Author Topic: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21  (Read 7910 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline ryanmissing27

  • RFF Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 86
Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« on: December 26, 2012, 09:02:30 PM »
Maybe I'm a little late to the party since the season's been over for a while now but on the other hand everyone should have by now been able to put S21 into perspective with the other seasons  :3

So anyway... What were your favourite or lest favourite tasks from season 21?

Favourites:  :cmas16
Serve 20 dishes Indo RB
Both sides of 2nd Indo Detour (cook eggs or giant lion masks)
Bangladeshi Bus Repair RB
Bangladeshi Rat FF
1st Russian Detour (synchro swim or cyrillic library)
Russian Time Zone RB
Russian SpB (looked interesting at least)
Historical figures side of 2nd Russian Detour
Fly to this Flag clue (the first one since S3?)
Recreate Rembrandt side of Dutch Detour
Windmill side of Spanish Detour (although I've heard they were a little geographically off with Don Q...)
Coney Island Clue Search
Houdini RB (although I don't buy the "surprise" bungee, I mean they would have had to be briefed on safety for a bungee drop wouldn't they?)
Final RB

Least Favourites (the ones that I actively disliked)  :cmas12
Turkish Bath : too easy
Turkish Sherbert RB
Organ side of Dutch Detour : boring in comparison to the other side
Dutch Switchback : a task from leg 2 (S12) in leg 9. Also the first switchback that had no team realise or make reference to the original task on screen. When I read that there would be a Dutch Switchback I definitely thought they would use Maria and Tiffany's Golfing Hell task
Spanish Tennis RB : extremely underwhelming for the first EVER (and so far only) Spanish RB. Not only could this task have taken place in many other countries it favoured teams that already know how to play tennis

I was more or less neutral to everything else...  :cmas5

Offline RachelLeVega

  • RFF TAR Updater
  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 4953
  • Fearless of ticket agents - too hot to be handled!
Re: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« Reply #1 on: December 27, 2012, 11:30:38 PM »
All the tennis mania this season... :reindeer ..... But seriously typing, I thought the table tennis was rather dull if it wasn't for "paddle-head" expressions which made it a bit more memorable. The return 20 tennis balls task was an enlarged and more rigorous way of the table tennis RB.

I thought the Bath OR Bakery Detour was interesting. It reminded me back in season 1 when teams were in Tunisia and had to choose a massage or find a coffee shop as a Detour. I thought the editors should have made Rob & Kelley's bakery Detour choice a little more tiring and try to make it more humorous than Rob doing his jig at the bakery's music.

The ones I feel "iffy" about are the Russian time zone RB (if it wasn't for the epic professor...), Bangladesh Rat-Collecting Fast Forward (motivational, but if the cute kids didn't follow James & Abba...), and Russian historical figure Detour (if it wasn't for Josh & Brent having fun...).

I thought the tasks in the Netherlands were quite disappointing especially the Switchback. (I'm sure Jaymes made a quick remark about noticing the switchback after reading the RB clue.) What made season 12's ditch vault RB succeed was their teams were... I don't want to say as weak... but were not Jaymes & James-like with buffened bodies and it was fun to see them struggle like Nicolas, Kynt, Christina, Shana, and Pat. It would have been great if there were more teams, but for a 5-team remaining leg, they needed to take that into consideration and what possibly could be better than the Maria & Tiffany struggle story.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2012, 11:34:53 PM by RachelLeVega »
<3 Family, friends, food, freedom...FULFILLED <3
Countries "raced": Greece (2019), Italy (2017), Switzerland (2017), Taiwan (2016), U.S. (WA 2013, CA [S.F. 2014, L.A. 2023], TX 2021, IL all the time)


Offline ryanmissing27

  • RFF Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 86
Re: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« Reply #2 on: December 28, 2012, 06:19:42 AM »
The ones I feel "iffy" about are the Russian time zone RB (if it wasn't for the epic professor...), Bangladesh Rat-Collecting Fast Forward (motivational, but if the cute kids didn't follow James & Abba...), and Russian historical figure Detour (if it wasn't for Josh & Brent having fun...).

I wasn't on board with the Russian time zones and I wasn't even a huge fan of the professor at first (until his ad libbed quotes like "I'm on your side here") but then I looked at a world map of time zones and it suddenly made sense as to why this is such an epic and unique task. Russia has the most time zones of any country by far. The countries with the next highest number of time zones are USA and Canada but if the task was placed in either of those I assume that the geography (maybe even the time zones themselves) would be common knowledge to the teams and the task would become too easy to make good TV. So really Russia is the only country in which such a time zone quiz would work which is pretty interesting, well I think it is at least ><

I also liked the Turkish ice cream SpB which I remember a lot of people thought was too easy and then thought Josh and Brent were incredibly thick for having to do it twice, but for me the fact that they found an unmarked vendor just proves the ubiquity of the vendors and the authenticity of the performance, both of which give strong support to the cultural relevance of the task. It's a bit like the briefcase roadblock from the family edition, it wouldn't have been as interesting if random (unmarked) people weren't being bothered by the task; the cultural relevance of the task gave it an edge of difficulty. like being tasked to find a marked tree in a forest...

On the other hand I didn't like the bull side of the Spanish detour. Not only was it gimmicky with the dress up but any detour that can potentially be completed in 2 minutes does not belong in leg 10.

Offline RachelLeVega

  • RFF TAR Updater
  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 4953
  • Fearless of ticket agents - too hot to be handled!
Re: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« Reply #3 on: December 28, 2012, 07:38:29 AM »
I also jumped off the sofa with excitement when Phil introduced the Turkish ice cream Speed Bump. :cmaslol Eating thm or making them, I love d them featuring the ice cream. If you've ever been to a Turkish festival before, the Turkish ice cream they make there is the best. So marshmallowy and it feels like a twist between cotton candy and ice cream.

I thought the Spain "Bull" Detour was a little "iffy" too, but I wasn't a big fan of it as I could relate the bull to the trash-bag-homemade-messed-up condor costume teams had to humiliate themselves in Season 16, episode 2, Chile.
<3 Family, friends, food, freedom...FULFILLED <3
Countries "raced": Greece (2019), Italy (2017), Switzerland (2017), Taiwan (2016), U.S. (WA 2013, CA [S.F. 2014, L.A. 2023], TX 2021, IL all the time)

Offline supah

  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 960
Re: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« Reply #4 on: December 28, 2012, 04:50:35 PM »
1. odong odong roadlock in surabaya
2. bamboo side of the detour in bangladesh
3. syncronised swimming in moscow
4. time zone roadblock
5. feeding the dogs in france
6. houdini roadblock in new york city
7. the final roadblock


Offline RachelLeVega

  • RFF TAR Updater
  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 4953
  • Fearless of ticket agents - too hot to be handled!
Re: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« Reply #5 on: December 30, 2012, 08:29:47 PM »
1. odong odong roadlock in surabaya
2. bamboo side of the detour in bangladesh
3. syncronised swimming in moscow
4. time zone roadblock
5. feeding the dogs in france
6. houdini roadblock in new york city
7. the final roadblock

The odong-odong-mobile's children were so adorable! :bigbaby: I loved the balloon art, but I think that was my favorite between the dog food Detour in France and the windmill blade installment in Mallorca. (I loved the separate leg Detour option.)

"You swim like a buoy" lady & "PENCILS DOOOWWWN!!" professor :hrt:

New York definitely brought it this season. It is a big relief season 10 never did anything there xcept visiting the Alamo cube and off to the academy Finish Line.
<3 Family, friends, food, freedom...FULFILLED <3
Countries "raced": Greece (2019), Italy (2017), Switzerland (2017), Taiwan (2016), U.S. (WA 2013, CA [S.F. 2014, L.A. 2023], TX 2021, IL all the time)

Offline Reilly Queens

  • RFF's Game Queen
  • Big Brother Updaters
  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 4846
    • DESTINY
Re: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« Reply #6 on: December 31, 2012, 06:11:00 AM »
Um the Turkish ice cream task was awful and what made it worse what beekmans showing theyre a horrid team by not even going to the right one.

Offline RachelLeVega

  • RFF TAR Updater
  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 4953
  • Fearless of ticket agents - too hot to be handled!
Re: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« Reply #7 on: December 31, 2012, 08:57:23 AM »
Um the Turkish ice cream task was awful and what made it worse what beekmans showing theyre a horrid team by not even going to the right one.

The TASK was hideous, but for me, FEATURING the Turkish ice cream motivated me to give myself a second attempt at making the yummy ice cream.
<3 Family, friends, food, freedom...FULFILLED <3
Countries "raced": Greece (2019), Italy (2017), Switzerland (2017), Taiwan (2016), U.S. (WA 2013, CA [S.F. 2014, L.A. 2023], TX 2021, IL all the time)

Offline alyssa11

  • RFF Not So Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 14
Re: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« Reply #8 on: December 31, 2012, 09:44:24 AM »
I didn't  like the one where they had to vault accross the little strem. Only Abbie and Ryan had trouble. It was a really bad switchback.
I agree the Turkish Ice cream was too easy.
I liked the Houdini Escape!

Offline RachelLeVega

  • RFF TAR Updater
  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 4953
  • Fearless of ticket agents - too hot to be handled!
Re: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« Reply #9 on: December 31, 2012, 02:06:17 PM »
I didn't  like the one where they had to vault accross the little strem. Only Abbie and Ryan had trouble. It was a really bad switchback.
I agree the Turkish Ice cream was too easy.
I liked the Houdini Escape!
The main problem for the ditch vault was there were only 5 teams remaining, if they had the Switchback with 8 or 7 teams remaining, it could work better like in season 12 since there were ten teams at the time of the original event.
<3 Family, friends, food, freedom...FULFILLED <3
Countries "raced": Greece (2019), Italy (2017), Switzerland (2017), Taiwan (2016), U.S. (WA 2013, CA [S.F. 2014, L.A. 2023], TX 2021, IL all the time)


Offline ryanmissing27

  • RFF Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 86
Re: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« Reply #10 on: January 01, 2013, 08:10:20 AM »
Um the Turkish ice cream task was awful and what made it worse what beekmans showing theyre a horrid team by not even going to the right one.

I agree the Turkish Ice cream was too easy.

It has become clear to me that you people have not taken the time to read my posts upstream... ><

Offline Jobby

  • TAR & RFF Fanatic
  • TAR Detectives
  • I Live at RFF
  • *****
  • Posts: 13567
  • HEHEHEHEHEHE
Re: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« Reply #11 on: January 01, 2013, 10:53:06 PM »
I didn't  like the one where they had to vault accross the little strem. Only Abbie and Ryan had trouble. It was a really bad switchback.
I agree the Turkish Ice cream was too easy.
I liked the Houdini Escape!
The main problem for the ditch vault was there were only 5 teams remaining, if they had the Switchback with 8 or 7 teams remaining, it could work better like in season 12 since there were ten teams at the time of the original event.

That was the same problem with the Haybales Switchback in Sweden (TAR15)... only 5 teams remaining and it was unexciting as hell since Gary and Matt were so far behind.

Offline RachelLeVega

  • RFF TAR Updater
  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 4953
  • Fearless of ticket agents - too hot to be handled!
Re: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« Reply #12 on: January 02, 2013, 08:26:17 AM »
I didn't  like the one where they had to vault accross the little strem. Only Abbie and Ryan had trouble. It was a really bad switchback.
I agree the Turkish Ice cream was too easy.
I liked the Houdini Escape!
The main problem for the ditch vault was there were only 5 teams remaining, if they had the Switchback with 8 or 7 teams remaining, it could work better like in season 12 since there were ten teams at the time of the original event.

That was the same problem with the Haybales Switchback in Sweden (TAR15)... only 5 teams remaining and it was unexciting as hell since Gary and Matt were so far behind.
One Netherlands Switchback task they could have pulled out of the hat is the season 4 Molen Van Sloten windmill FF. The twist... take the duck bus there and ride the windmill for 25 rotations before getting their FF award.
<3 Family, friends, food, freedom...FULFILLED <3
Countries "raced": Greece (2019), Italy (2017), Switzerland (2017), Taiwan (2016), U.S. (WA 2013, CA [S.F. 2014, L.A. 2023], TX 2021, IL all the time)

Offline RaceUntilWeDie

  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1319
Re: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« Reply #13 on: January 02, 2013, 02:18:57 PM »
Since this thread has become all about the Switchback(s), I just realized that they [almost] always have Switchbacks during legs with 5 teams remaining

The problem with the S21 Switchback was:

-In the original S12, the teams appeared to have jumped over through a wider ditch. You can clearly see when Josh of Josh & Brent is doing the Roadblock, there is a wider section of the ditch behind him, which I think the S12 teams performed in

Idk if it's just me, but that's how I see it in my eyes.. I don't really care for the amount of teams (although that leg had teams too far apart).

Offline Aussie

  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 792
Re: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« Reply #14 on: January 03, 2013, 05:24:24 AM »
turkish bath thing, synchronized swimming, locks, final rb - everything else sucked

Offline supah

  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 960
Re: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« Reply #15 on: January 04, 2013, 04:26:23 AM »
turkish bath thing, synchronized swimming


Offline Aussie

  • RFF Frantic Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 792
Re: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« Reply #16 on: January 04, 2013, 04:35:31 AM »

Offline starrynight

  • RFF Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 458
Re: Favourite/Least Favourite tasks of Season 21
« Reply #17 on: January 08, 2013, 12:09:02 PM »
The massage thing was more like a speedbump then anything substantial, that has to rank among the very worst.

I also felt the best was carrying the bamboo, it looked physically hard as well as creating a bit of drama.

Bad season though for tasks as well as cast.