Amazing Race returns tonight, September 21st! “Excuse me, you made an error, Survivor returns tonight,” you say. But that’s not an error, for the first(?) time, Survivor and Amazing Race will premiere on the same day!
I haven’t read too much about this season but I imagine the structure will be similar to last season in the “post” pandemic world. One big change is NO Non-Elimination Legs (although it’s not clear if they’ll still have “you are still racing” legs).
Thanks for the heads up. I had no idea.
No super annoying team on my radar yet, but I will give it a week or so. There’s bound to be one or two.
When the military friends had to take a couple of runs at the barrel roll, I thought some of the other teams we would be there until dark, but that wasn’t the case.
And I would have walked off with the saw cutting cap, just to wear it for the rest of the race.
Good: Non-elims. I hate the way they seem to always save the pair I’ve been waiting to see go.
Bad: the Scramble. I spent the entire episode not being able to tell who was doing well, who was in danger. I hope that all the legs won’t be done that way.
Related complaint: At the Pit stop they only announced the position of #1, 10, 11, 12. I’m told that they had the numbers for the others displayed on screen, but my eyes can’t catch little type flashed for just a few seconds. 
The scramble is probably a neat little efficiency move on the part of production. Rather than having twelve kegs and obstacle courses, and twelve saws and logs set up, they could get away with six of each. And it may have been due to changing circumstances that called for a creative solution. I didn’t mind it, but doubt it will be used much, especially as the number of teams drop.
Besides, on the first episode I am still trying to figure out who the teams are, so I don’t care too much about the finishing order at that point, just who goes home.
Sanity check - they usually start the race with 11 teams, right? I assume they added a 12th team because no NELs.
Boy, that log sawing task really pointed out how lacking in “teamwork” skills some of these teams are. Certainly doesn’t bode well for the rest of the race.
I kind of like NEL’s, so that’s bad; but I think the scramble was a cool idea. Trying to guess which task was closest to the pit stop seemed clever, but it didn’t work out.
All the tasks were kind of the mindless physical variety; hope that improves.
I’ve never used one of those two-man saws but I’m mystified as to why it was so hard to get right.
I do not like them tossing non-elimination legs. Those were great. Especially when one team screwed another team and the screwed over team showed up the next day. Not to mention I think it made it all a little more fair since one bad day, for whatever reason, was not necessarily the end of a team. My only issue with non-elimination legs is I never could tell if they were determined before the filming started or of they decided on the fly to maximize drama. Seems unfair if it was the latter.
I miss the struggle that used to exist in older seasons. There was a little here but the whole thing seems over-produced now and a little sanitized. I liked people getting lost or bickering in the car or having terrible cab drivers or trying to find flights or finding a challenge that just defeats them even if others found it easy.
We’re only one episode in so we’ll have to wait and see how it all plays out. It just seems a lot of the drama has been lost from the show. I’ll still watch it though. At least for now.
OK, something I didn’t exactly understand… They gave them all maps of the city showing where all three challenges were located. But then some of the teams were asking locals for directions. Um, isn’t that what the map is for?
It’s all in the timing. If it’s your turn to pull but your partner pushes the wrong amount (and it doesn’t take much to flex the blade) it will bind in the kerf.
Likewise, if they “drag” it, it can throw you off.
And, if you and your partner try to put different angles on the length of it, it will drag, maybe enough to throw off the rhythm.
With an unpracticed team it seems it would be best to start with shorter strokes until you get a feel for it.
I think they got maps and were told locations but those locations were not marked on the map.
They had to find those locations on the map so some asked locals to help them.
OK, I may be misremembering. I thought they showed the map and had the three locations marked, but that may have just been a TV graphic and not a shot of the actual maps the teams had. My thought was “Wow, people these days are so dependent on GPS that they can’t even read a map!”
No, the teams were circling the places on the maps as they figured out the locations. They may have given names of place or addresses, but the map is still needed to find it.
I liked the idea of the scramble, although I think a graphic at the bottom showing each teams’ completed tasks would’ve been helpful. Although with 12 teams, that would be a pretty big graphic.
StG
That was terrible.
The Scramble is the worst idea I have ever seen them do on this show. Worse than the Intersection, worse than the Head-to-Head, hell it’s even worse than the Family Edition. As a viewer, it was impossible to keep track of where any teams were and who was ahead or last, which removed any drama. Because of that it didn’t even seem like a race, it was, well, just a messy scramble. Which is not entertaining to watch.
I hope they didn’t implement that to try and stop alliances from forming like what happened on season 32 (or 33? I forget which it was with the long delay) and that it was a one-time thing that will be gone next week. They didn’t even have a Detour for crying out loud! I want the drama of choosing one task over another and wondering if you picked the right one, and working hard to pass another team. I was so looking forward to the new season but this just wasn’t fun to watch.
I pretty sure with Quiz Show laws they have to plan them out in advance. It wouldn’t be fair to save a certain team. Also in the Speed Bump era it pretty much has to be planned in advance.
I think the scramble is great idea just poorly executed. Forcing teams to be self-reliant is always good. Just needs a better picture of where the teams were. I imagine we’ll see it once or twice more this season. I think it’ll work out if they do it again around 6 or 7 teams.
They usually only do a Detour OR a Roadblock on the first episode, not both.
I liked episode #2.
Seemed like a classic Amazing Race. Navigation problems. Detour problems.
But it all still feels like it is missing…something. I cannot put my finger on it.
Is it the teams are all likeable?
Is it there is no backstabbing?
Is it that the teams never really falter even when things are difficult?
I kinda think it is teams faltering. That used to be part of the drama.
Either teams have all realized that falling apart is the end and so know not to get there or the editing is different. But we do not see teams collapsing under stress. The losers in this round were happy and chill the whole way. Even the teams who thought they were losing (and came close) were happy and chill the whole way.
As a viewer I never really felt tension over who would lose.
Also, I am missing non-elimination legs. I think the show made a mistake on that and needs to bring them back (in the next season of course…done deal this season).
There is something about this season’s formula that I am not a fan of.
The suspense and drama are lost.
Now it seems more a game-show where contestants compete at various tasks but that is the end of it. No need to travel the world. Could be on a stage.
A lot of the drama was in the travel but that is mostly gone (they use a chartered plane now so no airport stuff). A little of getting lost when driving but mostly everyone just gets where they are going.
There is almost no dynamic between teams. No making alliances or screwing over people.
No U-Turns (yet). No non-elimination legs.
It is just go to A to B to C and perform a task and they are all weirdly really chill and happy about the whole thing. No normal human reactions of crankiness because they are tired or frustrated.
Season 34, so far, is…bland. Ok. But…meh.
Let me just give a BRAVO! to either Emily or Molly, whichever totally owned the motorcycle task. And she didn’t even claim any car repair background as did many of the other competitors who mostly flailed around apparently ages while she leaped past them.
But I agree that it seems more disconnected from the whole travel aspect somehow. Like it was too influenced by the “Tough as Nails” hiatus.
As for the non-elims, how are ‘extended/supersized’ legs really any different?
There haven’t been U-Turns for a couple of seasons now. I get that they were trying to limit exposure during the peak of Covid, but those were a good feature.
Seems that being able to quickly and correctly use a map is still the most important skill on this show (as it has traditionally always been throughout the series), but even more so now that they have to drive themselves most places.
I guess the main difference is the losing team in the first part has no speed bump to complete in the second part.