Topic: Some interesting (and some not so interesting) facts and records!

[Linda BC2]

A few interesting things about TAR China (the one with celebs and in Mandarin/Cantonese, not China Rush). I am currently into the 2nd season and this is what I have observed.

7. In the second season, for the first time(?) a completely new team was inserted into the race (Marsh and Harry) on the 7th leg.

How did they get away with that? Wouldn’t the other teams know, and thd audience?

[Zhang_CN]

A few interesting things about TAR China (the one with celebs and in Mandarin/Cantonese, not China Rush). I am currently into the 2nd season and this is what I have observed.

1. Only version so far which is not filmed consecutively (they are celebs with busy schedules)
2. Only version where teams don't have to book their own tickets.
3. Only version where they seem to only fly business class or first class
4. Only version where there is no train travel thus far.
5. Only version where a husband and wife were on opposing teams (In Season 1, Cherrie Ying was partnered with her bestie Liu Yun. Cherrie's husband, Jordan Chan, was paired with Ekin Cheng)
6. On the first episode of the first season, Wallace and Jackie sped off in a taxi and left one of the crew members stranded at the route marker. Probably the first time ever.
7. In the second season, for the first time(?) a completely new team was inserted into the race (Marsh and Harry) on the 7th leg.
8. First season to bring an eliminated team back (?) - Guan Xiaoting and Bai Jugang
9. First time an eliminated contestant was brought back in a later episode of the same season as a judge giving a clue (Zhang Tielin was famous in 1999 for playing the role of a Chinese emperor.) **Kevin and Drew race in TAR1 but reappeared in TAR8 to give out the clues.
10. First time a team (Jing Chang and G.E.M. aka Gloria Tang) that managed to last 6 legs finished last for 4 of the legs before elimination (They were so lucky to place last on the first 3 non-elimination legs. They even snagged a 1st place on the 4th leg.)
11. Only version with 2 hour episodes every week.

Hi, I'm a Chinese fan. Actually our Chinese fans don't see TAR China as a “normal” version of TAR. Because it is just a TV show that shooting celebrities playing games. 

[Genius]

A few interesting things about TAR China (the one with celebs and in Mandarin/Cantonese, not China Rush). I am currently into the 2nd season and this is what I have observed.

7. In the second season, for the first time(?) a completely new team was inserted into the race (Marsh and Harry) on the 7th leg.

How did they get away with that? Wouldn’t the other teams know, and thd audience?

*spoilers*

In Season 2, they started off with only 6 legs and had NELs in the odd legs. By the end of leg 6, they were at the final 3. Marsha and Harry were brought in for leg 7. They impressively won leg 7 and remained till leg 8, where they got eliminated. And in the 9th leg, they introduced another team of South Korean celebrities to join to tackle the "original" final 3.

My guess is that the producers only want to have celebrities (plus a few of their family members) racing to boost racing. (Perhaps people in China won't bother to tune in if they are all regular folks?) But of course, some concessions need to be made to get the celebs to join (e.g. only film 2 legs at a time before a few weeks of rest in between, and showering them with business class flights and nice hotels). All airport drama is eliminated (like TAR Australia 4) which is quite sad.

Having said that, it's still quite enjoyable. There is limited use of buses, there are taxis used and there's a fair bit of self-driving in safer countries. The tasks are honestly difficult and terrible (which reminds me of a celeb that had a heart attack after filming another game show in China). Although there's the U Turn and Yield, there is pretty much no bad blood between the teams, which is terrific. (But it's mostly because they all know each other from acting and hosting.) It's also interesting to see Allan Wu host in Mandarin.

[Genius]

Adding on to my earlier list

12. TARCN1 was the only season where the host was changed midway. Andy On hosted the first 2 legs only, and Allan Wu came back to host all remaining episodes and seasons. Allan Wu is thus the only person to host 3 versions of TAR (including TAR Asia and China Rush).
13. TARCN2 Leg 8 was the only leg to severely deviate from the typical formula and became more Survivor like. The 4 remaining teams in Mauritius were divided into 2 "tribes" and competed against each other. The tribe that lost will be dissolved into their original teams and had to face off in a duel.

[G.B.]

TARCN3 and 4 are way more race-like than 1 and 2. Season 3 is honestly the most normal. The better stuff is ahead of you, honestly.

Also, from the TAR China thread in the international versions section...

Show content

So, I just got done re-watching the whitewater rafting task in the Abu Dhabi episode, and I'm shocked I didn't comment on it in this thread before.

No ifs ands or buts about it, this was a STUPID idea by producers. This ranks up there as one of the most unsafe tasks TAR has ever done before. For those of you who don't know, imagine the TAR23 task where they had to ride down the rafting course and grab three flags. It's the same here, except the executives apparently decided this wasn't interesting enough. So, to make it more challenging, they raised the flags up so that no contestant would be able to grab them without jumping. Yeah. Jumping in a moving white-water raft.

Nearly every single contestant walked away from the task with an injury of some sort. Yiru got a gash on his face, Xiaopeng got tons of abrasions on his arms and legs as well as an excess of water in his ears. Weitong got trapped underwater briefly, and she was very upset once she reached shore. She was loudly yelling at production and fellow contestants that she nearly lost her life just for a game, and I sympathize with her. You can see that many of the other teams were quite upset at what they had to go through.

Of course, let's not forget that this task took a team out of the race due to injury. Yueliang ("Izabella") slipped off of her raft and got dragged under it by the pull of the water. As she described on-air, the bone in her lower leg actually popped out and then back into its socket. She nearly dislocated her tibia, and her father was too concerned to let her continue.

This still stands out to me as one of the hardest things on TAR to watch. It's really dangerous and a bad idea, and I'm surprised no-one on the crew spoke up and said they should probably make things a little bit safer for the contestants. Does anyone agree?

[Genius]

Now that I have finished TAR China 2, I am adding more to the list.


14. There's technically a team that placed in the top 3 for 100% of the leg(s) they appeared in. The honor goes to Kim Jong-kook and Lee Kwang-soo of TAR China 2.

They were one of the teams that was selected to intrude on the penultimate leg (Leg 9). They finished 2nd on the only leg that they appear in. However, the requirement to make it to the final leg was to finish 1st. As such, they also have the dubious honor of being the only team  to finish in the top 2 of a leg and to still be eliminated.

15. Adding on to point #14, the beneficiary of the above requirement means that Wu Xi and Han Geng, who finished last that leg, continued on to the final 3. I guess this is possibly the first time a team finishes last on a final 4 elimination leg and still make it through to the final 3.

16. TAR China 2 is the first season to have 5 consecutive legs without a detour. There were also 3 legs with a roadblock (not sure if this is a record).

[Genius]

There have been several teams that could have finished in the top 3 for the entire race, save for that 1 leg which prevented them from claiming that clean sheet.

From what I have watched so far...

Eric and Jeremy (TAR 9 - finished 4th once)
Tammy and Victor (TAR14 - finished 8th once)
Miriam and Real (TAR China 2 - finished 4th once)
Marsh and Harry (TAR China 2 - finished 1st on Leg 7 and then 4th on Leg
Kristi and Jen (TAR30 - debatable, they finished 5th in the partner swap leg)

[Genius]

Triple post.

Angel Li and Li Xiaopeng (TAR China 1), I suppose, are the only team (besides Marc and Rovilson) to have placed in the top 3 in every leg. Happy to have them as my season pick (though they didn't win). 

[cbacbacba1]

Triple post.

Angel Li and Li Xiaopeng (TAR China 1), I suppose, are the only team (besides Marc and Rovilson) to have placed in the top 3 in every leg. Happy to have them as my season pick (though they didn't win). 

Technically, Kristi & Jen did it in TAR30 (the only leg they didn’t finish in top 3, the two never raced together as a team)

[Lemontail]

To this date, there has not been (nor probably will) any team in any franchise to rack up more penalties in hours than Nancy & Emily, whom had a 24-hour penalty for quitting the Detour in their last leg.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

[redskevin88]

To this date, there has not been (nor probably will) any team in any franchise to rack up more penalties in hours than Nancy & Emily, whom had a 24-hour penalty for quitting the Detour in their last leg.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Well to this day, no one knows what exactly happened to Maria & Tiffany. And why the penalty was changed to 6 hours.

[G.B.]

To this date, there has not been (nor probably will) any team in any franchise to rack up more penalties in hours than Nancy & Emily, whom had a 24-hour penalty for quitting the Detour in their last leg.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Well to this day, no one knows what exactly happened to Maria & Tiffany. And why the penalty was changed to 6 hours.

No, they interviewed somewhere that they received a 24-hour penalty. They were upset that the episode implied that they had quit the race, when they had really just taken the penalty and gotten eliminated in the normal way.

[dj_cody]

It's been over a month since the last post in this thread, but there are new facts that just came to my head. Mostly Survivor-related lol.

Before there was Laura (from Rupert & Laura) and Chris & Bret in Season 31, Keith & Whitney were the first one-time Survivor contestants to appear on the Race, as well as the first Survivor team to not include any winners. Funnily, Rob from Rob & Amber, won Survivor: Redemption Island years after his last Race appearance in TAR All-Stars and that was shortly before Ethan & Jenna, who were also both Survivor winners, appeared on Season 19 (basing it on the gap between Redemption Island's finale date and TAR 19's airing date)

And speaking of winners and Season 31, Rachel and Nicole from Big Brother were the only winners represented in that season.

Also, speaking of winners again, Season 21's Natalie being on Survivor: Winners at War marks the second time Natalie's competing on a game with (possibly) 2 million dollars as its prize. (The Double Your Money twist, anyone?)

Kiiinda off topic, but I looked through TAR Philippines 1's results before and I was wondering before Sheena & Gee held the record for the most legs ran without a top 3 finish with 12 legs, who previously held that record? Australia 2's Lucy & Emilia with 10 legs? Correct me if I'm wrong.

[RachelLeVega]

It's been over a month since the last post in this thread, but there are new facts that just came to my head. Mostly Survivor-related lol.

Before there was Laura (from Rupert & Laura) and Chris & Bret in Season 31, Keith & Whitney were the first one-time Survivor contestants to appear on the Race, as well as the first Survivor team to not include any winners. Funnily, Rob from Rob & Amber, won Survivor: Redemption Island years after his last Race appearance in TAR All-Stars and that was shortly before Ethan & Jenna, who were also both Survivor winners, appeared on Season 19 (basing it on the gap between Redemption Island's finale date and TAR 19's airing date)

And speaking of winners and Season 31, Rachel and Nicole from Big Brother were the only winners represented in that season.

Also, speaking of winners again, Season 21's Natalie being on Survivor: Winners at War marks the second time Natalie's competing on a game with (possibly) 2 million dollars as its prize. (The Double Your Money twist, anyone?)

Kiiinda off topic, but I looked through TAR Philippines 1's results before and I was wondering before Sheena & Gee held the record for the most legs ran without a top 3 finish with 12 legs, who previously held that record? Australia 2's Lucy & Emilia with 10 legs? Correct me if I'm wrong.

I know a lot of final 3 teams like Logan & Chris, Sheri & Cole, and London & Logan didn't place higher than 4 until after the ninth leg, but I think those would tie the record.

[dj_cody]

It's been over a month since the last post in this thread, but there are new facts that just came to my head. Mostly Survivor-related lol.

Before there was Laura (from Rupert & Laura) and Chris & Bret in Season 31, Keith & Whitney were the first one-time Survivor contestants to appear on the Race, as well as the first Survivor team to not include any winners. Funnily, Rob from Rob & Amber, won Survivor: Redemption Island years after his last Race appearance in TAR All-Stars and that was shortly before Ethan & Jenna, who were also both Survivor winners, appeared on Season 19 (basing it on the gap between Redemption Island's finale date and TAR 19's airing date)

And speaking of winners and Season 31, Rachel and Nicole from Big Brother were the only winners represented in that season.

Also, speaking of winners again, Season 21's Natalie being on Survivor: Winners at War marks the second time Natalie's competing on a game with (possibly) 2 million dollars as its prize. (The Double Your Money twist, anyone?)

Kiiinda off topic, but I looked through TAR Philippines 1's results before and I was wondering before Sheena & Gee held the record for the most legs ran without a top 3 finish with 12 legs, who previously held that record? Australia 2's Lucy & Emilia with 10 legs? Correct me if I'm wrong.

I know a lot of final 3 teams like Logan & Chris, Sheri & Cole, and London & Logan didn't place higher than 4 until after the ninth leg, but I think those would tie the record.

I just looked through the results; it's actually Andrew & Dan and Josh & Brent that currently hold that record (in the US version at least), lasting 9 legs below 3rd place. Those three you mentioned all tied for second behind the two.

And after just searching through Wikipedia, I found my answer in my last post  , also with Andrew & Dan, who were the previous record holders with 9 legs in 2008, before Marietta & Jose from Latin America 2 (2010) tied with them, and before Lucy & Emilia and later Sheena & Gee broke their record in their 2012 seasons.

[toanglobal]

Out of all the three-timers, (Jet & Cord, Flight Time & Big Easy, Margie & Luke, Mallory Ervin, Rachel Reilly, Leo & Jamal), Rachel Reilly is the only three-timer who has never heard Phil say "You're still racing!"

Conversely Jaime & Cara, Kisha & Jen, Margie & Luke all of them heard it sentence 3 times despite they only raced only 2 seasons (14, 18)

[scott14]

After just rewatching TAR Canada 5, the first 5 legs all have different winners.

Is this the longest streak of different leg winners to kick off a season?. (As TAR 26 has 7 different winners but from Leg 2 - 8 as Jelani and Jenny win the first two)

[RachelLeVega]

After just rewatching TAR Canada 5, the first 5 legs all have different winners.

Is this the longest streak of different leg winners to kick off a season?. (As TAR 26 has 7 different winners but from Leg 2 - 8 as Jelani and Jenny win the first two)

TAR30 also had 5 different winners in the first five legs. Kristi & Jen, Cody & Jessica, Henry & Evan, Alex & Conor, and Lucas & Brittany.

[G.B.]

Malawi and Paraguay are both countries that have been visited by two seasons, with the first visit having a different national flag than the current one.

[RachelLeVega]

Malawi and Paraguay are both countries that have been visited by two seasons, with the first visit having a different national flag than the current one.

When was Malawi visited for another time?

[NELs]

Malawi and Paraguay are both countries that have been visited by two seasons, with the first visit having a different national flag than the current one.

When was Malawi visited for another time?

TAR Australia 4

[RachelLeVega]

Malawi and Paraguay are both countries that have been visited by two seasons, with the first visit having a different national flag than the current one.

When was Malawi visited for another time?

TAR Australia 4

Oh, I thought you were talking about the U.S. version. My bad.

Carry on.

[RachelLeVega]

UPDATE: Here's to Kaylynn & Haley for becoming the first team, in the U.S. version at least, to utilize the U-Turn and Yield.

[LandonM170]

This marks the second time, first time since S9, that a team got eliminated on the same leg they were yielded.

[RachelLeVega]

Officially the third time since season 9 and Leo & Alana that a team got eliminated on the same leg they were Yielded, and the first to have been Yielded back-to-back, and the first to be double Yielded.

I hereby induct Kaylynn & Haley as the new "Yield Queens" of modern TAR. Cheers!