FTA-TV Celeb Amazing Race

[dales.girl38]

I enjoyed the finale, although I thought having so many luck challenges was a bit of a bad choice. Aside from the stairs being a ridiculous challenge at the time, you would be worn out for a good time after you'd finished - not sure why Luke and Jeff chose that one. If they had done the other one, the girls would have had to wait for them to finish as well, instead they lost 2nd place by doing the stairs.

I was really cheering for the girls in the end (could tell Luke and Jeff weren't going to win - 'this looks more like France' - yeah, except that the stripes are horizontal instead of vertical). The boys were more deserving, but there's just something about them that I couldn't warm to.

 

[Plugger35]

Kk fair enuff.

Well then are we thinking the girls (and the Father Son) got a helping hand (aka the ice hockey challenge), cause they had NO idea about the flags. I think Sam had at least 5-6 wrong when the boys left.

Yeah I thought they might have got help as well. Both Sam and Luke didn't look to have any chance of getting it right when they only knew a few flags, then all of a sudden Sam finishes and she's getting handed an envelope. It wouldn't have been much of a finish if only one team could finish the challenge and the others had to quit so maybe the producers stepped in to help them.

Also agree that Jeff probably would've been a better choice for that flag challenge than Luke given that he's older and takes more notice of stuff like that. Renae probably would have been a better choice for that challenge than Sam too but maybe they had no choice since each team member can only do a certain number of road blocks.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

Far out, his address to the boys when the came up to the mat was VERY underwhelming.

Jesus, some excitement wouldnt have gone astray.

Better yet, get Phil to host our series.


(Also just a small critic, didnt like the other contestants behind the finishing mat. Better to have them as a "guard of honour" as the teams run up imo)

Don't get this hate about Grant Bowler. Seems every week their is a comment that he doesn't show enought emotion. I think he does he job well.

He is not the star of the show - the contestants are. The camera rightly should focus on the teams members emotions.
His job is to introduce the challenges/rules and confirm the order of the contestants at the pit stop and let them know that teams are eliminated.

He seems sincere when he says sorry you are eliminated and does smile at the teams that come first in the order. I don't think he needs to anymore. If you want him to carry on with over top confirmations 'you are the first team' or dramatic pauses 'you have been eliminated' its more cringe worthy imo.

 

[dales.girl38]

Don't get this hate about Grant Bowler. Seems every week their is a comment that he doesn't show enought emotion. I think he does he job well.

He is not the star of the show - the contestants are. The camera rightly should focus on the teams members emotions.
His job is to introduce the challenges/rules and confirm the order of the contestants at the pit stop and let them know that teams are eliminated.

He seems sincere when he says sorry you are eliminated and does smile at the teams that come first in the order. I don't think he needs to anymore. If you want him to carry on with over top confirmations 'you are the first team' or dramatic pauses 'you have been eliminated' its more cringe worthy imo.

Perfectly said. Yeah he's not Phil, but he shouldn't have to be.

 

[Mr Eagle]

Yeah, I'm happy with the way Grant played his part. Straight bat, nothing fancy, be involved but don't be the event.

 

[Big Wilbur]

Not a bad final episode....just happy the girsl didn't win TBH. Didn't mind Renae so much but couldn't stand Sam. Dumb as dogshit. Also not a fan of teams giving dodgy information to their competitors. Just shut up and run your own race.

Like many others on this forum I hated the ferris wheel challenge. Way too much luck involved and it ended up costing the girls.

In regard to the home town advantage, I can't understand why they can't overcome this. There should be different city options which each get eliminated as the teams reduce. Sure it would provide some nimbleness on behalf of the producers but for a show that seemed to have a pretty healthy budget it isn't something they couldn't deal with.

 

[Plugger35]

All very well changing the cities to make sure no one has a hometown advantage but you're assuming teams are only familiar with one of the major cities here. Some team members may have lived in more than one major city in Australia which makes it more complex.

Not sure there is really any way to avoid that problem completely. I guess that's the disadvantage of the Australian version compared to the US version where they have a lot more cities to choose from to start and end the race.

Not really sure why it's necessary to end the race back in the same country it started anyway. They could have just ended this series in Singapore rather than Perth.

 

[Big Wilbur]

All very well changing the cities to make sure no one has a hometown advantage but you're assuming teams are only familiar with one of the major cities here. Some team members may have lived in more than one major city in Australia which makes it more complex.

Not sure there is really any way to avoid that problem completely. I guess that's the disadvantage of the Australian version compared to the US version where they have a lot more cities to choose from to start and end the race.

Not really sure why it's necessary to end the race back in the same country it started anyway. They could have just ended this series in Singapore rather than Perth.

Agree^^^^

 

[Selective Retention]

Well the good thing was they used rental cars in Australia rather than taxis. The American version would do well to copy that for the final leg.

 

[dales.girl38]

Well the good thing was they used rental cars in Australia rather than taxis. The American version would do well to copy that for the final leg.

Agreed, nothing worse than losing the race due to the taxi driver needing petrol or being hopeless in general.

 

[Plugger35]

Well the good thing was they used rental cars in Australia rather than taxis. The American version would do well to copy that for the final leg.

That was probably more to do with taxis in Perth being shithouse. When they were in Perth for one of the US series the teams had a nightmare trying to get taxis, they spent about half the episode waiting around for them to turn up.

Using rental cars is definitely fairer although it takes away a bit from the drama involved with getting taxis.

 

[MYOB]

Don't get this hate about Grant Bowler. Seems every week their is a comment that he doesn't show enought emotion. I think he does he job well.

I don't think it is hate.

The Australian version has lived up to the very high standards of the US version, except, in my opinion, the host.

Grant did a good job, but compared to Phil, he didn't come close.

Someone said that he doesn't have to be Phil. No he doesn't.

But we have compared everything in the shows to the US, and the one thing that hasn't been as good, is the host.

 

[jackn]

Overall I liked the challenges - thought the ferris wheel was pure luck, but the flights were always going to even them up.

No they weren't and they didn't. With 20 minutes for every cycle the difference could have been huge, based on nothing more than luck. Imagine 1 team got lucky and found the right envelope on their first try. ANother team could potentially take 20 attempts. That's just over 6 hours difference which would be the difference between winning and losing. I didn't mind the 20 minute wait each time, but it should have been based on skill somehow, rather than pot-luck.

The father-son team made the huge mistake of giving Luke(?) the final challenge. I reckon the father would have been much, much better at the flags given he seems to be one to pay attention to detail.

But his Dad was sending him good vibes, so it was virtually two people working on the challenge

Overall a fantastic series, deserving winners (although they were my least favourite), good teams and greaqt challenges for the most part. Well done to the producers, I was having Australian Survivor flashbacks in the leadup to this series but couldn't have been more wrong.

 

[alfy!]

But his Dad was sending him good vibes, so it was virtually two people working on the challenge

i lol'd at that

also at them choosing the challenge to walk up 100+ flights of stairs with the most unfit person still left

 

[that_dood]

Not really sure why it's necessary to end the race back in the same country it started anyway. They could have just ended this series in Singapore rather than Perth.

You have to return to the home country to complete the "Race around the world!".

 

[Big Wilbur]

You have to return to the home country to complete the "Race around the world!".

That of course assumes they travelled "around the world"

 

[that_dood]

Which they didn't. But my point still stands. You have to finish in the country where you started.

 

[Benno_900]

The father-son team made the huge mistake of giving Luke(?) the final challenge. I reckon the father would have been much, much better at the flags given he seems to be one to pay attention to detail.

Not so sure. You see him try to decipher that message in Israel? Not to mention being hopeless at navigation.

He either overthinks stuff or is a bit of a moron who tries to sound smart. Probably the latter.

 

[that_dood]

Jeff definitely struggled with mind challenges over the journey, but I reckon he would have known the flags. He seemed to be fairly knowledgeable about stuff when he took time-outs to sight-see.

 

[SJ]

The flag challenge has definitely been on the US version. I remember they had a big field full of them and they had to go through and find the correct ones and place them in the correct order.

EDIT: They had 285 flags to choose from. No way of using permutations for that one.

Or "computations [sic] and permutations" as the dad said. What a flog.

 

[Big Wilbur]

Which they didn't. But my point still stands. You have to finish in the country where you started.

Why? What difference does it make?

 

[Mr Eagle]

Why? What difference does it make?

1) It appeals to local audiences (they leave...they return... ooh I wish I could do all that...)

2) It creates an atmosphere of closure and completion.

3) By putting the last leg on "home turf", it makes it easier to a) organise and b) avoid the possibility of cultural/language issues screwing up an exciting/tight finish.

 

[grimface_87]

I'm still surprised at Seven's programming choices around The Amazing Race. Early on in the season they aired Air Crash Investigations immediately after, and before the finale they showed World's Most Extreme Airports!

Strange choices around a show promoting international tourism!

 

[that_dood]

They had to show it after 8:30pm because of the language being used at times.

But their lead in shows were horrific. Definitely impacted on audiences.

 

[grimface_87]

They had to show it after 8:30pm because of the language being used at times.

But their lead in shows were horrific. Definitely impacted on audiences.

Surely this was the time to revive The Great Outdoors? (7:30-8:30pm)