Topic: Best Amazing Race Season to Date

[Jobby]

The placement of the teams is true, but in my opinion you just have much stronger teams in the second version of All-Stars. Placement in your season isn't everything. Obviously some teams definitely deserved to be on the All Stars based on their placement in their previous season, like Dustin and Kandice, Team Cha-Cha-Cha, Romber, Team Guido, and Uchenna and Joyce. Some teams were strictly put on to make ratings go up, like David and Mary and Charla and Mirna. Eric and Danielle I understand because Eric came in second place, and they met on the race. The rest just don't bring high ratings and are not ultra competitive. On the second version of All Stars, you don't see teams like John Vito and Jill, Kevin and Drew and Terri and Ian. Sure, all of those teams did well on their seasons, but there is nothing special about them, that would make them an All-Star caliber team. To Clarify, Terri and Ian did place well on their season, but their age definitely played a factor on All Stars.

Also, certain teams(perhaps originally intended to be alternates) were there in All-Stars because other teams were'nt available. (Colin & Christie, Flo & Drew?, Wil .etc)

Placement of teams is true, but none of the teams besides the cowboys, herb and nate and Margie and Luke came across as competitive teams this season. All the others had their fair share of really bad legs or either, eliminated early. In fact, Cowboys came in last on a NEL and Herb and Nate nearly got eliminated in Dubai. So basically, the only literally "strong team" who has performed well throughout their season and made the finale would only be Margie and Luke.

The rest are all fairly strong teams.. but there have been really strong teams who have not been invited back, so how does that count? Where's Jill and Thomas, Terence and Sarah and Ken and Tina, who remains to be one of the few teams on TAR to do a hat trick by winning 3 legs in a row.

The theme for this season is simple, you just have to make an impression, for the producers to like you and an interesting team storyline, didn't win the race AND AVAILABLE FOR THE RACE in order to be picked. There you go, you have UB teams.

And of course, the producers must have deemed TAR 14 as one of their best seasons to invite back 5/11 teams?

[redskevin88]

my gut feeling, and this is only a gut feeling, was that producers considered the TAR 13 season to be a
"filler" season because of the Writer's Strike and thus, does not really count to what the producers consider "canonical" and thus, ignored the season... the tasks seemed "stale" and "recycled" and they seemed to quickly fill the cast, with no balance.

[apskip]

The placement of the teams is true, but in my opinion you just have much stronger teams in the second version of All-Stars. Placement in your season isn't everything. Obviously some teams definitely deserved to be on the All Stars based on their placement in their previous season, like Dustin and Kandice, Team Cha-Cha-Cha, Romber, Team Guido, and Uchenna and Joyce. Some teams were strictly put on to make ratings go up, like David and Mary and Charla and Mirna. Eric and Danielle I understand because Eric came in second place, and they met on the race. The rest just don't bring high ratings and are not ultra competitive. On the second version of All Stars, you don't see teams like John Vito and Jill, Kevin and Drew and Terri and Ian. Sure, all of those teams did well on their seasons, but there is nothing special about them, that would make them an All-Star caliber team. To Clarify, Terri and Ian did place well on their season, but their age definitely played a factor on All Stars.

What about the AR18 inclusion of Mel and MIke? That's about the equivalent of putting David and Mary in AR11 for their popularity only.
Also, I know some will not agree with this, but I consider Nate and Herb to be a team of only moderate performance. I also consider Gary/Mallory to be a popular team who had only moderate performance.


edited to repair quote tags

[amazing race fan]

Go and watch the TAR7 DVD set and you'll hear Phil say that it was the pilot who decided to let Uchenna & Joyce on.

Didn't Rob & Amber also get in a cab first out of the airport in Miami?

Do you really think Phil will admit that they altered the game that much? Regardless who made the decision to let them on, it was very lucky.

It does not matter who got into a cab in Miami first. Rob and Amber had a driver who didn't speak spanish, and Uchenna and Joyce had a driver who spoke spanish and knew the location. They got lucky with that also.

My question for you is why watch TAR if you don't even trust your own host and producers? I guess none of the seasons will be good enough for you since if the producers rigged TAR7, they most likely rigged every other race IYO?

I just find it unacceptable that people till this day, still believe that the producers rigged the show so that Uchenna and Joyce win the race? Hello, then i think they would have rigged the race many times for more popular teams to win?? (Dustin and Kandice, Kris and Jon??)

And of course, Dustin and Kandice did deserve to win Allstars, but the fact remains that they didn't and Danielle's gossipy attitude allowed her to share almost all her feelings/thoughts/emotions with allowed him to read her accurately.

I didn't say that the producers rigged the show for them to win, but I think they rigged the show to make it more competitive at the end. If Rob and Amber were the only team to make that plane, and they were ahead by 30 minutes when they got to Miami, the winner would already be known. By letting Uchenna and Joyce on the plane, it made it more competitive at the end. I can 100% assure you that the pilot didn't say, Why don't we wait 10 minutes for any people that might be late? Planes don't work like that. If you are even 1 minute late, they don't let you on the plane. There were exceptions made for Uchenna and Joyce. There is no doubt about it. If anyone here does not think that BVM and CBS alter the show to make it more entertaining, than you are just naive about TAR.

Yes, they do alter the show. By editing

Case in point- In TAR 6, during a run to the Pit Stop, Victoria seemed to catch sight of Hayden and Aaron behind them, however, departure times for the next leg showed a roughly half hour difference.

But it really doesn't matter. If words from the pilot himself aren't enough for you, I doubt you even believe that the entire race isn't scripted.

I don't believe it entirely. Planes are not just held for regular people. If you have some special celebrity status or something like that, than you might have a plane held for you. The excuse about the plane was malfunctioning was just a cover up.

[amazing race fan]

The placement of the teams is true, but in my opinion you just have much stronger teams in the second version of All-Stars. Placement in your season isn't everything. Obviously some teams definitely deserved to be on the All Stars based on their placement in their previous season, like Dustin and Kandice, Team Cha-Cha-Cha, Romber, Team Guido, and Uchenna and Joyce. Some teams were strictly put on to make ratings go up, like David and Mary and Charla and Mirna. Eric and Danielle I understand because Eric came in second place, and they met on the race. The rest just don't bring high ratings and are not ultra competitive. On the second version of All Stars, you don't see teams like John Vito and Jill, Kevin and Drew and Terri and Ian. Sure, all of those teams did well on their seasons, but there is nothing special about them, that would make them an All-Star caliber team. To Clarify, Terri and Ian did place well on their season, but their age definitely played a factor on All Stars.

Also, certain teams(perhaps originally intended to be alternates) were there in All-Stars because other teams were'nt available. (Colin & Christie, Flo & Drew?, Wil .etc)

I agree if all teams were available, than season 11 and 18 would be pretty even. The difference between 18 is that, every team that we thought deserved to be on season 18 was. Lets say if Jet and Cord, FT and BE and Margie and Luke were not available, than season 11 would be stronger. The difference is that every originally intended team, maybe with the exception of Brook and Claire, was available to be on another season.

[amazing race fan]

The placement of the teams is true, but in my opinion you just have much stronger teams in the second version of All-Stars. Placement in your season isn't everything. Obviously some teams definitely deserved to be on the All Stars based on their placement in their previous season, like Dustin and Kandice, Team Cha-Cha-Cha, Romber, Team Guido, and Uchenna and Joyce. Some teams were strictly put on to make ratings go up, like David and Mary and Charla and Mirna. Eric and Danielle I understand because Eric came in second place, and they met on the race. The rest just don't bring high ratings and are not ultra competitive. On the second version of All Stars, you don't see teams like John Vito and Jill, Kevin and Drew and Terri and Ian. Sure, all of those teams did well on their seasons, but there is nothing special about them, that would make them an All-Star caliber team. To Clarify, Terri and Ian did place well on their season, but their age definitely played a factor on All Stars.

What about the AR18 inclusion of Mel and MIke? That's about the equivalent of putting David and Mary in AR11 for their popularity only.
Also, I know some will not agree with this, but I consider Nate and Herb to be a team of only moderate performance. I also consider Gary/Mallory to be a popular team who had only moderate performance.


edited to repair quote tags

Mel and Mike are a much stronger team than David and Mary. I agree that Mel and Mike probably didn't deserve to make TAR 18. How can you really consider FT and BE to only be a team of moderate performance? They finished in the Top 3 in 8 of their 11 legs. They did get unlucky with the word "FRANZ", but they were definitely a strong team.

[DrRox]

I don't believe it entirely. Planes are not just held for regular people. If you have some special celebrity status or something like that, than you might have a plane held for you. The excuse about the plane was malfunctioning was just a cover up.

In the 5-6 years since TAR7 was filmed, you are the first person that has every mentioned a plane malfunction. Where did that come from?

[DrRox]

Love that insight!! Thanks!

That was some deep research. Thanks DrRox!!

Thanks for the props, but I really didn't have much to do with it. All the work as done by my AA pilot friend. There used to be a lot of American expats that retired to Rio. They had a sidewalk cafe in Copacabana where they would hang out. I meet the pilot there. He would come by when he had flights to Rio. He mostly flew to BsAs and SP. He was senior enough to get what rotations he wanted. A few times a year, AA would schedule 777s to Rio. Most of the time Mia-GIG were all on 767s.

We were sitting around one afternoon and I just kidded him about AA helping "fix" an American reality program. He took a little umbrage at that and asked if I would send him a copy of the episode. I sent him a VHS copy after I returned home. After he watched the episode, his terse email comment was......."I don't know what happened, but it didn't happen like that!!!"

From then on, he was on a mission. If I remember right, it took him about 6 months to piece together the events. As Judge Judy says....."If it doesn't make sense, it didnt happen."

[docol]

my favourite season was season 10 because: the cast was GREAT...the route was amazing...the unpredictable results, the drama, the alliances, the flips, the backstabbs..in general was a great season...despite of the winners and the final 3..!!!!!!!!!!!!
my second favourite season was season 14....the teams were so memorable, the tasks were pretty much cool, the final three was ok( i'd rather have kisha&jenn instead of margie&luke) but the route was phenomenal..!!!

[georgiapeach]

my gut feeling, and this is only a gut feeling, was that producers considered the TAR 13 season to be a
"filler" season because of the Writer's Strike and thus, does not really count to what the producers consider "canonical" and thus, ignored the season... the tasks seemed "stale" and "recycled" and they seemed to quickly fill the cast, with no balance.

The way I understand it...the feeling was that Season 13 was just too "nice". Not enough drama... 

Oh please.

[Belle Book]

my gut feeling, and this is only a gut feeling, was that producers considered the TAR 13 season to be a
"filler" season because of the Writer's Strike and thus, does not really count to what the producers consider "canonical" and thus, ignored the season... the tasks seemed "stale" and "recycled" and they seemed to quickly fill the cast, with no balance.

The way I understand it...the feeling was that Season 13 was just too "nice". Not enough drama... 

Oh please.

Really?  Well, I can understand the lack of drama in terms of the fact that Nick & Starr tended to dominate the Race, but I actually thought Season 17 had a lot of nicer teams than Seaon 13.

Belle Book

[AmazingRace]

my gut feeling, and this is only a gut feeling, was that producers considered the TAR 13 season to be a
"filler" season because of the Writer's Strike and thus, does not really count to what the producers consider "canonical" and thus, ignored the season... the tasks seemed "stale" and "recycled" and they seemed to quickly fill the cast, with no balance.

The way I understand it...the feeling was that Season 13 was just too "nice". Not enough drama... 

Oh please.

I thought Kelly & Christy provided the drama. 

[Jobby]

Honestly, the teams on TAR 13 are dull and boring. The only interesting few personas i can remember was Tina and Kelly and Christy. The rest of the teams were forgettable. And i do remember Terence and Sarah being ultra competitive too.

[mswood]

Apskip

I have to disagree with you about All Stars Dustin & Kandice, D&K didn't run a great leg during the final leg.  Eric & Danielle ran a stronger leg in Hawaii in every aspect (which in fact was the bulk of the episode) and even if they had a bad cab (which is true) they failed the task (which frankly I hated that they let teams progress even if they didn't complete the task), sure they ran several legs better then Eric & Danielle (legs 5, 7,8,9, 10 and 12), and Eric & Danielle ran better legs in eps 1,2,3,4,11, 13).   Leg 6 its truly impossible to judge how teams fast teams actually performed that days task, thinks to the long boat ride.  If the boat ride took the same period of time for each trip, Eric & Danielle actually finished the days tasks faster then any team, but since I am sure that isn't the case its hard to judge, we do know that Dustin & Kandice took more then 35 minutes longer to complete then their boat partners.

[mswood]

Honestly, the teams on TAR 13 are dull and boring. The only interesting few personas i can remember was Tina and Kelly and Christy. The rest of the teams were forgettable. And i do remember Terence and Sarah being ultra competitive too.

I hope Toni & Dallas haunt you for the rest of your natural life....

But in all seriousness there is very little I like about this season.  I found the Kelly & Christy and Nick & Starr feud childish.  Terrance just annoyed me to no end, seriously he just bothered me, and not in anyway that is entertaining.  Dandrew while entertaining were clearly clueless and I hate to see clueless people make it far in the race (but them in Russia was a hoot).  I liked Nick & Starr, Ken & Tina, and Toni & Dallas, and really only one of those teams did I really love.  I also have a special hatred for this season being the season with the least amount of driving for teams to do.  And all of it in English speaking countries.  Hatred for this.  If it wasn't for the never ending equalizations of the Family Edition this would be in my opinion the worst seasons of TAR.

[phant0m]

Season 1 is the most underrated season imo

[Rogue]

The way I understand it...the feeling was that Season 13 was just too "nice". Not enough drama...  

Oh please.


Makes you wonder what they think about this season...Although I'm sure the f/f win helps.

My favorite season would have to be 17. Mostly for memory sake but I loved some of the cast, I liked the locations, and the tasks were pretty decent. I barely remember the tasks and usually always forget the locations of the previous seasons but I hope this one sticks with me. It gave me my new favorite team, Nat and Kat, and as an on again off again viewer (not purposely), this season brought a sense of maturity that was definitely lacking in season 16. After 17 would be season 6 and only because it's my season 1. I just happened upon the show and it brought me my, up until 17, favorite team, Kris and Jon. It also began and ended in my home city. The biggest downfall about season 6 is it spawned one of the most hated, and with good reason, contestants in TAR history.

[Jobby]

Honestly, the teams on TAR 13 are dull and boring. The only interesting few personas i can remember was Tina and Kelly and Christy. The rest of the teams were forgettable. And i do remember Terence and Sarah being ultra competitive too.

I hope Toni & Dallas haunt you for the rest of your natural life....

But in all seriousness there is very little I like about this season.  I found the Kelly & Christy and Nick & Starr feud childish.  Terrance just annoyed me to no end, seriously he just bothered me, and not in anyway that is entertaining.  Dandrew while entertaining were clearly clueless and I hate to see clueless people make it far in the race (but them in Russia was a hoot).  I liked Nick & Starr, Ken & Tina, and Toni & Dallas, and really only one of those teams did I really love.  I also have a special hatred for this season being the season with the least amount of driving for teams to do.  And all of it in English speaking countries.  Hatred for this.  If it wasn't for the never ending equalizations of the Family Edition this would be in my opinion the worst seasons of TAR.

Toni and Dallas makes a good team.. but it's like.. compared to Margie/Luke, Ron/Chris and Gary/Mallory.. i'll rather watch the other parent/child teams race rather than them.. they're just deemed as nice/good racers because the other teams are milder as comparable. IMHO..

[mswood]

I loathe Ron & Christine, well Ron.  The way he treated other racers, his own daughter, locals, and a judge on the race was simply acceptable.  By all accounts of the footage (both online and aired, and by the other racers the worst behaved person of that season).

And while he did learn to appreciate his daughter (with about a third of the season left), that doesn't change how he treated her the other 2/3rd (let alone the other racers, locals, and judges).  And frankly I can accept friends being an ass, or even some one you are dating, after all you can choose another friend, or another person to date, you can't choose your family.  I hold them to higher standard then anyone.  Not once in my entire 45 years has my parents ever treated or spoken to me like he did to her. 

It would be like Jonathan finally being nice to Victoria with 3 episodes left, I wouldn't care.

Gary & Mallory I do really like, but Toni & Dallas had far more fun and humor between them (I mean seriously just for the Cow alone).

MArgie & Like I also really loved.  But I hated the conflict with others, at least with Toni & Dallas they never conflicted with other teams.  But they are my two favorite parent child teams in race history.  But in all honesty the last couple seasons has been really good about casting some nice parent child teams, Steve & Allie, Gary & Mallory are certainly up there as well.

[Jobby]

I loathe Ron & Christine, well Ron.  The way he treated other racers, his own daughter, locals, and a judge on the race was simply acceptable.  By all accounts of the footage (both online and aired, and by the other racers the worst behaved person of that season).

And while he did learn to appreciate his daughter (with about a third of the season left), that doesn't change how he treated her the other 2/3rd (let alone the other racers, locals, and judges).  And frankly I can accept friends being an ass, or even some one you are dating, after all you can choose another friend, or another person to date, you can't choose your family.  I hold them to higher standard then anyone.  Not once in my entire 45 years has my parents ever treated or spoken to me like he did to her. 

It would be like Jonathan finally being nice to Victoria with 3 episodes left, I wouldn't care.

Gary & Mallory I do really like, but Toni & Dallas had far more fun and humor between them (I mean seriously just for the Cow alone).

MArgie & Like I also really loved.  But I hated the conflict with others, at least with Toni & Dallas they never conflicted with other teams.  But they are my two favorite parent child teams in race history.  But in all honesty the last couple seasons has been really good about casting some nice parent child teams, Steve & Allie, Gary & Mallory are certainly up there as well.

Steve and Allie.. how could i forget them. Maybe i'm just biased as an Asian.. but in the asian societies.. all our parents talk to us like that and i put myself in Christina's shoes... and Ron's one as well.. and i know how hard it is just for a Chinese father to swallow all his pride and dignity to admit his mistakes.. and start being a nice person. And mswood.. Ron didn't start behaving with only 1/3 of the episodes left.. he was all good after Ep 4 or Ep 5... they started working together and won 2 legs in a row. I know not enough for you because it's still atrocious behaviour.. but just explaining... from an asian POV.

As for Margie and Luke.. them winning the first leg is still one of the most memorable moment for TAR 14 for me and i cried along. Along the race i think they got all too competitive and forgot about having fun.. and that's when they started losing fans to other teams like T/V, C/J and K/J... but still they had their fair share of fans and to be frank, definitely one of the most memorable teams on the history of TAR.. along with Colin/Christie, Charla and Mirna and Oswald and Danny.

[Jobby]

Anyway for the best season options, i picked TAR 3 and TAR 17. First season to get me hook on the race.. and of course TAR 17 because it was the best recent season to keep me hook and addicted to the show and still love it so much.

If we are allowed to pick five, i'll pick TAR 5, TAR 10 and TAR 14 too.

[Caelestor]

I don't know, Ron was more mellow than some Asian parents I know...I'm sure someone will agree with me.

I'll add that 2, 3, 5, 12, and 17 are the only races that I've managed to watch all the way through more than once. I guess those are also the seasons that have the best combination of amazing destinations, good planning, and great casts.

[Jobby]

I don't know, Ron was more mellow than some Asian parents I know...I'm sure someone will agree with me.

I'll add that 2, 3, 5, 12, and 17 are the only races that I've managed to watch all the way through more than once. I guess those are also the seasons that have the best combination of amazing destinations, good planning, and great casts.

I'll second that. Has anybody not heard of Amy Chua??

Do a google search on her!

[StephenWasHere]

Well I've developed new opinions on each season

1: Since that wasn't my first season, I found it a little weird, but still awesome nonetheless. Momily = best mom/daughter team EVAR! As for the F3....that wasn't neccesarily the F3 I wanted though I was extremely happy that Rob/Brennan and Frank/Margarita made it. Joe/Bill should've been replaced by Momily but other than that, it had a really interesting route with decent tasks.

2: I finished this season up a few weeks ago and I liked it a lot. Still not happy that Chris/Alex won...kinda wasn't fond of them. I think the route had great tasks and overall, a fairly good route though completely skipping Europe confused me a bit..though the inclusion of Australia and New Zealand was awesome! My favorite team was Gary/Dave simply because I found them quite enjoyable. Wasn't a fan of Chris/Alex but I had no issue with Tara/Wil.

3: HAHAHAHAHA YES! Finished this a few weeks ago and I LOVED IT! Definitely one of my favorites simply because of Zach/Flo. Idk why, but for some reason, I really liked Flo but thats simply because she provided some of the best race entertainment...ever. And probably the first F3 that I was actually content with all of the teams being there.

4: I simply disliked Season 4. The route was sub-par in my opinion and the tasks were just bleh. Plus Amanda/Chris got eliminated way too early...in Venice.

5: Definitely one of my favorite seasons ever. Freaking AMAZING route and tasks. Charla/Mirna were just win at life. Also has a dear place in my heart becuase that was the first season I ever saw on TV. I was 11 when it aired and while I liked it, it was the 1st Egypt leg that got me hooked.

6: Meh......Ok route, good cast. Wasn't so much a Lena/Kristy fan so I wasn't too upset with their elimination. I just thought it was a bad circumstance

7: I liked Romber, Uchenna/Joyce, and  Meredith/Gretchen. Bad route and just ok tasks.
Overall bleh season

8: Lost interest after the Gaghan's were eliminated to be honest.

9: One of my favorite routes and it had fairly good tasks. The cast was all right too....and by cast I mean Dave/Lori, Fran/Barry, and MoJo.

10: Kentucky <3333333333

11: Just...no....the lack of D/K and C/M winning is just awful.

12: TK and Rachel become the most hated winners EVER!!!!!!!!

13: Another one of my favorites! But my favorites, Mark/Bill were eliminated WAYYY too early. I WAS NOT A FAN OF KELLY AND CHRISTY! NICK AND STARR FTW!!!!

14: I honestly didn't like it....to me it was just ok. Only thing that kept me watching was Margie/Luke..who were and still are my favorites from that season.

15: Zev/Justin and Ron/Marcy....two of the best teams EVAR!! So of course they make my two favorites place 9th and 10th....cool. Good route but ok tasks.

16: Cowboys FTW! I really don't get the Jet/Cord hate. Honestly, after Jordeff and Steve/Allie were eliminated, they were honestly the only reason I cared about that season anymore...except maybe the epic fight to the death that Carol/Brandy and Brent/Caite would hae.

17: Good winners! First time in a while! Decent route and honestly, the only way that F3 would've been better is if Gallory was in it.

18: I'm assuming I'll stop genuinely caring if Zev/Justin get eliminated but if they do (which would make me super upset) I'd root for Gallory and Rontina

[connayyy]

I loathe Ron & Christine, well Ron.  The way he treated other racers, his own daughter, locals, and a judge on the race was simply acceptable.  By all accounts of the footage (both online and aired, and by the other racers the worst behaved person of that season).

And while he did learn to appreciate his daughter (with about a third of the season left), that doesn't change how he treated her the other 2/3rd (let alone the other racers, locals, and judges).  And frankly I can accept friends being an ass, or even some one you are dating, after all you can choose another friend, or another person to date, you can't choose your family.  I hold them to higher standard then anyone.  Not once in my entire 45 years has my parents ever treated or spoken to me like he did to her. 

It would be like Jonathan finally being nice to Victoria with 3 episodes left, I wouldn't care.

Gary & Mallory I do really like, but Toni & Dallas had far more fun and humor between them (I mean seriously just for the Cow alone).

MArgie & Like I also really loved.  But I hated the conflict with others, at least with Toni & Dallas they never conflicted with other teams.  But they are my two favorite parent child teams in race history.  But in all honesty the last couple seasons has been really good about casting some nice parent child teams, Steve & Allie, Gary & Mallory are certainly up there as well.

I'm Chinese and while I see your point, I think that with Ron yelling at Chris, it's a cultural difference. It's hard to explain because of course it sounds appalling to hear a father criticize and even insult his daughter. But from an Asian viewpoint, it's not a big deal. You get used to the criticism. That's just how Asian society works - you can be blunt about what you want to say, because the listener won't be offended.

I don't mean to make excuses for Ron because I didn't particularly like him either. I didn't like how he told off Nick (this part is unaccounted for because Chinese education does teach you to be humble - guess Ron missed that lesson. But to his credit, he did apologize for it.) I do love the other teams you mentioned, though! Gary & Mallory, Toni & Dallas, and Margie & Luke are all up in my all time favorite teams.