The Amazing Race 5 a go.... (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

Okay, time to come up with team nicknames:

The ones I've heard that I liked (or made up):

Team 1.5
Team Dysfunctional
Team I-Date
Team Bowling for Columbine
Team Wonder Twins Activate!
Team Blue Lagoon
Team Mario Brothers

 

[MickeS]

Best moment was when the twins (I believe) were saying "I bet we have already walked by the marker without seeing it!"... as they were shown walking by the marker without seeing it.



I agree that they could have made the "yield" into a "make another team perform a time-consuming task" instead. But it might make it more frustrating for the targeted team to just have to sit and wait instead of doing something, and that might build up some interesting tension.

I felt bad for the short cousin when the teams had to run, but I was impressed with her carrying the meat. I wonder if they'll end up in some competitions that she can't do due to her size?

 

[Patrick Sun]

For those who missed the first installment, supposedly there's a re-run slated to air this Saturday night (around 9 p.m. EDT, I think, consult your local listings).

 

[Tony-B]

I'm gonna end up watching it again. I missed the first half-hour due to the fact that it coincided with my other reality show, Last Comic Standing.

One thing that shocked me was how blind these people were when it came to finding the markers. I was literally screaming "IT'S RIGHT THERE DUMBASS!".

That zip challenge was so cool. It looked like it would be so much fun to do.

 

[Daniel Kikin]

The whole series is slating to re-run on Sat. Nights at 8:00 PM EDT starting this week.

 

[brentl]

Hey give my girls some time!!

Now Alison needs to go badly!

B

 

[Greg Krewet]

Was it an editing trick, or were there some couples actually standing in front of a taxi stand while they were
trying to call for taxis. Anyway at least on the first episode the pizza dough boys win the most annoying award
hands down.
Best
Greg

 

[Bryan_O]

Whew! I almost feel bad for Donny...racing with Alison. He's going to go home in a body bag.

 

[DeathStar1]

Heh, I wanna get my father and sister signed up for this. My father dosn't care much for travel, so it'll be a life opener for him ,and my sister knows a few languages, so that should help them if they go to France or any Spanish speaking countries ..

 

[LorenzoL]

Team Wonder Twins Activate!

Classic line

 

[LorenzoL]

Like most people here I find Alison and Donny annoying however, I want them to stick around since they are the most entertaining team in this version.

So far, I don't have any favorite teams but I do have a list of annoying teams like the twins, the cousins and the Christian couple plus the above team.

Next stop Argentina.

P.S. You would think that knowing that they will be travelling abroad, they will pick up the most basic words or phrases in Spanish, French or German or carry some type of phrase book in different languages.
It was pathetic seeing some of the teams trying to talk to people in Uruguay and using English words with some kind of Spanish accent, thinking that the people will understand them.

 

[Jason Seaver]

P.S. You would think that knowing that they will be travelling abroad, they will pick up the most basic words or phrases in Spanish, French or German or carry some type of phrase book in different languages.

I think any guide/phrase books have to be purchased with your "race money", and you don't have many opportunities to make detours to do that except in the airport, before you leave for your destination.

Still, you'd think with South America likely being one of the first destinations, teams would make an effort to pick up some Spanish before leaving.

 

[Kenneth_C]

The last-place team on non-elimination rounds loses their money. Kind of an odd choice, since I don't remember the last time a team being low on funds seemed to be an issue.

I've read several interviews/comments by past racers that money was most definitely an issue and concern for them. TV viewers just aren't shown much of that aspect of the race. (Probably because it's not exciting enough.)

I imagine that losing whatever money you've managed to save could have a serious impact on the next leg of the race. After all, your team would already be in last place; and having to take time to beg or barter for enough cash to even take a cab, for example, could easily spell doom.

 

[LorenzoL]

Whew! I almost feel bad for Donny...racing with Alison. He's going to go home in a body bag.

I felt like screaming out to Donny to stand up and don't be such a whipped guy. Seems like a nice guy but unfortunately he's not one of the brightest people around.

 

[Jason Seaver]

I've read several interviews/comments by past racers that money was most definitely an issue and concern for them. TV viewers just aren't shown much of that aspect of the race. (Probably because it's not exciting enough.)

I imagine that's true enough; however, if the purpose of the rule changes are to make the show more exciting to the viewer, it's kind of invisible, since we never know how much money a team has. Maybe it would seem like a bigger deal if they were showing the bankroll as part of a stat line when they identified the teams on-screen.

Truth be told, I'm not exactly sure why they changed the game at all. Eliminating the maps makes some sense, but the relative simplicity and straightforward nature of the game is part of its appeal.

 

[Lew Crippen]

I imagine that's true enough; however, if the purpose of the rule changes are to make the show more exciting to the viewer, it's kind of invisible, since we never know how much money a team has.

Jason, IIRC, in the very first season, there was some emphasis on money—especially at the beginning. But the editing never really gave the audience the impression that bad money management decisions were an issue (although I do think that some team suffered from an unwise choice).

So it is possible that it is an issue for the teams, but not one where they can figure out how to keep the audience appreciative of the problems. After all it is a lot easier to see the direct results of a challenge.

And (again if I am remembering rightly) by the middle of the first season, money was not mentioned at all.

 

[Daniel Kikin]

After thinking about it more, I really don't like the Yield so much, I really hope it's in addition to the fast-forward and not in place of. Seeing teams jump from last to first with the FF is exciting, and there's a lot more strategy to using it than the yield. I can just see a string of weeks where the Yield is used by the team in second or third-to-last place, none of the lead teams would want to use it beacuse they'd be saving it just in case. If the Yield allowed you to stop teams ahead of you also, it would be definitely be better. Like MickeS said, it could lead to more tension (which is probably what the producers had in mind when they introduced it), especially if a Yielded team makes it to the next leg, so it might not be so bad after all, I guess time will tell. Either way, TAR is still great and I'm glad it's back again!

 

[Bryan_O]

With my job, I've had the great pleasure of being able to travel all over the world (I've got 40-plus countries under my belt). Anyway, each season of he amazing race, they've gone somewhere that I've been. For me, it's way cool to be able to remember some of these spots as they race through them.

I was in both Uruguay and Buenos Aires back in '98. Looking forward to next week to spot some landmarks.

 

[LorenzoL]

With my job, I've had the great pleasure of being able to travel all over the world (I've got 40-plus countries under my belt). Anyway, each season of he amazing race, they've gone somewhere that I've been. For me, it's way cool to be able to remember some of these spots as they race through them.

Lucky you. Hope your family is cool about that.

 

[David_Jr]

I thought this episode was good. The best thing about it I thought was that there were no standout teams really. During the introductions I kept telling my wife as a team was introduced that "they'll be gone first", then "no, they'll be gone first." Then a totally young team was eliminated. I don't know if this is due to the types of challenges not necessarily favoring the younger/stronger/faster teams, although that beef challenge seemed to take a real toll on even the young men. Maybe it was equally difficult on everyone and maybe that was why this episode was so good. I was kind of surprised that there was no intervention for the guy that split his leg open. How lucky was he that he got stitched in time to make his flight and just kept on going. Good for him. Looking forward to a tightly contested race although I would suspect as in other races the older and more out of shape teams will fall early.