The Amazing Race: Difference between revisions

Line 20:

The show has done well with both critics and fans, with the possible exception of the aforementioned Family Edition, which sacrificed exotic world locales and interpersonal drama for a competitive family road trip.

''Amazing Race'', like all reality shows, consists of a camera crew following the teams as they race across the globe; accordingly, for legal and political reasons, all participants must be US citizens, and legally able to travel outside of the US. The show is much less frustration-wrought than, say, ''[[Survivor]]'' ~~-- less~~ emphasis is placed on knocking the other team out of the proverbial race, which allows for a more 'relaxed' atmosphere while showcasing some of the absolutely ''[[Scenery Porn|gorgeous]]'' scenery and geography in many of the world's most exotic countries.

''Amazing Race'', like all reality shows, consists of a camera crew following the teams as they race across the globe; accordingly, for legal and political reasons, all participants must be US citizens, and legally able to travel outside of the US. The show is much less frustration-wrought than, say, ''[[Survivor]]''—less emphasis is placed on knocking the other team out of the proverbial race, which allows for a more 'relaxed' atmosphere while showcasing some of the absolutely ''[[Scenery Porn|gorgeous]]'' scenery and geography in many of the world's most exotic countries.

Heck, it's even mildly ''educational'', owing to the fact that some of the clues require calculation, riddle- and puzzle-solving, and a passing familiarity with the notable landmarks in a given country.

Line 110:

** Anaelle & Akiva did on Israel Season 2, and were in the lead most of the final leg, but struggled with the final task and ultimately fell to 3rd.

* [[Non Gameplay Elimination]]: Generally happens at least [[Once a Season]], mostly due to the tight shooting schedule and loads of travel making it impossible to wait around for a single lagging team to finish a leg. Specific examples listed under the regional folders.

* [[No Sense of Direction]]: At least one team a season gets eliminated after getting tragically lost. Has led to a few [[Shocking Elimination~~|Shocking Eliminations~~]].

* [[No Sense of Direction]]: At least one team a season gets eliminated after getting tragically lost. Has led to a few [[Shocking Elimination]]s.

* [[Odd Name Out]]: Take a look at the names of all the tasks and related material: Detour, Roadblock, Yield, Intersection, U-Turn, Speed Bump, Express Pass, and...Fast Forward? One has to wonder why no one thought of calling it a "Shortcut" instead.

* [["On the Next..."]]: Somehow manages to combine [[Trailers Always Spoil]], [[Trailers Always Lie]], and [[Pseudo Crisis]] all into a 15 second clip.

Line 125:

* [[Recurring Traveller]]: Phil Keoghan, Allan Wu, and all the other hosts, showing up at the Pit Stops to officially check the teams in.

* [[Regional Riff]]

* [[Rubber Band AI]]: For various reasons, production creates "bunching points" or "equalizers," usually involving operating hours or transport schedules, so no team gets too far ahead or behind: Logistically, it's easier to keep the crew in a single country at a time and you don't want to tie up locals in assisting/judging tasks for days on end. Dramatically, having wins or losses be a [[Foregone Conclusion]] every week [[Boring Invincible Hero|is]] [[Boring Failure Hero|boring]].<ref> And in the American version, during the first season, a few teams got caught too far behind because of factors outside their control, resulting in the race becoming [[Unwinnable By Mistake]]</ref>

* [[Rubber Band AI]]: For various reasons, production creates "bunching points" or "equalizers," usually involving operating hours or transport schedules, so no team gets too far ahead or behind: Logistically, it's easier to keep the crew in a single country at a time and you don't want to tie up locals in assisting/judging tasks for days on end. Dramatically, having wins or losses be a [[Foregone Conclusion]] every week [[Boring Invincible Hero|is]] [[Boring Failure Hero|boring]].<ref>And in the American version, during the first season, a few teams got caught too far behind because of factors outside their control, resulting in the race becoming [[Unwinnable By Mistake]]</ref>

* [[Sadistic Choice]]: The producers learning how to balance Detours means that instead of choosing between a hard Detour and an easy one, there are now times when teams have to choose between two brutally hard ones.

* [[Scenery Porn]]: The world is a ''very'' beautiful place!

Line 241:

** On leg 2 of Season 19, upon getting out of a cab in Indonesia, former NFL tight end Marcus Pollard said that he now knew how Big Easy felt having to ride in tiny vehicles on his two seasons.

** On the Season 20 premiere, when Bopper refused to pull over in order to let Mark throw up because, "when you got loot on the line like this, you pee your pants if you have to," referencing Jen's potty break back in Season 14.

** All-Stars and Unfinished Business both had a number of [[Call Back~~|Call Backs~~]] to the teams' original seasons, especially during the team introductions:

** All-Stars and Unfinished Business both had a number of [[Call Back]]s to the teams' original seasons, especially during the team introductions:

*** On leg 4 of All-Stars, the Roadblock had racers searching through bags of mail for one of two letters written to them by a team from their original race.

*** One of Justin's shirts on Unfinished Business featured a "Duck Whisperer" graphic, referring to leg 2 of Season 15, when Zev easily corralled his ducks during the Roadblock.

Line 270:

** Prior to this, teams were denoted by both numbers on their backpacks and different colored bandannas. However, the numbers were rarely, if ever seen, and the bandannas, when worn, were not always in a noticeable position, and often times were even completely discarded by the teams.

* [[Continuity Nod]]: The final puzzle on Season 17 had the teams searching for the pictures of the eleven greeters who had met them at the mat at the end of each leg. In amongst the eleven right pictures were dozens of wrong pictures, which were all greeters from previous seasons of the race.

** The Season 18 premiere had the teams fly to Sydney, Australia, where the audience was welcomed to Sydney by the Pit Stop greeter from the Race's initial trip to Australia in Season 2. The [[Establishing Shot~~|Establishing Shots~~]] for the episode also featured the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge, both locations of tasks in Season 2.

** The Season 18 premiere had the teams fly to Sydney, Australia, where the audience was welcomed to Sydney by the Pit Stop greeter from the Race's initial trip to Australia in Season 2. The [[Establishing Shot]]s for the episode also featured the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge, both locations of tasks in Season 2.

** In Season 20, when the teams competed in a Japanese Game Show Roadblock, the host for the task was the same person who hosted the Japanese Game Show Roadblock all the way back in Season 15.

* [[Control Freak]]: Cindy (19).

Line 322:

** Season 1: The ''series premiere'', which left from New York City, aired on September 5, 2001. I don't think I need to explain that one.

** Season 6: The racers traveled through Sri Lanka only months before it was devastated by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.

** Season 8 went through New Orleans a month before Hurricane Katrina hit, which was actually doubly tragic, because the Schroeder family, who were actually ''from'' New Orleans, got ''eliminated'' ~~there--and~~ then their home was severely damaged a month later (Fortunately, the Rogers family was kind enough to take them in for a while).

** Season 8 went through New Orleans a month before Hurricane Katrina hit, which was actually doubly tragic, because the Schroeder family, who were actually ''from'' New Orleans, got ''eliminated'' there—and then their home was severely damaged a month later (Fortunately, the Rogers family was kind enough to take them in for a while).

** Season 16 is the race's biggest example: The prize for winning the first leg was a trip to Vancouver, including a skeleton ride at the Whistler Sliding Center. A fairly obvious tie-in with the 2010 Vancouver Winter [[Olympic Games]]... only one of the Olympic athletes died going down that track on the day of the opening ceremony, mere days before the episode aired. Also, that and the next leg went through Chile - aired a week before it was hit with an 8.8 earthquake. Then, after the fourth leg, one contestant (Louie) was put under investigation under suspicion of being involved in a police run cocaine ring in Rhode Island. The next leg was packed with comments from Louie & Michael talking about how their jobs as cops prepared them for the race. Then, leg 10 features He Pingping, the shortest man in the world, only to have him die between the episode filming and airing.

** Season 18: In a less direct example, Phil's hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand was hit by a major earthquake mere hours after the premiere. It then took a more direct turn when the 2011 Japan earthquake hit right after the Tokyo leg aired.

Line 341:

* [[Dysfunctional Family]]: The Paolo Family, Season 8.

* [[Early Installment Weirdness]]: Season 1 had a couple of features that were changed in later seasons, the most notable being that Phil only showed up at the mat to greet the last team instead of being there to greet every team like he would in every season thereafter. Also, the first episode was edited challenge to challenge, meaning each task was shown to completion before moving onto the next one, making it impossible to tell what order the teams were in, especially since it was the only season not to give team placements over the course of the leg, only showing what position teams were in when they checked into the Pit Stop; the route flags were yellow and ''white'' instead of the yellow and red of later seasons (the yellow and white flags would be brought back for Family Edition, and in countries such as Vietnam, that have a yellow and red flag); clue boxes and the Pit Stop mat were not standardized, and changed to reflect each country; and poor course planning resulted in two of the final four teams [[Unwinnable By Mistake|falling hopelessly behind with no chance of catching up to the two lead teams]], something that the producers have taken steps to avoid since then.

** The first four seasons as a whole had a lot more exposition than later ones, with teams (and Phil) talking about things like rules (both written and unwritten), money usage, travel, and how each little move affected their placement in the Race. Such exposition was cut out in later seasons as that information was expected to be common knowledge among fans by then. Many episodes in those seasons would also start with shots of the teams interacting at the Pit Stop, and [[Confession Cam~~|Confession Cams~~]] were done solo instead of in pairs.

** The first four seasons as a whole had a lot more exposition than later ones, with teams (and Phil) talking about things like rules (both written and unwritten), money usage, travel, and how each little move affected their placement in the Race. Such exposition was cut out in later seasons as that information was expected to be common knowledge among fans by then. Many episodes in those seasons would also start with shots of the teams interacting at the Pit Stop, and [[Confession Cam]]s were done solo instead of in pairs.

** Originally, penalties were issued at the beginning of the leg following when they were earned (unless the penalty eliminated the team, then Phil would call the penalized team and the last team to check in into a meeting to tell them the new results). However, after Season 4, the rules were changed so that teams could not check in until all earned penalties had been served.

* [[Edible Ammunition]]: The watermelons teams shot at suits of armor using a giant slingshot in Season 17.

Line 596:

** Nary & Jamie had one on leg 7 of Season 20 when they stopped on the side of the road to watch a herd of elephants. They were then non-eliminated.

* [[Obfuscating Disability]]: Lori & Bolo tried this at the beginning of Season 6. Luckily, they dropped it quickly.

* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: According to Dustin & Kandice, this is how they played the first part of Season 11. Whether they were doing this to keep the other teams from seeing them as a threat, or just to conserve energy for later in the game is unclear, although by the time they got serious and broke away from the pack, most of the other teams had dismissed them as a couple of [[Dumb Blonde~~|Dumb Blondes~~]]. (It probably helped that Season 10 was still airing when Season 11 started filming, meaning the other teams might not have known exactly how dangerous the Beauty Queens really were.)

* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: According to Dustin & Kandice, this is how they played the first part of Season 11. Whether they were doing this to keep the other teams from seeing them as a threat, or just to conserve energy for later in the game is unclear, although by the time they got serious and broke away from the pack, most of the other teams had dismissed them as a couple of [[Dumb Blonde]]s. (It probably helped that Season 10 was still airing when Season 11 started filming, meaning the other teams might not have known exactly how dangerous the Beauty Queens really were.)

** By the end of Season 3, Zach & Flo had become fairly certain that this was part of Ian's strategy.

** Nick & Starr from Season 13 had very little travel experience, so they deliberately played up their youth and inexperience to get middle-aged couple Ken & Tina to see them as sort of surrogate children and help them out at the airports.

Line 886:

* [[Dramatic Pause]]: Like Phil Keoghan, Asia host Allan Wu does this in his narration and his appearances at the end of each episode telling contestants whether they're eliminated or not.

* [[Down to the Last Play]]: Though the finales in all three seasons of the Latin American version have been pretty close, the second season has the record of being the closest of all the versions of the show. It ended with a boat race and then a sprint to the finish line with only a few yards separating the two teams.

* [[Dumb Blonde]]: Subverted: Suspected [[Dumb Blonde~~|Dumb Blondes~~]] Renae & Sam powered through the first leg of Australia Season 1, overtaking an overwhelming number of more physically imposing teams, and eventually snagged a first place finish. Come the final four, they were the only females left on the race, and beaten the rarely defeated "Marked For Elimination" penalty.

* [[Dumb Blonde]]: Subverted: Suspected [[Dumb Blonde]]s Renae & Sam powered through the first leg of Australia Season 1, overtaking an overwhelming number of more physically imposing teams, and eventually snagged a first place finish. Come the final four, they were the only females left on the race, and beaten the rarely defeated "Marked For Elimination" penalty.

** Hadas & Inbal (Israel Season 1) were generally a subversion, but the [[Hilarity Ensues|results]] of their first task almost played the trope absolutely straight. To explain, during the safari drive task of the first leg, instead of tying their log to the towing hook like everyone else did, they actually tied it to the truck, and to make sure it didn't fall off, they double and triple knotted it; cue them falling from 1st place to 4th place when they try everything they can to get it off, including trying to untie it unsuccessfully, burn the rope, cut it with their leg razors, and eventually smashing a mirror they had with them and using a shard to cut the rope. They [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] their stupidity only moments after leaving the task.

* [[Enemy Mine]]: In Asia Season 1, during the second half of the double leg in India, ''every single team'' decided to Yield Andy & Laura when they had the chance, mainly in retaliation to the incident mentioned below and other intentional efforts to sabotage the other teams, such as hiding maps at airports, and [[Serious Business|having the audacity to try and run the race without making friends.]]

Line 934:

[[Category:American Series]]

[[Category:~~{{PAGENAME}}~~]]

[[Category:The Amazing Race]]

[[Category:Live-Action TV of the 2000s]]

[[Category:Live-Action TV of the 2010s]]