Topic: Best Amazing Race Season to Date

[mswood]

See I know various cultures and have different ways of interacting, but at some level I just don't care.

I mean this does go to so many different racers throughout the various seasons.  And I don't loathe Ron (or anything) but out of that season's cast  he was the one who's behavior bothered me the most (there have been, far, far, far worse behaved racers), and the fact that Ron pretty much gave grief to so many didn't help.

For examples some people's conflicts are always internal between their team, nice to locals, and other racers.  Some racers are great with their partner and assholes to locals, some are great with locals and their teammate but terrible with locals, ect, ect.  But we have documented times of Ron being mean to his daughter, to fellow racers, to race judges (seriously at the time that was a first), to locals.  And in most cases (except the race judge) it wasn't just an isolated case.

Like for example the Nathan & Jennifer had far more internal conflict, but it was almost all direct towards each other (even if it was about others).

I think its primarily the fact that its a parent child relationship, and that Christina did feel hurt by his words.  If they normally talked that way without the other taking offense thats one thing.  But she often commented on that it made her feel bad.

[Rogue]

I am just watching season 13 for the first time and I just finished the second India leg. Unlike a couple of the other seasons when I saw bits and pieces, I had never seen any of this season until now. I know some details from this season though. I know who makes the F3 and I know who wins but out of those three teams, so far I don't really care for any of them. I don't like Tina, she is just so annoying to me. And Nick looks like a fake Ken doll. Mark and Bill seemed pretty nice but they were gone so fast they aren't that memorable. But they have a strong fan base so they're not easy to forget either. And for the most part, they're likable. I liked Aja and Ty but they aren't that memorable either. I also like Toni and Dallas. You can see that they have a very good relationship. I like Sarah but Terrence, that man is a whiner! Sarah outmanned him on the race. I'm just waiting to see him wimp out on the food challenge.

As far as the places they've been, the most memorable for me at this point is the second India leg during the Holi Festival. I saw this in a movie before and it seemed even more cool to see them be part of it on the race. What made it even more interesting was how clueless Kelly and Christy were in deciding they should take one envelope at a time instead of staying there to find the correct envelope. Maybe it's just that in the moment with everything being so busy around them they didn't get it at first.

But just where I am right now, this would definitely not be in my top of favorite seasons and it's mostly because of the cast.

[connayyy]

See I know various cultures and have different ways of interacting, but at some level I just don't care.

I mean this does go to so many different racers throughout the various seasons.  And I don't loathe Ron (or anything) but out of that season's cast  he was the one who's behavior bothered me the most (there have been, far, far, far worse behaved racers), and the fact that Ron pretty much gave grief to so many didn't help.

For examples some people's conflicts are always internal between their team, nice to locals, and other racers.  Some racers are great with their partner and assholes to locals, some are great with locals and their teammate but terrible with locals, ect, ect.  But we have documented times of Ron being mean to his daughter, to fellow racers, to race judges (seriously at the time that was a first), to locals.  And in most cases (except the race judge) it wasn't just an isolated case.

Like for example the Nathan & Jennifer had far more internal conflict, but it was almost all direct towards each other (even if it was about others).

I think its primarily the fact that its a parent child relationship, and that Christina did feel hurt by his words.  If they normally talked that way without the other taking offense thats one thing.  But she often commented on that it made her feel bad.

I totally get what you're saying. And that's kind of the cultural difference I was talking about; Christina grew up in America and Ron grew up in Taiwan (I'm assuming). What I mean is that in Taiwan/China, everyone is blunt and a little bit critical, not just your parents. So when your parents do criticize you, it's not a big deal, because you know that everyone else's parents are that way too.
In America, it wasn't everyone, it was just Chris's dad, so she did get hurt by it. Since nobody else's parents were like that, it would be easy to think "maybe it's something with me." Ron just didn't realize that at first.

Just trying to explain it from my perspective since I'm Taiwanese too.  I actually do agree with everything you said, though! And it was very out of line for him to be rude to other people, so that was the part that got to me. Criticizing his daughter wasn't acceptable but being rude to a race judge, that was just bizarre...

[Prophet]

I hope we see a return to epicly hard and entertaining tasks like some of the stuff we saw in seasons 14 and 15.

TAR15 may have had the best tasks ever. Who can forget the haybale switchback or the dutch farmers detour or both detour options in the first Dubai leg. I could go on.
The penultimate leg that year was epic in task design but it did not stand alone, just reflected the great tasks there had been that year.

And there's always EAT THE WASABI!!!


(edit: I forgot the tiny instruments!)

[AmazingRace]

Original Seasons <3!!

I demand the return of the original intro, with original theme song and the cheesy headturns! 

[Competitor]

I hope we see a return to epicly hard and entertaining tasks like some of the stuff we saw in seasons 14 and 15.

TAR15 may have had the best tasks ever. Who can forget the haybale switchback or the dutch farmers detour or both detour options in the first Dubai leg. I could go on.
The penultimate leg that year was epic in task design but it did not stand alone, just reflected the great tasks there had been that year.

And there's always EAT THE WASABI!!!


(edit: I forgot the tiny instruments!)

I agree whole-heartedly. Season 15 was very under-rated in my opinion. Great season.

[Coutzy]

I liked season five in that they visited every inhabited continent.

I only count 5. They never visited Australia.

[Prophet]

What continent is New Zealand part of?

Interestingly enough New Zealand is not considered part of the continent of Australia. Australia only officially includes itself along with Guinea and parts of Indonesia. Apparently in an effort to give places like New Zealand a continent the concept of Oceania was created but it's boundaries and the question of whether it is a continent are disputed.

I'm not sure who decided all this Maybe a geography expert here can explain.

[Coutzy]

What continent is New Zealand part of?

Interestingly enough New Zealand is not considered part of the continent of Australia. Australia only officially includes itself along with Guinea and parts of Indonesia. Apparently in an effort to give places like New Zealand a continent the concept of Oceania was created but it's boundaries and the question of whether it is a continent are disputed.

I'm not sure who decided all this Maybe a geography expert here can explain.

The continent is Australia (Including Tasmania), Papua New Guinea and the part of Indonesia directly attatched. It's all one big landmass, but a lot of it is submerged. New Zealand is on a different continental shelf.

[Coutzy]

Technically speaking yes, but the generally accepted way is Oceania/Australia are one continent.

Oceania is a region, Australia is a continent.

[Carter]

I voted TAR 2 & 7

TAR 2 has one of the most epic intros I have ever seen, it's like a new fresh start from TAR 1  (which had slow pacing), the quick sunrise behind the mountains and one of the coolest theme music played, then pan to the Salty Desert Flats of Pahrump, Nevada. This intro gives me goosebumps, and some of the most memorable teams to ever compete so far participated.

TAR 7 because of the drama, the amazing drive through the mountain pass of the Andes (what a spectacular location), they never do these things anymore.. Meredith & Gretchen was an amazing couple, and I also remember the african leg where they had beds right in the middle of freakin' nowhere in the desert. So strange, and yet so fun. The sneakiness of Rob & Amber made it different and exciting.

If I could chose, I would add TAR 5 & 6 as well, but these two sticks out for me.

[amazing race fan]

Season 10 for me. Dustin and Kandice were my favorite team ever on the show. I also really liked James and Tyler. I liked the route also. It wasn't the best route or best cast or best tasks but I just really liked season 10.

Season 5 was amazing as well. Colin was the most competitive person on the history of the show. No one will surpass him.

Season 7 was great as well. Best ending ever. I still am upset that Uchenna and Joyce got on the final plane.

[AmazingRace]

I just rewatched Season 10, and I have to agree!

One of the best seasons ever. Amazing cast (DK <3), and awesome locations! 

[apskip]

Technically speaking yes, but the generally accepted way is Oceania/Australia are one continent.

Oceania is a region, Australia is a continent.

The idea of a region is problematic. Grouping people into one group and characteristics has its flaws. No one in "Oceania" says they are "Oceanian", rather they say they are New Zealander, or Tongan etc..

(Sorry if I got carried away I am majoring in Geography...)

Here's one where I think there is no absolute standard and both of you can be right. Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific (ethnologically divided into the subregions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia) to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago. The term is sometimes used more specifically to denote a continent comprising Australia and proximate islands or biogeographically as a synonym for either the Australasian ecozone (Wallacea and Australasia) or the Pacific ecozone (Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia apart either from New Zealand or from mainland New Guinea).

Now, for those of you who, like me, have never heard the geographic entity Wallacea before, her is what it is:
Wallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of Indonesian islands separated by deep water straits from the Asian and Australian continental shelves. Wallacea includes Sulawesi, the largest island in the group, as well as Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba, Timor, Halmahera, Buru, Seram, and many smaller islands. The islands of Wallacea lie between Sundaland (the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Java, and Bali) to the west, and Near Oceania including Australia and New Guinea to the south and east. 

[Dom]

I've got to say, I dont really understand the hate for season 13. Ken & Tina, Terrence & Sarah and Toni & Dallas were all memorable teams. The rest were a bit bland but we were treated to Phil's dad along the way!

It also featured what I think was the.funniest moment in TAR history, the frat boys trying to complete the boot camp detour!

Sure its not one of the best, but I dont believe its one of the worst!

[dryedmangoez]

TAR3 and TAR5 are the best in my eyes.

[GabyM]

I liked season 16...other than the lesbians, I liked everyone else on there...even Joe & Heidi, since they took their elimination with class and didn't feel the need to constantly insult Mike & Louie for U-Turning them.

Season 7 was pretty good too, since I liked both Uchenna & Joyce and Romber and would've been happy with one of those two winning...plus the brothers were a pretty funny team as well, and major bonus points to the producers for choosing a roadblock that was designed to help a local orphanage

Contrary to popular opinion, I also really enjoyed season 12...one of the few times that I liked every single team in the final 3, and of course we had the awesomeness that were Kent & Vyxsin

[kevin2012]

For me, Season 3 is the definition of perfection, every single uninteresting team is eliminated early, the locations are great, the tasks are awesome, the editing is epic, I love it. It's perfect all around

[Competitor]

Why hasn't anyone voted for Family Edition? 

[Belle Book]

Why hasn't anyone voted for Family Edition? 

Because most people think it was the worst.  I personally didn't think it was the worst -- I liked the winners -- but I wouldn't have put it as the best, either!

Belle Book

[Wadsy591]

This is purely my opinion, but I would rank all seasons as follows:

Best:

1. TAR3
2. TAR6
3. TAR5
4. TAR7

Great:

5. TAR22
6. TAR25
7. TAR18
8. TAR21
9. TAR12
10. TAR2

Good:

11. TAR17
12. TAR9
13. TAR20
14. TAR24
15. TAR15
16. TAR1

Average:

17. TAR4
18. TAR11
19. TAR19

Dislike:

20. TAR8
21. TAR23
22. TAR14

Hate:

23. TAR10
24. TAR13
25. TAR16

[Alenaveda]

  and  to the R.F.F., Wadsy591 !

[RachelLeVega]

Personally, season 5 is one of those special unpredictable races that expanded depth as the race progressed. None of its teams were left in the dust by editors, the route covered every inhabited continent to create a wonderful journey around the world, tasks almost always revolved around the true livelihood and culture of the visited countries/locales, and incidental troubles that occurred throughout the season were all jaw-dropping moments ~ especially when Jim - I believe - was accidentally trampled at Santa Monica Pier start and began profusely bleeding. I thought I was going to faint in shock when the ambulance had to be driven in that early in the race. That single moment is when I realized TAR5 is going to be a "kill or be killed" (idiom ) race. And after the finale in Dallas, it became my most favorite season ever! Of course, I must commemorate Charla & Mirna for coining the TAR term "airport drama", Colin's "My ox is broken!", and Bob & Joyce's endearing love for each other. Honorable mentions will go out to Linda & Karen scaling Lagen Wall and their good-hearted Egyptian tour bus motherload, and Kim's "don't care" attitude at Chip.

[Wadsy]

My personal favourite is TAR6.
In saying that, seasons 5-7 were easily the golden years of TAR along with TAR 3.
I could not find a season that matched the qualities of these four to this point, though maybe the first season would be close.

[LandonM170]

I voted for Seasons 5 and 7!!

I did a rewatch of S5 recently, and I hadn't seen it in probably like 4 years. I forgot how good it was, and it reminded me why I love that season so much; S7 I need to do a rewatch on. I probably haven't seen it in 2 years. However, from what I remember I loved it, and the South Africa leg was a little boring. The season as a whole was amazing!

My top 5 is probably:
TAR 5
TAR 7
TAR 17
TAR 25
TAR 12