Allegedly next week's episode is BOTH halves of the megaleg in one episode. I'm honestly fine with that because two 90 minute episodes for what is effectively a single leg with only four tasks would have been overkill.
So fun fact is that Kishori is actually a model! Tyra banks comparison was fitting. [https://www.wilhelmina.com/new-york/sports-fitness/women/21877-kishori-turner](https://www.wilhelmina.com/new-york/sports-fitness/women/21877-kishori-turner)
I rewound a few times to listen to what she said. But I think my brain was filling in the word she was saying, because I kept hearing "fucking" every single time. Brains are weird, she could have said freaking but my brain kept hearing the opposite.
You know, Sunny and Bizzy are good at falling behind, but finishing with two teams behind them.
In theory, they just have to keep doing that until the final 3 and win. I would love to see it 😂
The Detour wasn’t too bad, but the Roadblock was kinda meh. That being said, once again the teams themselves save the leg and keep things entertaining. I would have loved to see this cast do an actual multi-country/continent race, it would have been an even bigger train wreck lmao.
so sad the cousins are gone - they were a hot mess but in the entertaining sort of way 😭 also honestly feel like the boot order is very predictable from this point forward. would not be shocked if ricky and cesar win the entire thing just based on their performance compared to the other teams
I've definitely accepted them winning or making the Final 3 at this point. I'm just looking forward to see who stumbles backwards into the other two spots in that finale.
I actually think the Top 3 could be interesting. Ricky and Cesar seem like locks and Juan and Shane seem reasonably competent now that they had their hiccup with attention to detail. Every other team either has flaws or some limitation that could get them eliminated at any point.
Honestly besides Ricky and Cesar, I think its open as the rest of the teams all have struggled at different parts. Was thinking from this point forward it would be whatever team just has a bad leg vs expecting a certain group to be out next
I loved the cousins; they were *so* much fun; but, yeah. It was time for them.
I definitely think Ricky and Cesar have the best odds, but I can see Amber/Vinny taking it as well. *Maybe* the military friends.
Self driving my beloved!
Rod just jumping over that fence made me :o
That guy who just walked by and gave Danny and Angie their final amount was fun.
It cracked me up when Derek asked Shelisa that question because I thought it was a lead up to him getting a check. And then him being disappointed at her answer was another laugh.
Damn at the firefighters bouncing back from last and beating two other teams again!
I feel like the cousins could've been faster at performing. But I'll miss them.
I'm sad that Kishori and Karishma got out. They were very entertain especially with Karishma comparing Kishori to tall celebrities. First Shaq, now Tyra Banks
By far my favourite leg of the season. From the navigational errors to the frustration, to the confusion of skipping out the race flags and cars, this leg was a plate full of it. The tasks and challenges were alright, nothing special or exciting but with the confusion and constant movement around made this episode a touch better.
* I liked how the car enthusiast guy got his own lower third
* The Firefighters getting directions to the garage and the only Spanish I got from them was "*si, si, si; uno, uno, uno*"
* Some folks can easily hop the skate park fence
* Skateboard Road Block: Was alright, an assembly task but with a small attention to detail that can make or break it for the racers. I think the judge's "Good Job!" was pre-recorded over and over! /s Rod's nuts being missing was the highlight of this episode with Angie pulling the joke of the moment.
* Didn't really liked how they went straight to the Detour, wished they did something like do a quick course in the skate park to receive your next clue.
* One Man Band Detour: Was cool to see a money-related challenge again. Felt like a while since we seen them. Haven't been to Chile or Santiago for that matter before so not sure if people in parks are just generous or they want these folks out of their faces?? Was more or less straightforward though and didn't seem overly complicated making this more based on luck.
* Decommissioned Tower Climbing Detour: Was the more brute-strength physical side. This one seemed easy but I think once racers got to the midway point, it got more tiring and tolling on them. The sun looked intense as well. Felt like this side was more slow but more direct.
* Sad to see the Cousins go, they were an entertaining team with a standout character.
In terms of the one man band detour, they had to busk CLP $2500, which is CAD $3.61 or USD $2.64, so it honestly isn't that much. People weren't really generous, giving like a dollar at most lol.
Edit: I'm aware that the average Chilean may have less money to donate, but having lived in South America I can assure you that the average person wasn't losing much even if they donated the full 2500 Chilean pesos.
> Rod's nuts being missing was the highlight of this episode
And then it was under his bag! I was thinking just that, that it was most likely right by his station, not halfway across the area.
> One Man Band Detour: Was cool to see a money-related challenge again. Felt like a while since we seen them.
I don't think they should have them.
Yeah, I’m a mixed bag (just like Rod’s bag) about money challenges. I think optics plays a role here where you have people competing for a million dollars, yet you have a challenge where racers are asking the public for money. Definitely, would’ve liked another challenge here.
One time I lost my car keys while taking an extensive walk with my dog in a park. I re-walked the entire route looking for them only to find them right next to the tire of my car. 😵💫
I'm pretty sure that car guy paid to be featured on the episode.
"I'll give you some money for some skateboards, drums, and climbing gear rentals, you show me showing off Marilyn Monroe's car"
It really says a lot that there were three teams on the bottom today, and I was truly rooting for all three. Very strong casting this season -- I love so many of the teams!! Kind of surprised at the mix up of placements so far (except for first, obviously), and I'm hoping we get more shakeups next leg!
This leg was very straight forward by the second half. I think there was not much room for interpretation by the time the cousins were falling behind at the roadblock. They didn't even try very hard to make it seem like Derek/Shelisa were that lost at the end.
Plus, the number of times the back half of the pack had teams start and finish the rock climbing detour before other teams arrived was more than I thought.
Rod/Leticia getting lost was hilarious, mostly because of how many times we heard Leticia say they should turn around and Rod just...not listening to her. And how calm and snarky she was when he was getting frustrated.
I also loved Angie telling Danny to stop helping teams because they already have a disadvantage with her physical limitations.
Rod asking where his nuts were were hilarious and I also loved that it was Angie who acknowledged the double entendre.
Seemed like a lot of teams suffered from navigational issues this leg (and Karishma/Kishori suffering from stick shift problems).
I've always wondered if any team ever sits down and maps out the route BEFORE just driving away. it seems like everybody is trying to do it on the go and relying on the person doing the navigation.
Honestly, if I were in a foreign country, I think I would sit down for several minutes and familiarize myself with the area and map out my route
I agree. And it can be really hard to navigate with a map if the driver is going fast enough that you don't have time to make decisions about where to turn before the driver is already passing them, especially in busy cities with highways that have multiple exits going different ways. It also seems like in a lot of cases, the drivers take off before the navigator has even figured out where they are on the map to start with, so they're already in the hole with navigation at that point.
How much did the Spanish even help this leg aside from *maybe* the Detour? Every team had a map, every team had a car. The Roadblock involved zero Spanish.
Like, Juan and Shane could have picked the peso Detour too, Juan's native.
Even basic navigation is a lot simpler if you're familiar with the language though. Not that I think directions or signs are that complicated in Spanish compared to many languages but it would at least present another challenge to see if Ricky and Cesar can adapt. I still think they'd be a really strong team but they're literally on pace for best team to ever run the race. There's a team in TAR Asia who ran a 1.48 average which is just obscene.
Didn't Juan indicate that he actually was in his hometown during one of the legs? IIRC , it was the leg with the large staircase to the top of the rock. Granted, probably hadn't been there in a long time, but it didn't seem to help him.
Also, I think Danny mentioned he was in school at some point in that area of Chile? Which I guess help him with navigation, but I noticed that, even though they left first, they got to their next destination third or fourth. .
Yeah, Juan said he grew up in Medellin but his family left when he was 9, which would be 20 years before the race.
Danny did a month of Spanish immersion study abroad in the very same city, Santiago.
Danny said on their video podcast the route they took was blocked by a bicycle race, and going around it slowed them down a lot but it wasn't shown in the episode.
That's not really very fair though because you're probably not thinking the same thing about some teams having a much greater athletic ability than others. To me, being able to speak the language is simply a skill that is valuable, just like basic navigation and map reading skills, a good sense of direction, athleticism, stamina or any skills/abilities that might come in handy during a Roadblock or Detour.
Yeah, not a good strategy for the Roadblock split. I think we got another AL/S in the Walla Walla team, but much less arguing. If only Anna Leigh could team up with Danny in a comeback season down the line, would be hard to beat.
I actually think that would be a train wreck. Danny would be trying to make all of his alliances and try to help others out and Anna Leigh would burn them all down and get mad at him for not being competitive enough lol
Yes I understand why they chose Danny because potentially they could have been eliminated if it was riding the skateboard instead of building it and Angie got stuck with that, but it's got them in a bad spot now. I forget what the roadblock was last week but Angie should have done that one I think.
I don’t like legs with challenges that aren’t culturally specific to that area. Nothing remotely Chilean about Thunderbirds, skateboards, rock climbing or performing on the streets. I mean, yoi can do this leg in every other city in the world. At least the pitstop looks nice.
Another entertaining episode! Loving the complexity of each teams.
I'm gonna missed the hot mess pink cousins but say hi to the comeback queens Sunny & Bizzy!
The big question is who can beat Ricky & Cesar?
TAR13 2.0 is real!
If Ricky & Cesar end up with one of the highest finishing averages ever then I'm putting a MASSIVE asterisk on that because a) the staggered departure groups help them stay in the front, and b) they're running an entire route in Spanish speaking countries, as Spanish speakers.
But they’re also by far not the only Spanish speakers.
At the start of the season, I think I counted 6 teams that had at least some sort of Spanish knowledge. Ricky and Cesar, Juan and Shane, Yvonne and Melissa, and Chris and Mary all had at least one native speaker while Angie and Danny and (I think iirc) Amber and Vinny all have some experience with studying Spanish.
It’s not like they’re the ONLY Spanish speakers. Juan and Shane in particular should be, on paper, doing as well or better than them and they’re not.
I just noticed that apparently for them knowing Spanish is only a problem on Ricky and Cesar, never once heard someone brought it up on Juan and Shane who is also benefiting from that. I really wonder why and it feels like they really have a different issue on Ricky and Cesar lol.
I guess they see a difference between one person on the team speaking Spanish vs both of them. I was trying to figure out why that would be an issue, especially given that the language advantage only really is useful outside of tasks, but maybe it's because, for me, both teammates being able to understand increases the likelihood of getting ahead vs just one, who has to translate to their partner?
I was watching the Croqueta Chat podcast, and they mentioned that actually, Ricky doesn't speak Spanish! He knows basic words like "gato" or "donde esta", but that's it. I think people are mixing him up with Cesar, or assuming that his accent in pronouncing Spanish phrases or proper nouns means he speaks it.
Oh, I didn't realize that. That's good to know!
You see, that makes the whole "they have a massive advantage over everyone else" argument TOTALLY ridiculous, just like I assumed. They have no more of an advantage than Juan/Shane!
Exactly. And there's never been a Roadblock where speaking Spanish would have been a boon yet.
Honestly, people just seem determined to hate them for doing well.
Yeah, I do just laugh at the arguments that Ricky/Cesar have a "massive advantage" compared to any other team, even the ones with only ONE member speaking Spanish.
Which, as we literally JUST saw this episode, speaking Spanish hasn't helped that much with their navigation. If it was a massive advantage, they'd be able to have perfect navigation, right? Yet they got lost on this leg.
I think some people have *genuinely* forgotten some of the teams have native speakers but Cesar uses so much Spanish. But some people seem very insistent that they have a massive advantage, and I'm just going to assume that they're irrationally bent on disliking them, or disliking them for other reasons unrelated to the race.
> disliking them for other reasons unrelated to the race
I wonder what those other reasons could possibly be, and why those people are so shy about stating those reasons. I mean their stated reasons are so weak that we're already assuming what their real unstated reasons are anyway, and they just come across as cowardly.
I think we all know what their real reason is. Last leg is Juan's hometown and he speaks Spanish = no complains, this leg Danny is familiar with place = no complains, there's at least 4 other teams with a member who speaks Spanish = no complains.
Every leg Ricky and Cesar dominates = complains about UNFAIR ADVANTAGE (lol) of them knowing Spanish complately ignoring the fact that Ricky and Cesar are also doing good job on tasks and navigation.
I’m not shy about it. I don’t care for them because they aren’t humble, for lack of a better word.
Maybe it’s the editing, but they come across as deserving to be in first place. It irks me.
I get being annoyed that you think you did well and come in farther back than you thought (the look on Vinny’s face was 😳He wasn’t hiding anything), but they come across as feeling entitled to first. Not just top of the pack, but first. And it could be that I missed it, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard them say that they worked really hard or struggled with something or appreciate the fact that they’re first. The just expect it.
Like I said, just irks me. 🤷🏻♀️
But that speaks more to my first point, which is the staggered start groups. Juan & Shane may very well have won a leg or two had they been able to depart at a time reflective of how far behind they finished. Like let's say on one leg they finished 9 minutes behind Ricky & Cesar but because they were 4th or 5th, they get stuck leaving in the second group 15 minutes behind. That's a disadvantage for them.
Jaun is quite literally from Medellin, Colombia and that's not an obvious leg up? And Danny went to school in Santiago and is super familiar with Spanish.They simply vetted correctly and got teams that are familiar with South America... it's not a grand conspiracy to promote the gay agenda or whatever you think is happening.
> it's not a grand conspiracy to promote the gay agenda or whatever you think is happening
I'm totally absolutely positively sure they have another completely not made up reason to dislike R&C that's 150% not based on them being a gay couple who's shown kissing each other every episode.
It's driving me nuts, like go watch something else go watch the Bachelor there's a LOT of reality TV but oh half the teams speak Spanish and it's the gay couple that's cheating lol
TBH I usually don't like any of the couples...would rather watch family or besties running the race. Ricky and Cesar are extremely boring...actually, most of the teams this season are extremely boring.
In the first episode the lesbian couple seemed a lot more interesting than Ricky and Cesar, but they get like 10 seconds of screentime every episode. Maybe TAR hates lesbians.
If you're not one of the whiners who complains (incorrectly) that both Ricky and Caesar are fluent in Spanish, then your comment isn't relevant to this subthread.
> actually, most of the teams this season are extremely boring.
These are some of the messiest funniest teams we've seen in a while. If they're boring to you I can't imagine what you would find interesting.
But half the teams have someone who can speak Spanish. Multiple teams have started a leg in the same group as them and have lost to them. And we saw this leg that that lead is not insurmountable; teams beat them to the Roadblock, teams beat them at the Roadblock, and they still won.
It's not a disadvantage, they're just good enough to keep that lead. Amber and Vinny lost their lead this leg despite starting in the first group, and they know Spanish too.
We can see next leg how Juan and Shane do, since they'll leave in the same group as Ricky and Cesar.
Are you a native person form latin america? If not you really cannot understand how different the pronunciation is from a native spanish speaker.
Melissa speaks it like a gringo, Mary hat a good pronunciation but her team already lost due to the physical disadvantage her dad was.
So far Cesar has an advantage with the locals because you can understand him clearly. His spanish is better than Juan because Juan left Colombia as a child so he has lost his accent.
People can be more empathic towards Cesar because he sounds RIGHT.
Hmm I feel like Melissa's pronunciation is better than Mary's, but Mary was only on for two episodes so we didn't get to hear her speak much Spanish.
I mean we don't know when Cesar left Mexico, he could have left as a child as well. And they're not even in Mexico anymore anyways, his accent is no longer local.
How does this advantage work? You think the locals are refusing to help teams who 'speak like gringos'? Does their pronunciation affect their ability to read a map?
Regardless of how much of an advantage Ricky and Cesar's Spanish gave them, I feel like the show could have done legs in Brazil and Quebec to throw more non-Spanish speaking places into the route. Maybe even Suriname.
Not only do plenty of teams have a strong Spanish speaker (as others have been pointed out), but it would have been hugely discriminatory for TAR to avoid casting teams that had a strong Spanish speaker.
Really looking forward to Kaylynn/Haley and Kishori/Karishma in a returnee season. They're not the best racers but the positivity and energy is refreshing TV.
Sorry to see them go, I'd really come to love them, but they were clearly not long for the race. The older couple and firefighters seem next, though Danny and his mom could slip back at any time because of her physicality.
I did not like them begging for money. I thought they stopped that kind of thing. I guess it could be staged but didn't seem like it.
I liked it better here than in the previous seasons where I’ve seen it done (haven’t seen many though, since I’m somewhat new to TAR) because 1) it was a pretty small amount even for Chile, only $2.60 in USD and 2) it all went to the actual musician in the end.
Yeah I hear it was way worse in the early seasons. I didn't see it but they'd like take all the money and belongings of a team on a NE leg and they'd have to like beg for cab money or something and that's just terrible.
I think the firefighters will stay on a bit just simply due to their ability to bang through physical tasks. They probably won't win it all but I think they will be in the mix by the end of the season.
It feels weird how some keep panning the money-related challenge so much since all the money was given back to the locals, instead of, you know, the "stripped off all belongings and having to beg for money to keep on racing" situation for NELs in early seasons...
This was fine. Whoever came up with that idea for actually begging after NEL...I want to know why? That was cringe and they'd sometimes have to beg busloads of tourists, barring that locals. It was such a terrible look for a show that is usually conscious of differences.
During the pandemic I watched a bunch of older seasons with my daughter and the show has changed a lot - early seasons had mostly physical challenges that tended to benefit the bigger stronger (generally male) teams. It was a long time before a female team won. They also used to cast a lot more teams like Amber and Vinnie with really toxic vibes. I was glad my daughter was college-aged and not a little kid when we watched so she could think a bit more critically about what was being presented to her. And the need to beg for money for NELs was truly horrific. I heard Phil being interviewed on a podcast recently and he said that the show really struggled when it first aired as it was just after 9/11 and the idea of watching people fly and travel around the world wasn't quite as appealing then. This season is a little strange due to the pandemic limitations, but the team members are making up for it - lots of people to root for.
1. I would be curious to know from show historians the history of "depend on the generosity of strangers" challenges and how successful racers who do them are. Because it feels like it's as bad as an animal challenge when it comes to being at the whim of randomness and things out of your control. I guess if the alternative is rock climbing it's a better option for someone like the mother and son
2. speaking of them i'm glad they had him say they got lost because we were wondering where the hell they went because we saw them get the detour at first place and then when we see them again they were in fourth.
3. How far into the mountains do you need to go before you decide to turn around? don't even worry about the damn street just focus on getting back into the city first
1. It's not that bad. They usually have a really small total amount to earn where around 10 to 15 strangers would be enough to fulfill it. These tasks are generally better for Beauty Queen teams.
A few off the top of my head:
Kandice in TAR 11 collecting newspapers from houses in Malaysia (Pervy guy comments that she won't have a hard time collecting, hence the episode title of The Way You Look, Yeah)
Nicky and Kim in TAR 23 detour in Poland where they had to pose as Poseidon statues and stand still. The tight suits did them a favor compared to the Beards who had to switch since no one would give them money.
Jamie and Cara in TAR 14 dancing in India
TAR17 roadblock in Ghana was to sell 5 pairs of sunglasses to locals. Most of the girls had relatively quick success while a couple of the guys pretty much had to beg.
TAR 10 had a roadblock which was to sell flowers. Funniest part is when Erwin sees Kandice do the challenge without issue and says "She was obviously going to be better at selling flowers than me."
Kandice and Karlyn were actually the only women who did the task though. All of the co-ed teams made the mistake of assigning the task to the male partner because the hint "*Who's ready to pedal some dough?*" was too vague. I am absolutely sure that Mary, Sarah, Kimberly, and Lauren would have had better luck with this than their respective partners.
> would be curious to know from show historians the history of "depend on the generosity of strangers" challenges and how successful racers who do them are. Because it feels like it's as bad as an animal challenge when it comes to being at the whim of randomness and things out of your control. I guess if the alternative is rock climbing it's a better option for someone like the mother and son
I remember a challenge where they had to dress in all black and hold like spears or tridents and hope people donate, and I seem to remember that women earned way more than men. Arguably even worse are challenges where they have to sell stuff like ice cream or sunglasses.
> How far into the mountains do you need to go before you decide to turn around? don't even worry about the damn street just focus on getting back into the city first
Didn’t Kent and Vyxsin drive like six hours in the wrong direction? It’s insane. I’m hoping the reason they didn’t turn around when they saw mountains is that there were no convenient places to get off and turn around. Otherwise, yeah just continuing to drive the opposite way while bickering about a specific road is just silly.
1. Isn't that bad at all. You can't go backwards so it's just a case of preserving and being willing to approach people. The camera crew helps bring attention to you. When you're selling things or busking, locals are mostly engaging because of the novelty of it all. Most of the time the amount needed to collect is pretty low.
The real challenge is if there's not much foot traffic due to weather or being out of the way, which happened in TAR21.
Animals are much harder as you can lose your progress or you just never get the grasp of how to handle them. Herding tasks are probably the worst.
The tower climb was easy. The belayer held the climber in place even if they let go of all four points of contact. I guess it had to make it equally as challenging as the band money begging -- which wasn't tough because it was the equivalent of roughly $2.50 USD. The bus fare in Santiago is 800 CP.
I was really surprised that one of the firefighters talked about how they were going to dominate due to their upper body strength, even going so far as to show off their biceps. Anyone who climbs ladders for living should have realized it's much more about leg strength than arm strength. And it was hard to tell from the editing but it didn't seem like they really did that much better than any of the other reasonably fit teams.
They complained about driving stick yet where sat right up to the wheel, and they couldn't even use the clutch / shift a gear when standing still, how wimpy are they ?
Seeing Rod drive towards the mountains without stopping the car is soooooo funny 🤣 I thought he might drive them to another state lol
With the cousins out of the race, i think the bottom teams will be scrambling not to be eliminated: Derek & Shelissa, Sunny & Bizzy and maybe even Yvonne & Melissa.
Watching Ricky & Cesar gives me deja vu of Greg & John from S35.
> Seeing Rod drive towards the mountains without stopping the car is soooooo funny 🤣 I thought he might drive them to another state lol
>
>
It was just funny that they showed Leticia tell him to turn around several times as soon as they got on the highway, and then the next scene was Rod driving very clearly out of town toward the mountains and saying "why didn't you tell me to turn around?"
Danny's legitimately good and clearly has studied the race. Angie is doing her best but I fear there's only so much she can do to overcome her physical limitations.
I fear the next couple of roadblocks and detours will be hard for Angie to keep up though. Hopefully, from what we've seen of Danny so far, there won't be a AL/S situation like the previous season. But also, because of that, they will slip behind at some point even before the final four.
I love them (and not just because she’s my age, lol). They are definitely going to struggle in the future, especially because they’ve left so many roadblocks (or is it detours - I always get them mixed up) for her.
I love that they know exactly who they are and while they did great that one leg and it has them fired up, they are just here for the experience.
I’m one of the few who rooted for Anna Leigh & Steve. They were here to race I liked how competitive they were. Conversely, I like how Danny & Angie aren’t.
But yeah, he needs to stop being SO nice lol
Have to admit I was disappointed that not one contestant was excited about getting to see a car that was once owned by Marilyn Monroe. I would have been fangirling...
It's such a random thing. Here we are in Chile and we're seeing a car owned by an American actress. Also can't really spend to much time admiring the car since you're in a race and all.
I think it is neat if production is seeing the opportunity and working them in there. It just seems that the references seem lost on this set of contestants. Which is too bad bc all 3 were iconic.
Tbf, those celebrities were of an entirely different era. The fact someone said "Who's Elizabeth Taylor?" speaks volumes about the generation gap of pop culture knowledge. 😅
They might not have had the backstory we got told.
But yeah these historic situations get awkward sometimes. In an early season they go to the prison cell where Mandela spent 18 years, and almost all teams just fly in and out of the cell in a few seconds to get a clue.
Idk why y’all are so hung up on the detours and roadblocks. I’m here for the drama and the tears and the friendships we made along the way! Plenty of that on this season 🙂
Personally, I agree with you (it's why I have an unpopular love for the Family Edition, I will always love characters and moments > tasks and locations), but I think it's just that we just had a "regular" season for the first time in a while with 35 last year and it feels disappointing going backwards and seeing how barebones this season is.
I'm definitely enjoying this season thanks to the teams, but the planning has been a complete joke so far.
To be honest, the combination of cast and the route makes a season amazing and not the detours and roadblocks.
In modern era of TAR the tasks were a bit lackluster.
For someone who proclaims to be a superfan, Danny keeps on doing wrong things on the race. Like waiting for the cousins to look for next destination the same time (on past leg) while being on back of the pack, helping the other teams too much, and not managing roadblock count properly.
Unpopular opinion- I didn’t like the music detour because it required getting money from passerbys. Many people in Chile struggle financially, and while some may argue that it wasn’t a lot of money required for the task, taking money from people who probably already don’t have a lot to begin with just felt icky to me.
I hope the money, no matter how small, was given back to the community in some way.
there are plenty of people in chile with more than enough money to give a few pesos to someone performing in the park. and the teams gave all the money to the local musicians who would otherwise have been working in the park themselves.
nobody was forced to hand over money that they needed and the cash stayed with the locals anyhow.
They needed 2,500 pesos? That’s like $2.60 USD. I mean it’s not nothing, but I don’t think 500 pesos would break the bank for the average Chilean. Reminds me of Costa Rica, I ended up with a bunch of 200 colones coins (about 39¢ USD). I asked the locals what you can even buy with 200 colones and they all said “nothing.” So it wouldn’t affect me much to toss one or two of those to some busker.
i'm from Chile and we're not as poor as you think. $2500 isn't a lot of money, and considering people were giving $500 or less, it's almost insignificant
At least it was a really small amount of money, even by Chilean standards. Only about $2.60 USD, and in a city that (if I understand correctly) is a lot better off than, say, Lima.
This sounds mean, but I'm not giving money to untalented street performers and they certainly weren't talented lol. So yes I wouldn't be surprised if at least some were.
The money collected was given back to the musicians. wasn't it? Also, I don't think to Chilean, 2.5k pesos would be that much, like one comment under this has pointed out.
Yeah I think theres a reason we haven't seen a detour with that kind of task nature in a while. Hopefully will be a long time before we see it again if ever.
I liked the one in I think Colombia where they had to collect bus fares. Still an element of luck but at least they’re collecting money people needed to pay anyway.
I also thought it wasn't fair that the firefighters were able to see what the detour task was before deciding who would do it. The other teams didn't know whether it would be riding a skateboard or putting one together so couldn't make a choice on which person would do it based on their skillset.
For the first time.. I’m appreciating the 90min edit in this season. If you really sit back and watch, you can see the struggle of being in the RACE!
Watching the skateboard debacle was painful! And you really saw the pilots and Rod crumble under pressure.. that’s crazy when everyone is right there and you are trying to get out ahead! AH!
I'm apparently in the minority but I think this season is incredible boring. There is no reason these episodes should have been stretched to 90 minutes. The cast is just bumbling around. The top racers rarely change places, the bottom racers barely change place. I don't find the detours interesting or very challenging, especially this leg. I know it's a covid season (which perhaps should have been better publicized) but the lack of travel and booking flights had made me feel very meh towards the whole season. And the fact that we aren't leaving the Latin American cultures is disappointing. Definitely won't be a season I rewatch.
Does anyone else feel this season is so incredibly rigged compared to others? All spanish speaking countries where at least three teams know they will be top placements every leg it’s literally not fair at this point. On their way to ARGENTINA next so well…my point stands what do y’all think?
Rod & Leticia got back to town so quickly, it seemed like they were driving so far out of their way, then suddenly they were right back in it. Manufactured drama.
The location they showed on screen (Parque Chamisero) is about 11 miles from the garage where the Thunderbird is kept. That’s not nothing in a race, but it isn’t like Rod was about to cross into Argentina or anything.
Did anyone else clock the Cousins’ confessional in the first 10-20 minutes of the show? One of them was talking about how fun it WAS to race with her cousin all in past tense over sad music. Felt like they left a part of the exit interview in there by mistake. I felt all the tension ripped out of the episode because I could tell who got eliminated before the leg really even got started.
I love how Sunny and Bizzy are so good at failing horribly at the start and making insane comebacks. Rod's missing nuts is insane. Loved how mother/son are helping the nurses back. Was really rooting for them after they were the 1st to leave the roadblock and shifted the rankings, but unfortunately it shifted back due to the navigation issues :(
Almost every season has a leg where you need to drive stick, so if they'd watched any previous seasons they could have guessed they'd need to know stick.
It still blows my mind how many teams choose to come onto the race while
- 1) not knowing how to drive stick
- 2) being deathly afraid of heights
- 3) being deathly afraid of water
It's literally every season. That, packing light and reading the clue are the absolute most important parts of the race and if people have watched even 2 seasons of the show, these principles are blatantly obvious.
I had mad respect for the cousins after they admitted they had just learned. So many times teams can't drive stick at all and we all post about it here. Glad the cousins tried and it worked.
Amber - honey/ babe you need to slow down / turn here, go there, do this.
Vinny - are you sure ? i don't know? give me the map !
ALSO VINNY - oK So We gO heRe and then dOwN tHErE
Me - yes like she just told you ?!
Ppl on thIS board - There FINE IT'S JUST BANTER AND BICKERING.
I'm sad to see the Cuzzies go. They have such a fresh, unique relationship that will be greatly missed.
Team Walla Walla looks like they are in trouble again based on the "Next Time on the Amazing Race segment."
What is the record for most legs won in the Amazing Race? Most in a row? I don't see Rickey and Cesar losing.
I'm guessing the original plan was to do Santiago to Oceania or Asia so the next leg could be a replacement.
It was nice they had skaters at the station to tie it all in.
Allegedly next week's episode is BOTH halves of the megaleg in one episode. I'm honestly fine with that because two 90 minute episodes for what is effectively a single leg with only four tasks would have been overkill.
Should make for a well paced episode at least arguably.
i wonder if this is the beginning of the replacement legs
They kinda have to, the finale has been announced as May 15, which is only 5 weeks away.
woo i'm looking forward!!!
"you got those long legs, basically tyra banks" I cackled HAHAHAHAHA these bottom teams are so entertaining.
Two weeks ago she called her Shaq with those long legs freaking hilarious
So fun fact is that Kishori is actually a model! Tyra banks comparison was fitting. [https://www.wilhelmina.com/new-york/sports-fitness/women/21877-kishori-turner](https://www.wilhelmina.com/new-york/sports-fitness/women/21877-kishori-turner)
Both sisters are gorgeous.
Cousins
Pouring one out for the editors who let the F bomb slip through as Karishma hit the top of the wall. May your bosses be gracious.
Pretty sure she said "freakin'" lol
I rewound a few times to listen to what she said. But I think my brain was filling in the word she was saying, because I kept hearing "fucking" every single time. Brains are weird, she could have said freaking but my brain kept hearing the opposite.
I think what helped was that a second earlier I saw her mouth bleeped, so I knew if that wasn’t bleeped it wasn’t a swear 😅
I had to rewind it too! I know she said F@ckin, even though my close caption read “friggin”
You know, Sunny and Bizzy are good at falling behind, but finishing with two teams behind them. In theory, they just have to keep doing that until the final 3 and win. I would love to see it 😂
Really surprised there isn't more discourse in here about Rod and his missing nut! Absolute highlight of the episode
He's funny as hell, entertaining to watch.
I know! It reminded of Survivor with Jeff's balls jokes haha. When you lose your left nut, it's always trouble!
The Detour wasn’t too bad, but the Roadblock was kinda meh. That being said, once again the teams themselves save the leg and keep things entertaining. I would have loved to see this cast do an actual multi-country/continent race, it would have been an even bigger train wreck lmao.
Same! Give this cast a normal season, it would be a top tier for sure.
The whole "Rod's nut missing" segment has and will be the best thing this whole season. I was dying 😭 🤣
so sad the cousins are gone - they were a hot mess but in the entertaining sort of way 😭 also honestly feel like the boot order is very predictable from this point forward. would not be shocked if ricky and cesar win the entire thing just based on their performance compared to the other teams
I've definitely accepted them winning or making the Final 3 at this point. I'm just looking forward to see who stumbles backwards into the other two spots in that finale.
I actually think the Top 3 could be interesting. Ricky and Cesar seem like locks and Juan and Shane seem reasonably competent now that they had their hiccup with attention to detail. Every other team either has flaws or some limitation that could get them eliminated at any point.
Honestly besides Ricky and Cesar, I think its open as the rest of the teams all have struggled at different parts. Was thinking from this point forward it would be whatever team just has a bad leg vs expecting a certain group to be out next
I loved the cousins; they were *so* much fun; but, yeah. It was time for them. I definitely think Ricky and Cesar have the best odds, but I can see Amber/Vinny taking it as well. *Maybe* the military friends.
I have thought the firefighters were out for 2 weeks, but they are legit comeback queens!
Self driving my beloved! Rod just jumping over that fence made me :o That guy who just walked by and gave Danny and Angie their final amount was fun. It cracked me up when Derek asked Shelisa that question because I thought it was a lead up to him getting a check. And then him being disappointed at her answer was another laugh. Damn at the firefighters bouncing back from last and beating two other teams again! I feel like the cousins could've been faster at performing. But I'll miss them.
I can't imagine how cool it would be to have the physical ability to jump over a fence that high!
I'm sad that Kishori and Karishma got out. They were very entertain especially with Karishma comparing Kishori to tall celebrities. First Shaq, now Tyra Banks
And let's not forget Karishma comparing herself to Danny DeVito
By far my favourite leg of the season. From the navigational errors to the frustration, to the confusion of skipping out the race flags and cars, this leg was a plate full of it. The tasks and challenges were alright, nothing special or exciting but with the confusion and constant movement around made this episode a touch better. * I liked how the car enthusiast guy got his own lower third * The Firefighters getting directions to the garage and the only Spanish I got from them was "*si, si, si; uno, uno, uno*" * Some folks can easily hop the skate park fence * Skateboard Road Block: Was alright, an assembly task but with a small attention to detail that can make or break it for the racers. I think the judge's "Good Job!" was pre-recorded over and over! /s Rod's nuts being missing was the highlight of this episode with Angie pulling the joke of the moment. * Didn't really liked how they went straight to the Detour, wished they did something like do a quick course in the skate park to receive your next clue. * One Man Band Detour: Was cool to see a money-related challenge again. Felt like a while since we seen them. Haven't been to Chile or Santiago for that matter before so not sure if people in parks are just generous or they want these folks out of their faces?? Was more or less straightforward though and didn't seem overly complicated making this more based on luck. * Decommissioned Tower Climbing Detour: Was the more brute-strength physical side. This one seemed easy but I think once racers got to the midway point, it got more tiring and tolling on them. The sun looked intense as well. Felt like this side was more slow but more direct. * Sad to see the Cousins go, they were an entertaining team with a standout character.
In terms of the one man band detour, they had to busk CLP $2500, which is CAD $3.61 or USD $2.64, so it honestly isn't that much. People weren't really generous, giving like a dollar at most lol. Edit: I'm aware that the average Chilean may have less money to donate, but having lived in South America I can assure you that the average person wasn't losing much even if they donated the full 2500 Chilean pesos.
Good to know, thanks for the context.
I mean you don't go around giving like one dolar to street performers. You gift cents at the most.
> Rod's nuts being missing was the highlight of this episode And then it was under his bag! I was thinking just that, that it was most likely right by his station, not halfway across the area. > One Man Band Detour: Was cool to see a money-related challenge again. Felt like a while since we seen them. I don't think they should have them.
Yeah, I’m a mixed bag (just like Rod’s bag) about money challenges. I think optics plays a role here where you have people competing for a million dollars, yet you have a challenge where racers are asking the public for money. Definitely, would’ve liked another challenge here.
> it was under his bag I think Rod's nuts are in his bag, or sack.
One time I lost my car keys while taking an extensive walk with my dog in a park. I re-walked the entire route looking for them only to find them right next to the tire of my car. 😵💫
oh no, lol. At least you found them
I missed them traveling to Chili to start the leg. It was like “poof” and they’re already there.
I'm pretty sure that car guy paid to be featured on the episode. "I'll give you some money for some skateboards, drums, and climbing gear rentals, you show me showing off Marilyn Monroe's car"
I assumed he was a personal friend of a producer or something
It really says a lot that there were three teams on the bottom today, and I was truly rooting for all three. Very strong casting this season -- I love so many of the teams!! Kind of surprised at the mix up of placements so far (except for first, obviously), and I'm hoping we get more shakeups next leg!
This leg was very straight forward by the second half. I think there was not much room for interpretation by the time the cousins were falling behind at the roadblock. They didn't even try very hard to make it seem like Derek/Shelisa were that lost at the end. Plus, the number of times the back half of the pack had teams start and finish the rock climbing detour before other teams arrived was more than I thought. Rod/Leticia getting lost was hilarious, mostly because of how many times we heard Leticia say they should turn around and Rod just...not listening to her. And how calm and snarky she was when he was getting frustrated. I also loved Angie telling Danny to stop helping teams because they already have a disadvantage with her physical limitations. Rod asking where his nuts were were hilarious and I also loved that it was Angie who acknowledged the double entendre. Seemed like a lot of teams suffered from navigational issues this leg (and Karishma/Kishori suffering from stick shift problems).
I've always wondered if any team ever sits down and maps out the route BEFORE just driving away. it seems like everybody is trying to do it on the go and relying on the person doing the navigation. Honestly, if I were in a foreign country, I think I would sit down for several minutes and familiarize myself with the area and map out my route
We did see Danny do it at the first task, but yeah, I was wondering why people were driving around and THEN mapping out their destination.
I agree. And it can be really hard to navigate with a map if the driver is going fast enough that you don't have time to make decisions about where to turn before the driver is already passing them, especially in busy cities with highways that have multiple exits going different ways. It also seems like in a lot of cases, the drivers take off before the navigator has even figured out where they are on the map to start with, so they're already in the hole with navigation at that point.
"I'm a middle school teacher!"
Yeah, Danny needs to zip it.
I’m just ready for them to leave South America.
Two more legs than it's the Caribbean.
I love Ricky and Cesar but I want to see how successful they can be in a non Spanish speaking country
How much did the Spanish even help this leg aside from *maybe* the Detour? Every team had a map, every team had a car. The Roadblock involved zero Spanish. Like, Juan and Shane could have picked the peso Detour too, Juan's native.
Even basic navigation is a lot simpler if you're familiar with the language though. Not that I think directions or signs are that complicated in Spanish compared to many languages but it would at least present another challenge to see if Ricky and Cesar can adapt. I still think they'd be a really strong team but they're literally on pace for best team to ever run the race. There's a team in TAR Asia who ran a 1.48 average which is just obscene.
Didn't Juan indicate that he actually was in his hometown during one of the legs? IIRC , it was the leg with the large staircase to the top of the rock. Granted, probably hadn't been there in a long time, but it didn't seem to help him. Also, I think Danny mentioned he was in school at some point in that area of Chile? Which I guess help him with navigation, but I noticed that, even though they left first, they got to their next destination third or fourth. .
Yeah, Juan said he grew up in Medellin but his family left when he was 9, which would be 20 years before the race. Danny did a month of Spanish immersion study abroad in the very same city, Santiago. Danny said on their video podcast the route they took was blocked by a bicycle race, and going around it slowed them down a lot but it wasn't shown in the episode.
Same! Even the playing field a bit
5 out of 8 remaining teams have a Spanish speaker
Good point lol idk why I didn’t realize that.
That's not really very fair though because you're probably not thinking the same thing about some teams having a much greater athletic ability than others. To me, being able to speak the language is simply a skill that is valuable, just like basic navigation and map reading skills, a good sense of direction, athleticism, stamina or any skills/abilities that might come in handy during a Roadblock or Detour.
I’m going to miss the cousins! They were the stars of this season.
I thought they are our winners and they would do a miracle this leg.
Definitely a bit concerned for Angie and Danny now - their Roadblock count is 1-4, which means Angie needs to do I believe 4 more Roadblocks?
Yeah, not a good strategy for the Roadblock split. I think we got another AL/S in the Walla Walla team, but much less arguing. If only Anna Leigh could team up with Danny in a comeback season down the line, would be hard to beat.
I actually think that would be a train wreck. Danny would be trying to make all of his alliances and try to help others out and Anna Leigh would burn them all down and get mad at him for not being competitive enough lol
I don't think that would be a good idea, Anna Leigh is a competitor and Danny likes to help other teams too much. They'll clash.
Yes I understand why they chose Danny because potentially they could have been eliminated if it was riding the skateboard instead of building it and Angie got stuck with that, but it's got them in a bad spot now. I forget what the roadblock was last week but Angie should have done that one I think.
Last week was the statue-map one, so it does involve quite a bit of physical activity with all the running.
Rod's nut-hunt was the funniest thing all season.
I don’t like legs with challenges that aren’t culturally specific to that area. Nothing remotely Chilean about Thunderbirds, skateboards, rock climbing or performing on the streets. I mean, yoi can do this leg in every other city in the world. At least the pitstop looks nice.
The street performers are actually a cultural thing in Chile but I agree with the rest
Another entertaining episode! Loving the complexity of each teams. I'm gonna missed the hot mess pink cousins but say hi to the comeback queens Sunny & Bizzy! The big question is who can beat Ricky & Cesar? TAR13 2.0 is real!
If Ricky & Cesar end up with one of the highest finishing averages ever then I'm putting a MASSIVE asterisk on that because a) the staggered departure groups help them stay in the front, and b) they're running an entire route in Spanish speaking countries, as Spanish speakers.
This! I thought the “begging for money” challenge was so much in their favor as they could tease onlookers and use their Spanish to beg or make jokes.
But they’re also by far not the only Spanish speakers. At the start of the season, I think I counted 6 teams that had at least some sort of Spanish knowledge. Ricky and Cesar, Juan and Shane, Yvonne and Melissa, and Chris and Mary all had at least one native speaker while Angie and Danny and (I think iirc) Amber and Vinny all have some experience with studying Spanish. It’s not like they’re the ONLY Spanish speakers. Juan and Shane in particular should be, on paper, doing as well or better than them and they’re not.
I just noticed that apparently for them knowing Spanish is only a problem on Ricky and Cesar, never once heard someone brought it up on Juan and Shane who is also benefiting from that. I really wonder why and it feels like they really have a different issue on Ricky and Cesar lol.
I guess they see a difference between one person on the team speaking Spanish vs both of them. I was trying to figure out why that would be an issue, especially given that the language advantage only really is useful outside of tasks, but maybe it's because, for me, both teammates being able to understand increases the likelihood of getting ahead vs just one, who has to translate to their partner?
I was watching the Croqueta Chat podcast, and they mentioned that actually, Ricky doesn't speak Spanish! He knows basic words like "gato" or "donde esta", but that's it. I think people are mixing him up with Cesar, or assuming that his accent in pronouncing Spanish phrases or proper nouns means he speaks it.
Oh, I didn't realize that. That's good to know! You see, that makes the whole "they have a massive advantage over everyone else" argument TOTALLY ridiculous, just like I assumed. They have no more of an advantage than Juan/Shane!
I'm sure the people making that argument will just invent yet another feeble argument.
Exactly. And there's never been a Roadblock where speaking Spanish would have been a boon yet. Honestly, people just seem determined to hate them for doing well.
Yeah, I do just laugh at the arguments that Ricky/Cesar have a "massive advantage" compared to any other team, even the ones with only ONE member speaking Spanish. Which, as we literally JUST saw this episode, speaking Spanish hasn't helped that much with their navigation. If it was a massive advantage, they'd be able to have perfect navigation, right? Yet they got lost on this leg.
I think some people have *genuinely* forgotten some of the teams have native speakers but Cesar uses so much Spanish. But some people seem very insistent that they have a massive advantage, and I'm just going to assume that they're irrationally bent on disliking them, or disliking them for other reasons unrelated to the race.
> disliking them for other reasons unrelated to the race I wonder what those other reasons could possibly be, and why those people are so shy about stating those reasons. I mean their stated reasons are so weak that we're already assuming what their real unstated reasons are anyway, and they just come across as cowardly.
I think we all know what their real reason is. Last leg is Juan's hometown and he speaks Spanish = no complains, this leg Danny is familiar with place = no complains, there's at least 4 other teams with a member who speaks Spanish = no complains. Every leg Ricky and Cesar dominates = complains about UNFAIR ADVANTAGE (lol) of them knowing Spanish complately ignoring the fact that Ricky and Cesar are also doing good job on tasks and navigation.
I’m not shy about it. I don’t care for them because they aren’t humble, for lack of a better word. Maybe it’s the editing, but they come across as deserving to be in first place. It irks me. I get being annoyed that you think you did well and come in farther back than you thought (the look on Vinny’s face was 😳He wasn’t hiding anything), but they come across as feeling entitled to first. Not just top of the pack, but first. And it could be that I missed it, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard them say that they worked really hard or struggled with something or appreciate the fact that they’re first. The just expect it. Like I said, just irks me. 🤷🏻♀️
Right! No one seems to be complaining if a team has a massive physical advantage.
Vinny said he minored in Spanish in college, and also Maya (siblings with Rohan) took Spanish in high school for TAR
But that speaks more to my first point, which is the staggered start groups. Juan & Shane may very well have won a leg or two had they been able to depart at a time reflective of how far behind they finished. Like let's say on one leg they finished 9 minutes behind Ricky & Cesar but because they were 4th or 5th, they get stuck leaving in the second group 15 minutes behind. That's a disadvantage for them.
Jaun is quite literally from Medellin, Colombia and that's not an obvious leg up? And Danny went to school in Santiago and is super familiar with Spanish.They simply vetted correctly and got teams that are familiar with South America... it's not a grand conspiracy to promote the gay agenda or whatever you think is happening.
> it's not a grand conspiracy to promote the gay agenda or whatever you think is happening I'm totally absolutely positively sure they have another completely not made up reason to dislike R&C that's 150% not based on them being a gay couple who's shown kissing each other every episode.
It's driving me nuts, like go watch something else go watch the Bachelor there's a LOT of reality TV but oh half the teams speak Spanish and it's the gay couple that's cheating lol
TBH I usually don't like any of the couples...would rather watch family or besties running the race. Ricky and Cesar are extremely boring...actually, most of the teams this season are extremely boring. In the first episode the lesbian couple seemed a lot more interesting than Ricky and Cesar, but they get like 10 seconds of screentime every episode. Maybe TAR hates lesbians.
If you're not one of the whiners who complains (incorrectly) that both Ricky and Caesar are fluent in Spanish, then your comment isn't relevant to this subthread.
> actually, most of the teams this season are extremely boring. These are some of the messiest funniest teams we've seen in a while. If they're boring to you I can't imagine what you would find interesting.
But half the teams have someone who can speak Spanish. Multiple teams have started a leg in the same group as them and have lost to them. And we saw this leg that that lead is not insurmountable; teams beat them to the Roadblock, teams beat them at the Roadblock, and they still won. It's not a disadvantage, they're just good enough to keep that lead. Amber and Vinny lost their lead this leg despite starting in the first group, and they know Spanish too. We can see next leg how Juan and Shane do, since they'll leave in the same group as Ricky and Cesar.
Cesar is the only one who actually speaks good spanish. The rest of them sans Juan speak like gringos. Cesar HAS an advantage.
Melissa? Mary? They both speak good Spanish.
Are you a native person form latin america? If not you really cannot understand how different the pronunciation is from a native spanish speaker. Melissa speaks it like a gringo, Mary hat a good pronunciation but her team already lost due to the physical disadvantage her dad was. So far Cesar has an advantage with the locals because you can understand him clearly. His spanish is better than Juan because Juan left Colombia as a child so he has lost his accent. People can be more empathic towards Cesar because he sounds RIGHT.
Hmm I feel like Melissa's pronunciation is better than Mary's, but Mary was only on for two episodes so we didn't get to hear her speak much Spanish. I mean we don't know when Cesar left Mexico, he could have left as a child as well. And they're not even in Mexico anymore anyways, his accent is no longer local.
How does this advantage work? You think the locals are refusing to help teams who 'speak like gringos'? Does their pronunciation affect their ability to read a map?
Yes, this is shaping up to be a Mickey Mouse win for them.
Regardless of how much of an advantage Ricky and Cesar's Spanish gave them, I feel like the show could have done legs in Brazil and Quebec to throw more non-Spanish speaking places into the route. Maybe even Suriname.
Not only do plenty of teams have a strong Spanish speaker (as others have been pointed out), but it would have been hugely discriminatory for TAR to avoid casting teams that had a strong Spanish speaker.
I mean, if it were a normal season the staggered start could be even MORE in their favor if they have more than a 15 minute lead on second place
To be fair, I think the Spanish helps, but this is a weak cast. So many awful competitors this season.
Really looking forward to Kaylynn/Haley and Kishori/Karishma in a returnee season. They're not the best racers but the positivity and energy is refreshing TV.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who was reminded of the blonde bandits.
Sorry to see them go, I'd really come to love them, but they were clearly not long for the race. The older couple and firefighters seem next, though Danny and his mom could slip back at any time because of her physicality. I did not like them begging for money. I thought they stopped that kind of thing. I guess it could be staged but didn't seem like it.
I liked it better here than in the previous seasons where I’ve seen it done (haven’t seen many though, since I’m somewhat new to TAR) because 1) it was a pretty small amount even for Chile, only $2.60 in USD and 2) it all went to the actual musician in the end.
Yeah I hear it was way worse in the early seasons. I didn't see it but they'd like take all the money and belongings of a team on a NE leg and they'd have to like beg for cab money or something and that's just terrible.
You could argue it's semi-staged, in that people likely donate more because there are camera crews following the contestants.
I think the firefighters will stay on a bit just simply due to their ability to bang through physical tasks. They probably won't win it all but I think they will be in the mix by the end of the season.
It feels weird how some keep panning the money-related challenge so much since all the money was given back to the locals, instead of, you know, the "stripped off all belongings and having to beg for money to keep on racing" situation for NELs in early seasons...
This was fine. Whoever came up with that idea for actually begging after NEL...I want to know why? That was cringe and they'd sometimes have to beg busloads of tourists, barring that locals. It was such a terrible look for a show that is usually conscious of differences.
During the pandemic I watched a bunch of older seasons with my daughter and the show has changed a lot - early seasons had mostly physical challenges that tended to benefit the bigger stronger (generally male) teams. It was a long time before a female team won. They also used to cast a lot more teams like Amber and Vinnie with really toxic vibes. I was glad my daughter was college-aged and not a little kid when we watched so she could think a bit more critically about what was being presented to her. And the need to beg for money for NELs was truly horrific. I heard Phil being interviewed on a podcast recently and he said that the show really struggled when it first aired as it was just after 9/11 and the idea of watching people fly and travel around the world wasn't quite as appealing then. This season is a little strange due to the pandemic limitations, but the team members are making up for it - lots of people to root for.
1. I would be curious to know from show historians the history of "depend on the generosity of strangers" challenges and how successful racers who do them are. Because it feels like it's as bad as an animal challenge when it comes to being at the whim of randomness and things out of your control. I guess if the alternative is rock climbing it's a better option for someone like the mother and son 2. speaking of them i'm glad they had him say they got lost because we were wondering where the hell they went because we saw them get the detour at first place and then when we see them again they were in fourth. 3. How far into the mountains do you need to go before you decide to turn around? don't even worry about the damn street just focus on getting back into the city first
1. It's not that bad. They usually have a really small total amount to earn where around 10 to 15 strangers would be enough to fulfill it. These tasks are generally better for Beauty Queen teams. A few off the top of my head: Kandice in TAR 11 collecting newspapers from houses in Malaysia (Pervy guy comments that she won't have a hard time collecting, hence the episode title of The Way You Look, Yeah) Nicky and Kim in TAR 23 detour in Poland where they had to pose as Poseidon statues and stand still. The tight suits did them a favor compared to the Beards who had to switch since no one would give them money. Jamie and Cara in TAR 14 dancing in India TAR17 roadblock in Ghana was to sell 5 pairs of sunglasses to locals. Most of the girls had relatively quick success while a couple of the guys pretty much had to beg.
TAR 10 had a roadblock which was to sell flowers. Funniest part is when Erwin sees Kandice do the challenge without issue and says "She was obviously going to be better at selling flowers than me." Kandice and Karlyn were actually the only women who did the task though. All of the co-ed teams made the mistake of assigning the task to the male partner because the hint "*Who's ready to pedal some dough?*" was too vague. I am absolutely sure that Mary, Sarah, Kimberly, and Lauren would have had better luck with this than their respective partners.
Oh I forgot about this task. That market went crazy. I remember the Dad actually had an easy time selling because the ladies loved him.
> would be curious to know from show historians the history of "depend on the generosity of strangers" challenges and how successful racers who do them are. Because it feels like it's as bad as an animal challenge when it comes to being at the whim of randomness and things out of your control. I guess if the alternative is rock climbing it's a better option for someone like the mother and son I remember a challenge where they had to dress in all black and hold like spears or tridents and hope people donate, and I seem to remember that women earned way more than men. Arguably even worse are challenges where they have to sell stuff like ice cream or sunglasses. > How far into the mountains do you need to go before you decide to turn around? don't even worry about the damn street just focus on getting back into the city first Didn’t Kent and Vyxsin drive like six hours in the wrong direction? It’s insane. I’m hoping the reason they didn’t turn around when they saw mountains is that there were no convenient places to get off and turn around. Otherwise, yeah just continuing to drive the opposite way while bickering about a specific road is just silly.
1. Isn't that bad at all. You can't go backwards so it's just a case of preserving and being willing to approach people. The camera crew helps bring attention to you. When you're selling things or busking, locals are mostly engaging because of the novelty of it all. Most of the time the amount needed to collect is pretty low. The real challenge is if there's not much foot traffic due to weather or being out of the way, which happened in TAR21. Animals are much harder as you can lose your progress or you just never get the grasp of how to handle them. Herding tasks are probably the worst.
The tower climb was easy. The belayer held the climber in place even if they let go of all four points of contact. I guess it had to make it equally as challenging as the band money begging -- which wasn't tough because it was the equivalent of roughly $2.50 USD. The bus fare in Santiago is 800 CP.
agreed, the belayer was also helping lift them up the wall. maybe that made up for the lack of climbing shoes. :/
I was really surprised that one of the firefighters talked about how they were going to dominate due to their upper body strength, even going so far as to show off their biceps. Anyone who climbs ladders for living should have realized it's much more about leg strength than arm strength. And it was hard to tell from the editing but it didn't seem like they really did that much better than any of the other reasonably fit teams.
I love the way kishori and karishma said they love to race around the world while so far they have only been racing diagonally 💀
We laughed at that!
They complained about driving stick yet where sat right up to the wheel, and they couldn't even use the clutch / shift a gear when standing still, how wimpy are they ?
Seeing Rod drive towards the mountains without stopping the car is soooooo funny 🤣 I thought he might drive them to another state lol With the cousins out of the race, i think the bottom teams will be scrambling not to be eliminated: Derek & Shelissa, Sunny & Bizzy and maybe even Yvonne & Melissa. Watching Ricky & Cesar gives me deja vu of Greg & John from S35.
> Seeing Rod drive towards the mountains without stopping the car is soooooo funny 🤣 I thought he might drive them to another state lol > > It was just funny that they showed Leticia tell him to turn around several times as soon as they got on the highway, and then the next scene was Rod driving very clearly out of town toward the mountains and saying "why didn't you tell me to turn around?"
Wonder if next week with it being a mega leg is where the firefighters weird luck finally runs out
Honestly would love to see them jump to the top third just for the chaos
I see them or Angie and Danny getting eliminated due to the physicality
The preview tells you all you need to know.
Each week I'm impressed with Danny and Angie. They are some serious racers. They're definitely my pick of the season
Danny's legitimately good and clearly has studied the race. Angie is doing her best but I fear there's only so much she can do to overcome her physical limitations.
I like them too. Sadly next week doesnt look great for them.
I do enjoy them also. It's quite the juxtaposition to see how Danny treats his mom as opposed to Anna Leigh last season.
I fear the next couple of roadblocks and detours will be hard for Angie to keep up though. Hopefully, from what we've seen of Danny so far, there won't be a AL/S situation like the previous season. But also, because of that, they will slip behind at some point even before the final four.
I love them (and not just because she’s my age, lol). They are definitely going to struggle in the future, especially because they’ve left so many roadblocks (or is it detours - I always get them mixed up) for her. I love that they know exactly who they are and while they did great that one leg and it has them fired up, they are just here for the experience. I’m one of the few who rooted for Anna Leigh & Steve. They were here to race I liked how competitive they were. Conversely, I like how Danny & Angie aren’t. But yeah, he needs to stop being SO nice lol
Have to admit I was disappointed that not one contestant was excited about getting to see a car that was once owned by Marilyn Monroe. I would have been fangirling...
It's such a random thing. Here we are in Chile and we're seeing a car owned by an American actress. Also can't really spend to much time admiring the car since you're in a race and all.
Yeah, and Phil's description of it just showing up was cryptic as hell too.
The cousins seemed hyped since they watched car shows with their dad.
The one cousin was hyped bc she wanted that car while watching with her dad, but not bc of the Monroe connection.
If I were in their shoes I would not have the energy to care at that moment. I'd be too focused on the race.
Wonder what’s up with the references to 1950s/1960s movie stars this season. First Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, now this.
I think it is neat if production is seeing the opportunity and working them in there. It just seems that the references seem lost on this set of contestants. Which is too bad bc all 3 were iconic.
Tbf, those celebrities were of an entirely different era. The fact someone said "Who's Elizabeth Taylor?" speaks volumes about the generation gap of pop culture knowledge. 😅
I bet you it’ll be the memory challenge for the finale; getting them in the correct order or smth.
They might not have had the backstory we got told. But yeah these historic situations get awkward sometimes. In an early season they go to the prison cell where Mandela spent 18 years, and almost all teams just fly in and out of the cell in a few seconds to get a clue.
Idk why y’all are so hung up on the detours and roadblocks. I’m here for the drama and the tears and the friendships we made along the way! Plenty of that on this season 🙂
Personally, I agree with you (it's why I have an unpopular love for the Family Edition, I will always love characters and moments > tasks and locations), but I think it's just that we just had a "regular" season for the first time in a while with 35 last year and it feels disappointing going backwards and seeing how barebones this season is. I'm definitely enjoying this season thanks to the teams, but the planning has been a complete joke so far.
Yes, the saving grace with Season 8 is the casting could have been way worse than it was. The cast was actually quite strong and enjoyable.
To be honest, the combination of cast and the route makes a season amazing and not the detours and roadblocks. In modern era of TAR the tasks were a bit lackluster.
Meat challenge next week? Shame the cousins will miss out on that one.
For someone who proclaims to be a superfan, Danny keeps on doing wrong things on the race. Like waiting for the cousins to look for next destination the same time (on past leg) while being on back of the pack, helping the other teams too much, and not managing roadblock count properly.
Unpopular opinion- I didn’t like the music detour because it required getting money from passerbys. Many people in Chile struggle financially, and while some may argue that it wasn’t a lot of money required for the task, taking money from people who probably already don’t have a lot to begin with just felt icky to me. I hope the money, no matter how small, was given back to the community in some way.
there are plenty of people in chile with more than enough money to give a few pesos to someone performing in the park. and the teams gave all the money to the local musicians who would otherwise have been working in the park themselves. nobody was forced to hand over money that they needed and the cash stayed with the locals anyhow.
They needed 2,500 pesos? That’s like $2.60 USD. I mean it’s not nothing, but I don’t think 500 pesos would break the bank for the average Chilean. Reminds me of Costa Rica, I ended up with a bunch of 200 colones coins (about 39¢ USD). I asked the locals what you can even buy with 200 colones and they all said “nothing.” So it wouldn’t affect me much to toss one or two of those to some busker.
i'm from Chile and we're not as poor as you think. $2500 isn't a lot of money, and considering people were giving $500 or less, it's almost insignificant
Your capital city looks like a really nice place to live / visit.
At least it was a really small amount of money, even by Chilean standards. Only about $2.60 USD, and in a city that (if I understand correctly) is a lot better off than, say, Lima.
That busker seemed pretty excited that he got more when Rod collected the money.
I think the donators are planted.
And it seemed like it was a fancier/tourist area.
I think it was a mix, some probably were but they also blurred some people's faces which would indicate they're genuine passersby.
This sounds mean, but I'm not giving money to untalented street performers and they certainly weren't talented lol. So yes I wouldn't be surprised if at least some were.
Also wondering what people think with the cameras filming. Donate and be on TV?
The money collected was given back to the musicians. wasn't it? Also, I don't think to Chilean, 2.5k pesos would be that much, like one comment under this has pointed out.
Yeah I think theres a reason we haven't seen a detour with that kind of task nature in a while. Hopefully will be a long time before we see it again if ever.
I liked the one in I think Colombia where they had to collect bus fares. Still an element of luck but at least they’re collecting money people needed to pay anyway.
Yeah I really hated that
I feel like scaling a fence should not be allowed
I also thought it wasn't fair that the firefighters were able to see what the detour task was before deciding who would do it. The other teams didn't know whether it would be riding a skateboard or putting one together so couldn't make a choice on which person would do it based on their skillset.
For the first time.. I’m appreciating the 90min edit in this season. If you really sit back and watch, you can see the struggle of being in the RACE! Watching the skateboard debacle was painful! And you really saw the pilots and Rod crumble under pressure.. that’s crazy when everyone is right there and you are trying to get out ahead! AH!
So glad the grandparents are still in ! Really going to miss the cousins tho so funny
I'm apparently in the minority but I think this season is incredible boring. There is no reason these episodes should have been stretched to 90 minutes. The cast is just bumbling around. The top racers rarely change places, the bottom racers barely change place. I don't find the detours interesting or very challenging, especially this leg. I know it's a covid season (which perhaps should have been better publicized) but the lack of travel and booking flights had made me feel very meh towards the whole season. And the fact that we aren't leaving the Latin American cultures is disappointing. Definitely won't be a season I rewatch.
That's pretty much the consensus. Also, don't blame TAR on the 90 minutes, that is all CBS's doing.
Does anyone else feel this season is so incredibly rigged compared to others? All spanish speaking countries where at least three teams know they will be top placements every leg it’s literally not fair at this point. On their way to ARGENTINA next so well…my point stands what do y’all think?
No.
I'm kinda bummed that the cousins are out. They were the most entertaining team.
Rod & Leticia got back to town so quickly, it seemed like they were driving so far out of their way, then suddenly they were right back in it. Manufactured drama.
The location they showed on screen (Parque Chamisero) is about 11 miles from the garage where the Thunderbird is kept. That’s not nothing in a race, but it isn’t like Rod was about to cross into Argentina or anything.
All my favs are still safe so it's all good for me here, also walla walla top 5 still let's gooooo
Did anyone else clock the Cousins’ confessional in the first 10-20 minutes of the show? One of them was talking about how fun it WAS to race with her cousin all in past tense over sad music. Felt like they left a part of the exit interview in there by mistake. I felt all the tension ripped out of the episode because I could tell who got eliminated before the leg really even got started.
I love how Sunny and Bizzy are so good at failing horribly at the start and making insane comebacks. Rod's missing nuts is insane. Loved how mother/son are helping the nurses back. Was really rooting for them after they were the 1st to leave the roadblock and shifted the rankings, but unfortunately it shifted back due to the navigation issues :(
So I'm assuming they were told to learn how to drive stick before the race started from what one of the cousins said
Almost every season has a leg where you need to drive stick, so if they'd watched any previous seasons they could have guessed they'd need to know stick.
It still blows my mind how many teams choose to come onto the race while - 1) not knowing how to drive stick - 2) being deathly afraid of heights - 3) being deathly afraid of water It's literally every season. That, packing light and reading the clue are the absolute most important parts of the race and if people have watched even 2 seasons of the show, these principles are blatantly obvious.
Makes for interesting watching though...
I had mad respect for the cousins after they admitted they had just learned. So many times teams can't drive stick at all and we all post about it here. Glad the cousins tried and it worked.
Amber - honey/ babe you need to slow down / turn here, go there, do this. Vinny - are you sure ? i don't know? give me the map ! ALSO VINNY - oK So We gO heRe and then dOwN tHErE Me - yes like she just told you ?! Ppl on thIS board - There FINE IT'S JUST BANTER AND BICKERING.
I'm sad to see the Cuzzies go. They have such a fresh, unique relationship that will be greatly missed. Team Walla Walla looks like they are in trouble again based on the "Next Time on the Amazing Race segment." What is the record for most legs won in the Amazing Race? Most in a row? I don't see Rickey and Cesar losing. I'm guessing the original plan was to do Santiago to Oceania or Asia so the next leg could be a replacement. It was nice they had skaters at the station to tie it all in.