Hi! Hugs all around!
Agreed! There are quite a few similar teams, as you mentioned - Twins (3x in a row), Married couples with unique occupations (Clowns / Monster Truckers) and Dating Divorcees (actually the 3x too! Sandy/Jeremy, Ralph/Vanessa and now Abbie/Ryan). But now you know what your 'tagline' should be when YOU audition!! LOLs. On the other hand, I still feel like even though these teams can be bucketed into similar groups, it's certainly a formula that works. The teams are very interesting this season, and in our opinion, better than the mix of teams last season...
You're right that it's also much like Season 19. Taiwan/Shanghai, then 2 legs in Indonesia... But the race goes to Asia almost every season, and some countries are more interesting to film than others. We loved Indonesia and they probably film 2 legs there because it's difficult to get in/out so they have to make it worth it! I'm looking forward to seeing Bangladesh though!
The tough thing for us this season is that so far, it's been a game of taxi drivers. Amy & Daniel were one of our early favorites and we hoped to see them on the show for awhile. They looked like a strong duo and Amy's story is just so inspiring. But they got the bad luck of the draw with 1, 2, 3, 4 taxis who didn't know where Wajaya motors was! UGH! and this time with Brittany and Cait was heartbreaking. The taxi had just taken them to the right spot and for some reason went the wrong way. It's amazing that Gary & Will's taxi didn't follow Cait/Britt since usually the taxi's just follow each other around like chickens with no heads. You have to give MAJOR props to the camera crew for getting that on film. We cannot believe that finish!! We watched with Brittany again this time and it was literally so tense in the room at that moment! But so much about the race is the luck of the taxi and being able to communicate with them. We always considered the taxi's as part of our team. Just the five of us: Ernie, Cindy, Camera, Sound and Taxi Driver. We always cheered them on, clapped and were high fiving all around so they knew that we were all one team. When the Taxi driver has no sense of urgency, that's when you lose the race by inches.
As far as who we think are final three, this is tough... There are so many good teams, but it seems this season may have some underdogs in the final three. Trey/Lexi will probably be in the F3 because they're getting in a really good rhythm, they're just such an adorable couple. The Chippendales will likely make it far because it's inevitable that there will be some seriously physical tasks and these two guys will blow all the other teams out of the water. We'll reserve the third spot for one of the underdogs like Long Hair Don't Care or the Beekmans. We haven't seen much of either of those teams in the edit yet but I think we will start seeing more. Twinnies are strong and Ryan & Abbie are strong as well but ... even strong teams don't make it to the end! Just like our season - we totally thought Andy/Tommy (snowboarders) would be in the final 3, but luck/bad taxi did them in.
Who are your picks for final 3?
Hey there, Ernie and Cindy (whenever you get here )!
I'm having pretty mixed reactions for this season. I feel like there's too much repetition this season: The route it becoming very similar to your season (first leg in a Chinese-speaking country, two legs in Indonesia, now we've got the next two legs in Southeast Asia), and the cast feels recycled to me (married couple with interesting occupation, second season in a row with "Dating Divorcees" tagline, third season in a row with twins).
On the other hand, out of the three episodes there have been so far, there have been two really close races to not be last (Legs 1 and 3), and the other one had a pretty shocking elimination, I thought (Amy & Daniel... thought they would make it REALLY far).
So I guess my question for the two of you is: Have you been noticing the same things I have, and what are your overall impressions of the season so far?
And then on a separate note, who do you think will make the Final 3? I know it's only been three legs, but I don't think there have been three obvious choices yet.
Thanks, guys!