Archive > The Amazing Race 16 Spoilers/Speculation

TAR16 - EP5: "I Think We're Fighting the Germans, Right?" (France)

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Caelestor:
To be fair, the Morse Code was NOT an impossible task. The transmission sounds were slow, and they had a manual in front of them. As long as they could copy down the transmission and then translate, they would have completed in a reasonable amount of time (less than 2 hours). The fact that nobody ever does the mental task anymore just goes to show the dumbing-down of the cast.

However, the U-turn has become too overpowered and needs to be retired. Not once have I seen a team that has escaped from a U-turn that has been used properly.

As for a Roadblock, enough was going on in the episode anyway. Last leg demonstrated that cramming too many tasks with a lot of teams and a long plane flight does not make for good editing.

Felt this leg was a mix of the 6th and 7th leg in TAR 15.

walkingpneumonia:
The detour location...

apskip:

--- Quote from: gator27 on March 15, 2010, 12:08:32 PM ---
--- Quote from: Joab on March 15, 2010, 10:24:39 AM ---Okay, i really hate this episode.

I hate episodes where teams placement does not change. I hate it when the teams are U-TURNed to do something that is almost impossible. Kudos for Joe and Heidi for even trying to break the code, BECAUSE.. there is simply NO WAY that i can do something like that and i would have given up on the spot. These two totally showed the asian spirit of not giving up! Another wonderful team eliminated from this season.. i think this is the first season where the teams that i think i like get eliminated 10th, 9th and 8th. Like some curse is going on.

Jeff and Jordan are plain whiney and dumb and the fact that they took over Joe and Heidi's place in the final 7 is ridiculous. And seriously, any team U-TURNed this leg WILL be eliminated because if you KNOW NUTS about MORSE CODE, you will be eliminated. When did the U-TURN turn into a SABOTAGE to ELIMINATE a team instead of HOLDING back a team. Hate the unfairness on TAR and i'm very displeased with this episode.

This episode could have been amazing with the Detour AND ANOTHER ROADBLOCK... because seriously, there really isn't anything to see in this episode. They forced us to spend so much time watching all the different teams crawl over the same spot at the same area over and over again? Some plain cheapskate planning for the race to save money? This is just ridiculous.



--- End quote ---

I would have like to see another team try the morse code so that we could get another "take" on the degree of difficulty.

The U-Turn is a very strategic tool in the race.  I agree with Luke's idea that teams need to use the U-Turn to slow down or get rid of their competition.  This is a race ... for 1 million dollars.  Too often the U-Turn is not used by team near the front because the front-runners do not feel they are in danger of being eliminated.

When the Detectives used the Blind Detour, they were hoping to slow Joe down.  They had no idea the other leg of the Detour would take so long.  And the U-Turn was hardly blind as there were only 2 teams ahead of Joe & Heidi.  And the arrived at the clue box with Steve & Allie.

The U-Turn is supposed to shake things up, re-arrange placings and create conflict.  The U-Turn created the most drama in this episode.

--- End quote ---

I have a different perspective on the use of the U-turn. Most U-turns are used on teams near the back of the pack to eliminate them. The reason is that the front-running teams are inconvenienced by being slowed down, but they seldom find a task that is beyond their capabilities. In the case of Joe and Heidi, they were unlucky because their task was very difficult (underscored by the fact that no other team dared to try it as their DETOUR option). That does not mean that the U-turn can be used effectively to get out leading teams. In all the cases I know where U-turns were used, here are the positions of the teams who were U-turned:

AR12 - Shana/Jennifer #6 U-turned Jason/Lorena #8 (last)
AR12 - Kynt/Vyxsin #3 attempted to U-turn a team ahead of them, Nicolas and Donald, which nullified that U-Turn
AR13 - none
AR14 - Margie/Luke #4 used Blind U-turn on Amanda/Kris #5
AR14 - Tammy/victor #1 U-turned on Kisha/Jen #4
AR15 - none
AR16 - Louis/Michael #1  Blind U-turned Joe/Heidi #3

So, episode 5 of AR16 is the only one where a leading team in fact attempted to use it on another leading team.

walkingpneumonia:
Pit Stop - Wargemoulin-Hurlus
You can see the bridge they crossed and just see the church steeple in Google street view.

Nume:
I really dont think it was that bad of a 2nd task. Honestly, morse code really isnt that hard. There was no excuse for Joe and Heidi to not be able to figure it out with the immense amount of time they had. They never even got close. All morse code is is dots and dashes, and you could hear the sounds. Its not like there are other options, either its a shot beep or a long beep. I just cant see how they couldnt just write down each series of 4 and figure out the letters, even if in the wrong order, to unscramble it. Remember, this is the same team that thought they could find the gold without counting their steps bc he had a compass.... Anyways still didnt like this leg too much. All of the tasks were simple, and with no group travel to equalize the teams, you can easily see why the order didnt change much other than the u-turn. The only other change was the brothers and the lesbians switching places.

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