Survivor actually does a pretty good job of addressing my #4 complaint about Amazing Race. The Survivor producers aren’t afraid to try new combinations of people. Like the season when they divided groups by race/culture. An idea that scared the Bejeezus out of a lot of people turned out to be really cool. It served to shatter, rather than confirm, racial stereotypes.
One problem with the Amazing Race is that there’s hardly any variation in strategy. It boils down to:
Choosing the correct task at Detours.
Choosing the correct person to do a particular Roadblock.
Racing smart, which is really just having good airport skills, finding faster flights, calling ahead for taxis, getting locals to help, and good navigation and observation skills (spotting signs and clueboxes).
The rest is pure luck. Except, of course, when you are boned by being on a team that is either too old or too female, either of which is death.
There’s really no need to socialize, no need to form alliances, and it’s unnecessary to have a good attitude or treat your partner with respect.
To change things up, I’d like to see more intersection legs (start by pairing the teams off early on, perhaps with teams choosing their partnerships by intentionally delaying going through the intersection) and breaking the intersection only near the end… this would encourage strategic alliances.
I’d also like to see side-quests. Basically, they get additional tasks that confer bonuses, such as cash and prizes, more travel money, a time-bonus used anytime in the next leg, or even transferable immunity good only in the next leg.
Of course there’s always the mad scramble to be first to the pit stop. But if you’re not first, you are only fighting for “not last”. In those situations, a smart and confident team could decide to go for more side-quests.
I also want to see more “fork in the road” situations where players can decide their own destiny with a good (or bad) choice. For example, do you take a taxi, train, bus, or bicycle to the next locale?
I really hate the bunching points. Through brains, one or two teams get somewhere an hour ahead of everyone and eventually they and four other teams are racing through a gate together. I like the interval idea of borschevsky’s wherein at a bunching point (closed museum, airport, train depot, etc.) you leave to finish the task in the order you arrived but in 10 or 15 minute intervals.
Or what about “banking” the time? For every cumulative hour you have to wait at bunching points you can:
a) delay one team’s start by 30 minutes
b) cancel a delay made to you with part a)
c) increase your starting cash 50%
d) switch partners at a roadblock
etc.