The Amazing Race 32

[Wade 464]

14 hours ago, Go Pokes said:

But we haven’t seen them help their own partner. That’s against the rules. But shit like Hung hanging around to give DeAngelo the jumbled sauerkraut is fine. If she’d had told Gary and took off and Gary told D, that would be against the rules.

That Saurkraut deal was the worst.  It would have been good tv watching all those teams try to figure it out on their own.  I'd imagine they'd all be there for hours.  That was a hard puzzle, random letters flashing on and off, a German word, and trying to figure while being let down the side of a building on a rope.

[Go Pokes 979]

12 hours ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Add me to the annoyed crowd.  

My wife has wanted to be on this show for years.  She asked me if I'd be interested.  I told her we'd be divorced within the first 2 legs and to take her sister with her.  Regardless, it seems as if an intelligent pairing could, at this point, plan for a lot of the fups that many of these teams make.  For example, this past episode.  Gary knew D had missed a step/clue.  Create a code word within a phrase that you could use to point out the mistake.  "D.  This reminds me of that game in which you fumbled at the 2 yard line and cost us the game."  Meaning you're effing up on the 2nd step or the "fumble" could be to go back and read the clue.  I don't know.  But you have plenty of time to plan.  It wouldn't be that much different than planning by learning as many key words and phrases in as many languages as possible before starting.  They might have a rule as to what you can and cannot say.  Even so, you could still make it work.

They do have rules against that and they enforce the shit out of them according to a podcast I listened to yesterday.  They'd see right through and give you a time penalty.  It seems easy to say it while watching it on TV, but I think the best strategy is to not be a fucking dumbass!  How many of these teams have royally screwed themselves by not reading the clue or by not watching/looking at the example they give you?   

[wild_turkey 3159]

Long time fan of the show and I’m also very annoyed with the current alliance situation. There is very little competition when one large group of teams gangs up on a weak team each leg. It has all but eliminated the possibility of a strong team getting upset and it’s pretty boring TV to watch them single out teams like Eswar/Aparna or Kaylynn/Haley. I’d much rather watch teams figure out challenges on their own or occasionally struggle with a mental task, rather than always having 1 team provide the answer to 3-4 other teams.

As much as I dislike Will and James, they were the masterminds behind both alliances and it has clearly worked in their favor. It will likely get them into the final 3 so you can credit them with having a strategy and playing it well, other than they’ve also maximized the chances of their strongest competition - Riley/Maddison and Hung/Chee - also being in the final 3. Without the alliance, they may have been lucky enough for one of those teams to catch a bad break and get eliminated early.

I remember ~10 seasons ago when we were all frustrated because the prominence of smart phones had allowed teams to stop random strangers on the street and Google the answers to things that were intended to require more problem solving. It seems TAR curtailed that issue and I’m hoping they take a good look at the alliance problem and find a way to limit its power. Otherwise, future teams will look at this season as a blueprint and start forging alliances in the very first leg, which is bad TV. That all assumes the show continues much longer.

[idigTexas 2284]

All I can say is, there are going to be three teams who are going to end up regretting the alliance.  Last night would have been a perfect time to try to eliminate an actual contender.  I'm usually an "earn it by beating the best" person, but it doesn't really fit my narrative this season because the alliance crap makes for a boringly predictable race.  I also really dislike two of the final four teams, and the fact that they both would likely be gone without the alliance makes it all the more annoying.  

[Nice Guy Eddie 13509]

I doubt alliances can be stopped altogether but in-competition alliances can be discouraged by challenges where the teams compete separately even slightly apart. For example, there was a challenge this year in setting up the interior of a yurt. It didn't lend itself to copying another team. Or the one this season where they had to find the person dressed as one of the paintings in a museum, and the people couldn't be re-used. There was minimal helping there.

As for helping a friendly team by u-turning an unfriendly team, that can't be stopped. I've also always thought that an giving a u-turn should cost a team. Nothing major, maybe 5 minutes. Which could be enough to take them out of 1st or 2nd place for that leg. How bad do you want to take that risk?

[Knoxtnhorn 5971]

FYI, the Reddit crowd is just as annoyed about the alliances, so hopefully something will be done going forward.  I've only watched a handful of seasons here and there.  I didn't realize that alliances had been a part of several previous seasons.   I'm guessing they effects were more minimal in the past.

[TonyTexas 10508]

You can minimize the affect of alliances by making it against the rules to talk to other teams during detours. They already outlaw teammates helping each other during roadblocks. I don’t see how they can stop conspiracies when it comes to yields and u-turns

[Go Pokes 979]

On 12/5/2020 at 8:23 AM, Knoxtnhorn said:

FYI, the Reddit crowd is just as annoyed about the alliances, so hopefully something will be done going forward.  I've only watched a handful of seasons here and there.  I didn't realize that alliances had been a part of several previous seasons.   I'm guessing they effects were more minimal in the past.

Definitely.   They would give a little help here and there, but the alliances were never this big.  Usually just two, maybe 3 teams, kind of working together.  But nobody ever did anything that was detrimental to their chance of winning the leg.  One thing I noticed about this alliance is these 5 teams seem like the only ones who were actually competent.  Maybe the nerds, but they really got ganged up on and never had a chance.  I think all the other teams would have been eliminated by now anyway.  So really all they did was cost themselves some wins and kept their competition from eliminating themselves due to stupidity.  I bet Hung is still kicking herself for helping the NFL guys with jumbled sauerkraut.   

[Knoxtnhorn 5971]

I know the show is for public consumption and produced reality shows are rarely as fair as we think they are.  That being said, I'd be so effing pissed to be ganged up on (like the nerds) and lose my spot on a dream of mine, not to mention 1 mil.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13509]

2 hours ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

I know the show is for public consumption and produced reality shows are rarely as fair as we think they are.  That being said, I'd be so effing pissed to be ganged up on (like the nerds) and lose my spot on a dream of mine, not to mention 1 mil.

Agree but this happens on other competition shows as well. Someone plays the game but others gang up on them. Ensuring you're not on the wrong side of an alliance is part of it. 

[Knoxtnhorn 5971]

3 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Agree but this happens on other competition shows as well. Someone plays the game but others gang up on them. Ensuring you're not on the wrong side of an alliance is part of it. 

Correct.  And, I get that for most shows; however, that hasn't been the case for AR.  If I go on, say, Survivor.  I'm fully aware that I'm screwed w/o an alliance.  If I go on the AR, history has shown that alliances have been few and far between.  After this season, I'd be remiss to ignore the idea of possible alliances.

[SMUlawUTgrad 81]

That was bullshit. Will not watch the finale.

[WBT 20561]

Lulz at Deangelo saying the race sucked.  I'm surprised they left that in.

[Knoxtnhorn 5971]

Yep.  I'm out as well.  About 30 mins in I told my wife I'm done if what I think is going to happen, happens.  Sure enough, "Let's work together...".

[Knoxtnhorn 5971]

Reddit crowd not happy is an understatement. 

One of the things that always affects me is how the contestants treat the locals throughout the race.  Watching Will and what's his name yell at the taxi driver REALLY pissed me off.  I don't care if the team is Vince Young and Willie Nelson, you are dead to me the moment you treat people this way.  

[Nice Guy Eddie 13509]

10 hours ago, WBT said:

Lulz at Deangelo saying the race sucked.  I'm surprised they left that in.

It was childish of him including some other comments implying he doesn’t need TAR to see the world. 

11 hours ago, SMUlawUTgrad said:

That was bullshit. Will not watch the finale.

I have mixed feelings. If teams are completely stuck, it’s natural that some have to work together. They also did not immediately jump to working together but all initially attempted it on their own.

You could argue that 2 teams should have aligned against the remaining 2 but the safest course was 3 against 1 since the goal is to not finish last. If team NFL had somehow figured it out, the alliance of 3 most likely would have kicked someone out to make it 2-1.

regardless of the outcome that was a well designed challenge. Required recalling music that was drilled into your head during the race. Remembering flags. Interpreting the music being played by the band and finally correctly reading the clue.

[WBT 20561]

6 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

regardless of the outcome that was a well designed challenge. Required recalling music that was drilled into your head during the race. Remembering flags. Interpreting the music being played by the band and finally correctly reading the clue.

It was a good challenge and it would have been a lot of fun to watch absent the collusion.  It would have worked better as a final leg challenge, where the memory based tasks have previously gone.  By then, it is definitely every team for themselves.

I wouldn't overreact based on one season but if collusion continues to make the show less enjoyable to watch, there are some things they could do.  Announce that that winners of the next to last leg and one other randomly selected leg will get $100,000.  Announce that for one random leg, the bottom two teams will be eliminated.  The fact that the only thing that matters is not being last up until the final leg is a bit of a flaw that has always been there.

Edited December 10, 2020 by WBT

[idigTexas 2284]

While I don't like the alliance crap as a whole, I was actually okay with it in this instance.  It was nice to see one of the teams who benefitted from it on numerous occasions experience it from the other side.  Those were some very sour grapes that DeAngelo was eating.  That makes me even more okay with the outcome.  They should have gone home on the sauerkraut leg anyway.   

As long as the boyfriends don't win, I'll be happy with the outcome.  

 

[UTPhil2006 3806]

Hopefully there’s a way for all 3 finalists to lose 

[Go Pokes 979]

While I don't like the alliance crap as a whole, I was actually okay with it in this instance.  It was nice to see one of the teams who benefitted from it on numerous occasions experience it from the other side.  Those were some very sour grapes that DeAngelo was eating.  That makes me even more okay with the outcome.  They should have gone home on the sauerkraut leg anyway.   
As long as the boyfriends don't win, I'll be happy with the outcome.  
 

This is where I’m at. They tried for a long time on their own. And it fucked over DeAngelo. He kind of sucks.

[Scraps 13561]

Meh. I can deal with sour grapes more than i can deal with being pricks like the gay dudes.

I don't care for any of the final teams. I figure the beards win, but I actually probably rather Hung and Chee win just because they have kids and are from Houston.

[TrashMaster G 17550]

I was desperately hoping that the NFLers would stumble onto the right answer before the alliance figured it out.  That would have thrown their collusion effort into complete chaos, knowing that one of them would now be eliminated.  Would have been epic.

Rooting for the Beard Bros to win.

[idigTexas 2284]

My preferences for who wins, listed in order:

Urban Meyer

The ghost of Alex Trebek 

Blonds due to some obscure technicality

Hung and Chee

Beards

Charla and Mirna

Natural disaster that cancels the race with no winner

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Boyfriends

Edited December 11, 2020 by idigTexas

[BonzoMontreaux 1038]

Team Hung and Chee here followed by the Beards.  

[Nice Guy Eddie 13509]

1 hour ago, idigTexas said:

Charla and Mirna

 

Mirna and Schmirna were the best

[Scraps 13561]

1 hour ago, TrashMaster G said:

I was desperately hoping that the NFLers would stumble onto the right answer before the alliance figured it out.  That would have thrown their collusion effort into complete chaos, knowing that one of them would now be eliminated.  Would have been epic.

Rooting for the Beard Bros to win.

The first guess they showed of them they had the first 3 right and the last one wrong.  I was hoping badly they just stumbled into it also, but I don't think they got any closer than their first guess.  

[wild_turkey 3159]

At the start of this leg I thought they had instituted the race around Manila format to eliminate the benefits of the alliance, only to have the leg end in a challenge that clearly benefits an alliance.

I didn’t care for Gary and DeAngelo but what a shitty way to get eliminated. None of the 4 teams knew the answer but a group of 3 can systematically do process of elimination faster than a single team can. Then again, watching DeAngelo’s bitter exit statements made me suddenly care less all the way around.

Going back to the start of this season, I, like many others, felt this season was unusually full of likable teams. The alliance has gradually stripped that away to where I don’t particularly like any of them, or rather, I hate the way the final 3 teams reached this position and wish they would all lose. The only thing that could make this season worse is if we find out these 3 teams have agreed to a 40/30/30 split of the prize money.

The Amazing Race could easily eliminate or minimize alliances. Simply institute a 30 minute penalty for telling another team the answer to a mental task. It might not be perfect in all situations, but I think the fear of a penalty would quickly discourage teams from helping each other to any significant degree.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13509]

13 hours ago, wild_turkey said:

At the start of this leg I thought they had instituted the race around Manila format to eliminate the benefits of the alliance, only to have the leg end in a challenge that clearly benefits an alliance.

I didn’t care for Gary and DeAngelo but what a shitty way to get eliminated. None of the 4 teams knew the answer but a group of 3 can systematically do process of elimination faster than a single team can. Then again, watching DeAngelo’s bitter exit statements made me suddenly care less all the way around.

Going back to the start of this season, I, like many others, felt this season was unusually full of likable teams. The alliance has gradually stripped that away to where I don’t particularly like any of them, or rather, I hate the way the final 3 teams reached this position and wish they would all lose. The only thing that could make this season worse is if we find out these 3 teams have agreed to a 40/30/30 split of the prize money.

The Amazing Race could easily eliminate or minimize alliances. Simply institute a 30 minute penalty for telling another team the answer to a mental task. It might not be perfect in all situations, but I think the fear of a penalty would quickly discourage teams from helping each other to any significant degree.

Helping another team with a task is tough to police and even define. Teams are constantly helping each other to some extent. But perhaps in that final challenge, all 4 teams could have been separated from each other by a physical barrier. 

The final challenge expected that all team could eventually complete it which. Gary and DeAngelo had zero chance to complete it as evidenced by taking a 2 hour penalty after the other teams have left. They didn't belong in the finals which I know adds evidence as to why alliances are bad. 

 

[wild_turkey 3159]

Helping another team with a task is tough to police and even define. Teams are constantly helping each other to some extent.

I disagree. They already penalize teams for helping their own partner during a Roadblock so it would be somewhat the same just extended to other teams for all challenges.

I’m not entirely against all cooperation, mainly opposed to teams blatantly telling each other the final answers. They could draw a line somewhere in there.

For instance:

Telling another team to put the countries in the order they heard the songs in the race - fair game and not a penalty

Telling another team the exact 4 countries and their order - 30 minute penalty

[Scraps 13561]

They should have all each had their own set of cases to choose from.....putting them all at the same trailer was stupid as fuck 

[Sonofjorel76 16]

I recall a few years ago they had to organize flags for places traveled. There was a physical barrier between the teams to prevent them from seeing the other teams flagpoles. I suspect we may be seeing more of that in the future. If there is a future

[Wade 464]

It seems like the teams were at the final challenge a long time. I wonder if the football players had taken the two hour penalty as soon as they knew they were just guessing, if they would have survived.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13509]

9 hours ago, Wade said:

It seems like the teams were at the final challenge a long time. I wonder if the football players had taken the two hour penalty as soon as they knew they were just guessing, if they would have survived.

I wondered about that myself. Has anyone heard any podcast or write-up that described how long they were there?  I couldn't imagine the uproar from the fans if someone makes the finals by skipping a challenge, taking a penalty and a nap on a nearby bench.

regardless that would be a ballsy move to immediate start the penalty and wait to see if the actual participants can finish the challenge.

[TonyTexas 10508]

Boston Rob kind of did that on his season by taking the penalty during an eating challenge that he knew he couldn’t finish. He took it one step further by convincing other contestants to do the same after he did thus insuring he wouldn’t be last. 

[UTPhil2006 3806]

2 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I wondered about that myself. Has anyone heard any podcast or write-up that described how long they were there?  I couldn't imagine the uproar from the fans if someone makes the finals by skipping a challenge, taking a penalty and a nap on a nearby bench.

regardless that would be a ballsy move to immediate start the penalty and wait to see if the actual participants can finish the challenge.

Gary said on twitter they were there 3.5 hours

[Go Pokes 979]

On 12/13/2020 at 10:09 PM, wild_turkey said:

The Amazing Race could easily eliminate or minimize alliances. Simply institute a 30 minute penalty for telling another team the answer to a mental task. It might not be perfect in all situations, but I think the fear of a penalty would quickly discourage teams from helping each other to any significant degree.

Unless Hung is there.  She basically took a 30 minute penalty to stick around and tell DeAngelo "sauerkraut".  Considering that cost them the leg and the prize for winning the leg (what was that prize?), she's the poster child for alliances on TAR.   

[WBT 20561]

fucking lame

[Sonofjorel76 16]

I can’t recall a more disappointing season


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[wild_turkey 3159]

Agreed on both counts. Terrible season, very little competition or legs that felt close at the end, challenges were weak, alliance sucked, ending was lame.

[UTPhil2006 3806]

This is one time I'm glad UVerse has CBS blocked.  Saw who won, have zero desire to watch the finale online or anything.  Good riddance.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13509]

I thought it was a decent finale in terms of challenges. Will & James took a commanding lead with the king cake challenge and didn't look back. I assume the idea was that the globe challenge would have had 2 teams racing next to each other.

The Beard Bros getting lost at the beginning ended their game and was inexcusable. How could a cab driver not get them to Louis Armstrong park? I didn't go back to figure out if they told the driver something wrong or not.

[Wade 464]

That would be a pain in the ass to have to keep winning a secret for two years

[Vito Andolini 9125]

Just a horrible season. Shitty finale was the capper. 

[idigTexas 2284]

It's inexcusable to have a finale depend on competent cab drivers.  If driving is absolutely needed, they should be doing it themselves in vehicles that are in top working condition and that are easy to operate. 

It's even more inexcusable to include a needle in a haystack challenge, made even more egregious by placing it early in the leg.  What the fuck?

Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I'm sure I'll still watch the next season, but boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

 

   

 

[Knoxtnhorn 5971]

Thx all.  I started it, had an idea who was going to win, turned it off.  Pretty rare for me to give up on something so late.

[TonyTexas 10508]

2 hours ago, idigTexas said:

I'm sure I'll still watch the next season, but boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

 

We won't see another season anytime soon. Maybe ever. If there is any show that can't be filmed with even the slightest threat of Covid, this is it. 

[Knoxtnhorn 5971]

Geez.  Talk about going out with a whimper.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13509]

56 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

We won't see another season anytime soon. Maybe ever. If there is any show that can't be filmed with even the slightest threat of Covid, this is it. 

I would think survivor could film since they could effectively create a bubble for contestants and crew. And while these islands may not want Americans there today, you would think they would want a a large contingent of people especially if you could quarantine them in the beginning and no one else comes in. As a reminder, Survivor normally films on islands today that have locals living a half mile away from the obstacle courses races.

[TrashMaster G 17550]

22 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

The Beard Bros getting lost at the beginning ended their game and was inexcusable. How could a cab driver not get them to Louis Armstrong park? I didn't go back to figure out if they told the driver something wrong or not.

 

4 hours ago, idigTexas said:

It's inexcusable to have a finale depend on competent cab drivers.  If driving is absolutely needed, they should be doing it themselves in vehicles that are in top working condition and that are easy to operate.  

 

Yeah, the cab thing bugs me.  Why?  You're back in the States, why not have them drive?  Especially in the last leg.

Shame on the Beard Bros for not making sure up front the cabbie knew what he was doing.  With $1 million on the line, I'd go with something like, "We need to get to Louie Armstrong Park ASAP and there is $1 million riding on it.  If you tell us you know exactly where to go and it turns out you don't, we're going to come back to Nola without the cameras and kick the shit out of you."

Ok, maybe not, but you gotta vet the driver quickly.

[Scraps 13561]

That was fucking stupid as fuck.

Those tasks were wack.

Amazing Race used to be my favorite reality show. This season was dog shit. Not sure I even care to watch even if they bring it back around someday.