Amazing Race

[crazylady]

I used to love Amazing Race, and I've been watching some old seasons on Pluto recently. It seems in more recent seasons, they do more equalizing, i.e. getting the teams all back together after being forced onto the same flight. I understand that it is much easier to do so from a production standpoint, but it seems to reward weaker teams and make it more about luck. The tasks also seem shorter, easier, and sillier than in the past. In early seasons, they would sometimes just give them hints about the next location, rather than just telling them. It's still a fun show--I just wish it was more of a competition.

This episode the challenges seemed a little more challenging. Hopefully that means this is going to be a good season.

 

[skeeter31]

That is a bummer! Selfishly, I'm happy it was delayed because it give us something new to watch. Does this mean there is a season or two from 2019 coming up too?

No, they have no other filmed seasons. This was the only one they had filmed and ready to go.
Amazing Race has been operating on a much tighter leash lately. They were going to wait to see the rating of this season before committing to another season. But now everything is thrown into disarray.

 

[RUDisney]

I was wondering if they are paying the winners the $1M with interest since they withheld the benefit of the money from them for so long.

 

[Allison]

I was wondering if they are paying the winners the $1M with interest since they withheld the benefit of the money from them for so long.

Do we know they didn't receive the money already in one form or another? It could be set aside for them in an account that they just aren't accessing yet.

 

[RUDisney]

Do we know they didn't receive the money already in one form or another? It could be set aside for them in an account that they just aren't accessing yet.

I hope that's what they did. I can see waiting for a few months before the season is aired, but 1.5 - 2 years is excessive.

 

[KPeterso]

No, they have no other filmed seasons. This was the only one they had filmed and ready to go.
Amazing Race has been operating on a much tighter leash lately. They were going to wait to see the rating of this season before committing to another season. But now everything is thrown into disarray.

I thought I had read that there was a season being filmed and COVID hit in the middle so they stopped filming mid-race and got the teams back home ASAP. I can't remember where I read or heard that though.

 

[soccerdad72]

I thought I had read that there was a season being filmed and COVID hit in the middle so they stopped filming mid-race and got the teams back home ASAP. I can't remember where I read or heard that though.

Sounds like they had filmed three episodes before everyone was sent home:

https://www.goldderby.com/article/2020/the-amazing-race-33-production-phil-keoghan/

 

[skeeter31]

I hope that's what they did. I can see waiting for a few months before the season is aired, but 1.5 - 2 years is excessive.

I believe it’s baked into the contracts with shows like these that you’re not entitled to the prize money until after the final episode airs. So they wouldn’t be required to pay them interest. You have to think that a big portion of the prize money is generated through future advertising sales and without the season airing, they’re not making a profit on that season yet.

 

[skeeter31]

Sounds like they had filmed three episodes before everyone was sent home:

https://www.goldderby.com/article/2020/the-amazing-race-33-production-phil-keoghan/

Correct. And my guess is when they are able to film again they’ll just start from scratch. Some teams may not want to continue participating and with such a long gap between filming, it would make more sense to just start new.

 

[CynBeth]

So sad about who went home. If anybody had to be U-Turned wish it was the horrid female team. I have not liked the guys who came in first since day 1. They were leading the pack so no reason other than to be mean to use it which I thought was obnoxious.

 

[declansdad]

So sad about who went home. If anybody had to be U-Turned wish it was the horrid female team. I have not liked the guys who came in first since day 1. They were leading the pack so no reason other than to be mean to use it which I thought was obnoxious.

The only reason they used it was pettiness.

 

[Shellsbutt]

So sad about who went home. If anybody had to be U-Turned wish it was the horrid female team. I have not liked the guys who came in first since day 1. They were leading the pack so no reason other than to be mean to use it which I thought was obnoxious.

I missed the first 15 minutes, thought it was on at 8pm my time. Where did they go? I agree with you about the guys who won and the female team from LA I think? So annoying.

 

[CynBeth]

Actually I missed the first 15 minutes as well I dozed off during my 7:30 show so not sure where exactly they were.

 

[soccerdad72]

I missed the first 15 minutes, thought it was on at 8pm my time. Where did they go? I agree with you about the guys who won and the female team from LA I think? So annoying.

Brazil - somewhere near the Amazon.

I agree with others about the guys U-turning and the girls team being annoying as well.

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

I have my usual complaint about AR which is:
1. I think there should be penalties for helping other teams. Strategically working together to complete something is one thing. Straight up giving someone an answer is not good sportsmanship and is super petty because at this point they are getting rid of teams they don't know or like rather than actual strong threats.

This is probably not going to be a popular opinion either but CBS seems pretty tone-deaf considering how the last episode came off. First Survivor earlier this year and now AR - CBS needs to take a hard look at how certain people are being portrayed (edited) on their shows. I'll come out and say that the outcome of the last AR seemed "ugly" to me.

 

[robinb]

Will and James did not have to U-Turn Leo and Alana. They have not been a particularly strong team so far but they were mad that they helped Kaylynn and Haley in the previous truck challenge. I'm sad that Jerry and Frank had to go, but I liked that Kaylynn and Haley protected Leo and Alana. I was very frustrated that Will and James READ THE CLUE but didn't make sure that they had everything when they went to the boat. If the other teams had not seem them running back pell-mell twice they too would have left their bags behind. Jerry and Frank didn't have the good fortune to see *or* to hear (was it DeAngelo and Gary?) shout to them to turn around. They wasted a lot of time going back for their stuff.

I think it's interesting that so many people had to go back and buy more stuff after it had already been checked. I wonder if some teams ended up grabbing extras and that wasn't shown.

 

[soccerdad72]

I think it's interesting that so many people had to go back and buy more stuff after it had already been checked. I wonder if some teams ended up grabbing extras and that wasn't shown.

I think so many teams left stuff on the table that I bet a lot of the items just got mixed up with everyone else’s things. Especially when teams started running back to grab their stuff, items ended up in other teams bags (inadvertently, I think?). It was pandemonium at the table.

 

[starvenger]

Finally got caught up with this season.

I kind of like all the teams here - which if we're being honest is pretty typical as the Race structure is not geared towards having a traditional "reality villain". Even those that are known "villains" - like Rachel Reilly and Boston Rob - come off more annoying or annoyingly strategic rather than outright terrible. And we see the same here.

Michelle and Victoria are annoying, in part because of their "competitive Asian" obsession with Hung and Chee. I can tell you that it's definitely a Thing That Exists. Doesn't mean that it isn't grating.

Leo and Alana have some low-key strategy going on. Obviously it's alienated them a bit but we'll see how things play out as we move along.

Will and James used their U-Turn out of spite, which might be interesting if Leo and Alana are still around when that second one happens. Teams of course don't know how many U-Turns will happen in a season but they probably count on 2 or 3.

Not really excited for the return of the Yield. I think the only real drama it's ever caused was to put Colin on Tilt, and thus far it hasn't been a factor. I hope they didn't eliminate the Face-Off though, as that actually built some tension into the finish.

 

[starvenger]

I don't know if this is too nerdy but a project I've been working on the last couple of years is to "power rank" the teams based on where they place throughout a leg, plus if they finish first, survive penalties and such. So my rankings for this season are:

11. Kelly and LaVonne - Loved these two, but they never gained any traction during their two legs.
10. Jerry and Frank - It was similar to Kelly and LaVonne where they had two bad legs, but their first leg was actually quite respectable
09. Nathan and Cody - They were middle of the pack, and were undone by the final task.

08. Leo and Alana - Not a particularly strong team, but they're hanging in there.
07. Kaylynn and Hayley - A nice bounce back in Brazil moved them ahead of Leo and Alana.
06. Michelle and Victoria - They are remarkably consistent. That is, their placement doesn't change all that much throughout a leg.
05. Eswar and Arpana - They're sort of the opposite of Jerry and Frank, in that they had a bad initial leg and two subsequent solid legs.

04. DeAngelo and Gary - They are looking very much like a 4th place team.
03. Will and James - I think they will improve so long as they remember to read the (ahem) clue
02. Riley and Maddison
01. Hung and Chee - The top two teams have been remarkably consistent. There's a lot of patience and a lack of panic, and that's served them well so far.

 

[CynBeth]

My least favorite teams in 1st and second 1st hour. Thank goodness my NFL team is still in it.