Racing report
Amazing Race Season 31, Episode 1, "You're in our race now"
Film date: 2018-06-10 - 2018-06-11
After a way too long hiatus the race is finally back. This time with a special season billed as a reality clash with contestants from previous seasons of Big Brother, Survivor and The Amazing Race.
This race starts at the end of the pier at Hermosa beach in Los Angeles, CA. The contestants this year are:
- Rupert & Laura - married, Survivor
- Janelle & Britney - friends, Big Brother
- Leo & Jamal - cousins, Amazing Race
- Nicole & Victor - engaged, Big Brother
- Rachel & Elissa - sisters, Big Brother and Amazing Race (Rachel)
- Colin & Christie - life partners, Amazing Race
- Tyler & Korey - friends, Amazing Race
- Becca & Floyd - friends, Amazing Race
- Art & JJ - friends, Amazing Race
- Chris & Bret - friends, Survivor
- Corinne & Eliza - friends, Survivor
"I'm doing this for you Pablo", Leo is racing for his cat
The start happens on the edge of the pier and the first task is to dig into a giant octopus sand sculpture on the beach to find their first clue. And when Phil says go the teams start running the ~400m to the beach and start digging.
"My sand is broken", Christie make a reference to an earlier saying by Colin
Teams find their clue in the sand in the following order:
1. Rachel & Elissa
2. Rupert & Laura
3. Nicole & Victor
4. Becca & Floyd
5. Janelle & Britney
6. Leo & Jamal
7. Chris & Bret
8. Colin & Christie
9. Tyler & Korey
10. Corinne & Eliza
11. Art & JJ
Route info: "Fly to Tokyo, Japan."
The starting line task had a second part which is not shown on the telecast. It involved pulling down octopus kites and looking for clues on their tails. Allegedly this task let you win an extreme roadblock which allowed you to make a roadblock harder for another team. Rumor has it that this went unused so it seems production cut the whole task.
All teams are on the same flight to Tokyo:
AA169 LAX-NRT 12:25 - 15:55+1
Once teams arrive in Tokyo they are put on a bus and driven to Shibuya. Teams are handed their next clue when they exit the bus.
This clue is a route info telling them to travel on foot to one of two locations and pick up their next clue. The locations are ACB Lock & Security and Tokyo Tokyo restaurant. Both locations are about 500m away from where teams are dropped off (next to the Apa Hotel). There is a limited number of clues at each location.
Here teams are immediately thrown into the the deep end of the pool. They get a navigational task at night in a chaotic city where there is a big language barrier. As one could expect chaos ensues.
"Racers have an advantage. this ain't Big Brother, this ain't Survivor, You're in our race now", Jamal gets the title
"Umm, I don't even know what to do", Rupert
Leo & Jamal spot a clue location across the street but as they have a number of other teams following them they pretend to be lost and fight over directions. Eventually the other teams move on and they can go and collect their clue.
As Rachel & Elissa find the locksmith they call Tyler & Korey who are nearby.
Teams reach one of the two clue points in the following order:
1. Rupert & Laura, the restaurant
2. Chris & Bret, the restaurant
3. Leo & Jamal, the locksmith
4. Janelle & Britney, the restaurant
5. Colin & Christie, the restaurant
6. Becca & Floyd, the locksmith
7. Nicole & Victor, the restaurant
Rachel & Elissa, the restaurant, but it is out of clues
Tyler & Korey, the restaurant, but it is out of clues
8. Rachel & Elissa, the locksmith
9. Tyler & Korey, the locksmith
10. Corinne & Eliza
11. Art & JJ
Route info: "Travel on foot to the 5th floor of Edgeof Shibuya Building." This building is about 500m away.
"This is way harder than Survivor", Rupert
Teams find the clue box in the Edgeof building in the following order:
1(+2) Leo & Jamal
2(+3) Colin & Christie
3(+1) Janelle & Britney
4(+3) Nicole & Victor
5(+3) Rachel & Elissa
6(+3) Tyler & Korey
7(-1) Becca & Floyd
8(-6) Chris & Bret
9(-8) Rupert & Laura
10(+0) Corinne & Eliza
11(+0) Art & JJ, after all others have left
Road block: "Who wants a sweet new pair of shoes?"
This road block is yet another task inspired of a Japanese game show. Teams must find one of only 12 shoes made of chocolate in a room filled with more than 100 shoes, and they way to do this is to bite into it. They must sit down on a bench and indicate to the staff which shoe they want to try and when the shoe is brought to them they must try to take a bit to figure out if it is made from wood or chocolate.
If the shoe was wood the staff takes it to the side to be washed before they place it back on the shelf.
Once they find a shoe made of chocolate the staff draws two red lines on it and both team members must eat up to their respective line.
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+0) Leo & Jamal* (0-1) On his 6th attempt 2(+1) Janelle* & Britney (1-0) On her first attempt 3(-1) Colin & Christie* (0-1) On her 12th attempt 4(+0) Nicole & Victor* (0-1) On hist 43rd attempt 5(+1) Tyler* & Korey (1-0) Seems to find it on his first attempt 6(-1) Rachel & Elissa* (0-1) On her 10th attempt 7(+0) Becca & Floyd* (0-1) On his 14th attempt 8(+0) Chris* & Bret (1-0) After at least 27 attempts 9(+0) Rupert & Laura* (0-1) 10(+0) Corinne & Eliza* (0-1) On her 39th attempt 11(+0) Art & JJ* (0-1) After many attempts
The next clue tells teams to travel by taxi to Onarimon Station. Once there they must proceed to Shiba Koen and search for their next clue.
"We feel like we're a strong team and we haven't been able to prove that", Corinne thinks they are stronger than their placement indicates
Shiba Koen is a park and Onarimon Station is right at the edge of it. The park is not that big and the clue box is about 100m from the station, but some people have a hard time finding it. Janelle & Britney head down into the metro station and waste a lot of time down there. And then we have Rupert & Laura. Instead of going through the park they follow the street at the edge.
"There's lights that way", Laura spots the challenge across the street, but Rupert does not think it can be it so they continue
Teams find the clue box in the park in the following order:
1(+0) Leo & Jamal
2(+1) Colin & Christie, as #1 is still doing this task
3(+2) Tyler & Korey
4(+0) Nicole & Victor, as #3 is at the task
5(+1) Rachel & Elissa, as #3 is finishing
6(+1) Becca & Floyd
7(+1) Chris & Bret
8(-6) Janelle & Britney
9(+1) Corinne & Eliza
10(+1) Art & JJ
11(-2) Rupert & Laura, as #10 is still here
Road block: Who wants to climb Mt Fuji?
In this road block contestants must dress up in a leotard and a ridiculous wig (which hides a helmet). Then they have to climb up a 20ft slippery slope and grab a clue from the top. There are hand holds on the slope but they start a bit up and are quite far apart.
Also the person who did not do the previous road block must do this one.
This task is extra hard since it has been (or is) raining so the slippery slope is extra slippery as it is wet.
Floyd is very sure that Becca will do it in under 30 seconds, and she delivers.
Most teams seem to complete this task without much trouble. The exceptions are Leo, Bret and Art. Leo struggled a lot. Bret got up fairly easily but he has not read his clue properly so he does not know what to do at the top so he slides down again without grabbing a clue. He then struggles when he has to climb it again.
"I can't say anything", Chris at least know the rules
"Go twinnie, you can do it", Eliza know at least something about the race
The biggest surprise here is Art.
"I'm in way better shape than I was 7 years ago", voice over as he starts the task
Art struggles and after a while his legs start to cramp.
"This is embarrassing", JJ
Eventually they realize that there is no way Art will be able to complete the task so they decide to take the penalty. This is four hours and they have to wait it out at the spot.
As they are waiting Rupert & Laura finally arrive, after having wandered through the park for more than two hours.
So Art & JJ can only sit and watch as Rupert attempts the climb. Art is pretty sure Rupert will never make it, but is proven wrong when Rupert gets to the top on hist first try.
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+0) Leo* & Jamal (1-1) 2(+0) Colin* & Christie (1-1) 3(+0) Tyler & Korey* (1-1) 4(+0) Nicole* & Victor (1-1) 5(+0) Rachel* & Elissa (1-1) 6(+0) Becca* & Floyd (1-1) 7(+0) Chris & Bret* (1-1) 8(+0) Janelle & Britney* (1-1) 9(+0) Corinne* & Eliza (1-1) 10(+1) Rupert* & Laura (1-1) 11(-1) Art* & JJ (1-1) Art was unable to do the climb so they took the 4h penalty
Route info: "Make your way to the very first Pit Stop, Atago Jinja"
This temple is built on the highest hill in Tokyo and as Phil introduces it he also tells us that the last team to check in will be eliminated.
Teams reach Phil in the following order:
1(+0) Leo & Jamal, win a 7 day cruise in Tahiti
2(+0) Colin & Christie
3(+0) Tyler & Korey
4(+1) Rachel & Elissa
5(+1) Becca & Floyd
6(-2) Nicole & Victor
7(+0) Chris & Bret
8(+0) Janelle & Britney
9(+0) Corinne & Eliza
10(+0) Rupert & Laura
11(+0) Art & JJ, are eliminated
At the pit stop Phil asks Chris & Bret about how the race differs from Survivor.
"It is go go go, decisions, decisions, you have lots of time on Survivor to ponder your next move. Here it is go!", Chris
"It just felt a little bit out of sync for us today", JJ
TAR 31 Episode 1: "You're in Our Race Now" | |
Los Angeles, United States (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a4/Flag_of_the_United_States.svg/22px-Flag_of_the_United_States.svg.png) → Tokyo, Japan (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9e/Flag_of_Japan.svg/22px-Flag_of_Japan.svg.png) | |
FILM DATES: | 10-11 June 2018 |
AIR DATE: | 17 April 2019 |
(http://imgur.com/lMZxTHZ.png) START LINE: | Hermosa Beach Pier, Los Angeles, United States (http://forum.realityfanforum.com/index.php/topic,34617.msg1229448.html#msg1229448) |
(http://i.imgur.com/MTjXCmq.png) TASK: | Involves searching through jellyfish balloons and an octopus sand pile (http://forum.realityfanforum.com/index.php/topic,34617.msg1229581.html#msg1229581) |
(https://oi210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/ga--peach/TAR%2031/EP%201/Press%20Pics/Start%20Line-cast-MB%20%20Nic-Vic%20Elissa-Rachel%20Colin-Christie%20Art%20-JJ%20Becca-Floyd%20Leo-Jamal%20Tyler-Korey%20Britney%20-Janelle%20Rupert-Laura%20Corinne-Eliza%20Chris-Brett%20--MB.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/BwngJnN.jpg) | |
(http://imgur.com/lMZxTHZ.png) ROUTE INFO: | Fly to Tokyo, Japan (http://forum.realityfanforum.com/index.php/topic,34617.msg1229573.html#msg1229573) |
(http://imgur.com/g0n5OKo.png) FLIGHTS: | LAX → NRT (http://forum.realityfanforum.com/index.php/topic,34617.msg1229573.html#msg1229573) |
(AA169 LAX-NRT 1225-1555 (http://forum.realityfanforum.com/index.php/topic,34617.msg1229573.html#msg1229573)) | |
(http://imgur.com/lMZxTHZ.png) ROUTE INFO: | Unknown |
(http://imgur.com/6iTkmXP.png) ROADBLOCK: | Involves collecting a clue and riding down a slide (http://forum.realityfanforum.com/index.php/topic,35294.msg1250041.html#msg1250041) Britney, Corinne, Rupert, Bret |
(https://oi210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/ga--peach/TAR%2031/EP%201/Press%20Pics/PP%20Japan/Corinne-MB.jpg) (https://oi210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/ga--peach/TAR%2031/EP%201/Press%20Pics/PP%20Japan/Eliza%20and%20Corinne-MB.jpg) | |
(http://imgur.com/lMZxTHZ.png) ROUTE INFO: | Unknown |
(http://imgur.com/6iTkmXP.png) ROADBLOCK: | Involves selecting a Japanese sandal (geta) and biting into it to see if its edible (http://forum.realityfanforum.com/index.php/topic,35294.msg1250041.html#msg1250041) Christie, Jamal, Victor |
(https://oi210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/ga--peach/TAR%2031/EP%201/Press%20Pics/PP%20Japan/Rachel%20and%20Elissa-MB.jpg) (https://oi210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/ga--peach/TAR%2031/EP%201/Press%20Pics/PP%20Japan/Nicole%20and%20Victor-MB.jpg) | |
(http://imgur.com/VXFQqf0.png) PIT STOP: | Unknown |
:yes: SAFE: | (https://i.imgur.com/iwLE15o.png) (https://i.imgur.com/yuAMfdm.png) (https://i.imgur.com/Ntvx7zl.png) (https://i.imgur.com/ZLUK6bn.png) (https://i.imgur.com/roak57z.png) (https://i.imgur.com/rfqPRww.png) (https://i.imgur.com/BhyeMW3.png) (https://i.imgur.com/UkxP0yX.png) (https://i.imgur.com/LPa8utG.png) (https://i.imgur.com/fyhCwjF.png) |
? AT RISK: | (https://i.imgur.com/qGGcxVA.png) |
(https://i.imgur.com/Y3WFJoJ.png)
I tried to read the instructions written on the paper in Tyler's hand during the Japanese sandal task (which I think is a Roadblock). I can see some instructions like "When you think you see a sandal that is edible, ask an available salesperson to..." and "When you think you have eaten enough, ask the manager to check your sandal".
The one I find it curious that the non-participants were asked to wait in the designated area, but in the press pics we can clearly said both of them were eating the sandal. ???
wait, was the jellyfish balloons scene unaired? (http://emoticoner.com/files/emoticons/onion-head/confused-onion-head-emoticon.gif?1292862495)Yes
I highly doubt that the fact they were jellyfish had anything to do with whether or not it was aired.wait, was the jellyfish balloons scene unaired? (http://emoticoner.com/files/emoticons/onion-head/confused-onion-head-emoticon.gif?1292862495)Yes
mmm why? (http://emoticoner.com/files/emoticons/onion-head/confused-onion-head-emoticon.gif?1292862495)
jellyfish balloons are cute and fun (https://i.ibb.co/ZTnDzGy/octopus2.gif)