What was the awesome roadblock puzzle? My son was screaming bloody murder trhoughtout the first 40 minutes of this show and therefore all I really got to see was the Shell of a Man who used to be Drew getting all pissy at the elimination mat. I do feel really badly for him. For both of them, actually. They were legendary the first time around and I can imagine that this represented losses on many levels for him. It sucks to have an injury that not only keeps you out of work for a year, but takes away nearly everything you had and once were, and I can imagine that this experience really brought that all together.
It’s only the second episode. Give it time for the Tragic Pants to show up.
They had to go to a copper mining company’s corporate headquarters. There was a “business meeting” in the conference room with about 12 “executives”. There were individual letters all over the place, as initials on watches, cuffs, suit buttons, ties, pens, wallets, and as doodles on notepads. They had to take all the letters and unscramble them to match the nameplate on one of the pictures on the wall, which would tell them the name of the mine they had to go to for the detour.
The awesome roadblock puzzle called for someone with an “eye for detail”. They then walked into a room where some kind of a board meeting appeared to be going on. Scattered around the room, on ties and pens and other stuff were a bunch of letters. On the walls were about 10 pictures of various destinations. If you collected all the letters, and wrote most of them down in the correct order, it was the name of one of the destinations. That destination proved to be the next location on the race.
It was good because they didn’t tell them all the information, so a lot of them spent a bunch of time trying to figure out what to do with their letters. (Mary wrote down the names of the destinations almost immediately–and shared them with her buddy Charla.)
Clever people finished quickly, not so clever people became very frustrated.
If I got any details wrong, I’m sure someone else will come along to point them out.
That’s just too funny! Oh! Joo no espeek Englich? Can joo onerstan me now?
The Roadblock was held in a boardroom, where maybe 12-15 “executives” were seated around a table having a discussion. Each executive has (at least?) one letter of the alphabet prominently displayed: embroidered on a tie or handkerchief, engraved on a pen or pocket watch, doodled on a notepad, etc.
In addition, there were twelve pictures on the wall of various places; these pictures were labelled. If you took most (but not all) of the letters and re-arranged them, they would spell the name of the next destination, which was one of the pictures on the wall.
The cool thing about the Roadblock was that the Racers weren’t really told any of the specifics. It was just: “walk into the room, and when you’ve figured out your next destination, walk back out and tell the security guard.” So they had to figure out the significance (indeed, the existance) of the letters all by themselves.
That reminded me a bit of that other show, about the hidden treasure. It had great clues, but lacked TAR’s dynamics. I remember people saying they wished TAR would do those sorts of clues. I hope this wasn’t a fluke.
Whenever I’m in some sort of stressful public situation, I always remind myself “At least you’re not Mirna.” It gets me through.
And the Classic Amber Eye-Roll makes an appearance. Nice to see that even she thinks her husband is a jackass sometimes.
The preview of Danielle’s freakout has me waiting impatiently for next Sunday. I love it when that happens.
And now I have to go back and read all of rockle’s linked threads, just because there was some truly beauteous hysteria in that season. 
Clever people finished quickly, not so clever people became very frustrated, and absolutely stupid people (Joyce) shared the answer with the last person in the room (Ian).
Good point, and I agree: the typical past TAR “puzzles” have been stupidly easy. However, a problem with Treasure Hunters was that some of the clues were awesome, but a lot were annoyingly difficult–they wound up being solved by accident, so teams advanced through luck rather than through skill.
This particular Roadblock was well-designed because there’s reinforcement of the correct answer at each step. The Racers start out knowing nothing. Once they notice the letters, it’s obvious the puzzle has to do with the letters. Once they notice the pictures, it pretty darn likely the pictures are key, and once they unscramble the letters, it’s again obvious that they have the right answer. It’s neither stupidly easy nor so hard that random experimentation is required. Nicely done by TAR, and I hope we see more of it.
I noticed that. TAR rule number five: if you’re in second-to-last place, never ever help the team in last place. Dumb dumb dumb. Eric played it much better: noncommitally ease out the door and leave the stragglers behind.
I could not believe the guy in the green shirt (who is that again?) in the board room. He has all of the letters for that copper mine, except the ‘H’. But his brain apparently won’t let him realize that maybe he missed an ‘H’ somewhere, even AFTER he sees other contestants writing down the name and leaving, and not coming back!
I’m assuming that making leaps if logic is not one of his strong points.
Heh. I just read the first of rockle’s links…it’s hilarious because everybody is so WRONG about Chip & Kim and the Bowling Moms…
My variant: Never assist the last-place team, if you can gain a definite advantage over them by doing so. Withholding information that they can get two minutes later is just plain catty. Leaving them confused in a Roadblock puzzle (full of twisty little passages, all different) is good racing.
To refine my stance based on rockle’s commentary, I think Rob & Amber are the leading team for now. Wikipedia lists the teams’ standings in the second leg as almost identical to their results in the first leg. So there haven’t been any shake-ups yet.
I would love to see an Intersection with eight teams remaining. That ought to shake the teams up.
What should have been obvious to those with an ‘eye for detail’ was the absolute lack of any other decoration in the room besides the photographs on the wall. OBVIOUSLY if you’re doing a Roadblock at a copper mining company’s HQ, you’ll be going to one of their mines. Or maybe that’s just obvious to me because I am made of awesome and win.
Some of the comments in this thread are making me realize we TAR veterans should provide a little more formalized background on some of the teams for those who haven’t been with us from the beginning. So…
From Season 1:
Joe and Bill(3rd place): It is an enduring testament to the producers of this program that during the post-Ellen period in TV history when some were wrangling with the questions of why and whether America wasn’t ready to accept gays on TV, TAR, without fanfare, put a long-term gay couple on screen and simply let them be themselves. Joe and Bill were often charming (any time a team names themselves Team Something on this show it is a tribute to them spontaneously naming themselves “Team Guido” after their chihuahua; none of the other teams gave themselves alternate names that season), but were also conniving and even occasionally nasty to the other teams. They were seasoned world travellers, and were already familiar with many of the visited locales, often taking time off from their frequent considerable leads to share a glass of wine at a favorite old haunt, while other favorite teams were struggling. Their casualness occasionally got them into trouble though, as when they got a Fast Forward (back in them days, there was one on every leg) and they took such a long time to get to the finish line, they came in last (but were not eliminated). They were the original team you loved to hate, and there was delicious guilty pleasure in seeing them, in the finale, struggle to a clue box in the frozen wilds of Alaska, only to find that the contents had been replaced with a note that read: “Rob and Brennan have crossed the finish line in New York. The race is over.” I think the constant complaints about “bunching” in later seasons are because such a phenomenon denies us moments like that. Post-season, Joe and Bill distinguished themselves by providing online commentary on one site to seasons 2 and 3, taking their villainization in stride, and providing invaluable insider views on the likely behind-the-scenes machinations on then-current episodes.
Kevin and Drew (4th place): Any time you see two out of shape best friends on TAR crack wise with and/or good-naturedly insult each other, you can thank these two self-proclaimed idiots. Instantly entertaining, they constantly provided necessary comic relief until their elimination just prior to the finale. Their signature moment came at the end of episode 1 of season 1, where teams had to zipline across a chasm, only to find that the finish line was on the other side of a lateral-bungee-jump across ANOTHER chasm. Drew, failing to be impressed with the figure that Kevin cut on the bungee, “encouraged” his teammate with the now immortal line, “Swing, you fat bastard, swing!”
(NB: It is almost shocking how poorly time has treated our Season 1 alumni. If I didn’t know better, I’d almost venture to guess that season one had been in the can for 2-3 years before being green-lighted for broadcast after Survivor proved the reality show concept. Either that, or really hard living for the past five years has aged these teams so visibly.)
From Season 2:
Oswald and Danny (4th place): At first, gay friends Oswald and Danny were seen as a pale, latin-tinged imitation of Joe and Bill, right down to nicknaming themselves Team Cha Cha Cha. However, they proved themselves to be excellent racers, placing a solid 4th. Along the way, they were very funny and supportive of each other without being too cloyingly cute.
From Season 3:
Teri and Ian (2nd place): Since season one’s team of David and Margharetta, there has almost always been an older couple on the show. While they are usually dismissed as cannon fodder, Teri and Ian managed to come just shy of winning it all. Season three was where things began to go really wrong for the show, however. Ian was palpably nasty to his wife, and it didn’t sit well with the relatively few viewers the show had at the time the finale lef them having to choose to root for the distasteful Ian, or the even more execrable winner Flo who routinely castrated her boyfriend Zach on camera.
Jon Vito and Jill (5th place): Jon Vito was more or less a non-entity. Week after week, the failure of these two to get eliminated could only be attributed to dumb luck. The fact that they were even on the All-Stars suggests the producers really had a lot of trouble getting more memorable teams to sign back up.
FromSeason 4:
No one. Most of the teams on Season 4 were forgettable or unlikeable, including and especially the winners, soulless married gay couple Reichen and Chip. I didn’t even watch the finale, I was so bored and put off by the end. Only an Emmy win kept the show from cancellation at this point.
From Season 5:
Charla and Mirna (6th place): C & M are, sadly, our lone representatives from the now legendary Season 5 of TAR, which put ratings through the roof and the show in top form, with the regrettable consequence that many teams are now almost manufactured caricatures. Charla and Mirna are one of the lowest-ranking returning teams, and it is entirely due to them being such a camera-ready trainwreck waiting to happen. What you saw this week doesn’t hold a candle to what you are likely to see before these two are eliminated, again long before the finale.
From Season 6:
No one. Seriously, who would you want to see again: KKKendra? *athon? Victimia? Hayden? Lori and Bolo? Adam and Rebecca? While eminently watchable (unlike season 4, which had been merely dull), Season 6 ranks as one of the most squirmingly uncomfortable seasons of the show to date. So many unpleasant people, with the notable exceptions of 2nd place finishers Kris and Jon, the cursed-by-cruel-fate Lena and Kristy, and an actual, bona fide world adventurer who shall be known forever as Naked Gus.
From Season 7:
Uchenna and Joyce (1st place): A little odd occasionally (Uchenna is occasionally prone to persecution-tinged proclamations), U&J are one of the most endearing teams to ever run the race. From their intention to use their winnings to have a child, to their true appreciation of the wonder of the world they got the chance to see so much of, to Joyce’s willingness to shave her gorgeous long hair to get an elimination-skirting Fast Forward, to Uchenna’s nearly blowing their final leg lead over Rob and Amber in order to make sure he scrounged enough money to not stiff their last cabbie, it’s great to have them back.
Rob and Amber (2nd place): The presence of Rob and Amber make this the grudge match to watch. I speculate that season 7 was intended to be the Rob and Amber show, with casting of an unusual number of cannon-fodder type teams, and sudden changes in long-standing rules which enabled Rob to plot and scheme as he had done on Survivor. Rob has the ability to distract lesser teams from the task at hand, giving him the edge. It will be interesting to see how he fares against this stiffer competition. However, as shown in the past two legs, he and Amber are formidable competition without the extra shenanigans. I haven’t seen much of his patented head games, so they’ve won so far by sheer racing prowess.
From Season 8:
No one. Season 8 was the Family Edition, with teams of 4, whose Effing Weavers made us forget season 6. It would have been nice to see maybe two of the Linz siblings again, but oh well.
From Season 9:
Eric and Danielle (2nd and 8th, respectively): Eric was partly of the lost-it-by-a-hair runner ups, Eric and Jeremy, where as Danielle and her teammate Dani (you read that right) were eliminated early. It is somewhat surprising to see them together, as it was frequently speculated that Eric and Jeremy were a closeted couple.
From Season 10:
Dustin and Kandace (4th place): Met when they both competed for Miss America from their respective states. While often engaging in all the stereotypical behavior one expects from beauty queens, they are solid competitors and not to be dismissed.
David and Mary (6th place): They are back solely because alternately sweet and abusive Mary is such a character. Look for an early elimination, as they cheated fate to get to 6th place last season.
On top of that there was an awful lot of people looking at the picture of the copper mine, going “Aha!”, writing it down, and leaving. It doesn’t take a supergenius to realize something was up there.
Thank you so much! I’m a relative noob to TAR, and this helped a lot…
Rob and Amber rock!
Say what you will about them (I’m a fan), but you know they will always give 100%.
They rarely bicker between each other, and they know it’s a game. They don’t get severely pissed-off at other teams.
They always try subterfuge tactics, sometimes they pay off, sometimes they don’t.
Rob is always thinking of new tactics to mix it up, has remember in Season 7 when he didn’t want to do the meat challenge and he talked 2 other teams into not doing it? When have you ever seen a team not do an event? I never even knew it was possible! Not only did they not do the event and take a time penalty (60 or 90 minutes if I recall) they came out ahead of at least 2 times. Sure it might not have been in the spirit of the game, but it was an awesome strategy!
My money is on Rob and Amber, and everybody knows the way they lost Season 7 was total bullsh!t and there is no way the produces did not have a hand in that.
If that plane didn’t “re-taxi” to the companion way, they would have arrived at least 90 minutes ahead of Ulchena and Joyce. They could have hitch-hiked to the final check point and won! Easy win for Rob and Amber, terrible TV for CBS.
My moneys on Rob and Amber, they don’t need it but if they keep racing like they have they deserve it!
Thank you, scotandrsn. While I don’t consider myself a newbie, it was nice to have a recap. I started watching partway through Season 5. Edward the Head (who is conspicuously absent in this thread) has sent me Season 1 to watch, because he too is made of awesome and win.
scotandrsn, your recapmentary is awesome and I just wanted to let you know that I love you! Because I just. Do not. Shut. Up! (and also, because I don’t feel like working right now, so nyaaah!), I wanted to embellish on what you wrote a little bit.
Another key quote: “It’s Namibia, jackass.” These two eternal phrases sum up why we loved Kevin & Drew in the first place, and why we are so distraught that they are not quite themselves this time.
Not only were Danny & Oswald excellent racers, they managed to do pretty well while hardly breaking a sweat. At one point in their season, they battled killer fatigue by going shopping. No, really. And it was awesome.
Also, Ian has a tendency – you may have already noticed this – towards really questionable headwear. Really bad: Ian wears hats I wouldn’t wear on a dare. And during their Race, Teri admitted that she was (at least occasionally) wearing paper underpants (not a link – I’m just emphatic about that).
I would like to go on record as stating that perhaps the biggest disappointment of this particular All-Stars extravaganza, to me anyway, is that two of the (arguably) most popular Racers of all time, Bill & Tammy Gaghan, are not participating. Bill & Tammy rocked (and wee Carissa rocked even harder).