# The Amazing Race 31 premieres April 17th **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 6, 2019, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113 "2019-04-06T00:49:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/101 "2019-05-30T15:00:33Z")
So usually the Detour tasks are split between “Do this perfectly and you’ll finish very quickly, screw up and you could take a long time” and “This will take a set amount of time, you can’t do a lot to change it” tasks. But in this case, the Afghanimals did the mental task, finished it perfectly, got their clue first, but got screwed down to 4th place because the goddamn train left? That’s just terrible planning on the producers’ part, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/102 "2019-05-30T15:48:07Z")
I think the funicular goes up and down on a set schedule. Note that there were other passengers aboard while the racers were riding it. It was public transportation, like a train or bus. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/103 "2019-05-30T15:57:45Z")
Yes, that was the reason they gave on the show, but I still think that’s pretty crappy. If they couldn’t design the task so you could breeze through it if you did the mental part perfectly, they should have scrapped it. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/104 "2019-05-30T16:27:56Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > The first Head to Head they didn’t show even though it severely changed team rankings.This second Head to Head they did show even though it changed no rankings whatsoever. Where’s the logic in that? > > Head to Head challenges in the international versions are usually placed between the Detour and the Roadblock, so teams still have a chance to make up time. The placement right before the Pit Stop is just lame. > > At this point, the teams are starting to be affected by race fatigue. Chris and Brett rushed up the minaret, completely missing the clue box. **Tyler and Korey over-confidently didn’t bother counting the steps.** Janelle ran off through the market looking for a Rolex watch, not bothering to carefully read the clue or look at her surroundings. The Afghanimals couldn’t even answer a simple quiz after how many tries. And Elissa has had enough of Rachel’s whining. (I agree, the last bit was genius.) So Tyler said they had looked up the number of steps before the race started. I wasn’t aware that the contestants knew beforehand where they would be going. Have they always had this information? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/105 "2019-05-30T16:43:44Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > So Tyler said they had looked up the number of steps before the race started. I wasn’t aware that the contestants knew beforehand where they would be going. Have they always had this information? They didn’t say anything about “before the race started” - they just said they had done research on the mosque. They knew they were going to the mosque from the time they left Dubai, so they may have just asked around on the plane for people with a tour book or something. Or just bought a tour book. Definitely something good racers do - if you know you’re going to an interesting site in a country, find out everything you can. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/106 "2019-05-30T17:02:10Z")
I just watched again, and they said they had looked up info on the mosque online, so they may have borrowed someone’s smartphone to look up their destination. Alternatively, it appears US citizens have to apply for a visa to Uganda at least 2 weeks ahead of time, so they did know Uganda was a potential destination - I’ve read that the TAR producers make contestants get many more visas than they’ll actually need so they’re never sure where they’re going. So it’s at least possible that they picked that mosque as something to research ahead of time - though researching and remembering all that information for multiple destinations seems pretty difficult. Especially since they were so confident in their number that they didn’t even bother counting. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/107 "2019-05-30T18:32:08Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > I just watched again, and they said they had looked up info on the mosque online, so they may have borrowed someone’s smartphone to look up their destination. > > Alternatively, it appears US citizens have to apply for a visa to Uganda at least 2 weeks ahead of time, so they did know Uganda was a potential destination - I’ve read that the TAR producers make contestants get many more visas than they’ll actually need so they’re never sure where they’re going. So it’s at least possible that they picked that mosque as something to research ahead of time - though researching and remembering all that information for multiple destinations seems pretty difficult. Especially since they were so confident in their number that they didn’t even bother counting. Yeah, knowing which countries you might go to would be reasonable. I just thought they did not know anything about a roadblock or detour location until they got there. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/108 "2019-05-30T19:04:06Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > The top four teams were all Amazing Racers while the bottom three were not (except for Rachel). That’s pretty much how it’s been for the whole race. They’ve had three non-elims so far, and saved two BB teams and one Survivor team. If fact, if they hadn’t had any non-elims, we’d be down to an all Amazing Racers season at this point. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/109 "2019-05-30T19:32:36Z")
Team Reilly looked like they had just got done sucking 12 bitter lemon when Phil told Team Vicole that it was a non-elimination leg. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/110 "2019-05-30T20:43:18Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Team Reilly looked like they had just got done sucking 12 bitter lemon when Phil told Team Vicole that it was a non-elimination leg. _refrains from wishing it had been bitter almonds, instead_ ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/111 "2019-05-31T00:33:51Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > They’ve had three non-elims so far, and saved two BB teams and one Survivor team. If fact, if they hadn’t had any non-elims, we’d be down to an all Amazing Racers season at this point. 😉 The good news is that there are only three NELs so it’ll be knockouts from here on out. Here’s hoping Team Whiny has sown so much bad blood that everyone votes for them to get U-turned next episode, which eventually gets them Philiminated. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/112 "2019-05-31T05:24:43Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Alternatively, it appears US citizens have to apply for a visa to Uganda at least 2 weeks ahead of time That reminds me of something that struck me as odd last week. Tyler and Korey talked about the homophobia in Uganda pretty extensively, over multiple confessionals. They talked about how they felt going to a place that didn’t accept them, about how the actual people were really nice so maybe it’s not a policy everyone is gung-ho about. They talked about setting an example for people at home. They were almost in tears from the emotion of it all while at the airport to go to Uganda. Throughout the entire episode it was a point of emphasis. That’s all fine, and good; I’m not complaining or busting balls for that at all. What struck me as odd, though, was that apparently Chris and Bret were all “whatever” about it since we didn’t hear a peep from them about it. On their Survivor season, it was a pretty dramatic point of emphasis when those two went on a reward together and one of them (I forget which) came out of the closet to the other, who was already out. (EDIT: I may be misremembering, but I believe he wasn’t out in his personal or professional life before he went on Survivor; he literally came out on tv. But of course he could still do it in person ahead of the episode airing since there are months between filming and airing.) ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/113 "2019-05-31T05:56:34Z")
Finally caught up on the last few episodes. Really disappointed when Rachel and Elissa survived by dint of a non-elimination leg, but on the other hand… I do love to hate them, none of the other teams really stand out to me (well, Team Fun is fun, I guess). Three NELs in the last 5 legs seems like a lot, though, and usually three is the max so I wonder if we’re done with those for the rest of the season. > [@EllisDee](#): > > What struck me as odd, though, was that apparently Chris and Bret were all “whatever” about it since we didn’t hear a peep from them about it. > > On their Survivor season, it was a pretty dramatic point of emphasis when those two went on a reward together and one of them (I forget which) came out of the closet to the other, who was already out. (EDIT: I may be misremembering, but I believe he wasn’t out in his personal or professional life before he went on Survivor; he literally came out on tv. But of course he could still do it in person ahead of the episode airing since there are months between filming and airing.) Chris isn’t gay, IIRC Bret came out as gay to Zeke. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/114 "2019-05-31T12:07:10Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > That reminds me of something that struck me as odd last week. Tyler and Korey talked about the homophobia in Uganda pretty extensively, over multiple confessionals. They talked about how they felt going to a place that didn’t accept them, about how the actual people were really nice so maybe it’s not a policy everyone is gung-ho about. They talked about setting an example for people at home. They were almost in tears from the emotion of it all while at the airport to go to Uganda. Throughout the entire episode it was a point of emphasis. > > That’s all fine, and good; I’m not complaining or busting balls for that at all. What struck me as odd, though, was that apparently Chris and Bret were all “whatever” about it since we didn’t hear a peep from them about it. Just because we didn’t hear about it doesn’t necessarily mean that Bret didn’t say anything about it. The editors choose what we see and hear. I also believe that confessionals are largely guided by what questions the contestants are asked by the producers. They probably wanted a narrative about Tyler and Korey dealing with the idea of going to Uganda, and so prompted them to talk about it. The thing that struck me as odd about the situation was, yeah, Uganda is horrible to LGBT people, no doubt about it. But they had just come from Dubai, which also doesn’t have a very good record on respecting the rights of gay people. And for coming in first in the Uganda leg, Tyler and Korey won a trip to Singapore. Where LGBT activity is also illegal. It seemed kind of weird to single out Uganda, while saying nothing about any of the other anti-LGBT countries they were visiting. Again, that may be on the editors–Tyler and Korey may have been just as nervous about being in Dubai–but it seemed like a strange distinction to me. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/115 "2019-05-31T12:42:30Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > That reminds me of something that struck me as odd last week. Tyler and Korey talked about the homophobia in Uganda pretty extensively, over multiple confessionals. They talked about how they felt going to a place that didn’t accept them, about how the actual people were really nice so maybe it’s not a policy everyone is gung-ho about. They talked about setting an example for people at home. They were almost in tears from the emotion of it all while at the airport to go to Uganda. Throughout the entire episode it was a point of emphasis. > > That’s all fine, and good; I’m not complaining or busting balls for that at all. What struck me as odd, though, was that apparently Chris and Bret were all “whatever” about it since we didn’t hear a peep from them about it. > > On their Survivor season, it was a pretty dramatic point of emphasis when those two went on a reward together and one of them (I forget which) came out of the closet to the other, who was already out. (EDIT: I may be misremembering, but I believe he wasn’t out in his personal or professional life before he went on Survivor; he literally came out on tv. But of course he could still do it in person ahead of the episode airing since there are months between filming and airing.) Bret is gay, Chris is straight, married to a woman, they have a couple of kids. As stated above, on Survivor Bret came out to Zeke, who is trans. I don’t think it was a secret in his personal/professional life though - he said something about telling his friends and it not being a big deal. Zeke was the one who was outed as trans on TV, against his will, and very few people in his life knew about it. > [@MrAtoz](#): > > Just because we didn’t hear about it doesn’t necessarily mean that Bret didn’t say anything about it. The editors choose what we see and hear. I also believe that confessionals are largely guided by what questions the contestants are asked by the producers. They probably wanted a narrative about Tyler and Korey dealing with the idea of going to Uganda, and so prompted them to talk about it. The producers may have thought it was better TV to have a pair of attractive 20-somethings talk about LGBTQ issues in other countries than a middle age overweight Boston cop. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/116 "2019-05-31T13:52:21Z")
I’m getting a little annoyed at the obsession with U-Turns. It’s as if the producers want to make TAR more like Survivor, with alliances and back-stabbing and drama – and the only opportunity to do so is the U-Turn. So they’re banging this square peg as hard as they can, to force it into the round hole. They probably spent 10% of screen time this week discussing U-Turns in an episode that didn’t have one. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/117 "2019-05-31T19:52:13Z")
Thanks for the corrections. I would have sworn I remembered Bret coming out to Chris on the reward challenge. I could picture it in my head, clear as day, much like the “alternate ending to Big” people. But as soon as I saw the first “no, that was Zeke” here in the thread that memory immediately transformed into Bret telling Zeke, which I _also_ now remember clear as day. Memory is a funny thing. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/118 "2019-05-31T19:55:24Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > The producers may have thought it was better TV to have a pair of attractive 20-somethings talk about LGBTQ issues in other countries than a middle age overweight Boston cop. Also, just because Bret is gay doesn’t necessarily mean he is as knowledgeable or involved with LGBTQ issues in the world. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/119 "2019-06-06T12:00:15Z")
You guys are right, no more NELs for the rest of the season. I kind of like getting all the NELs out of the way early. The Afghanimals have been struggling pretty badly most of the race; not sure if they’re going to survive much longer. Not sad to see the Reilly sisters go. Does this mean Rachel is tied with the record for legs completed, since she didn’t complete this one, or does she have the record alone? Colin held it together admirably well with his broken cow, but I loved when he admitted he was _thinking_ it. Still, they killed the entire leg, finishing 3rd or 4th after being U-Turned. Impressive. With the Reilly sisters gone it’s now a total sausage-fest, with now 9 guys and 3 women left in the race. I kind of wish every team had to have at least one woman on it, but not strongly. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113/120 "2019-06-06T13:03:44Z")
Ah Darn, Team Reilly is gone. BOO! Rachel may not have the record for most TAR legs very long. Leo and Jamal have a chance to beat Rachel in legs completed. Rachel had played two seasons, “completing” 12 legs in each season. They finished 3rd in both seasons Leo and Jamal also played in two seasons, completing 11 legs in each season, finishing 4th in each season So if they keep in the race for two more legs, they tie, and three more legs, they beat them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-race-31-premieres-april-17th/832113.md?page=7)