Topic: Season 30 Racer's Insights

[georgiapeach]

Just re read your blog and saw that you said:

For those of you who don’t know the rules of the race, once you’ve used a u-turn, you can’t use it again in the race.

That was always true in the earlier seasons, but there have been a couple of seasons recently where there were UNLIMITED U-Turns.  That received a lot of fan hate (similar to the ongoing debate about the awfulness of having the U-Turn be before and not after a Detour).

I am thrilled to hear that! That def makes deciding to use it much more of a "decision". 

[maf]

I have another question. One, IMHO, under-appreciated part of the race is the camera and sound crew each team is accompanied by (just think about running around Tangier with a heavy camera on your shoulder). In earlier seasons production seem to have done their best to hide them but in this season that policy seem to have changed and we seem them much more.

My question is how much do you interact with your crew while racing? Do they give you instructions like, get into the car and drive a couple of meters before we get in? Can you ask them questions about the rules, may we...?

[Jen #TeamExtreme]

Just re read your blog and saw that you said:

For those of you who don’t know the rules of the race, once you’ve used a u-turn, you can’t use it again in the race.

That was always true in the earlier seasons, but there have been a couple of seasons recently where there were UNLIMITED U-Turns.  That received a lot of fan hate (similar to the ongoing debate about the awfulness of having the U-Turn be before and not after a Detour).

I am thrilled to hear that! That def makes deciding to use it much more of a "decision". 

Well, after speaking with Well-Strung, I might have been wrong about that rule for our season. Whoops! Regardless, it wouldn't have changed Kristi & my strategy with that particular U-Turn, especially given its location.

[Jen #TeamExtreme]

I have another question. One, IMHO, under-appreciated part of the race is the camera and sound crew each team is accompanied by (just think about running around Tangier with a heavy camera on your shoulder). In earlier seasons production seem to have done their best to hide them but in this season that policy seem to have changed and we seem them much more.

My question is how much do you interact with your crew while racing? Do they give you instructions like, get into the car and drive a couple of meters before we get in? Can you ask them questions about the rules, may we...?

That is absolutely an under-appreciated part of the race! Probably the most so. The camera/sound men & woman are out of this world incredible at what they do. And they take great pride in their work.

You interact with them a TON! You really have to think of yourself as a 4-person team out there. They have to have you in frame at all times, so teams can't split tasks. You have to think about them when you're getting cabs, for seasons with Tuk-Tuks, you have to hail 2 at a time. When booking tickets, you have to book their seats as well.

There are times when they'll ask you to get in the taxi and start to drive off, then stop and they'll hop in. But every team has to do this, so we don't mind. They're very careful to not do this at highly critical times. We can clarify rules with them as well. If they don't know the answer, they always have a way to reach production to find out. We didn't have to do that often, but in Morocco, we asked several times because people kept wanting to lead teams places, which is typically not allowed. They are also the ones that keep speed limits in check.

[DavidJunior]

For the first half of the race:

What's been your favorite location?

What's been your favorite specific task?

Favorite leg while racing?

Favorite episode to watch?

And if you want, you can do least favorite in any category too 

[redskevin88]

You interact with them a TON! You really have to think of yourself as a 4-person team out there. They have to have you in frame at all times, so teams can't split tasks. You have to think about them when you're getting cabs, for seasons with Tuk-Tuks, you have to hail 2 at a time. When booking tickets, you have to book their seats as well.

That's interesting! I always wondered how they film teams when they are riding in Tuk-tuks, it looks impossible to get some good shots!

[Jen #TeamExtreme]

For the first half of the race:

What's been your favorite location?

What's been your favorite specific task?

Favorite leg while racing?

Favorite episode to watch?

And if you want, you can do least favorite in any category too 

What's been your favorite location?
Prague, hands down!

What's been your favorite specific task?
That I did solo, the Roadblock in Morocco. With Kristi, the printing press detour in Belgium.

Favorite leg while racing?
PRAGUE!!! But only after we found Fidelio! Lol. A close second was Iceland. Being the first leg of the race, getting the feel for everything and taking home that first win.

Favorite episode to watch?
Morocco for sure. There were so many lead changes. It was a really fun episode to watch.

I don't really have a "least" favorite part of the race so far. Even the things that are difficult are a part of the journey that make the fun times more enjoyable. I will say that the most stressed I've been was in cabs in Morocco. Our cab on day 1 dropped us off in the entirely wrong location, then leaving Morocco, the first cab we got in to go to the travel agency, crashed into a moving car pulling off the curb...

[Marionete]

A question that I've had for a long time just popped into my head.
When you reach the pit stop, are you guys told how long the rest period is gonna be? And then just meet your crew at the designated time?

[cbacbacba1]

How was the feeling when you had to wait for Kristi for checking in on leg 7 and being dropped to last place? 

[Jen #TeamExtreme]

A question that I've had for a long time just popped into my head.
When you reach the pit stop, are you guys told how long the rest period is gonna be? And then just meet your crew at the designated time?

Yes, you're given a start time for the next leg while you're in Pit Stop processing. As soon as we get to the Pit Stop, they check passports, count money, make you hand in all your clues and feed you then we're taken for interviews and then brought to the hotel. Some times start times get bumped back a bit.

[Jen #TeamExtreme]

How was the feeling when you had to wait for Kristi for checking in on leg 7 and being dropped to last place? 

It was awful. When we were told we were switching partners, we didn't know what we'd be doing, how long we'd be switched for or how the "switching back" would be handled. At the detour, I thought we should've switched and gone with the girls, but I didn't hold my ground with Cody. When we first arrived at the mat, we were confident they'd be right behind us. Even when Brittany and Alex arrived, we felt fine because they started before Jess & Kristi. But after the next team arrived, I really started to get nervous. At this point we were aware that it was a KOR, so we knew that every minute mattered. We were about 20 minutes behind Indy & OR, and only a couple minutes behind Yale & Firefighters.

[BourkieBoy]

So Jen, what did you think of Legs 7 and 8?

[Marionete]

So Jen, what did you think of Legs 7 and 8?

https://jenhudak.com/blog/
Just in case you didn't know, you can read her general thoughts on each leg here (and I assume legs 7/8 will be up soon).

[smiley]

Hi Jen,

Besides your team, who are some of your favorite teams in all the seasons you have seen?
Also, what's your favorite seasons, besides season 30?

[maf]

I have a question about the end of the first leg in the last episode. Interspersed in the episode were confessionals from the switched-partner teams. The background matched the scenery in that leg so I assume these were filmed after the pit stop. Which means you can not have kept on racing immediately but that there had to be some time for interviews. Is that correct? And if so I hope production did release teams with the same time interval as they checked in.

Also the episode strongly suggests that both legs took place on the same day. Did they, and in that case I wonder if this is the first time that has happened.

[cbacbacba1]

I have a question about the end of the first leg in the last episode. Interspersed in the episode were confessionals from the switched-partner teams. The background matched the scenery in that leg so I assume these were filmed after the pit stop. Which means you can not have kept on racing immediately but that there had to be some time for interviews. Is that correct? And if so I hope production did release teams with the same time interval as they checked in.

Also the episode strongly suggests that both legs took place on the same day. Did they, and in that case I wonder if this is the first time that has happened.

Tar27's Zimbabwe was also 1.5 leg on one day

[claude_24hrs]

Hi Jen!

Your flight from Prague to Harare with Kristi on October 14th, 2017 the flight you took was Swissair and South African Airways within two connecting points??

Here is my post from the Transportation Thread regarding on your flight:

Swiss (LX) 1499 PRG-ZRH 1953 (10/14) - 2100 (10/14) (scheduled 1955-2115)
Swiss (LX) 288 ZRH-JNB 2243 (10/14) - 0906 (10/15) (scheduled 2240-0910)
South African (SA) 22 JNB-HRE 1100 (10/15) - 1219 (10/15) (scheduled 1045-1215)

That may be right?

Wishes and support for the continuity of The Amazing Race.

[Jen #TeamExtreme]

Hi Jen!

Your flight from Prague to Harare with Kristi on October 14th, 2017 the flight you took was Swissair and South African Airways within two connecting points??

Here is my post from the Transportation Thread regarding on your flight:

Swiss (LX) 1499 PRG-ZRH 1953 (10/14) - 2100 (10/14) (scheduled 1955-2115)
Swiss (LX) 288 ZRH-JNB 2243 (10/14) - 0906 (10/15) (scheduled 2240-0910)
South African (SA) 22 JNB-HRE 1100 (10/15) - 1219 (10/15) (scheduled 1045-1215)

That may be right?

Wishes and support for the continuity of The Amazing Race.

Hi Claude! Yes, that looks correct. We definitely connected through Zurich and South Africa on Swiss Air. Also, we arrived in Harrare around noon. So this seems spot on.

[Jen #TeamExtreme]

I have a question about the end of the first leg in the last episode. Interspersed in the episode were confessionals from the switched-partner teams. The background matched the scenery in that leg so I assume these were filmed after the pit stop. Which means you can not have kept on racing immediately but that there had to be some time for interviews. Is that correct? And if so I hope production did release teams with the same time interval as they checked in.

Also the episode strongly suggests that both legs took place on the same day. Did they, and in that case I wonder if this is the first time that has happened.

Hi Maf! We filmed confessionals after leg 7 during a 1-hour pit-stop. Our start times were preserved from our finish times in that leg. So, Indy & Ocean Rescue had about a 20 minute lead on Yale & Firefighters and Jody & Extreme were about 2 minutes behind Yale & Firefighters.

I'm not sure if this is the first time that's happened. Hard to tell from the way shows are edited. But this was for sure the longest stretch of racing for us. It was ~32 hours from ripping our clue in Prague to arriving at Bushcamp. We didn't finish leg 8 until around 1:30 pm the next day. So all-in-all it was about a 52-hour stretch of racing.

[Jen #TeamExtreme]

Hi Jen,

Besides your team, who are some of your favorite teams in all the seasons you have seen?
Also, what's your favorite seasons, besides season 30?

Hi Smiley! One of the most iconic seasons for me was season 21. The cast was so dynamic. As far as favorite teams, Kristi and I both really respected how Dave & Connor ran the race. I also loved Brook & Claire from Season 17. They were entertaining & tough as hell. That season was awesome too because there were so many strong female teams. It was the first (and only) time that F/F teams finished first and second.

[georgiapeach]

I was wondering how much actual Tent time sleep you all got before Phil so rudely awakened you? Hard to tell by the light... 

[maf]

And how much time did you get from when Phil woke you until the team switching announcement. It looks like a while since the sun seems to be up when the announcement is made and sunrise was around 05:30. Did they give you time to get dressed, have breakfast and pack your stuff?

[Jen #TeamExtreme]

I was wondering how much actual Tent time sleep you all got before Phil so rudely awakened you? Hard to tell by the light... 

We got a good night's rest despite the early wake-up call. I'd say most of us were in bed by 9 or 10. Once the sun goes down, there's no light out there. We ate a giant bbq dinner - they had the most amazing chicken and coleslaw, but my tummy was telling my I overdid it on the coleslaw by the next day. Lol.

[Jen #TeamExtreme]

And how much time did you get from when Phil woke you until the team switching announcement. It looks like a while since the sun seems to be up when the announcement is made and sunrise was around 05:30. Did they give you time to get dressed, have breakfast and pack your stuff?

I think Phil actually woke us closer to 5 a.m. He woke us up in the dark, then they fed us breakfast, THEN they told us about partner swap. It was proabably nearly 7 a.m. before we truly started racing. That said, they did so many takes with the wake up and the partner swap stuff that it was barely enough time to get packed up. We made sure to get dressed before getting out of the tent, since we had no idea how quickly they'd be saying GO!

[theschnauzers]

I have a question about the end of the first leg in the last episode. Interspersed in the episode were confessionals from the switched-partner teams. The background matched the scenery in that leg so I assume these were filmed after the pit stop. Which means you can not have kept on racing immediately but that there had to be some time for interviews. Is that correct? And if so I hope production did release teams with the same time interval as they checked in.
Jen, as far as I know, TAR 9 had the longest ever elapsed time leg with teams traveling from rural to Moscow and then to
Also the episode strongly suggests that both legs took place on the same day. Did they, and in that case I wonder if this is the first time that has happened.

Hi Maf! We filmed confessionals after leg 7 during a 1-hour pit-stop. Our start times were preserved from our finish times in that leg. So, Indy & Ocean Rescue had about a 20 minute lead on Yale & Firefighters and Jody & Extreme were about 2 minutes behind Yale & Firefighters.

I'm not sure if this is the first time that's happened. Hard to tell from the way shows are edited. But this was for sure the longest stretch of racing for us. It was ~32 hours from ripping our clue in Prague to arriving at Bushcamp. We didn't finish leg 8 until around 1:30 pm the next day. So all-in-all it was about a 52-hour stretch of racing.

Jen, as far as I know, the longest leg in elapsed time was during TAR 9 when teams travelled from rural Brazil to Moscow to Germany, ending in Munich.

Meanwhile, I have a placement question regarding Leg 7. In checking teams in and receiving the KOR clue, were each pair of teams actually tied, or was there a distinction made between 1st and 2nd, 3rd and 4th, and 5th and 6th. It sounded in the episode as if Phil said something about  6th place team on the mat, andthat either you or Kristii made a comment about being the 6th place team afterwards on your way after the pit stop; and the chyron and the closed captioning for the episode wasn’t helpful after a couple of rewatches. Any guidance on that?