I can't rationally understand why anyone would be supporting of this. Seriously.
The idea if you don't like the U-Turn just race better is rubbish. No team, not even the best teams the race has ever had manage to be first at every single route marker of every single leg. And this year to add salt on the would the have a U-Turn on a leg that didn't have a point of equalization. And more salt on teh wound, the team that got first in that earlier leg finished first but didn't actually race best (thanks to random chance the teams that managed to get the earliest flight got an over hour delay). That allowed Michael & Louie to finish first without that they wouldn't have (nor did they even complete the tasks fastest that leg). So clearly just race faster wasn't the factor that allowed another team to use the U-Turn.
I mean why do they have rules about not hindering teams, when they do this? Whats the real point? Why can't the bribe people to take them the wrong direction. If you've saved the money and can get it down, why not? The way is because it turns the race into something it wasn't created as. A mean spirited race.
I mean if you have kids and are at a track game, do you want the kid who gets the first lap done first able to point out another kid an say oh you get to race an extra lap? I mean seriously.
As over the years the race as improved several things. The design of their final leg (thank you about time), the rules about not being able to buy objects off of people, not being able to hire cabs to direct you. All have been great moves to make the show and the race itself better.
The creation of the Yield, The U-Turn, the begging / and or taking possession away from the racers is utter garbage.
There is a reason the industry thinks TAR is a better show then most Reality shows, and its just not where it goes or who it casts. Part of that is that it doesn't sink itself to as base a level as many a show. But those elements do make it worse.
Why should a team not get some sort of advantage for being first? Many a time people complain about equalization because it removes all the lead that the teams at the front have earned. Yet here everybody is complaining because the teams in the lead FINALLY get a reward for it. That is the reason I like the U-Turn. If you have raced well, then you get the chance to press the advantage you created for yourself, and if you've raced poorly, you may have to work extra hard to catch up. If the teams racing were so morally opposed to the U-Turn, they simply wouldn't use it. But it (And variants of it) are here to stay. Get used to it.
But that isn't the same at all, and for example we had fewer points of equalization then any season int eh history of the show.
As a race, and what that is about traveling through various parts of the world there is always going to be some forms of equalization. There is not in the is world unlimited travel options that leave every second.
And you stated teams should get some reward for getting to places first, and in fact teams that arrive at airports, bus terminals, ect do get advantages that others don't. More rest time (and rest is a huge, huge factor for the race), research time (and this can also be huge if you have time to research an area or a place you have to go to it helps you), and the ability to find faster routes of transportation. Those three things are huge, huge helpers for teams. They get more time to eat, more time to beg (if they are short of money) just many factors for being first (at a point where you can't make forward progress).
Yes I know the production is keen on keeping this little artificially created conflict generators, but knowing that doesn't mean I have to like it. Nor do I understand why anyone would.
For example there is the fast forward, thats clearly a reward, and one that isn't directed towards another team. One that s hardly used anymore because it provides little artificial drama and there is a larger cost involved. Now I don't know of many who dislike the Fast Forward. But a lot of fans of the show don't like the Yield or the U-Turn. And what bitter animosity has ever come up from the Fast Forward?
I don't have a problem with teams not liking each other, but I don't like to see Producers build tasks into the game that are specifically designed to make those conflicts larger. TAR used to be above that, it isn't any longer, and in my mind thats a damn shame.
