Author Topic: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation on Spoilers  (Read 674562 times)

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Offline apskip

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #450 on: January 03, 2009, 11:12:41 PM »
Topaz, you are a bit  naive about Russian tranportation systems. The roads are few and there is the TransSiberian Railway, but airports exist for all the medium and large cities. Here is a list of some airports:

Tyumen’
Novosibirsk
Krasnoyarsk
Irkutsk
Khabarovsk
Ulan Ude

I am sure there are many others.


Offline selkie

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #451 on: January 03, 2009, 11:29:43 PM »
If they managed to pull off a real coup and get permission to film there, Bhutan could be an option for leg 7. All reports are that it's a beautiful and safe place with wonderful people, but they limit the number of tourists allowed into the country to what they see as a non-disruptive level.


Offline ZBC Company

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #452 on: January 03, 2009, 11:52:44 PM »
According to a TV Guide interview, Bertram van Munster, the executive producer of the show, revealed that the countries of the People's Republic of China and Russia will be visited as he states that the racers in this season will be "suffering through blizzards in Central Siberia" and will be involved with "Olympic-themed challenges in Beijing".[3]

Furthermore, he also promised that this season will feature "less airports".[3]

Offline puddin

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #453 on: January 04, 2009, 12:03:51 AM »
According to a TV Guide interview, Bertram van Munster, the executive producer of the show, revealed that the countries of the People's Republic of China and Russia will be visited as he states that the racers in this season will be "suffering through blizzards in Central Siberia" and will be involved with "Olympic-themed challenges in Beijing".[3]

Furthermore, he also promised that this season will feature "less airports".[3]
:browsie:

Offline redwings8831

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #454 on: January 04, 2009, 02:29:47 AM »
According to a TV Guide interview, Bertram van Munster, the executive producer of the show, revealed that the countries of the People's Republic of China and Russia will be visited as he states that the racers in this season will be "suffering through blizzards in Central Siberia" and will be involved with "Olympic-themed challenges in Beijing".[3]

Furthermore, he also promised that this season will feature "less airports".[3]

When he says "less airports", does this actually mean their will be less airports visited during the race, or during the episodes, will they just show less of the "airport scene" and focus more on the actual tasks, because there have been some past episodes where up to 15 minutes were based in the airports?


Offline Coutzy

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #455 on: January 04, 2009, 06:19:34 AM »
ooo. Good question.

Now you have me thinking.

I think it would mean both, since they are trying to cut the budget and make the show more entertaining (let's face it, airports are pretty boring most of the time.)

Offline georgiapeach

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #456 on: January 04, 2009, 02:42:34 PM »
According to a TV Guide interview, Bertram van Munster, the executive producer of the show, revealed that the countries of the People's Republic of China and Russia will be visited as he states that the racers in this season will be "suffering through blizzards in Central Siberia" and will be involved with "Olympic-themed challenges in Beijing".[3]

Furthermore, he also promised that this season will feature "less airports".[3]

When he says "less airports", does this actually mean their will be less airports visited during the race, or during the episodes, will they just show less of the "airport scene" and focus more on the actual tasks, because there have been some past episodes where up to 15 minutes were based in the airports?

Here's my take on this, fwiw....

I have heard from more than one source that the "purse strings" are being tightened and that there will be some budget changes this season. One of the easiest ways to do that is to minimize the number of flights taken.

As we saw last season, there were two legs in the same locations (Moscow and Delhi), which eliminated 2 flights. I am being told that we may see that sort of leg again...

We already have Switzerland/Austria which may involve train instead of plane, which could be a huge cost savings especially early in the season when there are still such large numbers of racers and production staff to move from place to place.

There could also be a double leg later on still, perhaps in Thailand or Siberia or (less likely) even in China. Every plane not taken is a huge $$ savings.

There have also previously been a few flights that while it appeared to us as viewers that they were being booked,  they actually may have been "reserved" by production ahead of time, which would also be a cost savings. If racers are told they can only fly "X" airline from "X" airport during a small time window, they are often in actuality limited to one or two flights, and sometimes those could be booked/reserved ahead...

So my thoughts are that that statement just may be BVM's way of putting a positive spin on some budget constraints.

But gosh knows that I would LOVELOVELOVE more clues like "make your way to the water that thunders" not take this prearranged flight to Victoria Falls in South Africa and then this arranged car/taxi, etc. Anything that makes the racers have to THINK about how to get from point to point (train vs bus vs ferry vs plane) is all good, as far as I am concerned. I would love more let the racers figure out how to get there on their own sorts of clues. Self driving, self navigation, all that is a great travel skill and some teams would do really well at that. That was the worst part of TAR 13 for me...I really missed self-navigation  and the fun that ensues when things go screwy.

TARA 3 was billed as "the toughest race" this year, and it was in great part, I think, tough because there were fewer flights. Teams were stuck on long local bus rides, had long tasks in each place, and were exhausted from that, and I certainly never ever missed any airport drama. It was nicely done... Flight booking is never that exciting to watch, :lol:

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Offline Belle Book

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #457 on: January 04, 2009, 03:05:34 PM »
There will probably be fewer airports used in the Race itself, but they could have fewer scenes at the airport.  I wouldn't mind -- when I wrote my Fantasy Amazing Race story, I didn't spend much time in the airports and it was probably more exciting that way!

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Offline Hooky

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #458 on: January 04, 2009, 03:28:00 PM »
According to a TV Guide interview, Bertram van Munster, the executive producer of the show, revealed that the countries of the People's Republic of China and Russia will be visited as he states that the racers in this season will be "suffering through blizzards in Central Siberia" and will be involved with "Olympic-themed challenges in Beijing".[3]

Furthermore, he also promised that this season will feature "less airports".[3]

When he says "less airports", does this actually mean their will be less airports visited during the race, or during the episodes, will they just show less of the "airport scene" and focus more on the actual tasks, because there have been some past episodes where up to 15 minutes were based in the airports?

They have already cut the airport drama dramatically, unfortunately. (:;) If they cut any more of the footage that makes this show great, it won't even make any sense!
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Offline apskip

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #459 on: January 04, 2009, 03:35:50 PM »
Permit me to demur. "Flight booking is never that exciting to watch" is not an opinion that I share. Self-driving to demonstrate navigation skills is certainly exciting but so is the handling of complex plane reservations. Many of the most dramatic moments in prior Amazing Races have come during the flight booking process. To name just 2 off the top of my head, AR11 Uchenna and Joyce going Krakow to Kuala Lumpur via Frankfurt and AR4 David and Jeff  Cairns to Sydney and out of the race for the Finish Line.


Offline georgiapeach

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #460 on: January 04, 2009, 03:50:08 PM »
I'm going to have to disagree with you there, hooky and apskip. I think we have been seeing MORE airport stuff lately, and I have never thought that was what made the show great. Booking flights=boring for me (usually). For me it is all about the locations, the tasks, but most of all watching the teams cope with the challenge of figuring this all out and interacting w/ each other and with the locations they are placed in--as in the TRAVEL.. Watching teams run to a counter and book tickets just doesn't do it for me. I still remember that on the Siem Reap leg when I was so hungry for MORE Angkor Wat and MORE "floating village" we had a good 15-20 minutes of booking tickets in NZ (snooze)....

Now yes, sometimes it is ALL about the flights and that's fine. Flights can make or break you sometimes. Sometimes the team interactions during a booking are crucial, and that's always good to see. I would not have wanted to miss the drama of Chip/Kim scoring the flight they did. But seeing team after team run to a counter, book the same flight or two, not so much. I'd love to see more trains, buses, ferries even if it meant the locations were closer to each other.
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Offline Mrs Shrek

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #461 on: January 04, 2009, 03:55:47 PM »
A large number of our contestant spotting spoilers came from airport sightings last season. By reducing the number of flights, production have diminished the number of pre race spoilers we have for this season, in addition to saving some on their budget, so I'm sure from their perspective it is a win win situatation  ;D
There is no way they can completely eliminate flights from the schedule, unless they went back to another North America only edition :nono2: so there will still be airport drama footage available, but I think that varying the mode of transport between alternative public transport and self drive options is a good thing and gives different teams an advantage depending on their different strengths, weaknesses and intra-team dynamics. Pre arranged 'car with hired driver' has to be my least favourite option.
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Offline marigold

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #462 on: January 04, 2009, 04:11:33 PM »

I agree apskip

Booking flights is a major factor of the race it certainly doesn’t leave any room for a single team to run like hell to catch an unsuspecting departing flight

Controlled and prearranged limits teams to an even playing field no one gets advantages for their quick thinking and actions to get ahead

ie catch one of these 2 flights kinda sucks 

Offline Hooky

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #463 on: January 04, 2009, 10:21:49 PM »
Peach, if you go back and watch older seasons of the race (in other words, before the race was compressed and made into more of a controlled situation in seasons 12 and 13), you will find much more airport drama and much more self-driving. Seasons 12 and 13 were definitely not up to the caliber of the previous seasons in that regard, and I hope they aren't setting a precedent of "fed-exing" people around the world.

If anything, airport drama has already decreased to an unacceptable low. :(
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Offline Kiwi Jay

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #464 on: January 05, 2009, 12:02:19 AM »
airport drama and self-driving was a treat and highlight and I actually want more rather than less...I dont mind the lesser airports however!
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Offline Neobie

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #465 on: January 05, 2009, 03:06:58 AM »
In this train of thought, would TPTB have made teams travel by land from Guangzhou to Guilin? It'd save production quite a pile of cash!

Sure, you can fly from Guangzhou to Guilin (to which Apskip will certainly attest), but with the budget factor for production, it could be worth looking at the other options! If racers are given the liberty, you have the train, which is slower but mostly on time; the bus, which travels a more direct route but more prone to delays; minivans, which are much faster but cost a whole lot more, and well, so on!

Any chance, any chance at all that instructions would get teams to fly into Guangzhou, THEN travel by any means possible (including or excluding flights) to Guilin? (Damn we haven't seen "travel by any means possible" since Tunisia in TAR1, have we? I really, really, really miss those!)
« Last Edit: January 05, 2009, 03:44:13 AM by Neobie »

Offline Coutzy

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #466 on: January 05, 2009, 04:38:14 AM »
On the note of TAR1 and Guangzhou to Guilin.

What if getting to Guilin was the detour (similar to the one made famous by Nancy and Emily)

Like take the train or take the bus?

And TAR would get to bunch people, which they love doing.

Offline apskip

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #467 on: January 05, 2009, 09:45:27 AM »
Yes, it is quite possible to travel by train from Guangzhou to Guilin. However, it is approximately 400miles and the hydrofoils go and probably at least 200 more as the trains go. There is
only one direct train; it leaves Guangzhou at 1939 and arrives Guilin at 0642, an 11 hour trip that is the lowesty travel time possible by train. Other reasonable possiblities all involve transferring train at Hengyang. The first segment is a 6 hour trip:
2114 0322
0908 1523
1746 0051
2336 0617
1036 1714

the second segment is a 6 to 7 hour trip:
0933 1442
0805 1417
1525 2207
0709 1328
0825 1508
1603 2213
1054 1625
0200 0847
2143 0455

The combination of the two schedules would typically add 2 to 4 hours (beyond 12 to 13 hours) except for one fortuitous conneciton that if you are on time would be a 2 minute transfer.

Although long, arduous train trips have been a big favorite of the Amazing Race for traveling in Asia, I do not think they would use it for this particular route. Bus travel is much more direct and would be a better choice in my opinion due to the circuitous route to get to Guilin from Guangzhou (look it up on a map and then see where hengyang is) by train.

 

Offline puddin

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #468 on: January 05, 2009, 02:30:24 PM »
A disclaimer of sorts .....I read elsewhere that rff is getting credited with spoiling 2 dwarfs as contestants as well as the girl in orange from Auburn (in orange) being the deaf contestant BUT we have no proof of this, this quote below came from Coutzy! We have no photos from Coutzy's moms friend, no proof what so ever, just hearsay so with that said, its pure speculation until we get some real proof. We don't want other forums/blogs quoting us as saying "rff says, the deaf female contestant is from Auburn, and 2 dwarfs...." etc.
Sorry for the confusion people  :waves:
These are the real spoilers, as best as we can determine and the contestant spoilers/sightings are summarized here.

Quote
I have some information regarding TAR 14, but unfortunately the website won't send me an activation email, so I am passing this info on the only way possible for me at the moment.

One of my mothers friends saw several teams in Thailand and because she is a TAR fan, she recognized them straight away and began talking to them.

One of the teams was the father/son team

One was the young dating team in orange, one of whom was deaf.

The third team was a team of two male dwarfs (possibly the 'two short men')

She spoke with the deaf woman for a long time in the airport, and she whispered 'we're in a race' to her. The deaf woman also said to trip the dwarfs, they aren't nice people.

There were camera men with every team who were being very careful about people taking photos. In spite of this, she said she managed to get several good photos of the teams she saw.

I will send the photos when I can get my hands on them.


Offline RichInSydney

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #469 on: January 05, 2009, 03:56:57 PM »
From Phuket they could have got a ferry from the boat terminal to one of a number of spots on the water,  eg. Phi Phi Island, Krabi etc.

There is an airport in Krabi to get back to Bangkok and then onto China.
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Offline georgiapeach

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #470 on: January 05, 2009, 05:07:10 PM »
A disclaimer of sorts .....I read elsewhere that rff is getting credited with spoiling 2 dwarfs as contestants as well as the girl in orange from Auburn (in orange) being the deaf contestant BUT we have no proof of this, this quote below came from Coutzy! We have no photos from Coutzy's moms friend, no proof what so ever, just hearsay so with that said, its pure speculation until we get some real proof. We don't want other forums/blogs quoting us as saying "rff says, the deaf female contestant is from Auburn, and 2 dwarfs...." etc.
Sorry for the confusion people  :waves:

I just want to say a hearty AMEN to what puddin has said. We do not know which of our contestants is the deaf woman yet and puddin said it better but I too believe that there are 2 short men, but we have NO verified spoilers that they are actual "little people" as I said in the contestant thread:

Okay, I want to give y'all a couple of updates.

It is being reported elsewhere that the deaf person on the race is a male, not a female as I was told.

I will again say that I am being told that the deaf person is a woman who relies primarily on signing for communication.

Additionally,  this post (as reported to Michael by Coutzy) suggested the possibility of two male "little people"...
http://forum.realityfanforum.com/index.php/topic,17788.msg362349.html#msg362349


I think we can all agree that there are two short men on the race, based on several sightings. However, I am NOT being told that there are two "male little people" on the race, and I truly do think that that would have been mentioned by one of our other sources by now were that the case.

So in the absence of further proof (photos, etc) , I am going to ask that we do NOT assume that the the two short men seen are "little people"--as of this writing I do NOT believe that they are.  Just want to be clear here because I keep reading elsewhere that RFF says there are "dwarves" on the race, and RFF is saying no such thing. :groan:

I would of course be delighted to see photo evidence confirming this, it would be wonderful casting!



But I am in total agreement w/ puddin that this "dwarf" rumor is speculation only until further proof is presented, as is the identity of the deaf contestant.

Hopefully we will get the cast release soon and finally know for sure!  :yess:
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Offline apskip

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #471 on: January 05, 2009, 05:28:44 PM »
From Phuket they could have got a ferry from the boat terminal to one of a number of spots on the water,  eg. Phi Phi Island, Krabi etc.

There is an airport in Krabi to get back to Bangkok and then onto China.

Yes, RichIn Sydney but they could also have used the much higher volume airport in Phuket, probably flying out via Bangkok but there are other places(Koh Samui, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur,Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai but not Munich as there isn't time to return to Europe). You would have to be interested in making a statement to go 100km to Krabi for the pleasure (NOT) of flying out of that smaller airport.

Offline walkingpneumonia

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #472 on: January 05, 2009, 08:46:20 PM »
I was looking at potential Siberian blizzards (high wind and snow) from Nov 9 to Nov 14. Who would have thought - blizzards in Siberia. :groan: I didn't check every city, but here is what I found...

Novosibirsk Tolmachevo, RS (Airport)
Nov. 9 10:30 am wind gusts 50km and heavy snow
Irkutsk
Nov. 10 2:00am wind gusts 50km and heavy snow
Ulan-Ude
Nov. 10 11:00am wind gusts 43km and heavy snow

I guess BVM wouldn't know what a real blizzard is - 40km wind, heavy snow etc but these should be pretty close...

I like Novosibirsk and Irkutsk because they have direct flights to Bangkok.
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Offline Coutzy

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #473 on: January 05, 2009, 09:17:43 PM »
To clear up any confusion (sorry about that) here is what I was told.


NOTE: THIS IS NOT PROVEN!

My mom's friend saw the racers in Thailand.

The team she contacted was the orange team.

They told her to "Trip the dwarves, they aren't nice people"

Now, given what we have seen previously on TAR "The Dwarves" may very easily be a nickname used by the racers (Similar to "The Freaks" for Kynt and Vyxsin.)

And sorry for any confusion that I caused.


Offline apskip

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Re: The Amazing Race 14 Speculation and Sightings!
« Reply #474 on: January 05, 2009, 09:24:06 PM »
walkingpneumonia,
I appreciate the research you have done on the weather in the correct time frame. Your airline information needs a bit of updating. There are no direct flights form Irkutsk to Bangkok, nor are there any from Novosibirsk. Those cities, which I agree with you are probably the most logical of those on my list above, require complex flight combinations involving 2 or more airlines and flights from Novosibirsk and 3 or more airlines and flights from Irkutsk to reach Bangkok. The other Siberian cities would probably be the same, although I have not checked them. None of those places will have a direct flight to Bangkok. There just isn't the combination of income and demand to support that.