Nuku - Aosta, Italy [Mountain]Show content
• Teams begin in South Africa before going to Italy. There have been a few mountain legs previously in Italy, so I’m eager to see what new things you have brought.
• At the airport, teams receive vehicles and gnomes for the leg. They then drive a couple hours to the Arena Croix Noire. Watching the cow fighting isn’t challenging, but it is cultural. Just a note: try to add what teams are expected to do along with the description of the ARI. I didn’t understand until reading the next line that teams were just watching the cow battle.
• The grass skiing Roadblock at the ski school is interesting. Skiing requires agility and balance, and the task is adventurous and would provide good TV shots. I also like how there are two slopes. I don’t know how long the course is, so it would be nice to know how long or how many attempts this task could take an average racer. This task is quite appropriate for a Mountain theme, so good job there!
• The next clue directs teams to drive to the cable car to eventually get to Chamois. The website you provided says the cable car operates every 15-30 minutes, so I’m okay with this as the previous tasks and navigation should ensure teams arrive here at varied times and this won’t be a huge bunching point.
• Finding the locations in Chamois is okay, and I guess the Kodak part fulfills a product placement requisite? (even though we already have Travelocity and Ford
) I would like to see pictures or information for these destinations either in your main presentation or in your notes. Also, I don’t know how long the Chamois portion of this leg will take, considering there isn’t a map of the locations.
• The Detour is Game On or Costume On. Initially, I think Game On seems tougher, but at least it’s a lesser driving time for the teams that pick this option. I assume the ‘3 stations’ mean 3 different teams on which the racers can play. Success at this task should vary wildly depending on teams’ athletic ability and luck. It seems that these 4 sub-tasks alternate between offense and defense, so how does that work? Are they playing against amateurs or professionals? I like how this task features a new sport, while it seems similar to cricket and baseball it is unique to the Aosta Valley.
• Costume On is a searching and attention to detail task at a carnival. These outfits look like they’ll be great to see the teams dressing in on TV. How many people in the crowd are there with costumes? Are the wrong costumes very different, or are the differences minor details teams have to use their sharp eyes to find? This Detour was cultural, but more details would be valued.
• I like the Pit Stop location!
You showed improvement from Round 1 in a few different ways, such as presentation and the composition of the tasks in the leg. The leg smoothly matched the theme you received for Round 2, and this leg would be enjoyable to see on TV. More explanation would enrich your future legs, so keep working on that. I hope you’re not as rushed for rounds in the future, because I anticipate you being able to improve each and every round. Good luck!
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• Teams start this leg in Cruz Loma, Bolivia. We haven't seen Bolivia since TAR 13, so I would love to see another leg(s) in Bolivia!
• This Fast Forward would probably be the most daring task in TAR history. Cycling the Death Road is inherently dangerous and even more so for amateurs. Having the van behind the teams is intended to augment safety, but it isn't going to help if someone bikes off a cliff. If cycling this road was somehow viable for a task, you made it practically impossible by forcing the teams to pedal continuously. It's physically strenuous to bike without stopping for 11 km and then another 9 km anywhere, let alone for amateurs at this altitude and on an unpaved road with a frightening dropoff. If most people go downhill, then wouldn't the racers be going against the grain of anyone else on the road? Typically, when two parties meet on a narrow path, the party going uphill defers to the party going downhill. This would be essentially impossible with the requirement that teams can't stop pedaling, not to mention another safety concern. I get that this task was supposed to be a jaw-dropping adventurous task, but it's simply not feasible or safe.
• The zipline RB at ZZip is well enough. Combining memory with an adventure task will make it challenging for the racers, but not too challenging. Getting it wrong once wouldn’t doom a team unless the walk back to the ziplines is lengthy. It is a first-come, first-serve task, but the memory component at least forces the racers to retain some information. This task would be exciting for TV!
• Teams then drive to El Puente Coroico, giving us the Detour. Flying Man, much like the Roadblock, is a zipline task and much like the Fast Forward, it's scary and would need tons of safety protocol. There would have to be a lot of improvements to the ziplines to ensure racer security, but aside from that, they are a cultural part of this valley and so is the coca teams would have to collect. One of the racers in the team would have just come off a ziplining Roadblock, so this task would really only provide drama if the other team member was nervous to zipline. Overall, it’s a simple task that features an interesting part of life in the valley.
• Dancing Woman is a staple dancing task. I like the unique clothing teams have to wear for the dance, and it is culturally relevant to the Yungas. Thanks for including the videos so I could see how the dance is performed!
• Teams then face a long drive to the Pit Stop, which is picturesque.
To sum things up, this was a leg that explored new horizons in rural Bolivia, and the locations were on point. However, the tasks were often either impractical or basic. I appreciate how you put a different twist on some common TAR tasks like ziplining or dancing, but I didn’t feel floored by many of the tasks. Still, I believe you have improved your presentation from Round 1, so keep your head high and work towards improving even more in future rounds!
Bookworm - Lamu, Kenya [Beach]Show content
• Teams commence in Ethiopia before flying to the neighbor to the south, Kenya. Kenya hasn’t been visited since TAR 5 and wasn’t even really visited then, so I’m glad you picked it since it’s high on the list of places we need to see in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Speedboats whisk teams to Lamu Island (I assume they are on-demand) where teams discover the Detour Clue. Donkey Routes is a nice way to involve the omnipresent donkeys and also help out the local community. I like how the task combines the navigational skill of reading the map and planning the route as well as the capricious nature of the animals. I was a tad worried that a team would be able to ride the coattails of another to the stations, but considering the different paths possible and that the donkeys will have different moods, I don't think this task will be linear.
• Trade Routes is another Detour involving transportation, although this one is more historical. This task is a mashup of unloading the bricks from TAR 17 and counting the Ikea items from TAR 6. The only thing that I can see significantly changing the standings of this task is if one team panics and can't count accurately. While it might not have as much potential for drama or shakeup as compared to the other Detour, I like how this task pays recognition to how Lamu was a nucleus of trade centuries ago. All said, it's a cultural and balanced Detour.
• I love this Roadblock! The beach hat party looks like it would be lively and vibrant, which would be great to see on TV. Obliging the racers to be creative with the given materials is good from a Race standpoint and also ties into the local culture. How exactly do teams have to incorporate the marine animal into their hat? This is far from being one of the most grueling Roadblocks we've seen this round, but it is wholesome and enriching.
• While coconuts aren't by any means exclusive to Kenya, I enjoyed how the ARI task utilized local tools. It's a nice task to transition between the Roadblock and the Pit Stop. Like the last task, it probably won't shuffle placements, but it could provide some interesting drama if two teams are in a race to be the first to finish and avoid being last to the Pit Stop.
Overall, this leg puts a spotlight on Kenya and does so well. The tasks are balanced between physical and mental and are culturally relevant. I can see this leg fitting in perfectly into the middle of the race, and also warmly received by a viewing audience. Details were well-done and the presentation was crisp. See you back for Round 3!
MikeDodgers - Sant Antoni, Spain [Beach]Show content
• This leg begins in Florence before setting its sights on Ibiza, Spain. I know this region is famous for its nightlife, so I'm excited to see what it can bring. Before we jump into the leg, let's bring up this point from your notes:
- Night to dawn leg
• The One Way isn't my favorite twist, but I can respect you putting it into your design at an appropriate place.
• The Sand Shock detour option does involve these cool sculptures and requires teams to search and organize. I think this task loses a little bit of its charm being at night. Are there any decoys or non-related sculptures?
• Setting up for Spiritual Serenity really sounds like a solid attention to detail task, but I find it hard to know what teams have to do here with no clear photos, videos, or list of steps. More detail here will let us know what's going on with the task. Overall, this detour is somewhat culturally relevant, but lacks the detail for me to judge whether it's balanced.
• This Speed Bump fits into the Beach theme, but it has no special tie to Ibiza at all. It also has a safety concern with diving at night and I don't know how the film crew can get good shots of teams diving underwater when there's no sunlight. 40 minutes is pushing the upper limit of what a Speed Bump should take and even though the search area is small, the fact that this task is included in a night leg is peculiar and overcomplicating. The task itself doesn't foster any cooperation between team members; it could be completed by one person.
• This Roadblock shows Ibiza's partying culture, and its location is relevant. However, from the description this task seems super easy? They are given the songs and their lengths and have to pick six that total under half an hour. So basically, pick songs that are under five minutes each and you're golden. The Express Pass twist is the only thing that will force the racers to slow down and think, but even then, it's not hard or time-consuming to guess and check to try to get closer to 30:00. Unless the DJ has some criteria they use to either approve or possibly reject the setlist (this wasn't mentioned anywhere in the design), I have no clue why you say this task would take racers 90-120 minutes in your notes. Some more detail on this task would help, such as noting the artists given or how many songs are provided for each racer in their list. Also, I would rephrase your Roadblock question, as it could definitely come across as insensitive to viewers.
• Teams then drive to Cala Gracio and find an ARI, a swimming relay. I would have liked to see a beach ARI with some more significance to Ibiza rather than this fairly generic task that seems to have been implemented to fill the requirements. Based on the timing of this leg, this task would be appearing in the middle of the night. Not the optimal time to have teams swimming in open water from either a safety or filming standpoint. It's a physical task, but the execution is flawed. Teams then drive to the Pit Stop, an okay location.
While you got better in some aspects from your Round 1 design (improved graphics and photos!), this design unfortunately had its miscues as well. You specified this was a night leg, yet the majority of your tasks weren't suited to nighttime. I would have preferred the nightclub RB followed by an HoO and the rest of the tasks in the morning to solve that issue. The requirements of the round were filled, but the Speed Bump and ARI were filled by exceptionally generic tasks that could've been done on practically any beach. Task details as well as leg maps could have been enhanced. I like your purpose of creating a leg in Ibiza, but this leg needed more flavor. Don't lose momentum on the progress you have made and focus on improving for the next round!
