do the Indian dance.  There are plenty of teams that are way more iconic than those two that I would rather see before them.

But I fully agree with your comment about ChrASStie.  She's completely forgettable.  I barely even recognised her, she looks like she had some plastic surgery, although not as badly as Janelle.  She is one of many forgettable TAR contestants... and yeah, if you put her in a lineup with other attractive women with long dark brown hair, I would certainly have trouble picking her out.

On 4/21/2019 at 12:45 PM, Seelouis said:

Is Rupert going to race around the whole world with that stupid toothpick in his mouth?  Ugh. 

I think I can quite confidently answer this question with a "NO".  Because I forsee he's going to be toast after another leg or two at most, so he won't even come close to going around the whole world!  Hah.

On 4/22/2019 at 9:01 AM, AZChristian said:

I'm usually crocheting while I watch TV, so my eyes aren't always on the screen.  BUT . . . I seem to remember a really quick shot where one of the people working in the "shoe" store was in the back of the shot, and it looked to me like she was cleaning off the shoes with something that looked like a Clorox wipe.  I assumed from that that they were re-using the shoes, but they were cleaning them off first.  If I can find that scene on my "On Demand," I'll see if I can get a screen shot.

ETA:  FOUND IT!  About 24 minutes in; just about one second on screen.

Ugh.  Nice that they clean them but I hope it wasn't a Clorox wipe, I don't think it's good to eat whatever's in those, is it?  It might be more like just a napkin.  Like what they use to wipe off the chalices that hold the wine at communion at a Catholic Mass.  I've never thought it was too sanitary, to simply just wipe off other's saliva with the same cloth over and over, but I guess it's better than nothing.

[lexington11]

On 4/21/2019 at 7:18 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I don't watch Survivor or Big Brother, so I wasn't very excited about this season's theme/casting. On the other hand, because I don't watch those shows, it is almost like getting a season of mostly unknown teams since I don't know which of them are idiots or assholes (or both).

I didn't love that there were two needle in a haystack tasks.

It cracked me up that the Survivor and Big Brother teams were talking about how great they were going to be at TAR and then we saw things like non-TAR teams just standing on the sidewalk saying, "I don't know what to do." On the other hand, I guess I should be glad that their first instinct wasn't to walk around yelling, "ENGLISH! ENGLISH?!" at people in Tokyo.

Rupert's partner gets points for not giving him a big fat "I told you so." She specifically suggested looking across the street and he said no. Two hours later, they finally went across the street and there was the clue box.

Laura definitely must have learned plenty of patience if she's been married to Rupert for 30+ years

[Quilt Fairy]

11 hours ago, blackwing said:

Agreed, I really miss the flight scrambling.  Many of the flights now seem spoonfed.  Either that or there is only one real option, because more often than not, "all teams are now heading to _______".  In the past I remember you didn't have to take the spoonfed flight, you could try and find a better one.  I wish more people would do that.  I wish the spoonfed flight was actually not the best one and people who were willing to book a risky connection could get a benefit of maybe an hour or so.  I do remember in the early days, you could book multiple flights

The Amazing Yellow Line must be so bored now.  I remember the TWoP days when the AYL practically had its own fan club.  (Now it would probably have its own Twitter and Instagram accounts.)

Edited April 24, 2019 by Quilt Fairy
Its not it's, you dummy.