Why the Amazing Race has lost its magic

[Coutzy]

I'm going way back to Season 2, but the New Zealand leg (Leg 11) contained the most I've ever seen. According to maps.google, it was about 450 km from the pitstop (Canterbury Plains, South Island) to the Picton Ferry, the car Ferry to Wellington, and then another 450 km to the Maori Arts & Crafts Institute in Rotoura (North Island). About 6 to 6 and a half hours sandwiched around a three hour ferry, all which occurred within one clue.

I think the second longest drive occurred in Season 4 (though likely I'm wrong ), when they drove from Paris to Marseilles.

The drive in Season 7 where Debbie and Bianca got lost was a fair stretch as well from what I remember.

[DrRox]

Season 3...........Dieselgate...........Portugal to Spain......

[Raymond]

I went on Google Maps and it came up with this info: (might be an unreliable source, but ohwells)

Season 2 drive (from Canterbury Plains to Rotorua): around 930 km
Season 3 drive (from Cabo da Roca to Algeciras): around 680 km
Season 4 drive (from Le Mans to Marseilles): around 900 km
Season 7 drive (from Santiago to Mendoza): around 370 km (meaning the drive to Puente Viejo might be shorter)

Of course, chances are I might have missed other underestimated long drives.

[apskip]

I'm going way back to Season 2, but the New Zealand leg (Leg 11) contained the most I've ever seen. According to maps.google, it was about 450 km from the pitstop (Canterbury Plains, South Island) to the Picton Ferry, the car Ferry to Wellington, and then another 450 km to the Maori Arts & Crafts Institute in Rotoura (North Island). About 6 to 6 and a half hours sandwiched around a three hour ferry, all which occurred within one clue.

I think the second longest drive occurred in Season 4 (though likely I'm wrong ), when they drove from Paris to Marseilles.

You are close, Raymond. It was LeMans to Marseilles. Leg 4 of Season 4 started with a flight that I assume was Vienna to Paris or Prague to Paris (for the purposes of this calculatino it does not matter which one). Then teams had to drive 114 miles mostly west to the LeMans racetrack to do the laps there. After that they started from LeMans and drove mostly south to Marseilles, which is 410 miles. So it depends on how you look at it whether it was 410 miles or 524 miles.

The infamous Dieselgate drive through Portugal and Spain in Season 3 from Cabo de Roca to Algeciras leg was 300 miles.

For the New Zealand trip in Season 2, there are assumptions that have to be made. The distance from the sheep farm at Inverary Station, Mt. Somers on the Canterbury Plain to Rangiora is an add-on of about 60 miles to the distance from Christchurch. The distance from Christchurch to the ferry at Picton is 209 miles, then what shoudl be done about the length of the ferry crossing. Since it is not driving, I ignored it. I actually drove from Mt. Cook to Picton taking many of the same roads once far enough north on the South Island. From Wellington to Rotorua, a trip I made on a bus, the disance is another 270 miles. that gives a total of 539 miles, a little shorter than you have estimated but close enough.

[apskip]

Raymond, I've got another one that could be in the running depending on the criteria for inclusion. It is the limo ride (not self-drive) that Dennis and Andrew took from Duxford Imperial War Museum near Cambridge England to Stonehaven Scotland. It is about 500 miles.

[Neobie]

D'oh, how far was that drive from Phoenix to Billings?

(I see everyone has washed TAR 8 out of their heads...)

[DrRox]

Mapquest says 1204 miles.

[DeafRacer]

With me, The Amazing Race still hasn't lost its magic, the only thing I'm really not that happy about, is that they need more self driving...
 

I agree. I was disappointed that there weren't a lot of self-driving on my season. Bring it back!!! I like how teams weren't checking in so close to each other when we all did self-driving on my season. My mom and I totally rocked at self-driving! The elimination order probably would have been a little different if there were more self-driving...

Only one season that required teams to self-driving on every leg was Season 10 right?

Hi Luke!

Yeah, I would love to see more self-driving instead of having to depend on the taxi. Although tuks tuks are the exception to the rule! I love the tuk tuk!

My mom and I went on a tuk-tuk in India!! It was AWESOME!!! My mom and I had to ditch our cab when we got to the Shaker detour since there was no parking nearby. Soon as we were done with dance task, we met an Indian guy that could speak English, he led us to tuk tuk and told our driver that we need to go to the pit stop. Our driver do not speak a bit of English at all! We were grateful for that Indian guy to help us out!!

[redwings8831]

D'oh, how far was that drive from Phoenix to Billings?

(I see everyone has washed TAR 8 out of their heads...)

Mapquest says 1204 miles.

Yes, but that was spread over three legs. All of the other one's are within one leg.

[Raymond]

I think the last 10-something post have now been about self-driving. Maybe we can move this to a new thread? You know, for formality/off-topicness sakes?

[Caelestor]

Then let's get back on track!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlHqhu9Fn-g

Wow. Amazing intro and voiceover by Phil. TAR needs to return to this style.

I think I've realized a major issue with recent seasons: editing. Recent seasons look very frantic, partially since every season has a reduced amount of episodes. We need more tranquility! Take some time back and revel in the awesomeness of the world. (I sound like Emerson)

[Raymond]

^^I miss the slow pace too. I'm watching Seasons 2 & 4 right now & I am feeling nostalgic remembering the old clue style, the team interaction & the leisurely pace. The pace during the more recent seasons feels like everyone is only just out to beat each other.

[apskip]

D'oh, how far was that drive from Phoenix to Billings?

(I see everyone has washed TAR 8 out of their heads...)

Neobie,

Who cares, as it was not one continuous segment. It was broken down into these segments:

Phoenix to Glen Canyon/Lake Powell
Lake Powell to Monument Valley
Monument Valley to Moab UT
Moab UT to Park City UT
Park City to Salt Lake City UT
Park City to Bonneville Salt Flats UT
Bonneville Salt Flats to Yellowstone N.P., Old Faithful Geyser
Yellowstone N.P. to Dubois WY
Dubois WY to Cody WY
Cody WY to Red Lodge Mountain MT
Red Lodge Mountain to Green Meadow Ranch MT

So, the longest segment on this trip is Bonneville Salt Flats to Old Faithful Geyser. The part from Bonneville back to Salt Lake City is about 100 miles depending on precisely where it was. From Salt Lake City to Yellowstone southern entrance is 369 miles. From the southern entrance to Old Faithful is about 30 miles. Add it all up and you get 499 miles. That's certainly enough to put it on this list, but not enough to win the prize.

[Neobie]

Neobie,
Who cares

Apskip, always the charmer.

I thought we've been having some good tasks this year that were both somewhat culturally-relevant and difficult (gold-counting, hookah-building), though I feel that all tasks should be that way. They managed to do it in the early seasons, why not now?

We're still pandering to the ADD audience that demands that debased excitement and wackiness we see now: let's make them cross-dress and strip to their underwear! let's put them on a Japanese game show! let's rehash the haybales just because! let's put them on a theme park ride for no good reason!

It's becoming more of a wacky game show and less of an adventure...

[Joab]

I do care that we've forgotten about TAR 8 and mostly left that season out of most TAR talk. Was Family Edition that bad?

Besides NOT flying out of North America, the teams were good, tasks were interesting and overall, the season was enjoyable, wasn't it?

[Caelestor]

I never watched TAR 8, but from what I've heard:

We want exoticness! 40 people starting a competition also gets out of hand.

[Coutzy]

I

Neobie,
Who cares

Apskip, always the charmer.

I thought we've been having some good tasks this year that were both somewhat culturally-relevant and difficult (gold-counting, hookah-building), though I feel that all tasks should be that way. They managed to do it in the early seasons, why not now?

We're still pandering to the ADD audience that demands that debased excitement and wackiness we see now: let's make them cross-dress and strip to their underwear! let's put them on a Japanese game show! let's rehash the haybales just because! let's put them on a theme park ride for no good reason!

It's becoming more of a wacky game show and less of an adventure...

I thought doing the haybales again was a good idea...

[Joab]

I think the haybales challenge was memorable because Lena and Kristy got stuck for so long. They made the Roadblock famous.. besides rather than the Roadblock itself being challenging. Imagine if all the racers went into the field and found a clue within ripping 2 haybales apart.. nobody would have bothered to give this challenge a second thought.

[Caelestor]

I would love it if the haybales was the "bonus task" this leg. If there was another roadblock on this leg, then I wouldn't say that the race planners got lazier.

[Squall]

The one thing i really missed is when the race would travel through countries. Just think back to Season 2 when the teams traveled from the South Island of New Zealand all the way up to the north Island. Or when the teams raced a bit through Namibia.  Now it's pretty much "Fly to  this city; pretty much stay in this city; leave for next city"  That's the on thing i truly miss about the amazing race.

[Dånooky ✟]

^^I miss the slow pace too. I'm watching Seasons 2 & 4 right now & I am feeling nostalgic remembering the old clue style, the team interaction & the leisurely pace. The pace during the more recent seasons feels like everyone is only just out to beat each other.

I think that could be fixed if they went back to the old 4-NEL politics, then the editors wouldn't have to rush all the "character development" and we could enjoy the scenery

[supergoten]

The one thing i really missed is when the race would travel through countries. Just think back to Season 2 when the teams traveled from the South Island of New Zealand all the way up to the north Island. Or when the teams raced a bit through Namibia.  Now it's pretty much "Fly to  this city; pretty much stay in this city; leave for next city"  That's the on thing i truly miss about the amazing race.

To be fair, there's still an awfully lot of driving around, just look at what happened to Gary/Matt last night, they got their fair share of driving around the Swedish countryside. 

[Caelestor]

The tasks are getting a bit lackluster. However, I liked how Sweden presented train, ferry, car (plus one very awesome-looking taxi driver!), and running. The only thing lacking were the bicycles from the Netherlands.

[Neobie]

I missed public transportation options, good to see it return for at least a while this one leg!

And see? You get bunching/debunching opportunities that aren't contrived and could create some drama. Do this more, CBS!

[Raymond]

And see? You get bunching/debunching opportunities that aren't contrived and could create some drama. Do this more, CBS!

*coughwhywerealltheteamsonthesameflighttoCambodiaUAEandtheNetherlandscough*