The Amazing Race Season 19: Meet The New Cast

Grr!


"The video you have requested is not available for your geographic region."

Well where would you suggest I watch it, CBS?

not like I'm trying to watch an episode and avoiding the Canadian feeds (with the Canadian content and advertising)

Hey Ronald, you may want to put "Season 19" in the thread title, just to distinguish from the other TAR threads.

 

After reading some things about this coming season, I'm looking forward to it, as I always enjoy seeing the places featured, usually more than the teams themselves.

Link worked great. Looking forward to this, by far my favorite "reality" show.

Just a reminder, the start of the new season starts tonight! It may start later  for some, due to football overruns.

 

Not  surprisingly, the starting line will be in the same place as before. But the bright side, is that few countries and a US city will be visited for the first time as well.

I'm glad to see the show back. Again, not a fan of a task at the starting line, but I guess it is better than just having teams run to the car, and drive to the airport. And at least there was no elimination there (thank God!)

 

With that being said, a few things annoyed me...

 

1. Something just didn't seem right, with the way one of the Showgirls got her passport back.

 

2. Survivor couple in the race. Possible repeat of Rob & Amber!

 

3. Unless I missed something, a Hazard does not seem any different from a Speed Bump!

 

4. I don't need to know how much time is left until The Good Wife starts, which was distracting.

 

Now, I thought it was remarkable that the Showgirls overcame the Hazard, and lost passport, and still not finish last in the leg. Not that it would have mattered, since it ended up being a  non-elimination leg.

 

I forgotten how hot Asian cities can be, as we could see the racers were sweating like crazy!

 

Edited by Walter C - 9/25/11 at 7:09pm

1. It appeared pretty straight-forward.  Twitter caught that one of the racers was missing a passport.  The two guys from the gas station found a passport and also gave directions to the snow boarders, and ultimately put two and two together.  It was certainly nice of them to drive to the airport to drop the passport off.

 

3. They are similar, except that a hazard is a penalty for finishing last in a challenge, while a speed bump is for finishing last in a leg.  Clearly the potential of being awarded a hazard penalty (it's unclear how many challenges will have them) may influence other aspects of the race, like, for example, when to use the express pass, and when to try for the fast forward.

The showgirls sure were lucky to get that passport back.

I was glad to see it was a non-elimination leg, since I think the grandparents redeemed themselves by nailing the memorization challenge on seemingly the first try. Double elimination next week!

 

Yeah, but... how? My impression is the teams aren't allowed to use their own tech during the race (ie: no cell phones, etc) so how did it get onto Twitter that they lost their passport? And why did the guys who found it at the gas station automatically assume the passport was a TAR team and decide to head to LAX? The temple to LAX is a 30m drive... by map. The reality is more like an hour at the minimum. Then having to deal with parking at the airport, etc.  That's a lot of hassle for a couple of guys to take the time to do. The entire thing smacks of producer manipulation.

 

I figured they'd get their passport back on time somehow but I didn't like the way it played out. Very unrealistic.

 

Jenna and Ethan were really downplayed in this ep. I was a little surprised. I prefer they be treated as a normal team, but if it were Rob and Amber it'd be all about them.

A New York Times article about the whole passport thing here. This may clear some things up!

 

Now back to the race...

 

Maybe next week, I will decide which teams I like or don't like. For now, it's too early to tell. But already, major drama with the 2 siblings teams, which is something that often not seen in this type of team.

 

That memorization roadblock, in that intense heat, can't be fun. Reminds me too much of the days when I crammed for tests the night before the actual exam.

 

Also, if I have to hear Peyton Manning's name one more time in this show, I will SCREAM!

 

 

However you slice it, I think the passport thing was well written.

It’s kind of interesting having a contestant from your home town. (Sandy)

Interestingly we both went to the same university also but I went many years before her.

I’m not going to cheer for her team just because they are local, I’ll have to see how they come across before I make any decision.

After seeing the other foreign editions visit Indonesia a few times, it's nice to see the American edition to finally do so, for the first time ever, and not repeat any tasks from the foreign editions. And this leg did not disappoint, as we would see some people riding on top of the train.

 

 

I thought this leg would be anticlimactic, with the teams leaving the Detour would be the order at the Pit Stop. But yeah, it came down to which teams read the sign. And the Showgirls are really the ones who truly benefited from that twist, otherwise they would have been eliminated! And, I did like the mean trick that Phil played on them, telling them that they are the 10th team to arrive at the mat, and they started to tear up.

 

And oddly enough, it did not turn out so bad for Mom and Pop to depart last at the mat in Taipei, because I know it's a bitch to have to wait at the airport overnight, which is what the rest of the teams had to do. And good for them to survive another leg, even though the Speed Bump did not seem too hard.

 

Also, it turned out Ethan & Jenna were not Rob & Amber 2.0, although my feelings towards them and the gay couple were neutral.

 

So far, none of the remaining teams really stand out, except for Justin & Jennifer, and a bit odd that this season's bickering team, would be a siblings team.

 

So far nice decent people. Not like several teams in the past that gave a real bad meaning to American, let alone homan .

Love the adventures they go on, normally more unique and not so repetitive like with "Survuvor".

The entire lost pastport sequence seemed a little bit contrived, but probably did work out with a little tweaking.

Maybe it's just me but the tasks are seeming to get simpler and easier each season.

I don't know about the tasks being easier, as I could not see myself doing the things that they did. In the intense heat, right after a long flight and train ride.

 

Except for the Speed Bump, another lame-ass one! Almost as bad as just sitting on ice for 15 minutes!

I don't agree.  Just a few seasons back (the one with the Globetrotters' initial appearance) they resurrected the needle in a haystack challenge, which is arguably the most taxing challenge in the race's history.  Last season they had the tea challenge, which many teams struggled with, and the roadblock where one team member had to bike across Liechtenstein.  I think the avalanche rescue challenge was also pretty hard.  The zodia challenge worked  few teams a lot, too.

 

I think the really problem is that some countries don't "work" for harder challenges, and the show is constantly trying to tie in challenges with the culture.  It's about even, I would say: for every tea tasting challenge, there is a "paint the Ganesha" one.

 

That being said, the speed bumps are pretty easy--nowhere near the level of a true punishment for finishing last in a leg.  Remember the on season 15 where Gary and Matt just had to sit in a sauna with hot chicks for 5 minutes?  That would be a reward on some shows!

Still, the speed bumps are infinitely better than when the show used to make them lose their money and all clothing except what they were wearing. I hope they never go back to that.

I forgotten about that one, and does sound a lot better than just sitting on ice.

About the same, actually -- either way you get blue balls...

Another leg in Indonesia was enjoyable to watch, seeing the Buddhist temple and the countryside.

 

First off, major kudos to Bill, for figuring out the Roadblock without any help. I know it would not be easy to count all those different statues, as the rest of the teams helped each other.

 

The difference ended up coming down to cabs, but in a different way. The ones that ditched their cabs early, looked like they would be at a disadvantage. But it turned out to be a huge advantage in the end. Amani & Marcus were really lucky in that regard, as they survived this leg after being last during most of it. I thought it was a bit interesting to see it work that way.

 

Can't say the same about the showgirls, whose luck has finally run out.

 

Bill & Cathi might be that team that could surprise everyone, as I kept counting them out in each leg.

I found it hard to get into this episode, probably because I still think that orphanage clue was bogus in its presentation. Once any game appears to violate or even fudge it's own rules, it becomes less interesting to me. I still think the requirement of leaving all your money at the orphanage should have been in the last clue each team received - or, if they wanted it on the sign, it should have been clearly marked in familiar race colors. The only other time I called shenanigans on Amazing Race was when Rob and Amber got screwed out of a victory when an airplane that had left the gate actually returned to pick up another team. I know this makes me sound like a disgruntled 'Survivor' fan, since Ethan and Jenna were eliminated last week, but I'd have felt the same regardless of who was impacted by the decision.

I would have thought it was bogus if all the teams had missed it as well.

 

I always thought the airplane thing was more of the doing of CBS, than the producers of the show, as they needed people to keep watching. If the plane did not come back to the gate, I'm sure many people would have turned off the TV or switched to another channel at that point.

 

Another thing about Leg 3, it was odd that Phil would say to Laurence & Zac that they are Team #1, then incur a 15-minute penalty. Normally, he would say "you're the first team to arrive" before penalizing a team.

Yes. Showgirls gone.