So while I definitely posted something in this thread earlier I'm pretty sure, I drafted up a more complete list including some shockers :O
- 1.04 (Les Baux de Provence, France to El Jem, Tunisia) - iconic leg is iconic. The lighter clue is, I think, not topped in its obliqueness and the tasks and scenery marry together perfectly
- 1.05 (El Jem, Tunisia to Ksar Ghilane Oasis, Tunisia) - this one doesn't get a lot of love, being sandwiched between an obvious Great Leg and a leg with a load of drama but the fact that the hardest task of the leg was simply driving between points A and B makes it incredible
- 2.05 (near Windhoek, Namibia to Amphawa, Thailand) - I feel like this is probably the best Thailand leg of TAR? Complex Detours, a RB that tests the squeamish, and a variety of transportation options both mandatory and optional make this a true test of teams
- 2.08 (Hong Kong, Sydney to Sydney, Australia) - lol. I know most people enjoy the Sydney stuff but the extra bit of Hong Kong was also good and a nice contrast to the urban nature of the previous leg.
- 3.08 (Fussen, Germany to Grindelwald, Switzerland) - THIS LEG <3 any sort of leg whose difficulty results in the most boring team remaining a) gaining a personality and b) nearly dying of cardiac arrest is a truly great leg
- 4.02 (Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy to Venice, Italy) - the late-leg bunch allllmost ruins it but the fact is the leg was pretty much a trap for people who would go on a free trip to Venice - who
wouldn't want to ride in a gondola or spend time wandering the streets? (people who wanted to stay in the race alol)
- 4.06 (Muiden, the Netherlands to Mumbai, India) - INDIA. While I enjoy the 1.5 India legs of TAR 1 more from a television perspective, I think this is the standard for which all future India legs should be judged - tasks involving hard labor and attention to detail and trains which potentially induce rape are things which should always be present.
- 5.04 (San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina to Pushkin, Russia) - arguably the first leg specifically designed to push teams to the point of attrition, it features many things I love: long-distance ground travel, complex airport routings, alcohol, and in this particular instance an eating challenge which, while difficult, wasn't asinine (looking@u Meatblock, "Quick and Easy Meal")
- 5.05 (Pushkin, Russia to Giza, Egypt) - THE SPHINX. that is all.
- 6.02 (Grindavik, Iceland to Voss, Norway) - this was a nice way to address the absurd amounts of bunching of TAR 6 plus the Detour is one of the best of the series <3
- 8.11a (Absarokee, Montana to Montreal, Quebec) - actual fun and clever and visually interesting tasks from FE? PLUS forcing people to hunt through a 56000 seat stadium for one of *3* clues? brutal.
- 10.02 (Great Wall of China, China to Ulanbataar, Mongolia) - For a change, the complex navigation leg and the leg with an absurdly difficult physical task leg were the same thing :O
- 10.03 (Ulanbataar, Mongolia to Vac, Vietnam) - the choices made in this leg just...flowed organically; 0 dollars begets a bunching point begets an RB in which one chooses between time and cash begets a random bus ride begets a labor or detail-oriented Detour. It all works.
- 10.06 (Chennai, India to Kuwait City, Kuwait) - I'm...95% sure this was the leg designed by a Survivor staffer. Pretty good, considering this would've been around the time of Cook Islands.
- 12.07 (Dubrovnik, Croatia to Florence, Italy) - the number of types of transportation used in this episode is equal to the number of types of transportation used in some
seasons. Plus beyond that there were difficult tasks <3
- 13.07 (New Delhi, India to Old Delhi, India) - sometimes I just like good looking, difficult, culturally relevant tasks
- 13.10 (Moscow, Russia to Moscow, Russia) - ...and sometimes I like legs with tasks that require multiple paragraphs to explain <3
- 14.10b (Beijing, China to Beijing, China) - I feel like I'd LOVE this leg without the U-Turn but I like that the U-Turn was hidden in an alcove like 500 meters away from both Detours <3
- 15.11 (Prague, Czech Republic to Prague, Czech Republic) - literally everything in this leg was designed to make teams feel as horrible as possible, starting from having Prague 1 occur in the day to force a daytime Pit Stop
- 17.03 (Accra, Ghana to Doryumu, Ghana) - the best linear leg, by far
- 17.06 (Narvik, Norway to St. Petersburg, Russia) - I think had gorodki replaced the potato planting this would be a contender for Best Leg Ever but it's still great <3 Every location being beautiful <3
- 18.04 (Yokohama, Japan to Lijiang, China) - okay this miiiight be due to Kent and Vyxsin being who they were but I rather liked the leg <3 It definitely felt cozy because it was in a small area full of people despite being somewhat rural and I liked it.
- 18.05 (Lijiang, China to Kunming, China) - altitude sickness exacerbating already difficult tasks <3
- 19.05 (Ko Samui, Thailand to Bangkok, Thailand) - I feel like this is the most TAR 1-like leg not made in March 2001.
- 20.03 (Buenos Aires, Argentina to Asuncion, Paraguay) - a recurring theme with me: difficult tasks in a small area begets lots of ~tension~
- 21.11 (Palma, Mallorca to Chenoceaux, France) - though this is an inversion of that: difficult tasks in a giant area, filled with GORGEOUS chateaus <3
- 22.04 (Christchurch, New Zealand to Kuta, Indonesia) - okay this miiiiight be due to John being dumb but the tasks were all pretty difficult in hindsight. Also monkeys <3
- 22.09 (Grindelwald, Switzerland to Berlin, Germany) - for a 'theme' leg, it wasn't really obnoxious or overbearing though I will always question the ridiculous mechinations used to get teams from Grindelwald to Berlin to start with
- 23.06 (Gdansk, Poland to Vienna, Austria) - admittedly this would be much better had someone attempted the chandelier drop but I like the homage to TAR 4, even if its parent leg blew because of the late train)
- 25.04 (Shetland Islands, UK to Copenhagen, Denmark via Malmo, Sweden - legs which are long enough to force people to race in darkness <3)