To be fair they did have quite a few tasks that were competence based. The problem with those is that if they are too easy, they revert to an order preserving task. And if too hard, there is the potential of one team being incapable of completing the task and making the race ‘boring.’
For example, was the final fish finding task a good task or a bad one? 3 of the 4 teams completed the task on one try (order-preserving) but one team took 5 tries (steak through the heart). The race designers can’t predict these things.
Overall, I think it is difficult to create good tasks.
The truth is, and has been for a while now, the majority of the race is won and lost in transit between destinations, not in the tasks themselves. Racers eliminated by a task are usually eliminated by their total incompetence at the task. If everyone completes the task in a timely manner, even if order is switched, the main determinant of who gets eliminated is transit.
It would be interesting to look at the statistics as to what the main cause of each team’s elimination was. I’d bet on transit issues more than anything else (getting lost/lost cabbie).
At least some bunching is a Necessary Evil. Long ago there was an Amazing Race Rip off called Lost that had no bunching and apparently one team got out ahead very early and never looked back. That made for a boring season.
It’s not always all one thing or another, though. Remember just a few Legs ago in Hong Kong. The Cheerleaders took 5 tries at the Roadblock, but from listening to Justin’s comments at the Mat (waiting out the penalty) it sounded like they still had a chance, but their cabbie didn’t know where the Pit Stop was (didn’t they have to stop at a hotel for directions). So was it the Roadblock that killed them, or the transit?
On the other hand, The Green Team had their own transit problems on that leg. They hopped in a cab when they were steps away from where they needed to get the next Clue, and they took the wrong ferry to Macau. They also aced the NIAH part of the Detour; a few more minutes there might have made the difference.
I was thinking that one way to kick off the show would be one or two episodes with single competitors stateside - start with two groups of 50 in separate locations, say 20 miles apart, but racing towards the same mat. Simple (and cheap) racing challenges to be completed individually. Match the first 10 to arrive from one starting point with the first 10 from the other.
Cheat like hell to get interesting people matched up.
Yes, the bunching is problematic, but there has to be a better way. That the results of one leg have absolutely no bearing on the next one just sucks.
It can be avoided without risking a situation in which one team is days behind the others (Team Guido), especially now that they aren’t locked into 12-hour rest periods.
Most of the time, the bunches occur at an airport or train station, right? Teams start from, say, 1:16 A.M. to 5:52 A.M., then sit at the airport until the first plane leaves at 10:00. So why not release the teams so that the first half (or whatever fraction works with the transportation schedules) leave in time to make the first plane (assuming they don’t screw up on the way to the airport) while the second half (or whatever) will be stuck on the second flight of the day? Problem solved.
I think “Survivor” and “The Amazing Race” are nearing the end of their natural lives, but the concept of Survivor seems to be lasting much better.
TAR now seems to be trying to become Survivor. They now always have the scripted and painful talk of "alliances"at the beginning of the Race. Shut up! Theres no aligning in the Race. In fact, I think it’s prohibited. You aren’t even allowed to help out your own partner do a task. Besides, how do you help someone paint a giraffe or catch a better taxi?
In Survivor, alliances are an essential part of the game, and interacting with other players and helping out around the camp make a difference. In TAR, being annoying makes no difference, so casting "personalities: just mens there is an annoying person on the show. The two best racers this year seemed to hate each other and bickered constantly, and won seven (?) legs.
The signature challenge at the end is now all but irrelevant as players keep detailed notes on everywhere they go.
The nerfed tasks are a pain, too. I remember people actually rapelling and getting smashed in the face with a watermelon. I wonder if someone gut hurt and sued the producers? But the same producers make both shows and medical gets called in every season on Survivor.
To a certain extent, TAR has become “Survivor lie.”
I think this really comes down to some poor contestant picking. The players think creating alliances is a good idea, so they talk about it endlessly, even though in the end, it does nothing.
I think you’re overestimating their bickering (especially in a season that gave us Chris and Logan). They bickered because Justin was such an asshole that he cried every time he wasn’t in first place. He wasn’t a “personality,” he was just a jerk.
I think people always kept notes, but the producers weren’t so blatant about telling us before.
It’s not at all prohibited. During a Roadblock, you can’t help your partner, but that’s just how the task is defined. But teams help each other all the time, when they’re doing puzzle or counting or memory tasks. No rules against it.
It’s allowed to team up. We’ve seen it before (and I don’t think it ever worked out in the long run). We’ve even seen people team up to buy tickets or reserve taxis for other teams (it looks like that loophole’s been squashed though, thankfully. )
The two “rules” of a TAR alliance effectively are:
An actual alliance (helping each other on roadblocks and detours, helping each other with transportation, spelling out clues) only works short-term. Say, one leg/episode of a race. No more.
A “I hate the rest of these people. Let’s hang together if we can, otherwise, we’re on our own.” alliance can last longer (think the models and team “Oh Brother” trying to get away from Flo and Ian) but doesn’t actually help much on the race.
Other than that quibble, I agree with what you’re saying. And I think that you make a great point about TAR ending it’s lifespan. In the early seasons, there was interesting casting. And social media wasn’t such a big thing so you didn’t have people texting “I saw the TAR people in Zimbabwe yesterday! So that’s where one leg will be.”
I really don’t see how it can survive much longer without some sort major format change.
But it’s not really every few minutes is it? You have a road block that takes 20-60 minutes to complete. Teammate says something encouraging during that time maybe 2 or 3 times. Then, on the show they show those 3 words of encouragement back to back to back over a ‘few minutes.’
My husband and I have a deal: if we ever get on the Amazing Race, the person not doing the roadblock must shut the hell up unless the person doing it says, “I’d like you to shout ‘You got this!’ at me a couple of times.”