I dunno but I loved it. That one sign mixed up the whole finish order. They need to do more stuff like that.
Agree, that was excellent.
I thought the twist was pretty cool too, I probably would have caught it since I tend to scan signs out of curiosity when they catch my eye and something prominent enough to be on the table and in English in a non-english speaking country would probably catch my eye. (I say probably because there is always the possibility I would miss it! ;))
Did they think the girls just stand around a table, looking pretty with signs in front of them all the time?
And yes Jen pissed me off. Your brother has a valid point, if you have time you should try and get some info instead of sitting waiting for a train and bitching, especially since it looked like a little shop was right there too, pop in and see if there is a guidebook. It wasn’t like he was suggesting wading out into the wide world where you might get lost and not back in time for the train.
To make it worse, they were squabbling at a time when there was nothing to squabble about. They were just waiting for the train.
I thought it was a so-so episode. They telegraphed who’d be eliminated by the early interviews, the tasks had beautiful scenery and lotsa local color but were coma inducing (go down a rope, go to a (beautifully done) souvenir shop and pick up a couple of items then climb back up a ladder/choose between parking scooters and begging for money in masks (if there was training in the “traditional” dance, we never saw it).
The “read the clue at the orphanage” thing was fun, until you realize it’s a cheat. It’s not yellow and red, there’s nothing in the official clue to tell you that the posted note is legit (or if the official clue did say “Go to the orphanage, give them the money you earned and follow any other instructions there” or something, they didn’t tell us) , the posted note doesn’t even say that it’s TAR connected–it’s not signed “The Amazing Producers” or something.
If it’s not yellow and red, how are the racers supposed to know it’s legit…or even a clue?
Teamwise, I’m liking the older black couple a lot–the “deer-hunting” husband is way-cool. I like the father/son team (what did they mean in the first season that they’re “adventurers”?) and, like everyone, I loathe the younger black team. Her much more than him, but both suck (he needs to just start walking away)-sadly though the fact that I hate them means they’ll make to the final three. 
I’m also glad that the Survivor team is gone. I mean, “Yay, he survived cancer! Good for him. But shut up about it already. It was only his second episode and he’s mentioned it 3 or 4 times”.
I loved how at one point, climbing out of the tiny taxi, Marcus said something like “Now I know how you felt, Big Easy!”
Yeah in fact it looked like the snowboarders were just about to run out when one of them did a double-take and noticed the sign.
Then there was this amusing bit of conversation as they were heading to the Pit Stop:
SB1: Should we walk or take a taxi?
SB2: We don’t have any money!
SB1: Oh yeah…
I haven’t watched the Amazing Race in years, but I caught the end of last night’s episode. Pretty!
In my opinion the orphanage instructions were shitty. Perhaps intentionally so. Given that the majority of teams didn’t understand that they had to leave all their race money makes it pretty clear that the problem was with the clue and not the racers. If only a few messed up the instructions, I would have put more blame on the racers; but since nearly all of them acted the same way, I put the blame on the instructions.
I wasn’t tracking clearly (too many people!); did the orphanage fiasco have an effect on the eliminations? Clearly, the gay couple was getting eliminated no matter what. What about the other pair? Were they last anyway?
As for the people who advance, I’m still running on the old assumption that there will be an event of bunching in the next episode. I guess the real effect was who wins the 1st place prize.
I’m really glad to see the return of the more subtle clue. This was a regular feature of the race from the first seasons until about season 8 or so. Then for some reason they dropped it and racers were simply told to go here and do that. Now it’s back, and racers really have to be on their toes and notice things about their environment. Who knew that the snowboard dudes and showgirls would notice the sign right off the bat?
Actually, if they had read the clue correctly and given over all their money, they would have been the 9th team and been safe. At the time they were turned around there were still two teams going back to the orphanage.
While I am sorry to see the flight attendants go, I’m on the side that thinks the sneaky clue was excellent. I don’t think there’s such a thing as unfair on these kind of shows if it doesn’t deliberately favor one team over another. All the teams had an opportunity to notice the sign. Only 3 of them did. That’s not the producers’ or the 3 teams’ fault. That’s the fault of the 8 teams who didn’t. You’re in a generally non-English-speaking country (by default, anyway…English may be relatively common (certainly more common than Indonesian is in the USA), but I don’t think it’s official in Indonesia), you’re in a specific spot chosen as the finale of a task, and you ignore a sign at that spot that’s written in English?
Frankly, I (along with many other people) would love to see them go back to the kinds of clues they had in the 1st season. They’ve had the occasional one in later races (was it just last season when the miniature castle they found at the top of the belltower was their clue to the next location?) but never as many in one race as they did that first season. The Race is almost always better when the very act of racing requires as much attention and thought as the performance of an actual task.
I liked the clue twist as well, but didn’t much care for the rest of the challenges. The cave task seemed like just about any person could have done it in roughly the same amount of time – they made some comment about one of the women having small legs that made it hard for her to climb back up, but I don’t think it put her too far behind. And the detour – neither option seemed to rely on any kind of strategy or critical thinking (at least based on my observation) – it seemed like it was all based on luck on where the teams were positioned. And even then, it didn’t seem like it made a huge amount of difference either way on who finished first.
Oops.
Put this in the wrong TAR thread so ignore the other one.
What happened to the 12 hour rest period? The lead team left at 9:13pm for the second leg and I know they did not get in at 9:13am. As soon as I saw that, I knew everyone would be on the same flight. I know they have artificial bunching points but to wipe out a 6 hour difference by playing loose with the rest period time is BS.
IIRC they still have a mandatory rest period. I haven’t been paying close attention to the actual times, but it seems they’re given a a certain number of hours at each Pit Stop. I’d wager it’s no longer a mandatory 12 hours owing to the transportation – i.e., if they’re being bunched together on one flight and the last team to the Pit Stop arrives hours after the previous team, it’s not going to be a 12-hour layover.
The only recent memory I have of there not being a mandatory rest period was during some of the Unfinished Business legs. IIRC they arrived at the first pit stop in Australia and Phil told them no, they need to keep racing to the next one.
So glad the Survivor team got eliminated! They’d already won 2 million dollars between them, that’s as much as an average American family makes in 40 years! Give someone else a chance.
Having surprisingly enjoyed Expedition Impossible over the summer I think I may be ruined for considering being passively lowered down on a rope (while calling it a rappel) and then being put right in front of the thing that you have to “find”) to be a “challenge.”
I want to see a blind man riding a camel dammit.
While the money sign at the orphanage was more mean than fun, it is the only thing that provided any drama at all so better than nothing.
And yay to another speed bump that apparently took more time to read the instructions for than to actually accomplish (since they all got off the train at the same time, and nobody appears to have lost their way) the spread of teams arriving at the cave couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes or so.
As far as delays - you could move west. I don’t think I’ve ever seen either 60 minutes or TAR delayed.
That cracked me up. But at least they read the sign.
I was kind of surprised that Phil told them what they’d missed. It would have been far more entertaining (for me at least) if he’d just said something like “You didn’t complete your last assignment at the orphanage. Please go back and complete it.” and let them figure it out. (I’m guessing most would have caught the sign the second time around, but a few would have taken a while to pick up on it.) Also, the sign seemed to imply that giving all the money got a special clue - but everyone seemed to get the same set of clues, no matter if they gave just the detour money or all of their cash.
The brother/sister, I think they’re both pushing each other’s buttons and neither of them knows how to stop it and neither of them knows how to be productive while fighting. As soon as they have to navigate somewhere, that’ll be the end of that team.
I kind of like the double elimination for the second leg. It gives teams a chance to get their feet under them, but doesn’t coddle them too long.
I know there is a mandatory rest period and the question was about how it used to be 12 hours but now it seems to be however long it needs to be to ensure the last team still makes the first flight out or before the doors to the next challenge opens.
It’s getting to the point where it doesn’t even make sense to have a time advantage in the next leg. Might as well give the early teams a full rest period and start everyone out at the same time every leg.
Yeah, it’s definitely been a few seasons since Phil has said “…who arrived at 9:37 p.m., will depart at 9:37 a.m.”
It may not have been yellow and red but there were several references on it that seemed to make it clear that it was AR related. The sign said: “In addition to all money earned at the Detours you MUST give all the money in your possession to help the orphans. In exchange you will receive a clue to help you find the next** Pit Stop.**”
The capitalized words (and I bolded them as well) should be triggers to a racer that this has to do with the race and isn’t just something the orphans leave lying about.
Do we know that they didn’t get more than 12 hours? If they had a whole day to rest, then they’d have their 12 hours and could leave at whatever staggered interval works for the producers.
Did anyone else think that none of the teams seemed surprised when they were directed to go back to the orphanage? No “What sign are you talking about?” just a series of “Thanks, Phil” as they turned around to head back.