The Amazing Race, new season

[fireheart]

So we are now FOUR episodes in and already I have my fair share of the good, the bad and the

-Will they PLEASE stop talking about Dave's achilles tendon injury every single time they're shown on-screen? Yes, we KNOW you guys are equal to where you were last time, you don't need to keep mentioning it. Also, GIVE CONNOR MORE SCREENTIME! (for those of you who didn't watch the series they debuted in, Dave tore his Achilles tendon in the second leg and he and his son legged it through two more legs before quitting at the start of the fifth leg. Connor (his son) managed to singlehandedly (almost) win two more legs for his dad)

-It's good to see that Rachel and Brendon have more or less grown a little since their original season. Rachel's become less whiny and less teary in general and even gave a little rousing speech to Luke.

-Speaking of which, can someone PLEASE tell the producers that "All-Stars" does NOT mean "invite back teams from the LAST All-Stars season you had"? While I don't mind Jet and Cord so much, the other two teams from that season are driving me nuts. (the Globetrotters and Margie/Luke) Mallory doesn't count, as she wasn't intended to be in the season.

-I love Leo and Jamal...more screentime please!

-It was nice to see Jessica and John actually reading the freaking clues this time (more or less) and checking to make sure they were in the right place before doing anything. (Their original season had them following some random dude into his backyard and copying him, thinking it was the detour)

-While I have issues with the teams who appeared for the THIRD time on TAR period (Margie/Luke, Jet/Cord, Flight Time/Big Easy), I really wish that Bopper would come back again...I loved him and Mark on their original season. (Mark period is hilarious)

-Not a bitchrant about the contestants, but about the fans: the show is not recorded live. Therefore if contestants are eliminated on their own grounds, they are eliminated on their own grounds. There is no popularity contest within the seasons itself-you either win or you don't. The reason behind said bitchrant is because everytime I find a youtube clip of either Season 17, Season 22 or the current one (up to Leg 3), every second comment is "KevJumba/Joey and Meghan should not have been eliminated" or something along those lines. The show is not rigged simply to make you happy...there are good seasons and there are horrible seasons.

-Part of me now wants a Switchback again, especially ones from their courses.

-I really want Jaymes and James to come back again, as well as James and Abba. (the former because they were funny as anything, while the latter because they lost their passport a la Zev/Justin from Season 15)

On that note, The Amazing Race Australia 3 is going to air sometime this year!!!! Although can it really be called that now since they're also allowing contestants from New Zealand?

[dalesys]

On that note, The Amazing Race Australia 3 is going to air sometime this year!!!! Although can it really be called that now since they're also allowing contestants from New Zealand?

New Zealand == Australia's Canada, as in: "They're another country? When did that happen?"

[cleorose]

The Amazing Race

I love it. I have been watching it since season 2. I think they have gotten easier on the contestants than they were previously.

I remember lots of episodes that were REALLY demanding . (There was a season with a midget named Charla I think and she was put through it. REALLY REALLY put through it)

They used to have to eat crazy weird stuff. They had more walking, more running and more physically demanding stuff. The puzzles were tough.

And there were some things that took HOURS to complete. Those needle in the haystack ones were crazy.

I would like to see them go back to making it tough on everyone.

[fireheart]

Yep. It was charla and she competed with her cousin Mirna.

Seasons 14 and 17 are still my favourites, although admittedly the newer seasons still have their own challenges. Drink mixing/trick pouring is not exactly something you can learn overnight and these guys only had one night to do so (if that).

The australian seasons still have their foreign queasine challenges. Including my personal favourite from the second season of TAR Australia...they had to spin a wheel and eat whatever the result was. One of the contestants wanted his teammate to get the sheep testicles. His teammate didn't, but HE did.

[Jetfire]

I do like the Globetrotters, since they tend to be fun racers. (And it's often a hoot to see the guys at the challenge try to figure out how to deal with those tall guys , even when one is explicitly too tall to go.).

Considering Bopper was Medically DQ'ed just before this all star race, if he wants to go again when they do the next one, he should have a clear pass for it (as long as he's medically fit for it).

Now that Dave's past his elimination point (I think) they'll hopefully cut back on his "Remember his tendon injury?!? Remember! Remember! The fourth leg of No Tendon!" flashbacks.


TAR:AU 3? Sign me up! Hopefully they'll do another leg through Cuba and Canada again.

TAR:CA 2 is recruiting now too, probably running this spring. It'll probably be a run throuhg Canada again since Air Canada and Interac are their major sponsors (not to mention the Provincial Touristry boards). Hopefully they'll spend a bit more time in the Maritimes, besides Halifax and Saint Johns.

[fireheart]

TAR:AU 3? Sign me up! Hopefully they'll do another leg through Cuba and Canada again.

I'm hoping so as well. I loved how in Canada, the contestants were given flannelette shirts. One of the teams (an all-female team) even had pink ones! (they were known for wearing as much pink as possible throughout the race!)

I also loved how Australia had the salvage pass, where the team could either save the last team from elimination or get an extra head-start on the race. Well if you already have a decent head start on the other teams, what else are you going to do with the pass?! (the team that won it used it to save another team. Unfortunately that winning team were eliminated earlier than the team they saved!)

Re Dave and Connor, they dropped out at the start of Leg 5, "officially" because he needed surgery to repair it within 7(?) days, "unofficially" because there were a number of tasks that he couldn't do in his condition (such as the bamboo dance that Chuck and Wynona kept screwing up on REPEATEDLY...because they missed the fact that you had to hold hands!).

The Globetrotters are fun sure, but Leo and Jamal are in danger of overtaking them in terms of the hamminess I think

[fireheart]

*sigh*

Leg 5 and we STILL. HAVE. THE. ACHILLES. TEAR. BEING. MENTIONED.

Hopefully now that they've passed it (and are in 1st), they might stop talking about it.

I loved the sewing roadblock challenge. Leo (or Jamal?) was a hoot

[cleorose]

I feel sad to see margie and luke go. I would have rather seen a few other couples drop before them. Leo and Jamal are much more likable this season than last. I like the cowboys I thought for sure they would use their fast pass on this one. but power to them for holding out for a tough challenge.

[fireheart]

I feel sad to see margie and luke go. I would have rather seen a few other couples drop before them. Leo and Jamal are much more likable this season than last. I like the cowboys I thought for sure they would use their fast pass on this one. but power to them for holding out for a tough challenge.

I'm hoping the cowboys don't pull a Jessica and John (being eliminated WHILE holding the express pass-for them it was a double moment of stupidity as they got lost finding the detour, they then found it and opted to complete it instead of burning the express pass)

[Jetfire]

As long as they are among other racers, they don't need to use the pass. If they were still doing the challenge and other teams started leaving before them, then they would probably consider using it. But on the TWOP boards, people figure the Cowboys will save it for the last leg they can use it, or for when they get bogged down/fall behind due to travel issues and/or a difficult task.

The main thing is, the cowboys are challenge monsters. They seem to love to do whatever the TAR crew puts in front of them, so they won't give up the pass unless they truly can't do it and it looks like they won't learn it in time to get ahead of other teams.

As for Margie and Luke, I'm not too disappointed to see them going, but I hate how they went. Losing due to Plane luck is one of the worst ways to go; most people seem to think they didn't even do the challenges, they got the "Advance to the Mat, do not collect 1 million dollars." clue, just to give the Phil team time to get on to the next pit stop. Considering how spoonfed flights have been this season, people are thinking there were a lot of cancellations happening around when that leg was filmed, and that screwed up the TAR Flight plans.

[cleorose]

I liked it better when it was YOUR ON YOUR OWN. DO this get here and good luck. What the heck season was it they decided to try and beat the group and went on a tangent and booked a flight that connected out of 2 or 3 airports and they made the first connection. Missed the second. So they flew somewhere else and yeh they went home i think lol.

[fireheart]

I do remember with TAR 18 (the last season to involve Margie/Luke, Globetrotters, Jet/Cord and Mallory), that SOMEHOW Kent and Vyxsin managed to miss the PRODUCTION-ARRANGED FLIGHT. And they'd been given a very generous amount of time to get to the airport!