Author Topic: Racing report, China Rush 2010, leg 2  (Read 3819 times)

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Offline maf

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Racing report, China Rush 2010, leg 2
« on: September 19, 2010, 04:15:23 PM »
Racing report
Amazing Race China Rush
Season 1, Episode 2
Date 2010-05-03 - 2010-05-04

I have tried to estimate distances and driving times every now and then. This data, from Google, is an approximation at best and the driving times assumes no traffic.

In the behind the scenes program, which I would say is chock full of product placement, we see that all teams stay at a certain brand of luxury hotels. The winners are treated with a gourmet meal. All the teams were also treated to a big group lunch by two of the sponsors. No sequestering of the teams this time. It look like pit stop this time was a bit over 40 hours.

Teams leave the pit stop at the Ningbo grand theatre in the order they arrived:
  1. Charlie & Rachel     - 12:35
  2. Sean & Amy           - 12:55 (+0:20)
  3. Rick & Josh             - 13:24 (+0:49)
  4. Sarah & Molly         - 13:54 (+1:19)
  5. Lisa & Karen           - 13:55 (+1:20)
  6. Janis & Aleksandra - 14:11 (+1:36)
  7. Bonnie & Mel          - 14:15 (+1:40)
  8. Miguel & Hector      - 14:22 (+1:47)
  9. Deepak & Naresh    - 14:46 (+2:11)
 10. Paul & Francis        - 15:00 (+2:25)

The clue reads "Travel by bus to Wuxi, when you arrive at the bus station head to the Nanchan temple to find your next clue". The distance to Wuxi is 272km.

The first bus to Wuxi departs at 16:00 and carries all teams except Paul & Francis who arrive at the ticket counter at 16:06 and get on a bus departing at 17:15. It is dark when the first bus arrives.
 
Teams reach the clue box in the following order:
  1. Charlie & Rachel
  2. Sarah & Molly
  3. Janis & Aleksandra
  4. Miguel & Hector
  5. Sean & Amy
  6. Lisa & Karen
  7. Bonnie & Mel
  8. Deepak & Naresh
  9. Rick & Josh
and significantly later
 10. Paul & Francis

The clue reads "Travel by boat down the canal, search along the water for the three green lanterns". Behind the marked tea shop is the Dama Tofu Shop where the next clue awaits. The canal looks very scenic in the dark with all the lights on the sides.


Teams find the boats (and the clue) in the following order:
  1. Charlie & Rachel
  2. Sarah & Molly, who promptly get lost looking for the roadblock and are passed by four teams
  3. Janis & Aleksandra
  4. Miguel & Hector
  5. Sean & Amy
  6. Lisa & Karen
  7. Bonnie & Mel
  8. Deepak & Naresh
  9. Rick & Josh
 10. Paul & Francis

Choice quotes:
 "I don't want to eat the smelly ones", Rachel thinking that the roadblock will be eating smelly tofu.
 "I ate the turtle you eat the tofu", Charlie finding a good argument

To nobody's surprise it is a roadblock. It reads "Who is the better match maker". They are all happy to learn that it is not an eating challenge. Instead one person must find the matching half of a split brick among over 1000 bricks. The other team member may look at the bricks and suggest suitable ones to try, but may not touch the bricks.

Just in front of the roadblock is the speed bump for Paul and Francis. The speed bump is that each of them must throw a tea cup out of clay. This they do quickly without problems.

Teams complete the roadblock in the following order (* denotes team member performing the road block, and the numbers how many roadblocks each team member have performed):
  1. Charlie & Rachel*      (1 - 1), but Charlie touched the bricks...
  2. Deepak* & Naresh    (1 - 1)
  3. Rick & Josh*             (1 - 1)
  4. Janis* & Aleksandra  (2 - 0)
  5. Sarah* & Molly          (1 - 1)
  6. Miguel* & Hector       (1 - 1)
  7. Bonnie & Mel*           (0 - 2), they almost forgot to pick up the next clue.
  8. Sean* & Amy            (1 - 1)
  9. Lisa & Karen*           (1 - 1)
 10. Paul* & Francis        (1 - 1)

Choice quotes:
 "I like being in control, but I wouldn't say I am domineering", Amy

Charlie and Rachel took care to choose a brick with a distinct fault line making it easier to find the match, good thinking.

According to Amy CHarlie & Rachel found their match in about one minute. In contrast the Momshells took nearly two hours to find their match. Some teams (read Sean & Amy) had big problems working together.

Once done teams must travel back on their boats and then make their way to the 3 Kingdoms movie studio (18km 33min). They will find their next clue inside. There is a hours of operation at the studio (8:00-17:00) so all teams will catch up. This effectively negates any effect of the speed bump so Paul & Francis should be grateful towards the producers.

Charlie & Rachel arrived at the gates around 21.30 and Lisa & Karen got there towards midnight.

Once the gates open in the morning all teams rush to the clue box where they find a detour.

Detour:  "Warrior strength" or "Warrior skill"

Warrior strength: teams climb up a rope ladder, approximately three stores high, and then rappel down again. There is a limited number of rope ladders so some teams may have to wait.


Warrior skill: both team members must hit bulls eye from 10 meter using bow and arrow.


The teams finish the detour tasks in the following order:
  1. Rick & Josh (warrior strength)
  2. Charlie & Rachel (warrior strength)
  3. Sean & Amy (warrior strength)
  4. Bonnie & Mel (warrior skill)
  5. Sarah & Molly (warrior strength)
  6. Deepak & Naresh (started warrior skill but switched to warrior strength)
  7. Janis & Aleksandra (started warrior skill but switched to warrior strength)
  8. Lisa & Karen (warrior skill)
  9. Paul & Francis (warrior skill)
 10. Miguel & Hector (warrior skill)

Choice quotes:
 "I'm just not going to look down", Rachel
 "I'm okay with everything apart from heights", Molly
 "I wish I was wearing a blindfold". Molly again

Paul & Francis were generous and helped some of the other teams with the bow and arrows, they almost forgot that they also had to complete the challenge.

Once teams have completed the detour they must travel by taxi to the Turtle Head Park (12km 30min) where the next clue awaits. Once at the park teams travel in golf carts to the area where the clue box is. Teams find this clue in the following order:

  1. Rick & Josh
  2. Charlie & Rachel
  3. Sean & Amy
  4. Sarah & Molly
  5. Deepak & Naresh
  6. Bonnie & Mel
  7. Janis & Aleksandra
  8. Lisa & Karen
  9. Paul & Francis
 10. Miguel & Hector

The clue says "Travel by taxi to the Lingshan Buddha" (28km 46min). Once there teams should look for the smaller version of the statue where they will find the next clue.

Teams reach the Buddha in the following order:

  1. Charlie & Rachel
  2. Rick & Josh
  3. Sean & Amy, who paid homage to the Buddha and offered a small donut for good karma
  4. Sarah & Molly
  5. Deepak & Naresh
  6. Bonnie & Mel
  7. Paul & Francis
  8. Lisa & Karen
  9. Janis & Aleksandra
 10. Miguel & Hector

Teams must then make their way to the 297 steps long star leading up to the big Buddha statue. Once there they must count the number of flowerpots decorating the steps. Once they have presented the correct count, 1509, to the monk at the top they will get their next clue.

Teams complete the task in the following order:
  1. Charlie & Rachel
  2. Rick & Josh
  3. Sean & Amy
  4. Sarah & Molly
  5. Deepak & Naresh
  6. Bonnie & Mel

All the following four teams are on the stairs counting pots at the
same time. They make numerous wrong guesses.
  7. Janis & Aleksandra
  8. Lisa & Karen
  9. Miguel & Hector
 10. Paul & Francis

Once the task is complete teams should travel on foot to the pitstop at Lingshan Palace (approx 600m away). Teams check in at the pitstop in the following order:

  1. Rick & Josh, who win a trip for two to Xiamen
  2. Sean & Amy
  3. Charlie & Rachel, arrived as #2 but got a 30 min penalty since Charlie touched the bricks at the roadblock
  4. Sarah & Molly
  5. Deepak & Naresh, arrived #4 but got a 15 min penalty for taking a golf cart to the pit stop
  6. Bonnie & Mel
  7. Janis & Aleksandra
  8. Lisa & Karen
  9. Miguel & Hector
 10. Paul & Francis, are eliminated but happy anyway

Choice quote:
  "I think we are used to number last", Paul or Francis

Paul & Francis did the most gracious elimination I have ever seen on any Amazing race. Sorry to see you go.

Edited to correct roadblock count
« Last Edit: October 15, 2010, 09:39:50 AM by maf »

Offline maf

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Re: Racing report, China Rush 2010, leg 2
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2010, 04:17:01 PM »
There is something fishy with the latter half of this episode. The movie studio was supposed to open at 8 in the morning and it is already getting dark when Paul & Francis checks in. Teams should have spent at most 2-3 hours in taxis. So that leaves 7-8 hours for tasks. The tasks shown do not really seem to take all that long.

The first teams seemed to complete the detour very quickly, and according to the next episode the time difference at pitstop between first and last teams were just 1:21. I can think of a few different scenarios (the IHMO most likely first):

1. The move studio opened much later for the contestants. This would give production plenty of time to rig the tasks inside.

2. I have made a big error when calculating driving times, or traffic was really really bad.

3. There was an extra route marker or task which took a lot of time but got cut.

4. Production is playing loose with departure times and are compressing teams after each leg.