The Amazing Race > The Amazing Race Discussion

Student-produced version of the Amazing Race airs online

<< < (5/6) > >>

apskip:
THE RACE 2 episode 4 (although the producer refers to it as Finale part 1)

We start in Candor at the Old Barn. Jon and Jenna are 25 minutes behind the other 3 teams. The first clue sends teams to the Side Hill Goat Farm on Spencer Road.

Challenge 1 is teammates holding hands until they locate a feamle goat with a specific numbered tag, then they can break and one must then milk a cup full. A small boy offers advice to those who ask for it since he is an expert. Hal and Matilda are not very fast. Daniel and Jeff are fast. Sadie and Ginalola are lightning fast. Jon and Jenna are very fast. They appear to be about 15 minutes behind at that point.

Challenge 2 is to drive down Spencer Road and find thte only operating flax field in New York State. The proprietor demonstrates how to make bundles of flax and put them into a proper formation of 10. Each teammate has to do 5 hands full of flax. Jon and Jenna miss the field and lose time as they have to come back to find it.

Challenge 3 is to get to Gino's Pizzeria on The Commons in Ithaca. This would be a great challenge if all the teams were from Ithaca College. However, since Daniel and Jeff are not it is highly discriminatory against them. One can argue that they had the advantage in Binghamton since they are SUNY Binghamton students. I will say that in an earlier episode it did nto matter so much. Sadie and Ginalola get behind Daniel and Jeff for a long while and do not pass them so they will not be followed. I think the most significant thing about this challenge is that Jon and Jenna talk about their radar detector. I have no doubt that they used one and that Jon was driving wasy over the speed limit. There is no other way that they could have made up the amount of time that they did. They arrived at Gino's only 5 minutes behind.

Challenge 4 is a winner! It is to deliver 3 pizzas from Gino' s to local addresses. It turns out to be the same 3 addresses for all teams. To watch how they approach this was fascinating, but again Daniel and Jeff were screwed as they did not know any of the local roads and everybody else did. Daniel and Jeff had to get detailed directions from Gino's and that took precious time. The order arriving back at gino's for the next clue was:

Jon and Jenna (who were extremely knowlwedgeable of local roads and took the lead)
Sadie and Ginalola (who could not figure out how they lost first place)
Hal and Matilda
Daniel and Jeff

Challenge 5 was just to drive into a parking garage in The Commons  at Seneca and Cayuga and go to the top deck for the pitstop. This took maybe 3 minutes. The finish order was the same. Daniel and Jeff were eliminated due to the hometown advantage.

The producers should either not have non-Ithaca College students in the competition or they should carefully examine the advantage inherent of challenges in and around Ithaca. They should also develop and enforce rules aginst speeding!



 

makz3d:

I just finished watching 1 and 2.  They were very good.  I just watched the final of Race2 and it was great.  The suspense at the end wondering who was going to win was heart pounding.  The race to the finish line was very exciting.

Thank you for furnishing the link and the reviews for each episode.

apskip:
THE RACE 2 FINALE

This terrific episode starts on top of the same parking garage. All three teams get the clue to get to the TCAT bus #30 at Green St. in Ithaca, which isn't far away. They all make the 430pm bus and have a puzzle to solve from an "Open on the bus" envelope. The solution to the letter transposition puzzle is first worked out by Hal and Matilda. It is: Go to Willis Straight Hall on the Cornell University campus. Hal and Matilda are foolish to share their solution with the other teams. All get there about the same time. Sadie and Ginalola and Hal and Matilda  find the clue box outside while Jon and Jenna are looking inside and taking an extra 5 to 10 minutes to find it. However, once they do, Jon and Jenna distinguish themselves with hustle. Neither of the other teams has a second gear, so Jon and Jenna slowly catch up throughout the final challenge.

The final challenge is to take 4 pictures of the Cornell U. Campus and use them to find the ribbons waiting at the site depicted by the pictures. This is a particularly good challenge since Ithaca U. students spend little if any time on the Cornell U. campus (although I would guess that Sadie and Ginalola have the highest probability of doing so). All teams had to ask the local students for help. Hal and Matilda fall further back as Jon and Jenna surge ahead. At the finish, Jon and Jenna narrowly edge out Sadie and Ginalola.

The final twist is a good one. Get back to the Ithaca U. campus and to the observatory where the FINISH LINE awaits. Remember that their cars are a long way away, so the challenge is to convince someone to drive them. This is complicated by the fact that it is a Sunday and students are returning to the Cornell U. campus from Spring Break. They are typically not interested in leaving the campus again. Jon and Jenna get someone while Sadie and Ginalola get a person in an office to get her car out of a parking garage. Jon and Jenna are not as knowledgeable of the route back as Sadie and Ginalola, but it doesn't matter. The head start they had was enough. I believe that if the car Sadie and Ginalola rode in did not have to come out of a garage they would have won. Hal and Matilda were a distant third. Thomas Pardee, the host, got a face full of cake as the staff celebrated at the finish line.

I thought that The Race 2 on the whole was excellent reality television. I am looking forward to The Race 3.

bandergrove:
Hi, I'm Pete Berg, the producer of The Race and The Race 2.  I stumbled across this post and just want to thank you all for watching the show!  I really love reading your comments.  I devoted about a year of my life to doing two seasons of The Race, so it really means a lot that people are watching it and discussing it online.

Also, a HUGE thank goes to apskip for writing up the recaps!  I just read all of them, and it was very interesting to hear your take on the challenges and contestants.

Unfortunately, there's probably not going to be a Race 3 because I graduated from Ithaca College in May.  The Race was my project -- I was the producer / director / lead editor, and I planned all the challenges and coordinated everything.  Nobody else has stepped up to take over the show...understandable, considering I put in about 8 hours a day on The Race, on top of being a full-time student and didn't even get academic credit for it.  I'm hoping eventually somebody at ICTV decides to make another reality show, but I can't make any guarantees (cross your fingers!)

But this doesn't mean you've heard the last of me heheh... I've recently moved to Los Angeles and I'm currently working on an all-new reality tv concept that I want to shoot and release online.  The end goal is to create a pitch series so I can try to sell the concept to a network or cable channel.  I haven't posted any info about it yet, but when I do, it'll be on my website: http://www.peteberg.net

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for the feedback! :)

Slowhatch:

--- Quote ---I've recently moved to Los Angeles and I'm currently working on an all-new reality tv concept...
--- End quote ---

:waves: It looks like you picked the right time; if the strike lasts more than a month or two everybody will be eager for new (non-scripted) ideas.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page