I may have not said this enough throughout the season, but I want it to be known that I'm proud of each and every one of you for making it this far in DC8. You've all created some amazing designs and you should be pleased with how much you've been able to accomplish, whether you make it to the finale or not. 
Anyway, without further ado, here are my comments for your assigned country legs.Bookworm - Ella, Sri LankaShow content
• Starting up in Shanghai, teams fly to Sri Lanka and take a train to Gampola and encounter an HoO. The next day, teams board another train for Ella to find Little Adam’s Peak. I understand your justification from your notes for doing transportation this way, so I’m completely fine with it- the aerial shots of Ambuluwawa Tower are probably worth it.
• Teams end up at Dowa Rock Temple for the Roadblock, involving an exorcist dance. This would definitely be an introduction to a new culture for nearly all viewers, as this Sinhalese dance tradition is not widely known. The Roadblock combines spatial awareness, attention to detail, and memory. While complex, this task idea is a good way to showcase the dance.
• The Press Down Detour involves spices; that was something I had in mind when selecting Sri Lanka for my judge’s pick country, so good job
From experience, I know that using a mortar and pestle to grind is repetitive and boring work. Are there any spices in the raw form that don’t correspond to a jar? With dozens of spices, finding the correct one should take a little while for each turn. The task isn’t gripping, but does involve strategy- which is a good thing.
• Lift Off puts teams to work creating kites. I like the location, the tie-in to
Vesak, and the variety of colors. It’s a lot more cut-and-dry than Press Down, but just as cultural. Overall, no major gripes about this Detour.
• I like the Pit Stop location and the music aspect you included, although stairs right before a Pit Stop is just cruel.
Summary: When picking Sri Lanka for one of my countries, I hoped to see a leg that developed Sri Lanka’s traditions and showed the country as one with its own distinct culture. This leg accomplished that, and I was also impressed by the locations and towns you picked to feature in the leg.
Show content
• The leg commences in Myanmar where teams take two flights and a train to arrive in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Nice to see somewhere outside of Taipei be featured!
• Clever interpretation of the “enter through the dragon and exit through the tiger” using the keys. I love this type of quick mental task to get teams separated at the beginning of the leg and it’s a perfect idea for the pagodas. Kudos!
• Heart of Love is the Detour Decision Point for Stickers/Stalls. Stickers involves traveling to ubiquitous convenience stores and finding different products. I’m glad there are a few different correct solutions; plus, there is a risk/reward with teams being able to decide whether they want to buy all the items at that store or wait and shop around. While teams may end up trying to follow each other around, the streets of Taiwan may be busy enough as to where they get thrown off.
• Stalls also requires searching for a food vendor, but there’s no guesswork once they find the locations, as the task is to simply eat the delicacies. I like the concept of navigating the busy market and I’m sure the teams will have some amusing reactions to the dishes. However, I wish there was a requirement that each team member has to eat a portion; with no such rule, one teammate could do everything essentially by themselves. Plus, I would have liked to see teams get a stamp at each station for a finished dish and then exchange that for their next clue instead of getting 1/5 of their clue for each dish. Still, a good task overall that will be dramatic when multiple teams are racing at the same time.
• Tainan hosts the Roadblock, an explosive assembly task. Interesting backstory on how this tradition got started! That, along with the visuals of the fireworks going off, should make for an engaging episode segment. While the second part of the task could be linear, there still is opportunity for placement switching with the assembly portion. Also, thanks for including some of the safety notes for the task.
• Zhongshan Pavilion is the Pit Stop. It’s still so pretty at night!
Summary: Urban Taiwan is known for being bustling and fast-paced, and this leg was exactly so. I’m amazed at how all the tasks and locations were fitting for a night leg. While not perfect, this is certainly the type of Taiwan leg I’d love to see on TAR.
Nuku - Tbilisi, GeorgiaShow content
• India is the Pit Start and teams read the clue to fly to Georgia. I wanted to see another leg here to find out whether the TAR 28 leg could have included different tasks and locations, so let’s see your take on this country.
• After an hours of operation at the winery, teams are tasked with finding different grapes. At only 40 of each kind, the challenge is more about finding the different grape types rather than collection. How different are these grape varieties? Maybe a picture collage could have helped. I do like how teams have to start over completely if they get it wrong- it makes it all-or-nothing.
• Teams head back to Tbilisi for the Detour. The eggs are a unique way to determine the blind Detour; good choice there! In Christmas Decorations, teams must assemble two unique Christmas trees. Looks like a fine task- thanks for including the video of how they are made. What decorations are included?
• The other side is Tempo Guesstimations. Good fundamentals as a music task, but a little more explanation would be nice, such as an example of drum playing. How long are the performances? By the way, the name of the Detour kinda gives away the secret of the task.
• The Open Air Museum of Ethnography is the Roadblock location, where teams have to learn wrestling holds. I like how technique is more important than strength for this Roadblock, and five minutes should be a fair amount of time to be able to show the holds and counterholds. Once they have the moves down, they just have to go out and perform it, and I like how they don traditional clothing for the task as well.
• The Royal Baths Pit Stop then rounds out the leg. No maps or leg money, unfortunately.
Summary: Lots of good things in this leg, namely the cultural tasks and quality locations. Sprucing up the design with more details here and there would have helped the leg be even better, though. Still, this leg holds a candle to the previous Georgia legs on TAR and would likely be a fun episode.
MikeDodgers - PhilippinesShow content
• Interested to see what you’ve done in the Philippines, one of the most under-visited countries in Asia. We’ll kick things off in HCMC before flying to Manila.
• At the Post Office, teams find a green envelope. The goal of the Fast Forward task is to find a correctly addressed letter. While it’s not a bad idea, it just doesn’t strike me as being cultural, and I’m hoping to see new parts of a country’s culture when I read through a DC leg (not Switchbacks). If you decide to include a Fast Forward, I would like to see something more unique.
• Teams then self-drive into the countryside and find the Rice Terraces and a Yield. I don’t mind this Double Blind Yield twist, and it’s good that the affected teams have time to catch up. Teams are then faced with a rice ARI task. Pretty simple, although more procedural explanation would be nice.
• Teams then drive to Sagada and encounter a Hanging Coffins Roadblock. This task is frankly bizarre; first, they must somehow climb into one of coffins (?) and then just lay there for 2 minutes? Provided this task is even somehow safe, getting into and out of the coffins is probably going to be more time-consuming than the task itself. There is also a consideration with respect to the local culture- that needs to be followed. This task is just a completely eccentric idea.
• For the Detour, Virtuous Values is a decent concept in theory but needs more explanation on the “crowds” - where are they and how many people do they consist of? In regards to Deep in the Dark, spelunking with no light source is simply not feasible, safe, or telegenic.
• No maps are present to confirm or deny this, but with my knowledge of Philippine geography, I believe the towns you included are pretty far apart. There would be a lot of driving, and I don’t think the task time : drive time ratio is there to justify this (not to mention a major advantage for the FF team, getting to skip much of the driving).
Summary: You picked some interesting locations, but the feasibility issues are glaring (travel time, task safety, etc.). I appreciate you trying to do something different with a Philippine leg, but hardly any of the material as presented seemed usable for TAR. Dedicate a larger portion of time to hammering out details and including them in your presentation next time.
Lemontail - Lampang, ThailandShow content
• Beginning in Darwin, teams will have to fly to Lampang, Thailand. I like the choice of this unvisited city in Northern Thailand. We haven’t seen enough of this region, so I’m excited to see what you chose to do here.
• At the Ceramic Museum, the Roadblock task requires one team member to move 30 eggs. I like how the task requires focus, and racers have to choose whether to go slow and play it safe or fast and risk dropping the eggs. The penalty for dropping an egg is perfect, and all racers will probably have to make at least a few eggs. In conclusion, this is a fine task that should have ample opportunity for fun moments and racer drama.
• The Street Market gives us an ARI of making and selling a traditional dish. Making things more interesting, they have to move their stall every 10 minutes- this could lead to some chaos and breakdowns! What price must teams sell them for and can they keep the money they earn? It’s always fun to see teams compete for customers.
• The Detour is a choice between Dress Up and Cover Up. I enjoy how Dress Up features the important Thai textile industry, although I think Barbie dolls aren’t as exciting to have the teams dress up as compared to full-size mannequins. Scouring through all the garments to find the correct items will be fun to see on TV.
• Cover Up takes place at a temple, where teams must find clues contained within Buddhist offerings all around the temple. It’s a lot of memory, but persevering teams will likely be able to complete it in a few tries, maximum. Overall, I think the Detour is pretty balanced, and I like the cultural aspects of both sides.
• Then, teams travel to Chao Luang Muen Dong Nakhon Monument to end the leg.
Summary: Your decision to go into northern Thailand paid off! You proved that there are still new things to be seen in a frequently visited country. Self-driving and tedious tasks will make for plenty of drama. Good work!
nrh2110 - Rotorua, New ZealandShow content
• Brunei provides the start as teams take one of two routes to Rotorua, New Zealand. Totally fine with this area being visited again, as there’s plenty of culture on offer here.
• Teams then drive to the Boardwalk and are faced with an aquatic Roadblock. Racers must swim to shore, find the correct pool, then swim back to the boat. While the explanation of the legend is engaging for us viewers, it probably doesn’t come across to the racers in the heat of the moment, so this is a fairly straightforward task for them. I would have liked to see an extra element to get the racers involved in recreating the legend, such as dressing up in a traditional costume or reciting a phrase once they find the pool- something to help make it seem more than just a “swim as fast as possible” task to the racers.
• Off to Te Puia to find the correct geyser, then over to the Maori Village. I don’t think we’ve ever seen a Maori food task, so I like how this task highlights a new cultural item. However, the procedure for the task seems so explicit. Following a set order of steps doesn’t provide much opportunity for a racer to mess up or find an ingenious way to sneak ahead. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of risk or potential failure in this task. The cultural side is good, but I just don’t see a lot of drama happening.
• Teams receive their clue to drive to Waimangu Volcanic Valley, the picturesque Pit Stop.
• While keeping the task count low would allow for more airtime to be spent on each task and travel, this is a case where including one more task would be better from a leg design standpoint. The leg was solid, but felt like it was missing maybe an ARI to help separate the teams.
Summary: I liked how you pivoted away from adrenaline tasks, instead focusing on the cultures of New Zealand (which are fascinating). My main complaint was that the leg could have used another task. That being said, there was plenty of good material in the leg and it was solid work overall.
