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Offline maf

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TAR33 racing reports. Episode #11 is on page 1
« on: January 07, 2022, 04:06:59 PM »
I am happy to once again be able to provide you all racing reports for the legs. In them I try to document what happened during the leg with focus on all the data we can glean from the episode. That said I must thank the people writing to these boards as I often use other posts as input to the reports.
« Last Edit: April 05, 2022, 04:39:36 PM by maf »

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Re: TAR33 racing reports. Episode #1
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2022, 04:07:57 PM »
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 33, Episode 1, "We're Back!"
Film date: 2020-02-22 - 2020-02-23

Our favorite race is back again. The episode starts with Phil explaining that due to the onset of Covid they had to suspend shooting after the third leg. But eventually they managed to complete the season.

This season starts with all the racers at home packing for the trip, in many cases surrounded by family, when they suddenly get a video message from Phil. He tells them that their first clue is hidden at Trafalgar Square in London, England. He then says go and tells them to make their way to London as quickly as possible.

The 11 teams are:
  • Caro & Ray, dating, met on Love island
  • Akbar & Sheri, married educators, opened up their school to kids in the evening to keep them safe
  • Kim & Penn, married parents, internet personalities
  • Taylor & Isaiah, married, YouTube sensations
  • Connie & Sam, married, took in a kid who was in a  bad spot and helped him achieve greatness
  • Raquel & Cayla, flight attendants
  • Lulu & Lala, twins, radio hosts
  • Arun & Natalia, father/daughter
  • Anthony & Spencer, friends, stopped a terrorist attack on a train in France
  • Ryan & Dusty, best friends , Ryan was wrongfully convicted and spent 10 years in prison
  • Michael & Moe, singing police officers

It seems production transported teams to one of four cities (Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and New York). Then they flew from there to London. Teams met up at Heathrow and were released close to the Envoy Roundabout which is next to the Hilton Garden Inn just outside the airport. Production has arranged for a bunch of taxis to wait in a parking lot outside the hotel.

Teams must now travel by taxi to Trafalgar square and look for men in Bowler hats dressed up as the iconic London red phone boxes.

Around Trafalgar square teams find a bunch of men dressed up as phone boxes. Each of them has two clues so teams arriving later may have to ask around a bit to find one who still have a clue to give.
 "I'm afraid I don't", the clue givers are extremely polite when teams asks if they have a clue
 
Teams get their clues here in the following order:
  1. Raquel & Cayla
  2. Kim & Penn
  3. Caro & Ray
  4. Lulu & Lala
  5. Anthony & Spencer
  6. Ryan & Dusty
  7. Taylor & Isaiah
  8. Michael & Moe
  9. Arun & Natalia
 10. Akbar & Sheri
 11. Connie & Sam, their taxi took a different route

Connie & Sam are the last to arrive and it seems they spent a while searching for a clue here. Eventually they find one though.

Route info: "Travel on foot to the Buckingham Palace and find your clue next to the Canada gate".
This is fairly easy to find. There are even street signs showing the way. Basically there is just one road you need to run down along for about 1.1km. This does not however stop some teams from struggling.
 "We are dumb-asses for not asking before", Lala when they get lost on the way to Buckingham palace
 
Teams reach the clue box outside Buckingham palace in the following order:
  1(+0) Raquel & Cayla
  2(+4) Ryan & Dusty
  3(+0) Caro & Ray
  4(+1) Anthony & Spencer
  5(-3) Kim & Penn
  6(+2) Michael & Moe
  7(+3) Akbar & Sheri
  8(-1) Taylor & Isaiah
  9(+0) Arun & Natalia
 10(+1) Connie & Sam
 11(-7) Lulu & Lala

Detour: Artist den or Digiben

In artists den teams must make their way to the mess hall (1.2km) where they must  glue an piece or artwork to a wall.The trick is that the artwork is given to them in the form of 4x9 panels. They must first figure out which panels go where. I.e. this is a puzzle. Apparently this detour only had room for 6 teams.

In Digiben teams must visit three places in London. They must first make their way on foot to Parliament Square (1.3km) where the Bobby will hand them their next clue. It helps to know that a Bobby is an English policeman.
 ""Look for the Bobby", so that has to be a thing", Raquel reads the clue carefully
The clue they get from the Bobby says: "Travel on foot to Little Ben near Victoria station and find the promoter". This is another 1.2km jog for the teams.
The promoter gives teams another clue which reads: "Travel on foot, or by taxi, to the Piccadilly tube station to find Digiben". All teams seem to take a taxi and that is probably the right choice as it is 2.1km to this station on foot.
Digiben turns out to be a DJ who is playing music in the hallways of the tube station. He seems not to be particularly hard to find.

At the artist den most teams quickly realize it is a puzzle and solve the puzzle on the floor before they start gluing the pieces to the wall. But some do not, for example Michael & Moe who just start to paste their panels to the wall.
 "I feel like it is the flag of London", Lulu about their puzzle (which is a bunch of UK flags)
The judge turns out to be fairly strict about cracks between the panels. So a bunch of teams have to improve their artwork.

Michael & Moe and Lulu & Lala both shown struggling at the artist detour. Michael & Moe are told that they need to fix the ripped pieces but then the judge comes with a stack of new panels so they can pick the pieces they need from it.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
  1(+3) Anthony & Spencer, Digiben, at 19:14
  2(+0) Ryan & Dusty, Digiben, as #1 is leaving
  3(-2) Raquel & Cayla, Digiben, at 19:24
  4(+1) Kim & Penn, Artist den
  5(-2) Caro & Ray, Artist den
  6(+1) Akbar & Sheri, Digiben, at 19:44
  7(+3) Connie & Sam, Digiben, at 20:38
  8(+0) Taylor & Isaiah, Artist den
  9(+0) Arun & Natalia, Artist den
 10(-4) Michael & Moe, Artist den
 11(+0) Lulu & Lala, Artist den

Route info: "Travel by foot or by taxi to the Chipping forecast in Soho and find the queen and Boris Jonson having a Nosh to receive your next clue".

The Chipping forecast turns out to be a Fish & Chips restaurant (at 58 Greek street). Most teams take a taxi but Ryan & Dusty foot it and arrive at the same time as Anthony & Spencer. Here they find the Queen and Boris, or at least actors pretending to be them, eating Fish & Chips.

Teams get the next clue from the "Queen" in the following order:
  1(+1) Ryan & Dusty
  2(-1) Anthony & Spencer, just after #1
  3(+0) Raquel & Cayla
  4(+0) Kim & Penn
  5(+0) Caro & Ray
  6(+0) Akbar & Sheri
  7(+0) Connie & Sam
  ?(+?) Taylor & Isaiah
  ?(+?) Arun & Natalia
 10(+1) Lulu & Lala
 11(-1) Michael & Moe, are seen looking for the place as #10 leave

Route info: "Race to you very first pit stop inside the National History museum and search for Phil". The clue also says that the last team to check in will be eliminated and that they have to travel by taxi.
 "Sir, can we travel with you again", Anthony as they read their clue right next to their old taxi

Phil is not hard to find as he stands in the enormous entrance hall under the skeleton of a Blue whale. Teams reach him in the following order:
  1(+1) Anthony & Spencer, win a trip to Turks and Caicos
  2(-1) Ryan & Dusty
  3(-1) Raquel & Cayla
  4(+0) Kim & Penn
  5(+0) Caro & Ray
  6(+0) Akbar & Sheri
  7(+0) Connie & Sam
  8(+?) Taylor & Isaiah
  9(+?) Arun & Natalia
 10(+0) Lulu & Lala
 11(+0) Michael & Moe, are eliminated

 "Please kick some ass because we just can not have all the young people win all the time", Phil to Kim & Penn
 "We had a wonderful time being here", Michael


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Re: TAR33 racing reports. Episode #2
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2022, 01:48:06 PM »
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 33, Episode 2, "It Can't Be That Easy"
Film date: 2020-02-24

The last pit stop was in the evening at the London Natural History museum. After a very short break teams are released the next morning from St Mary Abbots Church in the following order:
1.Anthony & Spencer07:46
2.Ryan & Dusty     07:48+0:02
3.Raquel & Cayla   07:50+0:04
4.Kim & Penn       08:03+0:17
5.Caro & Ray       08:15+0:29
6.Akbar & Sheri    08:17+0:31
7.Connie & Sam     08:30+0:44
8.Taylor & Isaiah  08:32+0:46
9.Arun & Natalia   08:45+0:59
10.Lulu & Lala      09:37+1:51

Route info: "Race to Royal Mail Central Delivery in Clerkenwell"

Teams travel by taxi (22min). Unfortunately for Anthony & Spencer they have a hard time finding a taxi. One shot shows them having made their way 1 mile in the wrong direction while looking for one.

Teams arrive at the postal museum in the following order:
  1(+1) Ryan & Dusty
  2(+1) Raquel & Cayla
  3(-1) Anthony & Spencer, just after #2
  4(+0) Kim & Penn
  5(+0) Caro & Ray
  6(+1) Connie & Sam
  7(+2) Arun & Natalia
  8(-2) Akbar & Sheri
  9(-1) Taylor & Isaiah
 10(+0) Lulu & Lala

Road block: Who still gets the mail?

In this road block contestants must ride an underground train to a loading dock. At the dock they will find marked bins containing letters and parcels. They must each pick a bin and find the clue therein. The clue turns out to be an almost normal clue envelope which is lying in the bottom of the pile. The difference from a normal clue is that this one is white instead of bright yellow.

It seems the train runs on a schedule so teams may have to wait to catch one.
 "We've gonna look for a clue, but I have no idea what I'm doing", Ryan

Ray and Penn decide to work together. They both find the clue fairly quickly, but then they start to overthink and reason that it can not be that simple. So they continue looking.
 "It can't be that easy? Right?", Penn when he finds the clue
They talk to Anthony and he confirms that he also found the same clue and is going with it.
 "Are you sure?", Penn
 "That's what I'm doing", Anthony
Anthony gets on the train wile Ray and Penn keep looking.
 "What if they ask us about the names when we get off it?", Penn worry there will be questions once they get back
 "We could also just be overthinking this, I'm a chronic over-thinker", Penn
It is only when three more teams arrive, and start lining up for the return train with their clues that they realize that they probably already have what they need. In the end they waste about 30-45 minutes.

Lulu & Lala has arrived and are waiting on the train when Taylor returns from the road block.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+0)Ryan* & Dusty     (1-0)Left before any other teams even arrived
2(+0)Raquel* & Cayla   (1-0)Found the clue in about 15 seconds and caught the same train back
3(+0)Anthony* & Spencer(1-0)
4(+3)*Arun & Natalia   (1-0)
5(+2)Connie* & Sam     (1-0)Got back on the same train as #4
6(+2)Akbar & Sheri*    (0-1)Got back on the same train as #4
7(-3)Kim & Penn*       (0-1)Got back on the same train as #4
8(-3)Caro & Ray*       (0-1)Got back on the same train as #4
9(+0)Taylor* & Isaiah  (1-0)
10(+0)Lulu & Lala*      (0-1)

Route info: "Take a taxi to Leicester square to find your next clue"

In the taxi we get to see Caro & Ray argue. She is upset he spent an extra 30 minutes at the road block.
 "You're so rude", Caro
 "I don't care, facts, it is what it is", Ray

At Leicester square (15 min) teams find a normal clue box. They get here in the following order:
  1(+0) Ryan & Dusty
  2(+0) Raquel & Cayla
  3(+0) Anthony & Spencer
  4(+4) Caro & Ray
  5(-1) Arun & Natalia
  6(+1) Kim & Penn
  7(-2) Connie & Sam
  8(-2) Akbar & Sheri
  9(+0) Taylor & Isaiah
 10(+0) Lulu & Lala

Detour: Bullseye, Mate or Decorate

In Bullseye, Mate teams must make their way to Flight club Victoria (7min) here they must pick up two pints of beer and six darts. Then they must take turns to throw three darts each. Once both team members hit the bullseye in the same round they will get their next clue.

In Decorate teams must make their way to Mange at 61 Central St (14min). Here they must decorate two blank cakes with flags of countries which are part of the EU. There is a bunch of sample cakes and they must make copies of two of them. The sample cakes seems to show the following flags: Colombia, Brazil, Germany, Thailand, Chile, Norway, South Africa, France, Jamaica, Great Britain, Sierra Leone and Russia. Of those only France and Germany are in the EU. Great Britain left the EU a few weeks before filming and Norway has never been a member of the EU (they are in the EEA though).

The extra info says that both detours have a limited number of stations available.

Many teams have problems with the decorate detour because they did not know which flags to pick. A number of teams picked UK or Norway. But the judge was nice and told them that these were not in the EU.
 "They're not in the European Union", Spencer knows about Brexit
Taylor & Isaiah just look at which flags the others do and copy them.

When Lulu & Lala arrive to the decorate detour there are still four other teams there, from this we can infer that this task took quite a while.

I wonder what production though about the contestants cake decorating skills because I see more than 40 extra blank cakes in the area around the judge.

Arun & Natalia struggle with the darts and consider switching but decide to stick with it for a few more minutes. Shortly after that they get it. When they leave Arun insists on visiting the toilet and then he forgets the fanny pack in there. He realizes this as they enter the taxi so he can rush back and pick it up.

Penn has started to make a Jamaican flag when Caro & Ray point out that this is not an EU flag. It turns out he missed the EU part of the clue.

Here we learn that Lala split up with her boyfriend shortly before the race and apparently it was not pretty. He seems to have said that she would not do well on the race so when she struggles she remembers him and does even worse and so on. Later they have a fight in the taxi about this.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
  1(+0) Ryan & Dusty, Darts
  2(+5) Connie & Sam, Darts
  3(+2) Arun & Natalia, Darts
  4(-2) Raquel & Cayla, Decorate, did an UK cake
  5(-2) Anthony & Spencer, Decorate, did a Norway cake
  6(+0) Kim & Penn, Decorate, did a Norway cake and had complaints about drippage on their German cake
  7(-3) Caro & Ray, Decorate
  8(+0) Akbar & Sheri, Decorate
  9(+0) Taylor & Isaiah, Decorate
 10(+0) Lulu & Lala, Decorate

After the detour teams went to the ArcelorMittal Orbit Tower. The idea was for teams to ride the rather spectacular slide they have there. But due to inclement weather the task was reduced to taking the stairs to the top, get a clue and then take the stairs back again. This task was cut from the aired episode.

The next clue is a route info which sends teams to a double decker bus parked at the Russel Square Metro Station where they can find Phil and the next Pit Stop.

Teams arrive in the following order:
  1(+0) Ryan & Dusty (no price shown), ~12:50
  2(+0) Connie & Sam
  3(+0) Arun & Natalia
  4(+0) Raquel & Cayla
  5(+1) Kim & Penn
  6(+1) Caro & Ray, just after #6
  7(-2) Anthony & Spencer
  8(+0) Akbar & Sheri
  9(+0) Taylor & Isaiah
 10(+0) Lulu & Lala, ~15:00, saved by a KOR leg

There is no greeter but there is Holly who serves tea to the teams.

When Lulu & Lala check in they are not eliminated but instead given their next clue and told that they are still racing.

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Re: TAR33 racing reports. Episode #3
« Reply #3 on: January 16, 2022, 04:07:46 PM »
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 33, Episode 3, "Who has this one in the bag"
Film date: 2020-02-24 - 2022-02-25

The previous episode ended with a keep on racing pit stop in a double decker bus outside the Russel Square Metro Station in London, England. Teams get their clue here in the following order (no departure times are given).
  1. Ryan & Dusty
  2. Connie & Sam
  3. Arun & Natalia
  4. Raquel & Cayla
  5. Kim & Penn
  6. Caro & Ray
  7. Anthony & Spencer
  8. Akbar & Sheri
  9. Taylor & Isaiah
 10. Lulu & Lala

Quote
ROUTE INFO

Travel by train to
Glasgow, Scotland.

When you arrive at
Glasgow Central Station
find your next clue on
the windshield of any of
the marked cars located
in NCP Car Park.

You have £100 for this
leg of the Race.

The train departs from Euston station and each team get a sleeper cabin. In the extra scenes we get to see that Lala is claustrophobic and has a very hard time with the rather small cabin. She says she is going to stand up the entire trip (7h), keep the door open and the lights on. Lulu is not thrilled by this.

We also get some more background on Arun & Natalia.
 "I wanted to do this with Natalia because we have watched the Amazing Race all our lives", Arun

Once in Glasgow teams leave the train and start running. They reach the cars at the top floor of the parking garage in the following order:
  1. Taylor & Isaiah
  2. Connie & Sam
  3. Kim & Penn
  4. Anthony & Spencer
  5. Ryan & Dusty
  ?. Akbar & Sheri
  ?. Raquel & Cayla
  ?. Caro & Ray
  ?. Arun & Natalia
  ?. Lulu & Lala

The clue on the cars probably told teams to drive to Culag Guest House near Luss lake. Here they had to "Pop a bung". There are press pics from this task which seems to have involved hitting barrels with large hammers. This was cut from the episode.

The cars have manual transmission and as people drive on the left here they have right hand steering. As expected a number of teams really struggle with the cars. In one extra scene we see that Cayla can not figure out how to put the car in reverse so she uses gravity to back. Later Raquel has to go out and push. They laugh uncontrollably during this.
 "I think our biggest strength is trust between the two of us", Cayla
 "It's a new drivers worst nightmare, to be in stop and go traffic", Akbar is struggling with the car
 
Ray is also struggling with the car, and he is getting even more stressed out by Caros comments form the back. Eventually he just stops the car and gets out.
 "I'm sorry for crying", Caro apologizes and gives him a hug
 "Please get off me, chill, relax", Ray does not want a hug

The rest of this leg is going to be self driving. And besides having issues driving the cars many teams also have a hard time navigating. So the order between the teams change a lot as teams get lost on the way.

Next teams must drive themselves to Òran Mór and look for their next clue.

There seems to be at least three places in Glasgow called Òran Mór. Most teams go to a pub which is 10 miles from the church they are supposed to go to. Some teams are very lucky and pass the church on their way to the pub and spot the clue box. Others are not.

Teams arrive here in the following order:
  1. Kim & Penn, find it by accident
  2. Anthony & Spencer, while #1 is still doing the road block
  3. Ryan & Dusty, seconds after #2
  4. Lulu & Lala
  5. Arun & Natalia
  6. Raquel & Cayla
  7. Connie & Sam
  8. Caro & Ray, after the previous teams have left, but they are happy that there are two more clues left in the box
  9. Taylor & Isaiah
 10. Akbar & Sheri, while the previous two teams are still here

Road block: "Who thinks they have this one in the bag?"

In this road block contestants must first correctly assemble a bagpipe. Once approved they must play a continuous note while the band plays a traditional Scottish Anthem.

Assembling the bagpipes is not easy and we get to see the judge telling a lot of teams that they are not done. This time they do not get any help as to what the problem is. There seems to be one bagpipe check judge per team so they do not have to wait for each other at this step.

Playing the continuous note seems to be much easier as we are not shown anybody failing at this. However only one contestant at a time is allowed to do this step so teams may have to wait in line.

Also here we see that Anthony & Spencer are working together with Ryan & Dusty. This intimidates the other teams as all know these are two very strong teams.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+0)Kim* & Penn       (1-1)
2(+1)Ryan & Dusty*     (1-1)
3(-1)Anthony & Spencer*(1-1)
4(+1)Arun & Natalia*   (1-1)
5(-1)Lulu & Lala*      (1-1)Just after #4
6(+1)Connie & Sam*     (1-1)Just after #5
7(-1)Raquel* & Cayla   (2-0)Just after #6
8(+0)Caro* & Ray       (1-1)
9(+1)Akbar* & Sheri    (1-1)
10(-1)Taylor & Isaiah*  (1-1)

After she is done Natalia helps Sam and Raquel by telling them some of the tricky details regarding assembling the bagpipes.
 "I thought, good karma, we're gonna help them out", Natalia

Route info: "Drive to Walter McFarland Saracen Fountain in Alexandra Park to find your next clue"

As Arun & Natalia are getting directions in a shop they see Raquel & Cayla walking by outside, so they know they have caught up already.

Teams reach the fountain (4.2miles) in the following order:
  1(+0) Kim & Penn
  2(+1) Anthony & Spencer
  3(-1) Ryan & Dusty
  4(+3) Raquel & Cayla
  5(+1) Connie & Sam
  6(+2) Caro & Ray
  7(-2) Lulu & Lala
  8(-4) Arun & Natalia
  9(+1) Taylor & Isaiah
 10(-1) Akbar & Sheri

Quote
DETOUR

Detour: 'Kilt' or 'Rebuilt'

Kilt: Perform a children's
song, and dance the
traditional Scottish way
to receive your next clue.

Rebuilt: Pop off and
replace the heads of
whiskey barrels to receive
your next clue.

The kilt detour takes place at the Panopticon theater (2.2miles away). Teams must dress up in kilts and perform a song. On stage they are joined by an accordion player and two extremely cute kids.

In rebuilt teams must rebuild the ends of two barrels. This involves removing two hoops, redoing the seam around the head and then replace the hoops. This takes place at Fishers Cooperage (1.3miles) and each player get a leather apron to put on.

All teams keep the detour clothes on until they reach the pit stop, so we can assume the clue told them to do so.

Kim & Penn are very excited to get a song and dance challenge since that is what they do in their daily lives. But they probably skimped a bit on the rehearsing because Penn missed that there was a four bar bridge before he should start singing his verse. On stage he starts complaining about this but in a later interview he admits to acting like a diva.

Arun & Natalia go to repair but they struggle and after a while Natalia wants to switch
 "I won't be able to memorize the song", Arun
Arun does not feel comfortable with singing and dancing but agrees to switch. When they arrive to the Kilt detour there are still two teams who have not arrived yet, so they have a chance. Unfortunately for them Arun is no singer, he just can not seem to get the rhythm of the song. So they have to try many times until at last the judges approves them. But he is still terrible so I would not be surprised if the judges were told that all other teams have checked in now so please just approve him.
 "Dad, you didn't fail me', Natalia as they are getting directions after the task
 
Teams complete the detour in the following order:
  1(+0) Kim & Penn, kilt
  2(+1) Ryan & Dusty, repair
  3(-1) Anthony & Spencer, repair
  4(+1) Connie & Sam, repair
  5(-1) Raquel & Cayla, repair
  6(+0) Caro & Ray, repair
  7(+0) Lulu & Lala, kilt
  8(+1) Taylor & Isaiah
  9(+1) Akbar & Sheri, kilt
 10(-2) Arun & Natalia, started repair but switched to kilt

Lulu & Lala though they were last but feel energized when Arun & Natalia arrive to the detour as they are leaving.

Route info: "Drive to the University of Glasgow and search the Cloisters for Phil at your next Pit Stop".

The clue also says that the last team to check in will be eliminated. The cloister is 5.0 miles from the repair detour and 2.8 from the Kilt detour.

Teams reach Phil in the following order:
  1(+0) Kim & Penn, win a trip to Cape Cod, they arrive in daylight
  2(+0) Ryan & Dusty
  3(+0) Anthony & Spencer, just after #2
  4(+0) Connie & Sam, around 17:10
  5(+1) Caro & Ray, just after #4
  6(-1) Raquel & Cayla
  7(+0) Lulu & Lala, and now it has gone dark
  8(+0) Taylor & Isaiah
  9(+0) Akbar & Sheri
 10(+0) Arun & Natalia, are eliminated

This time there is a greeter with Phil. A local strong man holding a 100lb pet rock on his shoulder.

 "This is the best experience any father could have hoped for", Arun

And this is where these episodes normally end. But not this one. The next thing we are shown is a scene three days later where Phil has gathered everybody for an announcement. He tells them that they are suspending the race due to the Corona virus.
Then we get a sign that it is 19 months later in St Gallen, Switzerland. Five teams jog up to Phil. They are:
  Akbar & Sheri
  Raquel & Cayla
  Ryan & Dusty
  Kim & Penn
  Lulu & Lala
These are the only teams of the 9 teams which remained in the race who could make it to the restart. Phil points out that some teams are missing, but they have some familiar faces taking their place. Who is not said but from press pics etc we can say that the two eliminated teams, Michael & Moe and Arun & Natalia are coming back

The preview ends with Phil saying GO to restart the race.

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Re: TAR33 racing reports. Episode #4
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2022, 04:48:00 PM »
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 33, Episode 4, "Ready to restart the race"
Film date: 2021-09-19

The last episode was filmed just as the pandemic was rearing up, so production had to suspend filming for 19 months. Now the situation has improved slightly and they have a plan for how to film the rest of the season safely.

This episode starts in St. Gallen, Switzerland. More precisely in the courtyard of the Abbey of St Gall. Of the 9 teams remaining after the last leg only five teams were able to come back. They are:
  Akbar & Sheri
  Raquel & Cayla
  Ryan & Dusty
  Kim & Penn
  Lulu & Lala

To fill out the ranks production have brought back some familiar faces, namely the two previously eliminated teams:
  Arun & Natalia
  Michael & Moe

The episode only lists the teams which did not come back, but the reasons were:
  Connie & Sam, Connie was pregnant
  Taylor & Isaiah, Taylor's brother died of Covid just before the race started
  Anthony & Spencer, Anthony got a new job and could not take time off
  Caro & Ray, Caro had visa issues

Phil talks to some of the teams about what they have done during the extra long pit stop. He then talks a bit about the safety measures in place. For example that they will always fly charter planes, no public transportation and more self driving.

He then tells teams that when he says GO then will have to find Museumstrasse. Here they will find three buses, first come first served. There is a typical start of the race and everybody starts running.

Teams reach the buses (500m) in the following order:
Bus #1:
  Ryan & Dusty
  Raquel & Cayla
  Kim & Penn
 
Bus #2:
  Michael & Moe
  Arun & Natalia

Bus #3:
  Akbar & Sheri
  Lulu & Lala

The buses are old school and each has a sign telling how many teams it can hold (2 or 3). The driver hands each team a clue as they board the bus.

Route info: "Make your way to Schwägalp and take a cable car 8000ft above sea level to the top of the Säntis to find your next clue."

 "We needed to become jack of all trades", Dusty on how they have prepared
 "This definitely has jumping off something written all over it", Akbar guesses what the upcoming task will be

It turns out to not matter which bus teams got on. They all depart together and all teams end up on the same cable car gondola.
 "I'm very afraid of heights", Sheri does not want to look out of the gondola

Once the gondola reaches the top there is a rush to the clue box. It is easy to find so all teams get there within seconds of each other. Teams get their next clue in the following order:
 1. Ryan & Dusty
 2. Lulu & Lala
 3. Arun & Natalia
 4. Raquel & Cayla
 5. Kim & Penn
 6. Michael & Moe
 7. Akbar & Sheri

Road block: "Who wants to take in the view?"

In this road block contestants must walk along a via ferrata down a ridge to a clue box where they can pick up their next clue. This is high up on a mountain and for large portions the path is very narrow. So people are wearing harnesses and have to be secured to the ropes. Each contestant is also tied to a guide who will follow them.

In Kim & Penn's podcast they say that production counted the order teams opened their clues, not when they grabbed it from the box. This was then the order teams started the road block.

Sheri is terrified but she thinks Akbar would be too big so she will do the road block.
 "I was all for letting him do this thing. But this is like, Akbar is too big for this one", Sheri

You can not really pass anybody on the sections of the path where you are clipped in. But there are stretches without any ropes and here it is possible to pass other teams.
 "This is so much fun", Raquel
 "I don't like heights, I'll tel you that", Moe

It is immediately clear that Sheri is a lot more scared than the others so she walks slowly which means she is falling behind big time. It seems as if she is about halfway to the clue box when the other teams pass her on their way back. A nice gesture is that many of the returning racers say something encouraging to her.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+0)Ryan* & Dusty     (2-1)
2(+3)Kim & Penn*       (1-2)
3(+0)Arun* & Natalia   (2-1)
4(-2)Lulu* & Lala      (2-1)
5(-1)Raquel* & Cayla   (3-0)
6(+0)Michael & Moe*    (0-1)
7(+0)Akbar & Sheri*    (1-2)

Route info: "Drive yourself to Gasthaus Sonne in the town of Urnäsch."

First teams must ride the cable car down. And Ryan & Dusty miss the 09:30 departure by seconds. They have to wait for the 10:00 gondola and by that time everybody but Akbar & Sheri has joined them. Akbar & Sheri apparently took the next gondola at 10:30.

Teams pick up their cars from the parking lot of the cable car.
 "It's not stick, thank God.", Arun when he enters their car
 "I really wanted to showcase my hard earned stick shift skills like the bad-ass that I am", Raquel

Urnäsch is easy to find. Teams passed through the town while on the buses and Gasthaus Sonne is on the main road (10km), although a little bit before the actual town. Teams arrive to the clue box here in the following order:
 1(+5) Michael & Moe
 2(+0) Kim & Penn
 3(-2) Ryan & Dusty
 4(+0) Lulu & Lala
 5(+0) Raquel & Cayla
 6(-3) Arun & Natalia
 7(+0) Akbar & Sheri

Quote
DETOUR

Detour: 'Punch It' or
'Toss It'

Punch It: Once there,
make a traditional Swiss
belt that tells a story by
attaching unique silver
ornaments onto a leather
strap.

Toss It: Participate in the
traditional sport of
...

In Toss It teams must learn a short sequence of tosses and twirls with a Swiss flag. Once they are able to perform the routine they will get their next clue.

In Punch It teams are given a story and must attach the given ornaments in the correct order to the belt. There is a demonstration showing how to attach them but the demonstration belt tells a different order. The story is: "A papa cow realizes that his baby calf is missing on a very cloudy day. And now the whole farm has started to search and then the farmer and his dog search for him in the barn and the mama cow saves the day finding him playing with the goat. And then the family is reunited as the sun shines."
This should give the following sequence: Papa Cow, Baby Calf, Cloud, Farmer and dog, Mama Cow, Goat and Sun.
Apparently the extra information also stated that supplies were limited so if they made a mistake they may have to try to reuse the same ornaments and belt again.

Both detour takes place in the vicinity of Urnäsch but not at the same place.

Michael & Moe seems to have a hard time finding the detour location.
 "This time we are focusing on our own race", Natalia does not want to help other teams
In the end Arun & Natalia reach the Punch It detour just before Michael & Moe. So we have both teams there at the same time. And to add to the drama they have different ideas about which order the ornaments should be mounted.
 "Is this the beginning of the story or is that the beginning of the story?", Moe points to the two ends of the belt
It seems Michael & Moe start the task around 10:50. They go to the judge just after Arun & Natalia but are rejected. The dialog makes it sound as they only mounted the ornaments in the the reverse order. But looking at the belt shown they also have the internal order wrong. So I think they had to make at least three attempts and this probably took a long time.

The teams at the flag detour are also struggling
 "I don't think I can do this", Cayla
Ryan & Dusty talk about switching but decide to stick with it.

Akbar & Sheri arrives at the flag detour as Raquel & Cayla are leaving. So we can assume that it took the girls around half an hour to do it.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
 1(+2) Ryan & Dusty, Toss It, on their first attempt
 2(+0) Kim & Penn, Toss It, on their third attempt
 3(+1) Lulu & Lala, Toss It, on their first attempt
 4(+1) Raquel & Cayla, Toss It, on their first attempt
 5(+1) Arun & Natalia, Punch It, probably at 11:30
 6(+1) Akbar & Sheri, Toss It, on their first attempt
 7(-6) Michael & Moe, Punch It, after 12:25, i.e. at least an hour after #5

Route info: Drive to Marktgasse in the town of Altstätten to find Phil on the Mat at your next Pit Stop.

In the episode it looks like all the teams got the above clue but apparently that was not quite what was happening. It reality the two previously eliminated teams had a speed bump here. They had to make their way to a farm a bit outside Altstätten. Here one of them had to enter a giant Zorb which was made up to look like a head of cabbage. They could not see out of this so their partner had to guide them. The task was to knock down haybales. It seems the only effect of this task was to make Akbar & Sheri lose one placement.

Teams reach Phil at the Pit Stop (28km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Ryan & Dusty, win $2,500 each
 2(+0) Kim & Penn, arrive while #1 are still on the mat
 3(+1) Raquel & Cayla
 4(-1) Lulu & Lala, lost a footrace against #3
 5(+1) Akbar & Sheri
 6(-1) Arun & Natalia
 7(+0) Michael & Moe, are eliminated

 "We had a blast", Michael


Offline maf

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Re: TAR33 racing reports. Episode #5 is on page 1
« Reply #5 on: January 30, 2022, 02:39:41 AM »
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 33, Episode 5, "Stairway to hell"
Film date: 2021-09-20 or 2021-09-21

The last pit stop was on Marktgasse in the town of Altstätten, Switzerland. This is also where teams are released. From now on this season will release teams in groups based on the order they arrived but with fixed time intervals. This time they are released two at a time in 15 minute intervals.

Teams are released in the following order:
1.Ryan & Dusty     07:30
1.Kim & Penn       07:30
3.Lulu & Lala      07:45+0:15
3.Raquel & Cayla   07:45+0:15
5.Akbar & Sheri    08:00+0:30
5.Arun & Natalia   08:00+0:30

Road block: "Who wants to get down with the Travelocity roaming gnome?"

The clue also says: "Sheri, for safety reasons you must perform this road block" (it is unclear if it did so for all teams or just for Akbar & Sheri). The road block is to bungy jump 722ft from the Verzasca dam. This is a switchback from season 14.

The first hurdle is to get to the dam. It is a 2.5h drive through gorgeous landscapes.
 "We have 2.5hours to enjoy each others company before Kim jumps off a perfectly good rock", Penn is not helping
Kim & Penn drive together with Ryan & Dusty and when they arrive at the dam they play Rock Paper Scissors to see who should jump first.

Raquel & Cayla take the scenic route, they are never lost but when we get shots of the congratulating themselves how well they are doing we know they are in trouble.
 "I think we are doing fantastic", Cayla while they are driving on the back roads
But Arun & Natalia are in even more trouble as they are not going the right way.
 "We're heading downhill. Downhill in spirit and downhill in direction", Natalia when they need to go up into the mountains
 "Finally made it, but 2.5 hours late", Arun when they finally arrive

Raquel & Cayla get a shock when they arrive and see that they are number 5.
 "I just assumed we were in first place", Raquel

Even though racers have had plenty of time to get anxious during the long drive here nobody chickens out and everybody jumps without any delays.
 "I'd rather roller-blade up Mt Everest than do this", Dusty
 "I should be driving the kids to school right now", Kim
 "They are not gonna kill you, it is the Amazing Race they don't want to do that", Penn

The gnome is strapped to the racers as they jump.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+0)Ryan & Dusty*     (2-2)
2(-1)Kim* & Penn       (2-2)
3(+0)Lulu & Lala*      (2-2)
4(+1)Akbar & Sheri*    (1-3)
5(-2)Raquel & Cayla*   (3-1)at 12:33
6(-1)Arun & Natalia*   (2-2)

 "I can honestly say that besides having my sons that was the proudest I have been for her", Akbar

The next clue can be found in the satchel the Gnome wears and it a route info: "Drive yourselves to the lakefront town of Lugano. Once there search the lakefront on foot near Piazza Carlo Battaglini to find your next clue."

The clue also states that teams have to park their cars in a specific parking garage in Lugano (Autosil Central Park). This is about a 45 minute drive from the dam.

Ryan & Dusty wait for Kim & Penn and they plan to drive together to Lugano, but they get separated early on.

 "Are you sure it was Lasagno and not Lugano?", Natalia doubt where they are going
And Natalia is correct to doubt their directions. They get seriously lost on their way to Lugano and arrive way behind the other teams.

Teams arrive to the clue box by the lakefront in Lugano (500m from the parking) in the following order:
 1(+0) Ryan & Dusty
 2(+1) Lulu & Lala
 3(-1) Kim & Penn
 4(+0) Akbar & Sheri
 5(+0) Raquel & Cayla
 6(+0) Arun & Natalia

Detour: Bartender Race or Sausage Encase

In Bartender race teams must carry 12 bottles of wine and 12 bags of chestnuts to the top of Salita Degli Angioli, which turns out to be a 400ft staircase. To make this harder they may not drop their backpacks nor use anything other than their hands and arms to carry everything, and they are still carrying the gnome as well. This means teams will have to make multiple trips, and there are a lot of steps in the stairs.

In Sausage Encase teams must pick up ingredients and then make their way to the rooftop terrace of the Gabbani hotel where they must make 9ft of sausage. This needs to be divided into 4 pieces and each be rolled up like princess Leia's hair.

Lulu & Lala get distracted by the handsome men at the sausage making detour, but power through it. Later on they interview that they did it for their grandma. Meanwhile Akbar & Sheri try to bring all 12 bottles of wine in one go but they quickly realize this is too much and go back with some of them.

 "I don't even like to eat sausage, I'm a bacon girl", Cayla
Raquel & Cayla get their first attempt at making the sausages rejected. They are not told what the problem is but see that one of their rolls is a bit small. They make a new one and this time they are approved.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
 1(+0) Ryan & Dusty, stairs made 4 trips
 2(+0) Lulu & Lala, sausages
 3(+0) Kim & Penn, stairs, made 3 trips
 4(+0) Akbar & Sheri, stairs, made 3 trips
 5(+0) Raquel & Cayla, sausages, after 14:53
 6(+0) Arun & Natalia, sausages

Route info: Ask the Travelocity roaming gnome where you're heading next.
Teams must now search the satchel of their gnome and here they can find a photo of a stately house. They will have to ask around to learn that this is located at Parco Ciani and it is located along the waterfront (850m from the sausage detour and 1.2km from the top of the stairs).

On their way to the building Dusty's legs start to cramp up. He has to sit down for a minute or so before he can hobble on. The foam roller which Ryan has been carrying the whole time does not come into use here, but according to interviews it did see use during the pit stop.

On their way to the building Raquel & Cayla spot Akbar & Sheri. The latter are walking (Sheri is also having leg cramps) so the girls run past them.
 "Excuse us", Cayla as they run past
 "Please let us don't be last", Sheri

At Parco Ciani teams find Phil and the next pit stop. The greeter is a woman and her bulldog.

Teams check in the following order:
 1(+0) Ryan & Dusty, win a trip to Dominica
 2(+)) Lulu & Lala
 3(+0) Kim & Penn, as #2 are still on the mat
 4(+1) Raquel & Cayla
 5(-1) Akbar & Sheri, at around 15:05, just after #4
 6(+0) Arun & Natalia, at 18:05, are saved by a non elimination

Apparently in the next leg there will be three groups at the start. Teams 1&2 will start first, then teams 3-5 and finally team 6.

When Arun & Natalia finally reach the Pit Stop Phil admonishes them for being late. In fact they are so late that the greeter, and her dog, had to leave.

Offline Race2020FAN

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Re: TAR33 racing reports. Episode #5 is on page 1
« Reply #6 on: January 31, 2022, 08:39:31 AM »
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 33, Episode 5, "Stairway to hell"
Film date: 2021-09-20 or 2021-09-21

The last pit stop was on Marktgasse in the town of Altstätten, Switzerland. This is also where teams are released. From now on this season will release teams in groups based on the order they arrived but with fixed time intervals. This time they are released two at a time in 15 minute intervals.

Teams are released in the following order:
1.Ryan & Dusty     07:30
1.Kim & Penn       07:30
3.Lulu & Lala      07:45+0:15
3.Raquel & Cayla   07:45+0:15
5.Akbar & Sheri    08:00+0:30
5.Arun & Natalia   08:00+0:30

Road block: "Who wants to get down with the Travelocity roaming gnome?"

The clue also says: "Sheri, for safety reasons you must perform this road block" (it is unclear if it did so for all teams or just for Akbar & Sheri). The road block is to bungy jump 722ft from the Verzasca dam. This is a switchback from season 14.

The first hurdle is to get to the dam. It is a 2.5h drive through gorgeous landscapes.
 "We have 2.5hours to enjoy each others company before Kim jumps off a perfectly good rock", Penn is not helping
Kim & Penn drive together with Ryan & Dusty and when they arrive at the dam they play Rock Paper Scissors to see who should jump first.

Raquel & Cayla take the scenic route, they are never lost but when we get shots of the congratulating themselves how well they are doing we know they are in trouble.
 "I think we are doing fantastic", Cayla while they are driving on the back roads
But Arun & Natalia are in even more trouble as they are not going the right way.
 "We're heading downhill. Downhill in spirit and downhill in direction", Natalia when they need to go up into the mountains
 "Finally made it, but 2.5 hours late", Arun when they finally arrive

Raquel & Cayla get a shock when they arrive and see that they are number 5.
 "I just assumed we were in first place", Raquel

Even though racers have had plenty of time to get anxious during the long drive here nobody chickens out and everybody jumps without any delays.
 "I'd rather roller-blade up Mt Everest than do this", Dusty
 "I should be driving the kids to school right now", Kim
 "They are not gonna kill you, it is the Amazing Race they don't want to do that", Penn

The gnome is strapped to the racers as they jump.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+0)Ryan & Dusty*     (2-2)
2(-1)Kim* & Penn       (2-2)
3(+0)Lulu & Lala*      (2-2)
4(+1)Akbar & Sheri*    (1-3)
5(-2)Raquel & Cayla*   (3-1)at 12:33
6(-1)Arun & Natalia*   (2-2)

 "I can honestly say that besides having my sons that was the proudest I have been for her", Akbar

The next clue can be found in the satchel the Gnome wears and it a route info: "Drive yourselves to the lakefront town of Lugano. Once there search the lakefront on foot near Piazza Carlo Battaglini to find your next clue."

The clue also states that teams have to park their cars in a specific parking garage in Lugano (Autosil Central Park). This is about a 45 minute drive from the dam.

Ryan & Dusty wait for Kim & Penn and they plan to drive together to Lugano, but they get separated early on.

 "Are you sure it was Lasagno and not Lugano?", Natalia doubt where they are going
And Natalia is correct to doubt their directions. They get seriously lost on their way to Lugano and arrive way behind the other teams.

Teams arrive to the clue box by the lakefront in Lugano (500m from the parking) in the following order:
 1(+0) Ryan & Dusty
 2(+1) Lulu & Lala
 3(-1) Kim & Penn
 4(+0) Akbar & Sheri
 5(+0) Raquel & Cayla
 6(+0) Arun & Natalia

Detour: Bartender Race or Sausage Encase

In Bartender race teams must carry 12 bottles of wine and 12 bags of chestnuts to the top of Salita Degli Angioli, which turns out to be a 400ft staircase. To make this harder they may not drop their backpacks nor use anything other than their hands and arms to carry everything, and they are still carrying the gnome as well. This means teams will have to make multiple trips, and there are a lot of steps in the stairs.

In Sausage Encase teams must pick up ingredients and then make their way to the rooftop terrace of the Gabbani hotel where they must make 9ft of sausage. This needs to be divided into 4 pieces and each be rolled up like princess Leia's hair.

Lulu & Lala get distracted by the handsome men at the sausage making detour, but power through it. Later on they interview that they did it for their grandma. Meanwhile Akbar & Sheri try to bring all 12 bottles of wine in one go but they quickly realize this is too much and go back with some of them.

 "I don't even like to eat sausage, I'm a bacon girl", Cayla
Raquel & Cayla get their first attempt at making the sausages rejected. They are not told what the problem is but see that one of their rolls is a bit small. They make a new one and this time they are approved.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
 1(+0) Ryan & Dusty, stairs made 4 trips
 2(+0) Lulu & Lala, sausages
 3(+0) Kim & Penn, stairs, made 3 trips
 4(+0) Akbar & Sheri, stairs, made 3 trips
 5(+0) Raquel & Cayla, sausages, after 14:53
 6(+0) Arun & Natalia, sausages

Route info: Ask the Travelocity roaming gnome where you're heading next.
Teams must now search the satchel of their gnome and here they can find a photo of a stately house. They will have to ask around to learn that this is located at Parco Ciani and it is located along the waterfront (850m from the sausage detour and 1.2km from the top of the stairs).

On their way to the building Dusty's legs start to cramp up. He has to sit down for a minute or so before he can hobble on. The foam roller which Ryan has been carrying the whole time does not come into use here, but according to interviews it did see use during the pit stop.

On their way to the building Raquel & Cayla spot Akbar & Sheri. The latter are walking (Sheri is also having leg cramps) so the girls run past them.
 "Excuse us", Cayla as they run past
 "Please let us don't be last", Sheri

At Parco Ciani teams find Phil and the next pit stop. The greeter is a woman and her bulldog.

Teams check in the following order:
 1(+0) Ryan & Dusty, win a trip to Dominica
 2(+)) Lulu & Lala
 3(+0) Kim & Penn, as #2 are still on the mat
 4(+1) Raquel & Cayla
 5(-1) Akbar & Sheri, at around 15:05, just after #4
 6(+0) Arun & Natalia, at 18:05, are saved by a non elimination

Apparently in the next leg there will be three groups at the start. Teams 1&2 will start first, then teams 3-5 and finally team 6.

When Arun & Natalia finally reach the Pit Stop Phil admonishes them for being late. In fact they are so late that the greeter, and her dog, had to leave.
This is incredible. Thanks for putting in the time to create this.

Offline maf

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Re: TAR33 racing reports. Episode #6
« Reply #7 on: February 06, 2022, 07:18:57 AM »
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 33, Episode 6, "Say Cheese"
Film date: Somewhere in between 2021-09-22 and 2021-09-25

The last pit stop was in Lugano, Switzerland. During the rest period teams are flows on a chartered plane to Corsica, France. Where they are released from Ponte Novu (the screens says Ponte Altiani but that is wrong) in the following groups:

Group #1 at 09:00
 1. Ryan & Dusty
 1. Lulu & Lala

Group #2 at 09:15
 3. Kim & Penn
 3. Raquel & Cayla
 3. Akbar & Sheri

Group #3 at 09:30
 6. Arun & Natalia

The first clue is route info which tells teams to make their way to Belvédère de Corte, an old citadel in Corte. Here they will find their next clue, along with a canister of fresh Goat Milk which they will need for the detour. For this leg production has arranged cars which transports the teams between the different route markers so they do not need to navigate. I wonder if production provided drivers due to the fact that teams for parts of the day traveled on very narrow mountain roads with an abyss on one side and a sheer mountain on the other.

 "I have fundamentally changed by personality. Today, this Kim, is just gonna go with the flow", Kim was very affected by the Bungy Jump in the previous leg
 
Teams reach the clue box in Corte in the following order:
 1(+0) Ryan & Dusty
 2(-1) Lulu & Lala
 3(+0) Kim & Penn
 4(-1) Raquel & Cayla
 5(-2) Akbar & Sheri
 6(+0) Arun & Natalia

Detour: Say Cheese or Mule please

In Say Cheese teams must produce three baskets of Fromage in the old fashioned way. That is by curdling milk. To do this you heat the milk and keep it at precisely 85°C. Teams are given thermometers and the clue seems to explain the process and the temperatures.

In Mule please teams must put a harness on a mule and then use it to transport two canisters of Milk to the cheese maker. The hard part of this side turns out to be the harness. It needs to be approved by a judge before they can load the milk. And now we are back to the old classic judging where all the teams are told is that it is good or not good, they have to figure out hat is wrong by themselves. The distance they need to transport the milk is laughably short, just 150m. Not enough to give the mules any serious chance to misbehave.

The end point of the mule detour is where the cheese making takes place.

 "I actually have made cheese before", Dusty feels he has this one in the bag
 "I do not know how to use a thermometer guys", Lala

Kim & Penn and Raquel & Cayla initially decided to make cheese but in the car Kim & Penn changed their minds and the girls follow along. The girls thinks it is good to work together with another team.

Dusty is very hyper during this detour. It does not take very long until he is talking about switching. Ryan calms him down and they keep stirring their milk. But it seems they are fiddling too much with their burner so they never get the milk to the correct temperature. They are dismayed when the other teams arrive and leave and eventually, when all other teams have left, they decide to switch.

Raquel & Cayla have trouble with their harness. They have put one of the metal bars upside down and it takes them quite a while to figure this out.

Kim & Penn name their mule Duke and Cayla names their KolTony (after their boyfriends).

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
 1(+2) Kim & Penn, mule
 2(+0) Lulu & Lala, cheese
 3(+1) Raquel & Cayla, mule
 4(+1) Akbar & Sheri, cheese
 5(+1) Arun & Natalia, cheese
 6(-5) Ryan & Dusty, started cheese but switched to mules after 62 minutes

Route info: "Make your way to Verghellu Canyon Altipian and search for your next clue".

There are no changes in the team order as teams reach this clue box.

Road Block: Who wants to make a splash?

In this road block tames must go canyoning. They must first hike up the mountain and then make their way through a 1.5 mile long stretch of a river. Along the way there are natural water slides, places to jump into the water and zip lines. The next clue is located somewhere along the course.

This road block is very physical and it is not made any easier by the fact that the water is very cold. But no teams is really struggling, it is just that some of them are a lot faster than the others.
 "Oh my god, this is so cool", Lulu

Lulu and Raquel is doing this road block together. Lulu waited for Raquel by the clue was. But after the clue Raquel took off and did not wait for Lulu. Lulu & Lala feel betrayed by Raquel & Cayla here.

Arun pass Akbar during the hike up to the start of the canyoning. Ryan passes hem on the river.
 "Akbar looked like he was struggling but I was in survival mode", Ryan about when he passed Akbar
 
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+0)Kim & Penn*       (2-3)
2(+1)Raquel* & Cayla   (4-1)
3(-1)Lulu* & Lala      (3-2)About 7 minutes after #2
4(+1)Arun* & Natalia   (3-2)
5(+1)Ryan* & Dusty     (3-2)
6(-2)Akbar* & Sheri    (2-3)

 "I feel like I just went through a spin cycle", Penn after the road block
 "I'm sure he thought he was doing his best and I'm not gonna be the one to tell him that he wasn't", Sheri

Route info: Kayak to your next Pit Stop.

Teams must now make their way to Cardiccia dam where they will find inflatable kayaks. They must inflate their kayak, carry it up along the spillway and then paddle about 900m to reach Phil at the mat.

Once they start paddling Penn starts to feel his hernia so Kim has to do most of the work.

The clue states that teams shall leave their backpacks and race bag in the van when they arrive at the dam. Lulu & Lala miss this detail and are then disappointed that Raquel & Cayla does not say anything abut it when they meet up while inflating their kayaks. Instead Lala notices this when she rereads the clue. On their way back to the vans Lulu & Lala first meet Arun & Natalia and then Ryan & Dusty. The boys make short work of the kayak inflating so they leave Lulu & Lala and Arun & Natalia in the dust.

Eventually Lulu & Lala is the only team left and they are almost done with they kayak when Akbar & Sheri arrive. Then the girls have a hard time paddling.
 "That was the first time we have ever paddled a kayak", Lulu
 "There is a trick to it, that we still don't know what it is", Lala

But Akbar & Sheri are behind and they are no better at paddling.

Teams reach Phil at the mat in the following order:
 1(+0) Kim & Penn, win $5,000 each
 2(+0) Raquel & Cayla, after #1 have left the mat
 3(+2) Ryan & Dusty
 4(+0) Arun & Natalia
 5(-2) Lulu & Lala, the previous 3 teams are still on the mat
 6(+0) Akbar & Sheri, about 30 minutes after #5 and they are eliminated

At the mat Phil tells teams that there will be two departure times in the next leg. Teams #1 & #2 will depart first and then the other three will depart in a second group.

Ryan & Dusty are pumped when they arrive at the mat. They quickly tear off their life jackets to expose their bare chests.
 "They want to show their muscles", Raquel
Raquel & Cayla gets a thumbs up from the greeter. It seems he agrees that the boys are good looking, I find this exchange hilarious.

 "We ran a good race and it just that they were better than us", Akbar

In the extra clips Phil tells teams that they will be camping by the Pit Stop. Which is a gorgeous place next to the river.

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Re: TAR33 racing reports. Episode #7
« Reply #8 on: February 12, 2022, 02:30:24 PM »
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 33, Episode 7, "Row, Row, Row Your boat"
Film date: Probably 2021-09-25

The last pit stop was by Camping Ernella in Corsica France. Teams spent the night camping here before they are released the following morning in the following groups:

Group #1 at 08:00
 1. Kim & Penn
 1. Raquel & Cayla

Group #2 at 08:15
 3. Ryan & Dusty
 3. Arun & Natalia
 3. Lulu & Lala

Route info: "Drive yourselves to the Tour de Fautea. Once there each of you try a piece of Corsica's other favorite cheese. You have €10 for this leg of the race."

Teams must now run up to the parking lot where they find five convertibles (VW T-Roc). Teams will have the cars for themselves. That is their crew follows behind in a black van. This means that the navigation is much easier as the non-driving team member can sit in the front seat and have a much better view. Each car also comes with a map of Corsica and a few bottles of water.

Raquel & Cayla seems to work together with Kim & Penn here so they try to find the next destination together. When they stop to ask for directions the girls are surprised to learn that Penn speaks French. Both teams make sure to mark the destination on their maps before they make their way there together.
 "Once we get to the challenge we're gonna get ahead of Kim & Penn", Raquel has a dream

Once teams reach the marked parking (80km) they must run up to the tower. Kim & Penn miss the turn so the girls get a chance to pass. And they take it, drive down to the marked parking and start running towards the tower. Penn is a bit miffed by this.

Teams arrive to the tower in the following order:
 1(+0) Raquel & Cayla
 2(-1) Kim & Penn
 3(+0) Ryan & Dusty
 4(-1) Lulu & Lala
 5(-2) Arun & Natalia

There is a guy here who presents the cheese with a flourish and then carves a bit of it, places it on a slice of bread and hands it to the racers. The catch is that the cheese has live maggots in it so it is kind of hard to eat. But nobody falters at this task.
 "They're good for us, they're protein", Raquel about the maggots (before taking her first bite)
 "This honestly tastes like vomit", Raquel does not mind the maggots so much as the taste of the cheese
 "The cheese is alive, but it wasn't really anything worse than what you get in prison", Ryan has a point of reference

Detour: Row, Row, Row your boat or Gently down the stream

Both detours take place at Pinarellu beach (9km).

In Row, Row, Row your boat teams must choose a type of fish and then kayak out to a set of buoys. There are fish tethered to chains hanging under the buoys and the team must bring back 10 fishes of the type they selected. The tricky part of this is that they are given a clear plastic kayak and this easily fills up with water and sinks.

In gently down the stream teams must board a tour boat with windows under the waterline. The trip takes 15 minutes and during it they must spot 10 metal fishes. Once back on land they must pick up a set of fish charts and find the chart listing their fishes in the same order the appeared on the trip. Teams are not allowed to take any notes during this task. And if they pick the wrong fish chart they have to take another trip on the boat before they can make another guess.

Raquel & Cayla initially want to go for the kayaks. They also decide to wait for Kim & Penn at the parking lot by the tower. Once Kim & Penn see this they are no longer miffed. The teams talk and decide to do the tour boat together (the time is now 10:05).
 "It was nice of them to wait. I like them again", Penn

During this task we learn that Penn is color blind and he has a very good memory.
 "That's purple, Barney", Cayla corrects Penn and names the first fish

Kim & Penn work very well together with Raquel & Cayla. They all help spot the fish and Penn is responsible for remembering them. Once back on the jetty they all repeat the order so that both teams know them.
 "Purple barney, Yellow scuba, French flag, Little mermaid, Duke university, Bumblebee, Jamaica, Spain, Yellow with black tips and Japan", Penn recites the fish

The second group of teams arrives as the first teams are looking through the fish charts. Ryan & Dusty go for the kayaks while the others head for the tour boat. The boat has already left on another trip so they have to wait for a few minutes before they can board it. Lulu & Lala and Arun & Natalia also decide to work together on this task. Unfortunately they do not divide up the work, instead everybody says which fish they see and assume that somebody else is memorizing them.

Ryan & Dusty select the physical kayaking detour. They quickly realize that not all buoys have the fish they selected hanging under it. And it is tough work as they have to haul heavy chains out of the water. But fortunately for them they have a net bag which they can place their fish in so that when their kayak eventually fills with water they do not loose the fish they have collected. But getting into the kayak after it has sunk seems to be fairly tricky.

It seems like Ryan & Dusty get their tenth fish at about the same time as the other two teams return from their first trip in the boat.  But they end up being way ahead as Lulu & Lala and Arun & Natalia pick the wrong fish card so they have to go on another 15 minute cruise. On the second trip they decide that each of them remember two of the fishes and this works much better.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
 1(+1) Kim & Penn, gently down the stream
 2(-1) Raquel & Cayla, gently down the stream, just after #1
 3(+0) Ryan & Dusty, kayaks
 4(+0) Lulu & Lala, gently down the stream on their second attempt
 5(+0) Arun & Natalia, gently down the stream on their second attempt, just after #4

Route info: "Drive to Bonifacion and search for Port de Plaisance..."

Teams are instructed to park their cars at Parking Vinello Senola (42km) and bring their bags from the cars. They must then make their way on foot to the fishing harbor where they will find their next clue.

Teams reach the clue box in the harbor in the following order:
 1(+1) Raquel & Cayla
 2(-1) Kim & Penn, just after #1
 3(+0) Ryan & Dusty
 4(+1) Arun & Natalia, while #3 are still doing the task
 5(-1) Lulu & Lala, just as #3 are leaving

Road block: Who's feeling knotted up?

In this road block each team is give a net and must mend a hole in it. The hole is marked with yellow stitches. As usual there is a silent demonstration of how to do it. And, also as usual, the guy demonstrating has deft hands so it can be hard to see exactly what he does.
 "Activate nerd glasses", Penn puts on his reading glasses
 "Every time Dusty & Ryan take their shirts off I counter by putting on these glasses, and the world is balanced itself out[sic]", Penn

It turns out that one non obvious thing they guy demonstrating the technique does it to use his feet to keep the net taut. Teams which figure that out finds that the mending gets easier.

Ryan & Dusty arrive here before any of the first two teams are done with the road block. But the others have a head start so the boys are unable to really catch up.
 "Welcome to hell", Penn greets the boys

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+1)Kim & Penn*       (2-4)
2(-1)Raquel & Cayla*   (4-2)After 12:46
3(+1)Ryan* & Dusty     (4-2)
4(+1)Lulu & Lala*      (3-3)After 13:17
5(-1)Arun & Natalia*   (3-3)

The next clue is a route info which tells teams to make their way to the other side of the harbor and then run up the mountain to their next Pit Stop. Along the way Napoleon will point the way.

The episode is cut so that it looks like Raquel & Cayla are about to catch up to Kim & Penn on the way to the Pit Stop. But we never get to see both teams in the same shot so we know they are not even close.

Teams reach Phil and the mat (1.3km and almost 60m vertically) in the following order:
 1(+0) Kim & Penn, win a trip to Turkey
 2(+0) Raquel & Cayla, while #1 are still on the mat
 3(+0) Ryan & Dusty
 4(+0) Lulu & Lala
 5(+0) Arun & Natalia, just after #4 and are saved by a non elimination

 "We really need to step up", Arun

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Re: TAR33 racing reports. Episode #8
« Reply #9 on: February 19, 2022, 11:00:22 AM »
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 33, Episode 8, "Souvlaki"
Film date: Probably 2021-09-27

The last leg was in Corsica, France, and during the pit stop teams are transported to Thessaloníki, Greece. It might be worth noting that as they are flying in a charter plane teams do not really know even which country the are going to.

Phil say teams are released from Peraia beach but it seems they are actually at the nearby Neoi Epivates beach. They are released in the following groups:

Group #1 at 09:00
 1. Kim & Penn
 1. Raquel & Cayla

Group #2 at 09:15
 3. Ryan & Dusty
 3. Lulu & Lala

Group #3 at 09:30
 5. Arun & Natalia

Route info: "Welcome to Greece. Drive yourself to the Konstantinos Olive Grove in the countryside near the village of Nea Gonia. Search among the olive trees for your next clue."

Teams must now run a few hundred meters along the beach to where the cars are parked. These turn out to have manual transmission. But at least they drive on the right side of the road on Greece so the five remaining teams do not have any major issues with this (Raquel and Arun have some minor issues initially). The extra information contains directions for how to get to the olive grove.

Yet again we get to hear comments from Raquel & Cayla that they really want to win a leg.

Teams arrive at the olive grove (27km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Kim & Penn
 1(+0) Raquel & Cayla,
 3(+0) Ryan & Dusty
 4(+0) Lulu & Lala
 5(+0) Arun & Natalia

Teams are only told to look for clues among the olive trees so they have no idea if they are looking for a clue box or something else. The correct alternative turns out to be something else as the clues can be found tied to branches up in the trees. There are different strategies for getting the clue. The younger males can just jump up and grab it. Raquel gets up on Cayla's shoulders (there is a lot of laughter involved in this). Some teams use the ladders which are strategically placed through the grove.

Teams get their clue form the olive grove in the following order:
 1(+0) Kim & Penn
 2(-1) Raquel & Cayla
 3(+0) Lulu & Lala
 4(-1) Ryan & Dusty
 5(+0) Arun & Natalia

Route info: "Drive to Marianna's in Nea Gonia to find your next clue"

The extra information includes directions so nobody gets lost of the way to Mariana's (4km). This pattern continues through the day, that is most clues include directions to the next location. But these directions seem to be a bit on the sparse side so they can be hard to follow,

Road block: Who likes to wrap?

In this road block teams must use a provided rice mixture mixture and grape leaves to prepare 60 Dolmades (basically rice mixture wrapped in grape leaves). One of the tricky parts of this task is that the veins of the leaf must be facing inwards. Dusty and Arun seem to be the only ones noticing this directly.

Lulu & Lala seem to arrive around 10:20. Making the Dolmades takes a while so all teams catch up with each other here.

The non participating team members get to sit at a table eating grapes while their team mates toil away in the sun.
 "Babe, I'm just down here loving you", Penn
 "Thank you Penn, I'm loving you too", Raquel (who probably was not the intended recipient of Penn's comment)

 "Miss Marianna is a little picky", Kim after realizing she has placed her Dolmades the wrong way on the tray

Raquel is the one who struggles the most with this task. She is the first to go to get her Dolmades judged but get half of them rejected. It takes her a few more tries before she realizes that she needs to play attention to the veins.
 "I'm obviously doing not great on this challenge", Raquel

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+0)Kim* & Penn       (3-4)
2(+2)Ryan & Dusty*     (4-3)
3(+0)Lulu & Lala*      (3-4)
4(+1)Arun* & Natalia   (4-3)
5(-3)Raquel* & Cayla   (5-2)

Dusty is extremely loud when he gets his Dolmades approved. This may because he is excited to have advanced a few positions or that he wants to do some psychological warfare on the remaining teams.
 "Half of Greece knew i was ecstatic when I finished this Roadblock', Dusty

Quote
ROUTE INFO

Drive to the beach in
Heraklea and search for
Mamo's Kantina Stand.
Once there, ask Dimitra,
to recommend her
specialty. Order it.

Lulu & Lala have a hard time finding this place. On their way there they see cameras out on a pier. They go out there and find Phil and the Pit Stop. What is worse, but not shown in the episode is that they see that the first team has already checked in. And as they leave they see the second team on their way to the Pit Stop. This is where they realize that they are not doing well.

Teams arrive at the kantina stand (11km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Kim & Penn
 2(+0) Ryan & Dusty
 3(+2) Raquel & Cayla
 4(+0) Arun & Natalia, as #3 are trying to figure out how to get their next clue
 5(-2) Lulu & Lala

Dimitra tells teams that the dish of the day is Souvlaki. But before they can order they must spell it for her.

The first three teams have no trouble spelling Souvlaki while the final two struggle. We get to see a few fanciful spellings like Schulaki and Shovlikie. If you do not know how it is spelled it is hard to figure out how. It is not listed on the menu and it is hard to find people who speak English (or have a phone with an English keyboard) nearby.

Once teams spell it they can order it (they get to choose pork or chicken). They must eat the entire Souvlaki between them before leaving the stand.

When they are done eating Kim & Penn throw the wrapping paper in the trashcan next to the stand. They they ask Dimitra for their next clue and she just stares back at them.
 "Oh, did we eat the clue?', Kim
And that is when Penn realizes that the clue may have been printed on the wrapping paper. After some quick dumpster diving they retrieve it and find the clue "Saint George's Church, Heraklea" printed on it.

The same pattern then repeats for most teams. The one team which stands out is Lulu & Lala. They assume they did something wrong and order a second Souvlaki. This is a bit surprising since they had a hard time eating the first one. In their podcast they admit to being picky eaters with the palate of a 6 year old.

A small side note is that next to the Kantina somebody has parked a pickup loaded with water melons. In one of the extra scenes Dusty & Ryan talk about that they feared there would be a task involving the melons. They talk about the girl (Clarie) who got hit with one in the face during season 17.

Teams figure out what is their next clue in the same order they arrive. And Lulu & Lala does so after 13:11.

Teams arrive at St George's Church (1km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Kim & Penn
 2(+0) Ryan & Dusty
 3(+0) Raquel & Cayla, probably about 15 minutes after #2
 4(+0) Arun & Natalia, while the previous two teams are still there
 5(+0) Lulu & Lala, after all other teams have left

Here teams find another road block: Who wants to be iconic?

The person who did not perform the previous road block must perform this one. They need to listen carefully to a lecture by a local "priest" (probably an actor) where he talks about 10 saints in the Greek orthodox church. After the lecture there is a quiz where they will be asked questions like: "Which saint was put to death on Christmas Day, December 25th?". They must pick the icon depicting the correct saint for each of the five questions and there are about 20 icons to choose from. There is more than one place where teams can take the quiz so at least two teams can do it at the same time.

The priest is not a fast talker and the entire lecture lasts 15 minutes.
 "Can you go back? Or you just go forward, right?", Penn
 "Don't talk to the priest", The priest

In an interview later Penn explains that his ADHD gives him a kind of superpower where he can get into a hyper focus state for a short while. This helped a lot during this task.

The next person doing this task is Ryan and he listens to the priest describe the first five saints and then he takes off to do the quiz. He fails and goes back. After a minute he is joined by Cayla. Ryan starts to leave the lecture again after five saints when the priest says "The next one..."
 "Why is such a hurry?", The priest to Ryan
It seems both Ryan & Cayla stays and listens to the entire lecture one more time after this.

 "You got this Lulu. Don't panic, okay? Don't act like me", Lala

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+0)Kim & Penn*       (3-5)On his first attempt
2(+0)Ryan* & Dusty     (5-3)On his second attempt
3(+0)Raquel & Cayla*   (5-3)On her first attempt
4(+0)Arun & Natalia*   (4-4)On her second attempt
5(+0)Lulu* & Lala      (4-4)On her second or third attempt

The next clue is a route info which tells teams to drive themselves to the next Pit Stop at the fishing port pier in Nea Kallikrateia.

As usual the very last team is shown blazing through the last road block while the next to last team is show struggling on their way to the pit stop. But we are not fooled. And looking at the shadows it looks like the last team is way behind.

Teams arrive to the pit stop (6km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Kim & Penn, win $7,500 each
 2(+1) Raquel & Cayla
 3(-1) Ryan & Dusty
 4(+0) Arun & Natalia
 5(+0) Lulu & Lala, are eliminated

 "Well, it was a nice run", Lulu & Lala
 
Lulu & Lala make a grand exit by jumping into the water.


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Re: TAR33 racing reports. Episode #9
« Reply #10 on: February 26, 2022, 04:42:28 PM »
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 33, Episode 9, "Rock Bottom"
Film date: 2021-09-29

The last pit stop was on a pier in Nea Kallikrateia, Greece. This episode starts with a product placement for Travelocity filmed at the pit stop where teams are told they get to select which hotel they are going to stay with in the app on a phone Phil hands them.

For this leg teams are released in two groups from a different pier in Kallikrateia.

Group #1 at 09:00
 1. Kim & Penn
 1. Raquel & Cayla

Group #2 at 09:15
 3. Ryan & Dusty
 3. Arun & Natalia

Route info: "Drive yourself to the Forest Theatre in Thessaloníki and search for your next clue"

Production have placed maps in the cars. But these are tourist maps of Thessaloniki only. Teams must figure out how to get to the city by themselves.

Ryan & Dusty talk about how they want to start in the first group so they need to do a flawless leg today.
 "My boy back here is literally a Garmin", Dusty about Ryan
 "Oh, this is a map of Thessaloníki, so we just need to figure out how to get there first", Ryan opens the map

 "With only four teams left, we have one-in-four chance to make it to the finals", Arun uses some strange math

Teams find it hard to navigate. The few signs there are are in Greek and not many people speak English.

Teams arrive to the theatre (43km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Kim & Penn
 2(-1) Raquel & Cayla, about 30 minutes after #1
 3(+0) Ryan & Dusty
 4(-1) Arun & Natalia

Road block: Who will leave no stone unturned?

In this road block players must search for a stone with a gold coin underneath. There are four such stones on the stage. The problem is that there are also 4996 other stones there. The extra information also tells them that they may not move the rocks or mark which ones they have looked at. The coins are actually drilled into the rocks so you have to look at the underside of the rock to see them. It is not enough to look at the ground under the rock.

 "If we're the first team here, logically, we have better odds", Penn does understand the math
But before they find a coin the other teams arrive one after the other and soon it is an even playing field.

 "Listen to the relaxing music", Penn
 "Yeah, it's like I'm in a spa, but this is the worst spa ever", Kim

 "Welcome to hell", Kim to Raquel when she arrives

This is a physically and mentally exhausting task. There are lots of stones to look under and backs and knees hurt a lot.

 "Raquel, I'll give you a back massage when we're done", Cayla
 "Dusty, I won't", Ryan

In their podcast Penn tells that at one point he proposed to the others that they all take the penalty. But none of the players actually doing the task were interested in that.

 "I'm starting to lose it. The wheels are, uh, coming off.", Dusty

Raquel & Cayla both get ecstatic when Raquel is the first to find a gold coin.

Dusty is struggling with this road block. He is the last one there and he starts to get angry. Eventually Ryan insist that he take a break and look at the view form the top of the seats. Here we learn that Dusty has had anger issues. The break help and he calms down and is able to continue the search.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+1)Raquel* & Cayla   (6-3)
2(-1)Kim* & Penn       (4-5)
3(+1)Arun* & Natalia   (5-4)
4(-1)Ryan & Dusty*     (5-4)After searching for about 3h

Route info: Find Socrates at the Trigonion Tower. Listen to his words of wisdom to receive your next clue.

The extra info tells teams that they must park their car on a designated street (2.6km) and leave it there. Then make their way on foot to the tower (800m) as well as all following destinations.

As Kim & Penn are driving towards the parking spot they pass Raquel & Cayla who are on their way from the tower. This is the last time during this leg that any team sees any other team.

Arun & Natalia have a hard time finding Trigonon tower. It seems they are searching the ruins of Heptapyrgion, which is not where they should be.

Teams find Socrates at the tower in the following order:
 1(+0) Raquel & Cayla
 2(+0) Kim & Penn
 3(+0) Arun & Natalia
 4(+0) Ryan & Dusty

Socrates tells teams: "There is only one good - knowledge. And one evil - ignorance." After that he hands over the next clue. This whole setup felt very weird.

Detour: Bring 'em or Break 'em

In Bring 'em teams must carry 300 plates up a hill to Cafe Jasmine.

In Break 'em teams must make their way to Cafe Jasmine and break plates to find the one with a clue inside. The catch is that they must alternate and they may only crash plates while the band is playing.

The frustration is high in the teams after the stones road block so everybody wants to smash things. Teams make their way to Cafe Jasmine (1.3km). Here they find a bunch of plate smashing stations, each holding about 300 plates.

 "So, this is a great way to release my aggression", Dusty
 
Team find their clue here in the following order:
 1(+0) Raquel & Cayla
 2(+0) Kim & Penn
 3(+0) Arun & Natalia
 4(+0) Ryan & Dusty

The clue teams find after this is minuscule and reads "White tower".

As usual the show tries to make it look like there is a footrace for the mat between the last two teams. But we never see both teams in the same shot so my best guess is that Ryan & Dusty are way behind Arun & Natalia.

Teams check in with Phil at the white tower(2.5km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Raquel & Cayla, win a trip to Kauai, Hawaii
 2(+0) Kim & Penn
 3(+0) Arun & Natalia
 4(+0) Ryan & Dusty, are saved by a non-elimination

At the mat Phil tells Kim & Penn that there will be three departure times on the next leg and they will be in group #2.

Phil talks a bit with Ryan & Dusty before telling them that they are safe.
 "I mean, I grew today a whole bunch as a person", Today had a profound impact on Dusty

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Re: TAR33 racing reports. Episode #10
« Reply #11 on: March 14, 2022, 12:03:03 PM »
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 33, Episode 10, "No room for error"
Film date: probably 2021-10-01 or 2021-10-02

The last leg ended in Thessaloniki, Greece. During the pit stop teams are flown in their chartered plane, which the teams named Big Phil, to Lisbon, Portugal. Teams are released from Santuário de Cristo Rei, just outside Lisbon, in the following groups:

Group #1 at 08:30
 1. Raquel & Cayla

Group #2 at 08:45
 2. Kim & Penn
 2. Arun & Natalia

Group #3 at 09:00
 4. Ryan & Dusty

Quote
Drive yourselves to
Fortaleza de São Filipe
in the town of Setúbal.

You have zero Euros for
this leg of the Race.

Warning: there are two
Roadblocks in this leg.
Choose wisely.

Teams must now pick up a car from the nearby parking lot and drive themselves to the old fort in Setúbal (44km). Raquel & Cayla seem to get lost immediately. They end up on a small street which turns into a flight of stairs.
 "Can I just drive down those stairs?", Raquel (she has probably seen too many movies)

Ryan & Dusty are not happy about starting last.
 "We will find one of these lambs in front of us, and we will feast", Dusty
I remember multiple teams in earlier seasons using a similar analogy and none of them have fared well.

Teams arrive to the fort in the following order:
 1(+1) Kim & Penn
 2(-1) Raquel & Cayla, meet Kim & Penn leaving when they get close to the fort
 3(+1) Ryan & Dusty, just after #2
 4(-2) Arun & Natalia, as the two teams before are about to leave

At the top of the fort teams find a sign which reads "Take in the view. Look for your next destination".

Teams must now look for a race flag which shows where their next destination is. This is a common race task and usually pretty difficult. But this time the flag is very easy to spot. The tricky part is instead to figure out how to drive to it.
 "Color blind Penn found the flag", Penn on how easy the flag was to find

The last three teams all meet up on the fort so all teams are close together here.
 "Ryan and I, the lions, went hunting, and we made a kill with Raquel & Cayla behind us, but now we are hunting for the main prize, the Cape buffalo", Dusty (followed by a roar)

The flag was located by one of the piers down in the harbor (1.7km). Teams reach it in the following order:
 1(+0) Kim & Penn
 2(+0) Raquel & Cayla
 3(+1) Arun & Natalia
 4(-1) Ryan & Dusty, took a wrong turn

Road block: Who wants to go exploring?

Teams will find nine rowing boats tied up to the pier here. They must each find one named after a famous Portuguese explorer and row it to a nearby pier. If the boat is not named after an explorer they must go back and pick another. The boat names are:
  Bartolomeu Dias - explorer
  Fernão de Magalhães - Portugese spelling of Magellan, explorer
  Pedro Alvares Cabral - explorer
  Vasco da Gama - explorer
  Cristiano Ronaldo - footballer
  Antón Guterres - politician and secretary general of the UN
  Amália Rodrigues - actress
  Fernando Pessoa - poet
  Salvador Sobral - singer
These are all famous Portuguese persons but only four of them are explorers.

 "Christian Ronaldo is not", Raquel checks the names and eventually picks Bartolomeu Dias

One essential race skill, which most of these players lack, is how to row a boat. Kim figures it out fairly quickly.
 "Clearly, I don't have rowing experience. I would have been better paddling with my hands", Raquel
Raquel never gets the technique right. She sits facing forward but does get the boat moving.
Fortunately for teams they do not have to row a long distance (<100m).

Arun decides to do this road block as it does not seem to involve singing and dancing. But the task does involve rowing, and there is room for improvement when it comes to Arun's rowing technique.
 "I'm not too sure how to row this boat", Arun

Ryan picks one boat at random (not the Ronaldo boat though) and hopes for the best. His hopes are dashed by the judge and he has to row back to get a different boat.

While Ryan is doing his first run Arun is still spinning around trying to figure out how to row a boat. While he does that he spots the name Vasco Da Gama on one of the other boats and recognizes it. He knows that is a good boat. Now all he has to do is get back to the pier and switch boat. But he still can not row so while he is trying to get back to the dock Ryan returns. Ryan this time Ryan picks the Vasco Da Gama boat as he recognizes this name.
 "You took my boat", Arun is frustrated (but he knows the rules and Ryan was just faster)
Eventually Arun also figures out how to row, but by this time all other teams have left. And it turns out he has picked the wrong boat so he has to go back.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+0)Kim* & Penn       (5-5)On her first attempt
2(+0)Raquel* & Cayla   (7-3)On her first attempt
3(+1)Ryan* & Dusty     (6-4)On his second attempt
4(-1)Arun* & Natalia   (6-4)On his second attempt, about 30 minutes after #3

 "I'm glad I studied in school. That was the only one I was sure of", Raquel shows that education pays off
 
Route info: Make your way on foot to Mercearia Confiança de Troino...

The Mercearia seems to be some sort of local museum. Teams reach it (800m) in the following order:
 1(+0) Kim & Penn
 2(+0) Raquel & Cayla
 3(+0) Ryan & Dusty, just after #3
 4(+0) Arun & Natalia, after the first two teams have left the painting

Here teams find a basket with five sardine cans. They must each choose one. At the back there is an address where teams will find a door on which they must replicate the design of the can. The designs have been outlined on the doors so "all" the teams have to do is to fill in the marked areas. The extra info also says "The Mayor will have final say on whether you were successful or not".

The doors are close to where teams pick up the sardine cans (and they may have passed the painting stations on their way to the museum). Painting them is tedious work and teams soon realize that some designs are easier to paint than others.
 "I think we picked a hard one", Penn
 "We chose the sardine can 'cause it just seemed like there wasn't as many, like, fine lines and small details", Raquel

Once teams think they are done they call the judge over to check their work. She will just tell them okay or "Not yet" and then they have to figure out by themselves what they need to improve. We as the viewer do not have to do that as their mistakes are highlighted on screen for us.
 "I think she is enjoying this", Penn about the judge after they get rejected again
 "I hear panic over there", Ryan hears Kim & Penn
 "We're gonna lose the Amazing Race'cause we can't paint", Kim is frustrated

Ryan & Dusty struggle here. Their main issue is that they need to paint their doorknob and it takes them a long time to figure this out.

Teams complete this task in the following order:
 1(+1) Raquel & Cayla, on their second check
 2(-1) Kim & Penn, on their third check
 3(+0) Ryan & Dusty, on their 10th check
 4(+0) Arun & Natalia, on their 1st check

The next route info tells teams to drive themselves to Santuário do Cabo Espichel. It also says that once they arrive they need to leave the car and bring everything with them.

When they reach their car Raquel & Cayla realize that they have lost their map. Here production inserts a shot of the missing map on the ground in front of the door they just painted. But the girls have no idea where they have lost it. This is the closest we ever get to see these two arguing. Cayla thinks she will be able to navigate without a map and Raquel think they need one.
 "I was definitely irritated", Raquel interviews later
Eventually they decide to get a new map in a gas station and that quickly solves their problem.

Teams reach the next route marker (38km) in the following order:
 1(+1) Kim & Penn
 2(-1) Raquel & Cayla
 3(+0) Ryan & Dusty
 4(+0) Arun & Natalia, after the other teams have left

Road block: "Who has to do this Roadblock?"

This is the site of an old church and in front of it is a long courtyard lined with columns. The racers must now count the columns (the correct answer is 106). The catch is that they must remain within a marked square which is close to one end of the courtyard. Once they think they have the correct number they must make their way to a monk (~300 m) and tell him their guess. They may only make one guess per trip. Once correct the monk will point to the next Pit Stop, a nearby lighthouse.

This is effectively a vision test.
 "I can't see all the way down there", Penn
After a while Penn decides to turn this into a running challenge. He does his best at counting and gets to 112. This is wrong so he goes back. He the immediately runs back to the monk and guesses 113, the next time he guesses 111 and so on.
 "I'm blind as a bat so that's fun", Penn to Cayla as they run back after guessing

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+1)Raquel & Cayla*   (7-4)On her first attempt
2(-1)Kim & Penn*       (5-6)On his eight attempt
3(+0)Ryan & Dusty*     (6-5)On his third attempt
4(+0)Arun & Natalia*   (6-5)On her first attempt

The pit stop is at the nearby lighthouse (~800m). Raquel & Cayla take a wrong turn while they look for the path leading to it, and then the fog starts rolling in. The whole thing almost turns into a footrace between the girls and Kim & Penn. Or at least that is the way it is edited. The teams are not on the mat at the same time so either it was not as close as we are led to believe, or they held Kim & Penn just out of view so that Phil could finish speaking with Raquel & Cayla. I suspect that Kim & Penn may have seen the girls but were still several minutes behind them.

Teams reach Phil and the mat in the following order:
 1(+0) Raquel & Cayla, win a trip to St. Lucia.
 2(+0) Kim & Penn
 3(+0) Ryan & Dusty
 4(+0) Arun & Natalia, are eliminated

 "It's been really good to get closer to Nat", Arun about racing with his daughter

Offline maf

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Re: TAR33 racing reports. Episode #11
« Reply #12 on: April 05, 2022, 04:39:22 PM »
Racing report
Amazing Race Season 33, Episode 11, "In the Hands of the Amazing Race Gods"
Film date: 2021-10-06

The last pit stop was a few days earlier in Portugal and after that teams were flown to Los Angeles. We get to see some footage from within the plane when Phil does a spiel before takeoff.
 "In the unlikely event of an emergency, read your clue. It's in the little thing in the front there", Phil (who then has to tell them that no, there is no clue there they need to find)

The final leg starts at the helipad of the The Westin Bonaventure Hotel. This time all teams start together.

Route info: "Welcome to Los Angeles. On the top of three of four surrounding towers you will find locked clue boxes. Each containing a single clue. Spot the combination going up and down."

This hotel has four ancillary towers surrounding a central tower. The helipad is on top of the central tower and teams must now make their way to the clue boxes placed on top of the other towers a few floors below the helipad. Once there they must find the combination which opens the lock. This can be seen on one of the outside elevators adjacent to the clue box. We can assume there are people in those elevators pressing the different floors all the time so that they keep moving.

The first problem is getting to the top of the side towers. There seems to be a maze of corridors and stairs inside the hotel. The additional info tells teams they have to make their way to the 32nd floor to get to the rooftop of the towers.
 "We thought going up and down meant somewhere up and down the stairs", Penn
 "It's a tricky one, man", Ryan

Ryan & Dusty really struggle with this task. Eventually they get into an elevator and ride down to the lobby. When they do not find any clue there they have a hard time getting access to the roof again.
 "I have no idea dude", Dusty
They see that two of the clue boxes are open so they realize that the other teams have already completed this task, which just adds to the pressure. Eventually they spot the combination on the elevators, but now they are way behind. In fact they will not see any other team until they reach the finish line (sorry to kill the suspense here).

Teams spot the code on the elevator and get their box open in the following order:
 1. Raquel & Cayla
 2. Kim & Penn
 3. Ryan & Dusty

Route info: "Drive yourself to the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument at the end of Olvera Street and search for your next clue."

Teams find their clue at El Pueblo (3km) in the following order:
 1(+1) Kim & Penn
 2(-1) Raquel & Cayla, just after #1
 3(+0) Ryan & Dusty, after the others have left

The clue envelope here holds a road block clue. In this road block each team gets assigned an area filled with Piñatas. Three of them contains parts of their next clue. One team member must grab a bat and put on a blindfold while their partner gets to direct them. They need to smash a taco, a tiny donkey and an all-paper star. There are lots of other Piñatas in the area so spotting these three specific ones can be hard. Specially since the directing partner is confined to a small area of the adjacent Gazebo. Things are further complicated by the Mariachi band walking around which makes it hard to communicate.

 "To the left, to the left, okay, directly ahead, bang", Cayla directing Raquel
 "Oh, this is so much fun", Raquel
 "They all look like paper stars to me", Kim (and there are lots of stars and they all seem to be made of paper)
 "Yeah, I know. You're hitting yourself", Kim on Penn's rather wild swings
 "I did a lot of smashing", Penn interviews after

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):
1(+1)Raquel* & Cayla   (8-4)
2(-1)Kim & Penn*       (5-7)
3(+0)Ryan & Dusty*     (6-6)

The clues they eventually get each read: "6465", "Sunset Blvd." and "Hollywood". Also the Piñatas containing clues also contains some read and yellow candies. This will become important later but for now nobody takes any notice of this.

Teams also get some extra information with the clues and it says "Go through the gates of S.I.R. Park in the marked parking."

Teams arrive to S.I.R. (11km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Raquel & Cayla
 2(+0) Kim & Penn, while #1 are still doing the task
 3(+0) Ryan & Dusty, after the other teams have left

Route info: "Become a Foley artist..."
In this task teams must add sound effects to five Amazing Race memorable moments. The moments are:
 * The bulls in Seville from season 24
 * Hay bales in Sweden from season 6
 * Claire's watermelon date from season 17
 * Bavarian pie throwing from season 14
 * Colin's "My Ox is Broken" moment from season 5
Teams must add sound effect to these clips using everyday items. There is a pro who demonstrates how to do it and which items to use. The tricky part is getting the timing right. Each team gets their own studio so there is no waiting for other teams.
 "Apparently Foley is when you're recreating the sounds", Cayla explains the task
We learn that Kim is fascinated by Foley and follow some TikTok accounts working with this.
 "What happens if you break the props?", Kim after Penn breaks the stick they use to make the whooshing sounds of the slingshot

Teams complete this task in the following order:
 1(+0) Raquel & Cayla, on their 8th attempt
 2(+0) Kim & Penn, on their 6th attempt
 3(+0) Ryan & Dusty, on their 6th attempt

Route info: "Drive yourselves to the home of the LA Galaxy. Once there, search the grounds for the tennis stadium to find your next clue."

Teams must now drive to Dignity Health Sports Park and find the tennis stadium.

Raquel & Cayla ask a random person outside and as they leave him Kim & Penn come out and they of course ask the same guy (he has already signed the waiver).

On their way to the stadium teams hit traffic. So the blood pressure has a chance to rise a little bit more.
 "At some point it is in the hands of the Amazing Race gods", Kim gets the title

Teams reach the stadium (34km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Raquel & Cayla
 2(+0) Kim & Penn, while #1 are still doing the task
 3(+0) Ryan & Dusty, after the other teams have reached the pit stop

Route info: "Solve the riddles on the wall by using the correct images of people, places and things you encountered on the race across the world."

Teams have now encountered a memory task. There are twelve questions:
  • You were greeted at the pitstop with these words
  • This mode of transportation took you the rest of the way
  • You found this under a rock
  • It went this far up
  • It fell out as well
  • He greeted you with a smile and a drink
  • Under this, he pointed the way
  • He joined you throughout the leg
  • You checked in here
  • You painted this
  • Something you had to eat
  • You took this to Number 10

The answers are printed on giant tennis rackets. But to make things harder there are many more rackets than there are questions. For example there are 4 different pictures of coins (one is the correct answer to "You found this under a rock"). There are also a number of pictures of the Napoleon guy with different sized hats on ("Under this, he pointed the way").

The hardest questions are "It fell out as well", which refers to the red and yellow candies which fell out of the Piñatas earlier this leg and what the coins the found under the rocks in Greece actually looked like.

Kim & Penn later interviews that they knew most of the answers right away and then just systematically tested all combinations of cars, candy and coins. Raquel & Cayla are also pretty sure about everything but the coins and the candy.

We get to see a lot of guesses from the first two teams and it is really anybody's game at this point. But eventually one of them gets it right.
 "Oh, we... that coin up", Rachel when they finally get it

Once teams get their answers approved they are directed to run through the tunnel to the big stadium next door where the finish line awaits. Teams reach Phil in the following order:

 1(+1) Kim & Penn, win the $1,000,000
 2(-1) Raquel & Cayla
 3(+0) Ryan & Dusty

At the finish line teams are greeted by all the teams who participated when the race was restarted plus Taylor & Isaiah (who had to cancel their participation at the last minute).

 "Seven countries, 17 cities, and having traveled across the globe", Phil tells the stats (slightly differently this year)
 "I hope they see that studying paid off", Penn on what he hopes his kids will learn from watching this
 "I got to spend a month with my best friend, running the world and doing crazy things", Dusty

At the finish line Penn gives kudos to the crew for working their asses off and keeping everybody safe. And we get a rare shot of the production crew standing just next to the mat.
 "I hope that you get to watch this and see, like, how strong and how inspirational you will be to other people", Penn to his wife about her anxiety

Offline maf

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Re: TAR33 racing reports. Episode #11 is on page 1
« Reply #13 on: April 05, 2022, 04:40:35 PM »
I finally got time to complete the last leg. My apologies for the delay, life has been hectic lately.
Anyway I really enjoyed this season.