Im not sure that someone has pointed this before, but my biggest criticism of this season is they have casts from Big Brother & Survivor that have never raced before (except Rachel), but they casted TAR racers that recently raced from their respective season, except ofc Art & JJ and Colin & Christie.
To me, i agree for what (BB and survivor) said, it's kinda unfair to them since they(TAR returnees) have a very good advantage with their field, hence we see 4 of top 5 racers are TAR returnees, and the only factor that made this race so interesting, especially on the last parts of the race was the fact that they spend out NEL legs on Leg 7.
IMO, if they insisted to invite returnees for the reality clash gimmick sake, they should have invited racers from TAR classic, like they did with Colin & Christie. We could have seen how they would race and adapt with new format or rules of TAR, which is much much intriguing rather than having recent TAR alumni casted for this theme. I mean honestly, it woild have been really fun to see them race again with modern TAR elements, like u-turn, speed bump, airport flight rules, and even flipping head to head, so that they have to adapt those things, and at the very least give the BB & survivor chance to compete, and honestly, who in the earth doesnt want to see TAR classic racers compete again? It could have boosted the ratings too, as us, as TAR fans especially, want to have a nostalgia of those racers, and to see how they are now and how they compete this modern course. That's why, while the casting of Colin & Christie was honestly shocking, it was shockingly delightful because they fitted on this theme. Art & JJ somehow worked too altho they got booted early, but yeah. I mean i know some of those TAR classic racers are already moving on and having a real life to do, but the fact that they invited back Colin & Christie, and originally planned to invited members of Linz' family (or Gaghan family, i forgot) i think it is possible, and i think most of the racers dont mind to compete again.
Another way would have been to reinvite casts that have been on Big brother or survivor and have raced before on TAR, im sure there are still plenty of them that still offers excitment, competition, and entertaiment purpose, like Keith & Ehitney, Jordan & Jeff, or even Rob & Amber and Twinnies (tho i still dislike threepeaters concept). That way it could have given the same chance as TAR returnees to compete in the sake of Reality Clash Theme. In the end, casting teams like T & K, team fun, and afghanimals was not bad choice, but it was more like a wasting opportunity, since the theme could have fitted to TAR crews to go wild and beyond, especially with TAR returnees