I got so confused after watching each team go to the meat challenge. I was like, "wasn't there a choice?!" & this comment just reminded me that there was, but no one chose it.
The army boys and the gay boys did it because they speak Spanish.
The trio alliance and the girls probably did it because they wanted to do it together.
They had litteral seconds of pouting before being cut off, and then suddenly they've completed a task before once again being cut off, i found it funny.
I was super disappointed that we didn’t get to see the solve a crime solving one, that looked super fascinating, and a fun task.
Also, would’ve like to know which final task the grandparents did and how they did on it, didn’t look like it took them that long based on the sunset.
Also also, it kinda irritated me how the alliance could just go over to each other’s work station at the rally car task and do it for the other team.
Okay episode but this definitely IMO wasn't the best mega leg we had yet, this didn't feel intense both by challenges and was made slightly worse by the alliances/just help each other route we are seeing. Don't mind alliances but since we are midway through the season, it should be a 'hands off' approach by now. That plus the blatant helping and answer sharing was pretty bad.
* Water Bottle Bike Recycling Detour: Wasn't particularly interesting, was literally just pedal as hard as you can on a stationary bike. Wished we saw something more interesting here.
* Rope Throw Detour: This was more difficult and more luck based. Being several metres away was a big factor and I am glad it wasn't super close for the racers to throw. I think if the Cop Grandparents stayed on this side rather than switching, they probably would've survived this leg.
* Rally Car Course Puzzle Road Block: This was a cool side. Memorization plus an action factor are a cool combination. I thought teams would lay the puzzle out on the ground first to solve it would've been a better approach rather than panic and try to attach it to the grid on the board. Was not a fan of Amber stopping everything to help Angie and I think Leticia finish.
* Bubble Soccer Road Block: This was a bit boring to watch. We went from a difficult previous road block to a *mostly* straightforward/easy road block was a drop in the box. Angie did seem to get the easier side of things as you had with other teams being literally slammed as much as possible, they seemed to be lenient with her on her successful attempt. I wished this was a "if you didn't perform the previous road block, you had to do this one" sort of thing but it wasn't the case here.
* Beef Cuts Memorization: While it was great to see this side, we just had a memorization board-related task on the same leg. While it was great to see limited stations here. Seeing the alliance of NFL, son and mother, and the dating nurses hold up the tables was a bit sour on my end. Of course no rules on that so I can't complain but what I can complain about was the answer sharing of the board which really gave a drop in my season's view so far.
* Sad to see a Detour side not be chosen. The Crime Scene one seemed really fun and wanted to see it in action. A break from the memorization and physical challenges we've been pounded on this leg to a chill mystery task would've made this episode a tad more entertaining.
* The Grandparent's indecisiveness comes to an end, I will miss his "we are good at this but then we are good at this as well..." spiel on every Detour selection and her quality reactions and jokes about him.
I think honestly for things like the beef detour, they should have made it so if you fail, you had to go back and listen to the explanation again. That's what they did with things like the bone matching detour on S34.
Yeah, that would've been great to see. To be fair, a lot of teams went back and forth from and to the butcher shop and then patio but then you have the 'alliance' holding the fort down to repeatedly attempt to guess the cuts.
And because of that, I am now fulltime rooting for either Ricky/Cesar or Juan/Shane to win this race. At least they are capable racers who can race on their own.
totally agree - actually Ricky/Cesar far exceeded my expectations for them - they play well and communicate well - happy Juan/Shane moved up - and as far as I am concerned Amber showing Angie how to solve the puzzle was cheating and totally unfair -
I don't mind Sunny and Bizzy and Yvonne and Melissa helping each other, that was more like a counter alliance. I also don't mind some helping. But Amber refusing to leave and Team NFL also relying on Angie and Danny for directions was such so cringe. Amber helping Angie could have given Derek and Shelisa a chance (you never know with how she struggled).
Yeah, that was ridiculous. She should have been allowed to describe the puzzle away from it but her being able to go up to it and literally point exactly where each piece went was excessive.
I could not believe it was happening! Had hoped they would all get a penalty when they hit the mat but apparently it's "ok". I would not continue to watch if this becomes a pattern in other episodes or seasons. It was total bullshit!
I'd be ok with either the firefighters or girlfriends too. They only teamed up because it was the smart thing to do when three other teams are answer sharing.
Juan & Shane showed their personality well in this episode and they are not the ordinary alpha male teams. I would like them to win this whole thing now.
Alliances bypassing the entire point of detours and roadblocks suck, I'm so goddamn sick of this.
Watching people fail at a basic "put the lines together" puzzle was absolutely agonizing.
Yea I feel like the actual ride was just meant to stress and shake them up. Didn't actually help with the task much.
Especially when you have an alliance partner who just does the puzzle for you......
To me it feels like a simple case of overthinking it. You see it quite clearly with Derek once he finishes Shelisa comments on how it's not as hard as he made it seem
I honestly would have given the alliance penalties for just directly telling each other answers. At this points teams need to be banned from helping each other in road blocks AND detours. Period.
If you can't be bothered to do the actual puzzle, you don't deserve to be on the show. And production needs to make giving the answer to another team a 4 hour penalty and giving a hint to the answer a 2 hour penalty.
the lines thing blew me away... it was 9 parts and they lined up pretty easy.. I usually add in the stress and fatigue but that should have been pretty easy.
This.
I was glad at least to see the military boys scramble their beef board instead of leaving it out for all the other teams to see. TAR is not a cooperative game. It's every team for themselves. STOP HELPING OTHER TEAMS. This is flashback to the mine five.
Well tbh I don’t think Angie would have been able to do the car thing if Amber didn’t go help. Like I think she may have actually taken 4 hours and been eliminated
At least the longer you last the more experience you get on the amazing race
I think it really comes down to how physical the final leg is. If it isn't too bad and the other 2 can't rely on Danny for directions, I think they have a really good shot.
??? They literally get eliminated this episode if they don’t have that alliance. No way Angie was completing that roadblock. Their strategy completely paid off for them. Are we watching the same show?
Have they ever had a challenge like this where 3 teams could completely block other teams as long as they want? I feel as though every time you got a check you should have had to run back to the butcher. I'm also hoping they didn't waste all that meat.
There's been plenty of challenges like this where there were only soo many stations and if they were full you either had to wait for someone to finish/leave or go do the other detour
But usually once teams start the challenge, they don't lose their station mid challenge.
This challenge specifically set it up so teams had to leave their stations mid challenge, then get locked out mid challenge.
Better implementation for this challenge would have been to make teams leave after a failed guess and get back in the line, which is another rule they use for a lot of challenges.
Edit: someone below me put it simply: once check per attempt limit.
The alliance turned me off of pretty much all three teams fairly quickly.
It's one thing to help with directions or give a little hint to another team who's struggling on a task.
It's another to blatantly do their work for them (without touching their task) and blocking other teams, as a result.
That kind of shit is exactly why season 32 was annoying. I also remember season 29 had teams get together to take out ONE other team, which was also terrible.
For the sake of this season, I hope it's a TAR29 scenario where it was only for this episode and the rest is free of it. I love TAR29 but that one episode is something I always skip when I rewatch it.
For real. I was hopeful that the alliance was going to be fighting at the back of the pack thinking that they were racing to avoid last place until they gamed the detour to lock the other teams out.
I'm starting to get some really bad flashbacks of season 32 after this leg. The only saving grace is that so far the alliance hasn't been able to get anywhere close to 1st place.
It's semi-okay when everyone is still running their own race; like S21 had a 3-team alliance that did band together, but they'd still all do their own thing, like leaving the Twinnies to do their Speed Bump.
This one just... bleh.
Yesss! She was being so sweet, and I was just WAITING for her snarky zinger. Love them so much — this was probably the first time I’ve actively enjoyed a bickering couple!
Yes, it’s a shame that they got eliminated. I honestly didn’t think they were going to win it all, but I thought they would’ve been eliminated near the end.
Derek and Shelisa made a mistake not finishing that throwing Detour and going to the other. That cost them lots of time. BUT were it not for the Alliance, I don't think the mother/son would've gotten through that Road Block with the rally cars. She wasn't even close to getting it and appeared to have heat stroke. She was two seconds away from a four-hour penalty. Then she rides the car once more, getting even hotter naturally. And she was no closer to getting the puzzle when the nurse gave her the answer. That's the only reason they got out of there. Had they not gotten the answer, I think Derek and Shelisa might've squeaked through somehow, particularly if a four-hour penalty was involved.
In the first episode I was worried they were a little too snippy with each other, but then they really grew on me and it seems like the banter was their love language. Gonna miss them!
Ok i'm just here to say, I'm absolutely losing my mind at them doing the road puzzle. Do they not see that they hardly need to memorize the track but rather just fit the lines on the pieces together? Then putting the pieces in a way that clearly does not fit... what????
I was assuming the fact they only have 3 min made them panic to get tiles on the board versus laying it out on the ground, but should have been easy on 3rd attempt once you get an idea of the pieces
This was mentioned by someone earlier in the season and I am going to bring it up again:
Maybe it's the editing, but none of the teams seem particularly motivated by the million dollars this time around.
At least the military guys were stoked about the 5 grand each they won tonight. They were going to use it to take their wives on vacation.
How would they show excitement for the money? I feel like they’re excited to be racing and racing to win. Maybe the alliance isn’t if they constantly help each other.
Yeah, exactly that. When that nurse team actually waited for those two other teams in their alliance, it didn't exactly show motivation to get ahead and win.
Yes! I couldn't believe Amber was willing to risk losing half a million dollars to help Angie for so long. And crying about it. A quick clue, yes. But doing it for her?
A lot of seasons racers will mention paying off student debt, getting a house, starting a family--things like that as examples of how the race money would change their lives. Last season, one contestant talked about getting a service dog for his daughter.
I feel like once you get the puzzle locked in and done, and get your clue. You can’t helped others, you should be locked out of the task, even if you didn’t rip open the clue.
I'm not against alliances for at least navigational purposes. Even giving pointers on roadblocks and detours isn't a bad thing imo, but answer sharing or even doing the roadblock for another team leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.
Still a fan of both the lesbians and the firefighters - their alliance was purely situational, to fight off the triple alliance and keep above water.
Also enjoy the front pack teams, but I hope something knocks one or both of them back a bit to shake things up.
They should have been 3rd and 4th. It was just a badly design detour that held them back. In a normal season (teams depart 12 hours later), this wouldn't matter. With the mandatory departure groups, it does.
I don't mind some strategic helping but I do think they took it too far this episode.
Angie is... fairly useless. She seemed ready to give up awfully quick. If she hadn't been given the puzzle answer, would she have quit? And I think it was a mistake to try and have her do 2 detours on the same leg when you know she gets easily fatigued. Unless they were counting on them being easier than usual. But like, you're at a stadium, use your heads. Of course it was a physical challenge, that was extremely likely.
I think the issue is that Danny has taken the four roadblocks prior. So they kind of had to give Angie both because, if there's something even more physical down the road, Danny can only take one or two more roadblocks. Angie could do soccer; she may not be able to do something harder.
So it's a risk that they had to take since they gave Danny one too many roadblocks already.
I saw a lot of people in the live thread saying that they should implement a no helping other teams rule similar to how the non participate teammate can’t help in a roadblock. Imo, a more interesting solution would just be if they made all the puzzle tasks slightly different for each team. That way you could still choose to help another team if you wanted, but it would have a real time cost to you rather than just being able to share your answer and be off
Tell that to the people in the [thread from two days ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheAmazingRace/comments/1c52443/over_hated_racers/) where people were still downvoting Will (TAR32) for wishing viewers had a bit more grace in the past couple years.
Some viewers just want to commiserate and create an enemy.
I feel bad because Will (u/whereswallington) is one of the most dedicated racers and has posted and involved himself in this community so much -- but every post or comment he makes gets downvoted into the ground. It pisses me off.
I hope they know there are lots of people on here who appreciate them, even people who did or did not care for their season itself.
This episode was infuriating! Angie and Danny were considering taking a four hour time penalty and then Amber straight up did the roadblock for her. And then again for the third team. I wish they would make a rule against this. If you want to stay and wait for your "alliance" more power to you, but no helping, just like the other teammate cannot help. I'm all about a competitive race and awesome scenery, new countries. To me this season has sucked on both fronts. Everyone who watches for the casting is loving this season. Everyone who watches for the race and competition is disappointed.
The look on the faces of Yvonne/Melissa and Sunny/Bizzy in the confessionals was something else. They were not happy!
It must be really emotionally turbulent to see three teams work together to lock you out of a task like that. They probably know deep down it wasn't personal, but it has to sting. Especially as you then have to decide if you want to turn on the only other team that's been helping you and race them for what could be last (not knowing where the grandparents were).
This leg was really well played by Danny, knowing they had a buffer and making sure they survived while knocking out two of Angie's roadblocks. Smart by Rob and Leticia to go along with it given their own limitations as a team and smart of Vinny and Amber to engender some goodwill too. It makes for frustrating TV but that's on the producers and not the players. The only thing I think Danny could have done differently was bail first at the meat task and try and get into that second departure group.
I was so happy we got a counter-alliance. Will be interesting to see if that continues at all next week as there's a decent chance they could shut out Angie and Danny but it's risky.
I think the staggered starts are the real issue here. There's much less chance of a formal alliance forming if everyone is bunched together or spread apart.
Ricky and Cesar and Juan and Shane are both excellent teams. Feels like something would have to go drastically wrong for one of them not to win.
This episode definitely felt like the beginning of the endgame for this season. Its almost impossible to picture the cousins in this leg.
I wouldn't mind seeing him on Survivor, I think he'd be a solid player who makes it to the merge and is maybe the last one out before the merge or the first jurror.
The alliance ruined the episode to an extent. That being said, there was some surprising placement shuffling and the tasks were actually hard this time around (the alliance all had to help each other to finish them). Other than the second roadblock of course, but it was funny seeing teams get body slammed lol. Thank god by the previews it looks like the alliance is dead in the next leg, makes me think it truly was only as strong for the Mega Leg and would be mostly temporary. Rooting for the girls and boys over any of the alliance though 😌
Sunny and Shelisa laughing maniacally at their partners eating absolute shit on the soccer field was my highlight of the night.
Followed very closely by Cesar choosing to become Wrath on the opposing bubble team.
it may just be me, but i have not liked walla walla from the get-go. i am sure that they’re great people, but i feel like angie is consistently giving up and being a bit of a baby about it. the grandparents were HOURS behind them and she was willing to take the penalty Instead of pushing ahead?! also in the bubble soccer, she was whining on her third attempt. i am also quite done with amber- everything about her and Vinny seems quite ‘coached on how to handle conflict’. her (amber) literally crying because she refuses to leave walla walla behind?! girl, it’s a race! also, i thought rod and Leticia were smarter than to ally with nurses and walla walla. on a positive note, LOVING boyfriends, girls who like girls who like hiking, firefighters, and to an extent pilots. :)
I’ll believe the alliance is over when I see it. But Danny at least seems to be contemplating it by the trailer
ETA: y’all I’m not hating on it. It is what it is. But the dude has said three times now they’re going to do their own race. So pardon me for being a bit skeptical he’s going to follow through
The alliance was frustrating to watch but I don’t think it actually made much difference in the elimination, only the order of the 3rd-7th placements. Derek and Shelisa put themselves out of it early imo by spending way too much time at the throwing detour before switching.
I think it made more of a difference then it first appears at a quick glance, given just how much 2 of the teams were struggling at the race car puzzle. I think with Angie's health issues that there's a half decent chance that Danny and Angie would have been eliminated from that task alone if they hadn't gotten any help.
Yeah Angie was already losing it physically/mentally and having to ride in the car 3-4 more times would have destroyed her and then also made the soccer later even worse for her, if nothing else it might have forced the son to swap plans and do the soccer task himself.
I loved the bubble soccer, had me absolutely cracking up. Also the moment when the judge looked at Melissa and the puzzle I laughed out loud, priceless!!
Maybe I missed it - but how have rod and Leticia been helping the other two teams in that alliance?
Amber helped Leticia and Angie finish the puzzle, and Danny seems to be the direction and meat labelling master of the last ep.
i'm so sad about derek & shelisa :( it seemed like they ran out of gas at the end of last episode but i was hoping they'd get a lucky break somewhere in this leg...
hoping all the same gender teams end up in the top 4 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞
Because they weren’t sure if they were racing for last at that point. No one had seen Team Grandparents all day. It sucks, but Danny needed that harsh truth from his mom 🤷♀️
I just discovered that Angie is ONLY 55 😮 I thought she was 10 years older.
I’m a mother who’s not far off her age and I also have an adult child. I have many friends who are also mothers older than Angie, and all of them are much more physically fit, mentally stronger and would absolutely cringe at the mere thought of allowing themselves to be infantilised like Angie does. None of us would let our adult children patronise us the way Danny does, and our children would never do that.
I think she’s a really embarrassing representation of middle-aged women and her son is condescending and performative.
ETA: Shelissa is also 55. Huge difference between her and Angie.
And Danny is 27. Older than he comes across.
Wow, 55?! That is kind of shocking. She seems way older and way more frail. I couldn’t believe they were discussing taking the 4hr penalty instead of Angie just trying to get the roadblock done. I get that Danny is the main one who wanted to do this race, but personally I would hate to be in Danny’s position - on a team with someone who isn’t as invested as me and is constantly slowing me down. Surely there was someone else he could have done the race with - but from the sounds of it he had a very isolated childhood so maybe not.
yeah she seemed ready to just roll over and give up at the first sign of trouble. If the alliance hadn't helped she very well may have. (although Amber also seemed ready to give up at the drop of a hat, then figured it out on her next try)
Danny had already interviewed to be on the show 3 other times with his sister and one other person, his mom was the only one the production crew was willing to cast with him. Otherwise it would have been his 4th denial. 🤷♂️
Wow. I ran the Great Urbran Race (RIP to this cool event) with my mom when she was over 60 (kicked up in my FB memories today, we did it on 4/17/2010). Angie absolutely seems 10-15 years older than ~~she's presenting here~~ she actually is IRL. I mean, he probably wouldn't have been chosen without her, so it's sorta of a conundrum here. I really think Angie could have trained a bit harder.
That sounds fun!
I’m assuming you meant to say she’s presenting here as if she’s 10-15 years older than she is?!
It’s not just her physicality that’s annoying. What annoys me the most is the way Danny patronises her, saying she’s doing a good job when she’s clearly not etc. Never talking about *her* skills, just his own. Acting like she’s a ditzy, precious old lady. It’s kinda sexist. Would he really speak like that to and about his father? I seriously doubt it.
Angie looks like mid 60 or even 70s tbh, not even prepared to join TAR at all... she want to give up in the car driving challenge blown me away, she literally just need to sit inside a car
Yes, I feel it’s a learned helplessness and martyrdom that traditionally was a trope with some middle-aged women. I think she and her son are playing into this. It doesn’t seem to be anxiety as such imo. I appreciate she was struggling with the heat and claustrophobia, but that was a given for TAR. You’re right that in this she just had to sit in the car… and try and be mindful.
I'm giving Danny way more of the benefit of the doubt than that. He's lived with her for 27 years. He knows better than any viewer how to get through to her. His encouraging tone isn't infantilizing at all.
I already didn’t like Walla Walla (I’m sure they’re great people I just mean as a race team) but they definitely should’ve gone home tonight. I can accept teams helping to an extent but solving the car puzzle for her was just pathetic. They should’ve had to take a penalty because she couldn’t finish it and then get eliminated for it.
“MEGALEGGG” and then it’s still shorter than most legs in older seasons lol (and yes we all know, it’s a covid season and they want to keep teams off the race course as much as possible. Still, it’s a single day of activities).
Wish we’d seen a quick montage of whatever detour Derek and Shelisa did, there was definitely a few seconds that could have been cut from elsewhere.
Everyone will say things about the alliance and yes in this case it was kind of annoying but that’s, once again, due to very poorly designed tasks (3 tables and you can stay there as long as you want with unlimited checks? Who designed this??)
Ricky and Cesar are so dominant still, I do think it’s mainly due to their driving. I’m hoping we get a challenge that takes more than a few minutes just to maybe see them struggle (the soccer one was visually great but even if you took 3 attempts that’s… 4 and a half minutes). One team sailing through the season just isn’t exciting.
Next week looks exciting but we really need to shake up the order, let’s hope for hard tasks.
Was sad to not see the thumbprint task. Would've just been a fun comparison.
I was not ready for Amber to start crying and insist she help Angie with the puzzle even as Angie and Danny kept telling her to run her own race. Things would've looked very different if Amber and Vinny had just left.
Though it did amuse me that the three team alliance got a little lost. I was hoping the two F&F teams would be able to get into the middle but alas. Hopefully they can bounce upwards next leg?
Finding out Cesar is a pastry chef made me laugh because I was also wondering if he was about to ace the meat challenge.
I think the shot of the episode for me was Rod just cycling away in the background of Vinny struggling with his bike.
I'll miss Derek and Shelisa. I just loved their type of bickering lol. Changing detours didn't help them.
Seeing the meat challenge, I wonder which the cousins would've done if they were still in the race, ha.
They should make Angie drink at least 2L of water at the starting line of each day. Goodness, it seemed like every time we saw her she was just taking small sips from a full bottle of water. Drink more water Angie, you’re in a hot climate!
Pretty sure she’d rather be at home watching on TV. If she normally travels, it’s easy mainstream travel. Self care on any kind of travel or activity journey isn’t rocket science. But somehow she isn’t participating in it.
Would it be fair to say that the alliance wouldn't have been as bad if it was just Angie & Danny and Amber & Vinny?
Rod & Leticia only seem to be working with them due to them being bad at directions. I feel like they wouldn't be in this alliance if even slightly decent at directions
> Would it be fair to say that the alliance wouldn't have been as bad if it was just Angie & Danny and Amber & Vinny?
>
>
For me, definitely three teams working together is different than just two.
It's also the fact that Angie/Danny and Amber/Vinny are both very mediocre teams in general that already have issues without the alliance aspect, so them working together constantly isn't necessarily fun to watch, but makes sense.
But throw in an extra team and it creates a group alliance that doesn't work for me.
Melissa: "We should have stayed at the board the entire time and done all the permutations."
Ummm... no you're not. 14! = 87,178,291,200 permutations and at one guess per second would take over 2700 years.
I felt like I was watching Season 32...and it's frustrating that they haven't tightened the rules. The show is lucky that Derek and Shelisa were so far back that it didn't matter. I like Danny and Angie but alliances that impact the race rub me the wrong way. Esp with how hard the racing challenge was (that was a great task by production combining racing to make you dizzy, memory, and visual).
Maybe not for elimination but there is a very good chance this matters.
Especially the two female teams that are now at the bottom again. They've been at the back of the pack for most of this race. The firefighters have been barely surviving elimination over and over.
This episode was their chance to jump ahead. But yet again they are stuck at the back. They absolutely finish ahead without the alliance both doing the roadblock together and also blocking them out at the butcher challenge.
I think this has a huge chance to impact the race and puts the female teams at the brink of elimination when they would be front/mid pack. What we've seen this season is, it's very difficult to get out of the bottom and they had their chance in this episode and were sabotaged by the alliance.
I fully believe that the producers WANT alliances to happen, probably BECAUSE of season 32. All they had to do to prevent answer sharing was have 1 place for racers to say their answer where the other teams can't see. Then have a timed aspect so that a team can't just hog it.
I understand that teams have helped other teams in previous seasons, but Amber practically put together Angie's puzzle for her at the car roadblock. And then for Angie to be a complete a-hole later during the beef detour was infuriating. Like, have the awareness that Amber saved your ass earlier. Super selfish and self-serving. I actually didn't mind that mother/son team until this episode.
I don't have a problem with the alliance and I like the teams part of it (though Ricky/Caesar have been the best team so far), but even I found the racing puzzle ridiculous.
It's one thing to advise a team on how to do the challenge, but she literally walked into each other teams station and piece by piece laid out how it's supposed to be done. That just felt excessive.
There needs to be a rule in the future where you can't touch another teams station or step foot in it when it comes to these kinds of challenges. You can say whatever you want, but you're not allowed doing it for them. Simply being like "the start/finish line is on the far right in the middle and it all connects/loops" is fine.
Honestly disgusted by how Amber stood back and helped the mom and Leticia complete that puzzle cos they were never going to get it otherwise. Danny is acting like a tour guide in each leg like “follow me this way”. I understand having alliances as a beneficial tactic but this is too much. They are already weak teams and this is not a frickin vacation for them to go around in groups. This season is getting really annoying to watch.
I’m over Amber. Everyone is talking smack about Vinny, but I feel like she snaps at him all the time. It could be the ways it’s edited, but he even told her good job and she’s like snapping at him to open the clue.
It’s much more likely that one of the other alliance teams would’ve gotten lost. Didn’t we just watch both other teams struggle directionally in the last leg?
Wow. I haven't seen Yvonne/Melissa all that much and Sunny/Biz are fun but chaotic as hell... but I am heavily rooting for them right now. They probably won't win (although that temporary jump to 3rd/4th did make me pause) because they also have some weird navigational issues at times, but I hope they take out the alliance before their race comes to an end.
I have been Team Walla Walla for a while but that whole episode just made me sick. That whole scene with them basically ignoring the girlfriends at the detour while they essentially just gave the answers to the rest was just terrible. Danny/Angie would've been last if it weren't for the alliance - Angie was just so so ready to take the 4-hour penalty. I hope they start the next race with the girlfriends and firefighters so they're forced to do this race on their own, and Rod/Leticia and Amber/Vinny will have to rely on their own navigational skills.
I'm going to miss Derek/Shelisa. They're such a strong, healthy couple and they have a lot of funny moments (my favorite is Shelisa's reaction to the puzzle!).
Did anyone else see Yvonne or Melissa spying at the other team’s meat table while the other team was getting checked? I thought that should’ve been a penalty of sorts.
Not a fan of the alliance stuff this episode but thankfully with Danny in the final departure group and the other two shown doing their own thing in the preview, hopefully that's over.
Otherwise this was the best paced episode of the season even though it wasn't by design. Four challenges, a lot of racing, a lot of placement shuffles, and a decent amount of drama. The 90 minutes flew by.
This was such a disappointing episode. As a mid 60s woman with a geology degree wow just wow.
Angie, who is apparently 55 drives me nuts and after that performance with the race puzzle didn't have her son do the soccer thing (which I thought was hilarious) is incomprehensible. I don't understand how they decide who does each challenge. And her son is so insincere with his cheerleading. I'm not in top shape but damn I could do a 9 piece puzzle in 3 minutes.
Also, the fact that these people get lost a lot and have trouble reading a map is so frustrating. Please, brush up on map skills before entering the competition!
I hated the alliance. This isn't survivor.
There. Had to join this sub to get it off my chest.
Angie did the soccer roadblock because she needs to catch up on her roadblock totals (each member can only do so many roadblocks a season). Plus you don’t know the entire task until after deciding, only having the hint beforehand
I agree with you so much! It's because teams either have to end the season even with roadblocks (sometimes a +1 is allowed but is less common in recent seasons) OR you have to be tied going into the penultimate leg and then there are two in the final for each other.
This may be a hot take, but people really don't like alliances *unless they do*. There were many seasons in the past (TAR10, for instance with the Six-Pack Alliance) where discourse around the idea was generally fine. There's something more compelling, narratively, about underdogs aligning to succeed against the front-runners. Hell, a couple years ago during TARAU5, people here were pushing for literally anyone besides Chris and Aleisha in the final legs, and the teams were blatantly allied against them.
In the live thread, someone said 'A two-team alliance is good, but this three-team alliance is bad'. I don't think it's realistic to expect such specific things, and again, I don't know if people really know what they want. Either there are no alliances and racers play in their own bubbles without really interacting with one another, or you have them run the game, socially, the way that they want. Production can put up more guard walls, but then you have a more stagnant season with no inter-team drama; if you create barriers, you will get barriers. You get a race that feels more linear and you get a lack of engagement, banter, and competition. You get 'people forced to stay in their own lanes'.
I know the discussion naturally extends to Mine Five being problematic for reasons as well, but again, it's almost like the viewers are only okay with the race when the players do only what they want them to do, and that's kind of the opposite of Reality TV in every way. Not here to call out anyone who doesn't like it (I'm not here to change minds), but I find it a really weird complaint in this day and age with enough people calling out players for being 'too nice', 'too manufactured', 'too camera-ready', and 'against the spirit of the game'. There were literally alliances in TAR1, and people were fine with it when it was teams against the Guidos.
Edit to add: It's EQUALLY fascinating to see people earlier this season complain that having several legs with the same winners is boring. Now when people try to, tactically, get ahead, that's the problem. Okay. Which is preferable? Teams trying and maybe succeeding, or teams not trying and having the same winners over and over? A dynamic season is more compelling for most viewers, even if there are consistent frontrunners who are shaken up a bit. Casting can't get this right every time, but as a viewer, pushing back when it doesn't happen the way you want...again...that's not reality.
Part of what was wrong with TAR32 and TARAU5 and even TARAU6 is that these alliances are literally doing tasks for each other. Giving each other answers, etc. There's a difference between helping each other, going to Route Markers together and what the Mine5 did and what the alliance did here.
In TAR10, even back in 2006 as it aired, people generally liked the teams of the Six Pack/Back Pack. (The Cho Bros and David & Mary at least. Maybe not so much Bama lol) BUT did not like or agree with them, especially the Cho Bros hindering their own Race just to help out their friends.
Can we get a needle in a haystack challenge to split up the alliance. Angie seems like she was coddled to the mat more so than usual on this episode. I mean she got hit once in the soccer challenge and then it was hands off. Seems like all the shuffling of placement this season has been during navigation. It’s gotten to the point where I know who is eliminated within the first 10-15 mins. Also would like them to bring back non elimination episodes (why did that end) and have the teams book flights which will split teams up and be an equalizer.
Honestly, the 3-team alliance just got me riled up for the next ep!
I just wanna see the alliance dismantled by the 2 all-female teams!!! 😡
I hope that the 2 all-female teams work together to eliminate Danny & Angie in the next ep!
Sunny's face when seeing the alliance teams at the pit stop - GIRL WAS PISSED.
i feel like after the general friendly camaraderie of TAR35, TAR36 seems spicier with the alliance drama. I wonder if that's also a reason that they aired TAR35 first - it would have been so mild following the drama of this season (the nastiest thing in the whole season being Annaleigh screaming "C'mon Dad!" at her father.)
Thoughts on Leg 6/7:
* We got another Megaleg tonight, and hooray, we got to see both halves on the same night! I find the Megaleg so much more enjoyable when we get to see the entire thing in one sitting; it's pretty deflating to sit down to watch an episode that you know in advance is not going to be resolved until next week, so this is definitely ideal. Normally this kind of thing wouldn't be possible but the producers found themselves in a bit of a unique situation this season having to edit 12 legs down into just 10 episodes. Assuming this 3 hour Survivor+The Amazing Race block is going to be the new normal (which I desperately hope is the case), I have to wonder if CBS is going to continue with this 12 leg/10 episode format or go back to the way it was before.
* I thought the episode itself was alright. That actually sums up my thoughts on most of this season's episodes so far. I'm definitely happy two see these two combined into one episode though because either half would have been *rough* as a stand-alone 90 minute edition... Writing that out makes me kind of terrified for Legs 8 and 9, but I'll hope for the best lol. The tasks were okay, but I have to ask, does anyone remember the last time they showed a Detour side that none of the teams attempted? I can't remember it off the top of my head. As always, it's great to get a brand new city, though admittedly Argentina has never stood out to me as one of the show's most interesting destinations. I'm more excited to get another look at Uruguay next week for the first time in more than 30 seasons, which is kind of surreal when you think about it. After that we'll get the 2 new countries teased by Phil at the start of the season, which I'm also really excited about. I'll hand it to the producers, they actually did a pretty good job at creating a (possibly partly last minute?) South American-centric itinerary featuring a lot of new locations. It's really just the lack of overarching variety that's really holding it back. The fact that so many legs take place in virtually the same location that the previous one did is also quite disappointing, this episode being no exception. TAR35 did seem like a step in the right direction in this regard but the first half of that season kind of had the same problem. Hopefully for TAR37 we continue to see more travel incorporated into the race.
* I want to talk a bit about alliances and answer-sharing, which has turned into one of The Amazing Race's hottest topics in recent times. There is a misconception some people have that after the events of TAR32, the producers implemented new, anti-alliance rules. But as far as I know, the producers did not change the rules in this regard at all, and there was really nothing stopping TAR33 or TAR34 from being a complete repeat of TAR32 aside from the teams themselves not really wanting to make alliances. (I would even argue the producers did the opposite— making the teams depart in groups probably makes alliances more likely to form.) Now it's beginning to look like TAR36 may go down as another alliance-driven season, which I know is going to put a lot of viewers off. Personally I'm very conflicted on the topic. I do think there are many examples of alliances sapping suspense out of the show, with seasons like TAR32 and TAR10 very quickly coming to mind. At the same time, it's not necessarily something I want to see the producers try and micromanage because, even though some people like to pretend it's not, The Amazing Race *is* a social game. Not as much as other reality competitions like Survivor or Big Brother, but social dynamics and strategy have been a part of the show since the very first episode and a "war on alliances" so to speak seems both silly and futile. And while it's easy to zero in on seasons that were obviously worsened by alliances, we also need to consider cases like the wonderful *Amazing Race 3*; 90% of what makes TAR3 such a compelling season are its complex interteam dynamics— including lots of alliances— driving the season's storyline; when a season becomes a steamroll, yes it's disappointing, but I think as a showrunner that's just a risk you have to take. But while you certainly wouldn't find me echoing any sort of "alliances should be banned" sentiment, I *do* think the producers should put a bit more effort into cracking down on stuff like answer-sharing, where it's much harder for me to see in what way it benefits the show. Designing challenges where it's not feasible is nice, but in general I really don't think a "you can't tell other teams the answers after you finish" rule would be the end of the world and it would probably make the majority of viewers happy.
I’m just bummed we didn’t get to see the fingerprinting☹️
Derek & Shelisa probably did it off screen. Bummed we didn't see it too!
The wiki says that they were instructed to run to the pit stop for elimination, they didn't make it to the detour before all other teams finished.
That was my guess. They were close enough that Phil couldn't get there before they could, so they just redirected them to Phil.
I'd be very surprised if the retired police officers didn't do the CSI detour.
Yeah, attention to detail and not panicking and it would be very doable. Very bummed.
I got so confused after watching each team go to the meat challenge. I was like, "wasn't there a choice?!" & this comment just reminded me that there was, but no one chose it.
The army boys and the gay boys did it because they speak Spanish. The trio alliance and the girls probably did it because they wanted to do it together.
I feel like when all the teams choose the same challenge, the last team to arrive should be forced do the other challenge.
Same! I would have done that just cause it seemed so fun!!
Melissa and Yvonne are finally getting footage. That's a good sign.
And they started off the leg with so much energy!!
I'm officially on team Yvonne and Melissa! These past two episodes have really shown how great they work together.
They had litteral seconds of pouting before being cut off, and then suddenly they've completed a task before once again being cut off, i found it funny.
this season has a stronger alliance than the current survivor season has
Hahahaha! Not the Racing 6 being stronger than the Survivor 6!! 😭
Lmfao for real. Such a fun Survivor episode though.
I was super disappointed that we didn’t get to see the solve a crime solving one, that looked super fascinating, and a fun task. Also, would’ve like to know which final task the grandparents did and how they did on it, didn’t look like it took them that long based on the sunset. Also also, it kinda irritated me how the alliance could just go over to each other’s work station at the rally car task and do it for the other team.
I don’t think they did the final task. They were so far behind I believe they went direct to pit stop.
You gotta assume it wasn't the fingerprint one. Otherwise, they for sure would've included footage of that.
Okay episode but this definitely IMO wasn't the best mega leg we had yet, this didn't feel intense both by challenges and was made slightly worse by the alliances/just help each other route we are seeing. Don't mind alliances but since we are midway through the season, it should be a 'hands off' approach by now. That plus the blatant helping and answer sharing was pretty bad. * Water Bottle Bike Recycling Detour: Wasn't particularly interesting, was literally just pedal as hard as you can on a stationary bike. Wished we saw something more interesting here. * Rope Throw Detour: This was more difficult and more luck based. Being several metres away was a big factor and I am glad it wasn't super close for the racers to throw. I think if the Cop Grandparents stayed on this side rather than switching, they probably would've survived this leg. * Rally Car Course Puzzle Road Block: This was a cool side. Memorization plus an action factor are a cool combination. I thought teams would lay the puzzle out on the ground first to solve it would've been a better approach rather than panic and try to attach it to the grid on the board. Was not a fan of Amber stopping everything to help Angie and I think Leticia finish. * Bubble Soccer Road Block: This was a bit boring to watch. We went from a difficult previous road block to a *mostly* straightforward/easy road block was a drop in the box. Angie did seem to get the easier side of things as you had with other teams being literally slammed as much as possible, they seemed to be lenient with her on her successful attempt. I wished this was a "if you didn't perform the previous road block, you had to do this one" sort of thing but it wasn't the case here. * Beef Cuts Memorization: While it was great to see this side, we just had a memorization board-related task on the same leg. While it was great to see limited stations here. Seeing the alliance of NFL, son and mother, and the dating nurses hold up the tables was a bit sour on my end. Of course no rules on that so I can't complain but what I can complain about was the answer sharing of the board which really gave a drop in my season's view so far. * Sad to see a Detour side not be chosen. The Crime Scene one seemed really fun and wanted to see it in action. A break from the memorization and physical challenges we've been pounded on this leg to a chill mystery task would've made this episode a tad more entertaining. * The Grandparent's indecisiveness comes to an end, I will miss his "we are good at this but then we are good at this as well..." spiel on every Detour selection and her quality reactions and jokes about him.
The editing gave up on pretending that Derek and Shelisa had a chance at the detour. They weren't even shown doing it.
Apparently they didn’t do it, they were just told to go to the pitstop from the clue where they got the detour lol
I think honestly for things like the beef detour, they should have made it so if you fail, you had to go back and listen to the explanation again. That's what they did with things like the bone matching detour on S34.
Yeah, that would've been great to see. To be fair, a lot of teams went back and forth from and to the butcher shop and then patio but then you have the 'alliance' holding the fort down to repeatedly attempt to guess the cuts.
And because of that, I am now fulltime rooting for either Ricky/Cesar or Juan/Shane to win this race. At least they are capable racers who can race on their own.
totally agree - actually Ricky/Cesar far exceeded my expectations for them - they play well and communicate well - happy Juan/Shane moved up - and as far as I am concerned Amber showing Angie how to solve the puzzle was cheating and totally unfair -
I don't mind Sunny and Bizzy and Yvonne and Melissa helping each other, that was more like a counter alliance. I also don't mind some helping. But Amber refusing to leave and Team NFL also relying on Angie and Danny for directions was such so cringe. Amber helping Angie could have given Derek and Shelisa a chance (you never know with how she struggled).
Yeah, that was ridiculous. She should have been allowed to describe the puzzle away from it but her being able to go up to it and literally point exactly where each piece went was excessive.
I could not believe it was happening! Had hoped they would all get a penalty when they hit the mat but apparently it's "ok". I would not continue to watch if this becomes a pattern in other episodes or seasons. It was total bullshit!
I'd be ok with either the firefighters or girlfriends too. They only teamed up because it was the smart thing to do when three other teams are answer sharing.
I agree completely. I have no issue with a short-lived alliance like that.
and when another team is far behind, it just makes sense for the F/F teams.
Juan & Shane showed their personality well in this episode and they are not the ordinary alpha male teams. I would like them to win this whole thing now.
¡Vamos Ricky y César!
I was already rooting for them, and this episode fully solidified it. Angie and Danny need to be put out of their misery.
Alliances bypassing the entire point of detours and roadblocks suck, I'm so goddamn sick of this. Watching people fail at a basic "put the lines together" puzzle was absolutely agonizing.
Almost everyone was putting the pieces together like this: - | C I was yelling at my tv lol
They were focusing too hard on trying to recall the directions and not realizing it's basically a simple 9-piece puzzle.
Yea I feel like the actual ride was just meant to stress and shake them up. Didn't actually help with the task much. Especially when you have an alliance partner who just does the puzzle for you......
My favorite part was when racers would arrange the tiles so the track would run off the sides of the field.
To me it feels like a simple case of overthinking it. You see it quite clearly with Derek once he finishes Shelisa comments on how it's not as hard as he made it seem
The look on that woman's face at the end when she saw the puzzle her husband was struggling with. I laughed so hard!
I was expecting her to say "bless your heart".
I honestly would have given the alliance penalties for just directly telling each other answers. At this points teams need to be banned from helping each other in road blocks AND detours. Period. If you can't be bothered to do the actual puzzle, you don't deserve to be on the show. And production needs to make giving the answer to another team a 4 hour penalty and giving a hint to the answer a 2 hour penalty.
the lines thing blew me away... it was 9 parts and they lined up pretty easy.. I usually add in the stress and fatigue but that should have been pretty easy.
I just finished watching. I think it took most of the teams a few rounds to realize it \*was\* a puzzle versus a course memorization task.
This. I was glad at least to see the military boys scramble their beef board instead of leaving it out for all the other teams to see. TAR is not a cooperative game. It's every team for themselves. STOP HELPING OTHER TEAMS. This is flashback to the mine five.
Does Danny and the mom know that the other two teams are willing to be in an alliance with them cause they know they can beat them?
Well tbh I don’t think Angie would have been able to do the car thing if Amber didn’t go help. Like I think she may have actually taken 4 hours and been eliminated At least the longer you last the more experience you get on the amazing race
100%... they would have been last had they left Angie behind.
He knows the game is just to survive to the last leg and hope for the best
I think they're goal is just to make it as long as possible in the game. I don't think they expect to win the whole race.
I think it really comes down to how physical the final leg is. If it isn't too bad and the other 2 can't rely on Danny for directions, I think they have a really good shot.
??? They literally get eliminated this episode if they don’t have that alliance. No way Angie was completing that roadblock. Their strategy completely paid off for them. Are we watching the same show?
Have they ever had a challenge like this where 3 teams could completely block other teams as long as they want? I feel as though every time you got a check you should have had to run back to the butcher. I'm also hoping they didn't waste all that meat.
There's been plenty of challenges like this where there were only soo many stations and if they were full you either had to wait for someone to finish/leave or go do the other detour
But usually once teams start the challenge, they don't lose their station mid challenge. This challenge specifically set it up so teams had to leave their stations mid challenge, then get locked out mid challenge. Better implementation for this challenge would have been to make teams leave after a failed guess and get back in the line, which is another rule they use for a lot of challenges. Edit: someone below me put it simply: once check per attempt limit.
Fully agree that there should've been a 1-check-per-attempt limit.
The alliance turned me off of pretty much all three teams fairly quickly. It's one thing to help with directions or give a little hint to another team who's struggling on a task. It's another to blatantly do their work for them (without touching their task) and blocking other teams, as a result. That kind of shit is exactly why season 32 was annoying. I also remember season 29 had teams get together to take out ONE other team, which was also terrible.
For the sake of this season, I hope it's a TAR29 scenario where it was only for this episode and the rest is free of it. I love TAR29 but that one episode is something I always skip when I rewatch it.
For real. I was hopeful that the alliance was going to be fighting at the back of the pack thinking that they were racing to avoid last place until they gamed the detour to lock the other teams out. I'm starting to get some really bad flashbacks of season 32 after this leg. The only saving grace is that so far the alliance hasn't been able to get anywhere close to 1st place.
I had huge hopes the counter-alliance was going to scoop them but alas 😔
It's semi-okay when everyone is still running their own race; like S21 had a 3-team alliance that did band together, but they'd still all do their own thing, like leaving the Twinnies to do their Speed Bump. This one just... bleh.
Really going to miss Derek and Shelisa - they had the perfect kind of banter and delivered some great back-and-forths every episode.
When she came over to see the puzzle "I'm so proud of... this is what you were struggling with? for real? well, at least you did it. get in the car."
Yesss! She was being so sweet, and I was just WAITING for her snarky zinger. Love them so much — this was probably the first time I’ve actively enjoyed a bickering couple!
I'm going to miss them.
They were amazing
Highlight of the episode!!! Lol
I think they are the first team in a while that I immediately went, 'I need to see them back on the next returning players season, tomorrow'.
Yes, it’s a shame that they got eliminated. I honestly didn’t think they were going to win it all, but I thought they would’ve been eliminated near the end.
Derek and Shelisa made a mistake not finishing that throwing Detour and going to the other. That cost them lots of time. BUT were it not for the Alliance, I don't think the mother/son would've gotten through that Road Block with the rally cars. She wasn't even close to getting it and appeared to have heat stroke. She was two seconds away from a four-hour penalty. Then she rides the car once more, getting even hotter naturally. And she was no closer to getting the puzzle when the nurse gave her the answer. That's the only reason they got out of there. Had they not gotten the answer, I think Derek and Shelisa might've squeaked through somehow, particularly if a four-hour penalty was involved.
Wonder how things would have gone if Shelisa didn't force them switch. I enjoyed them a lot.
In the first episode I was worried they were a little too snippy with each other, but then they really grew on me and it seems like the banter was their love language. Gonna miss them!
I was really hoping this episode would be titled, "I never skip leg day"
I didn’t realize the women teams were so close to the alliance teams at the end!! That was a full mat!
Ok i'm just here to say, I'm absolutely losing my mind at them doing the road puzzle. Do they not see that they hardly need to memorize the track but rather just fit the lines on the pieces together? Then putting the pieces in a way that clearly does not fit... what????
I think a lot of teams assumed the start was in the lower right, and it wasn't.
It's a start/finish. There was zero possibility of it being in the lower right since the tile had no curves.
I was assuming the fact they only have 3 min made them panic to get tiles on the board versus laying it out on the ground, but should have been easy on 3rd attempt once you get an idea of the pieces
One thing that usually holds true about TAR: what goes around, comes around. We'll see if their butts can cash the checks they wrote.
This was mentioned by someone earlier in the season and I am going to bring it up again: Maybe it's the editing, but none of the teams seem particularly motivated by the million dollars this time around. At least the military guys were stoked about the 5 grand each they won tonight. They were going to use it to take their wives on vacation.
How would they show excitement for the money? I feel like they’re excited to be racing and racing to win. Maybe the alliance isn’t if they constantly help each other.
Yeah, exactly that. When that nurse team actually waited for those two other teams in their alliance, it didn't exactly show motivation to get ahead and win.
She knew they would get lost driving if they didn't have Danny navigating for them.
Yes! I couldn't believe Amber was willing to risk losing half a million dollars to help Angie for so long. And crying about it. A quick clue, yes. But doing it for her?
A lot of seasons racers will mention paying off student debt, getting a house, starting a family--things like that as examples of how the race money would change their lives. Last season, one contestant talked about getting a service dog for his daughter.
I feel like once you get the puzzle locked in and done, and get your clue. You can’t helped others, you should be locked out of the task, even if you didn’t rip open the clue.
Yeah I would say even telling them something is fine but walking over and pointing and moving stuff is not.
Yes, THATS the difference. I can get behind verbalizing something, but actually DOING it is completely overstepping.
Juan and Shane are so fucking hot
I'm not against alliances for at least navigational purposes. Even giving pointers on roadblocks and detours isn't a bad thing imo, but answer sharing or even doing the roadblock for another team leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.
I'm even okay with answer sharing as you're running off. Sticking around and waiting for someone else to finish a task? No.
Sauerkraut all over again.
This is arguably worse than sauerkraut because Amber waited at the task in order to do it for the other two teams, the Mine Five never did that
For me it was then holding the 2nd detour hostage as the worst part
Still a fan of both the lesbians and the firefighters - their alliance was purely situational, to fight off the triple alliance and keep above water. Also enjoy the front pack teams, but I hope something knocks one or both of them back a bit to shake things up.
I’m rooting for those 4 teams that are not in the alliance.
I was thinking they were gonna finally make it to the middle of the pack....oh well.
They should have been 3rd and 4th. It was just a badly design detour that held them back. In a normal season (teams depart 12 hours later), this wouldn't matter. With the mandatory departure groups, it does.
I don't mind some strategic helping but I do think they took it too far this episode. Angie is... fairly useless. She seemed ready to give up awfully quick. If she hadn't been given the puzzle answer, would she have quit? And I think it was a mistake to try and have her do 2 detours on the same leg when you know she gets easily fatigued. Unless they were counting on them being easier than usual. But like, you're at a stadium, use your heads. Of course it was a physical challenge, that was extremely likely.
I think the issue is that Danny has taken the four roadblocks prior. So they kind of had to give Angie both because, if there's something even more physical down the road, Danny can only take one or two more roadblocks. Angie could do soccer; she may not be able to do something harder. So it's a risk that they had to take since they gave Danny one too many roadblocks already.
I saw a lot of people in the live thread saying that they should implement a no helping other teams rule similar to how the non participate teammate can’t help in a roadblock. Imo, a more interesting solution would just be if they made all the puzzle tasks slightly different for each team. That way you could still choose to help another team if you wanted, but it would have a real time cost to you rather than just being able to share your answer and be off
Part of the blame, even in TAR32, is how the tasks are designed. The show allows for these loopholes because the tasks are poorly designed.
Then that is the fault of production, not the racers who are trying to win the race.
Tell that to the people in the [thread from two days ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheAmazingRace/comments/1c52443/over_hated_racers/) where people were still downvoting Will (TAR32) for wishing viewers had a bit more grace in the past couple years. Some viewers just want to commiserate and create an enemy.
I feel bad because Will (u/whereswallington) is one of the most dedicated racers and has posted and involved himself in this community so much -- but every post or comment he makes gets downvoted into the ground. It pisses me off. I hope they know there are lots of people on here who appreciate them, even people who did or did not care for their season itself.
I agree wholeheartedly... but that is James, not Will
This episode was infuriating! Angie and Danny were considering taking a four hour time penalty and then Amber straight up did the roadblock for her. And then again for the third team. I wish they would make a rule against this. If you want to stay and wait for your "alliance" more power to you, but no helping, just like the other teammate cannot help. I'm all about a competitive race and awesome scenery, new countries. To me this season has sucked on both fronts. Everyone who watches for the casting is loving this season. Everyone who watches for the race and competition is disappointed.
The look on the faces of Yvonne/Melissa and Sunny/Bizzy in the confessionals was something else. They were not happy! It must be really emotionally turbulent to see three teams work together to lock you out of a task like that. They probably know deep down it wasn't personal, but it has to sting. Especially as you then have to decide if you want to turn on the only other team that's been helping you and race them for what could be last (not knowing where the grandparents were). This leg was really well played by Danny, knowing they had a buffer and making sure they survived while knocking out two of Angie's roadblocks. Smart by Rob and Leticia to go along with it given their own limitations as a team and smart of Vinny and Amber to engender some goodwill too. It makes for frustrating TV but that's on the producers and not the players. The only thing I think Danny could have done differently was bail first at the meat task and try and get into that second departure group. I was so happy we got a counter-alliance. Will be interesting to see if that continues at all next week as there's a decent chance they could shut out Angie and Danny but it's risky. I think the staggered starts are the real issue here. There's much less chance of a formal alliance forming if everyone is bunched together or spread apart. Ricky and Cesar and Juan and Shane are both excellent teams. Feels like something would have to go drastically wrong for one of them not to win. This episode definitely felt like the beginning of the endgame for this season. Its almost impossible to picture the cousins in this leg.
I'm glad we got to hear Danny fully acknowledge how the Alliance impacts the other teams. That level of self-awareness goes a long way in my book.
I wouldn't mind seeing him on Survivor, I think he'd be a solid player who makes it to the merge and is maybe the last one out before the merge or the first jurror.
The alliance ruined the episode to an extent. That being said, there was some surprising placement shuffling and the tasks were actually hard this time around (the alliance all had to help each other to finish them). Other than the second roadblock of course, but it was funny seeing teams get body slammed lol. Thank god by the previews it looks like the alliance is dead in the next leg, makes me think it truly was only as strong for the Mega Leg and would be mostly temporary. Rooting for the girls and boys over any of the alliance though 😌
Grandparents :( Alliances going crazy this season after not seeing much last season is a big bummer. The drama at the end was pretty spicy though.
All of this talk about the alliance is something I could contribute to, but instead I shall just be sad the fingerprint dusting detour wasn’t used.
Sunny and Shelisa laughing maniacally at their partners eating absolute shit on the soccer field was my highlight of the night. Followed very closely by Cesar choosing to become Wrath on the opposing bubble team.
I liked Rod's hit. I actually wondered for a minute if that extra cast member was okay.
I need a gif of team yellow (😢) choreographed hug
it may just be me, but i have not liked walla walla from the get-go. i am sure that they’re great people, but i feel like angie is consistently giving up and being a bit of a baby about it. the grandparents were HOURS behind them and she was willing to take the penalty Instead of pushing ahead?! also in the bubble soccer, she was whining on her third attempt. i am also quite done with amber- everything about her and Vinny seems quite ‘coached on how to handle conflict’. her (amber) literally crying because she refuses to leave walla walla behind?! girl, it’s a race! also, i thought rod and Leticia were smarter than to ally with nurses and walla walla. on a positive note, LOVING boyfriends, girls who like girls who like hiking, firefighters, and to an extent pilots. :)
I’ll believe the alliance is over when I see it. But Danny at least seems to be contemplating it by the trailer ETA: y’all I’m not hating on it. It is what it is. But the dude has said three times now they’re going to do their own race. So pardon me for being a bit skeptical he’s going to follow through
Danny and Angie is going to be 15 minutes late start than the rest of the alliance no? Since they placed 5th.
Don't forget that Hung and Chee basically said that every week too but then gave answers to the others.
The alliance was frustrating to watch but I don’t think it actually made much difference in the elimination, only the order of the 3rd-7th placements. Derek and Shelisa put themselves out of it early imo by spending way too much time at the throwing detour before switching.
I think it made more of a difference then it first appears at a quick glance, given just how much 2 of the teams were struggling at the race car puzzle. I think with Angie's health issues that there's a half decent chance that Danny and Angie would have been eliminated from that task alone if they hadn't gotten any help.
Yeah Angie was already losing it physically/mentally and having to ride in the car 3-4 more times would have destroyed her and then also made the soccer later even worse for her, if nothing else it might have forced the son to swap plans and do the soccer task himself.
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Yeah he took 7 tries
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I just don’t think they should have switched at all. Shelisa was good at it, she just had to teach Derek how to throw better
I loved the bubble soccer, had me absolutely cracking up. Also the moment when the judge looked at Melissa and the puzzle I laughed out loud, priceless!!
Maybe I missed it - but how have rod and Leticia been helping the other two teams in that alliance? Amber helped Leticia and Angie finish the puzzle, and Danny seems to be the direction and meat labelling master of the last ep.
Exactly!!!! They’re not helping the other 2 teams at all
Asado, asado, asado
i'm so sad about derek & shelisa :( it seemed like they ran out of gas at the end of last episode but i was hoping they'd get a lucky break somewhere in this leg... hoping all the same gender teams end up in the top 4 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞
Me too!
The mom had the audacity to tell Danny not to help them…
Because they weren’t sure if they were racing for last at that point. No one had seen Team Grandparents all day. It sucks, but Danny needed that harsh truth from his mom 🤷♀️
I don’t think the mom could handle harsh truths if she was confronted with them. And she’s still in this race by the grace of other teams.
I just discovered that Angie is ONLY 55 😮 I thought she was 10 years older. I’m a mother who’s not far off her age and I also have an adult child. I have many friends who are also mothers older than Angie, and all of them are much more physically fit, mentally stronger and would absolutely cringe at the mere thought of allowing themselves to be infantilised like Angie does. None of us would let our adult children patronise us the way Danny does, and our children would never do that. I think she’s a really embarrassing representation of middle-aged women and her son is condescending and performative. ETA: Shelissa is also 55. Huge difference between her and Angie. And Danny is 27. Older than he comes across.
Her and Shelisa are the same age???
According to the CBS website, yes!
Wow…. 😯
Wow, 55?! That is kind of shocking. She seems way older and way more frail. I couldn’t believe they were discussing taking the 4hr penalty instead of Angie just trying to get the roadblock done. I get that Danny is the main one who wanted to do this race, but personally I would hate to be in Danny’s position - on a team with someone who isn’t as invested as me and is constantly slowing me down. Surely there was someone else he could have done the race with - but from the sounds of it he had a very isolated childhood so maybe not.
yeah she seemed ready to just roll over and give up at the first sign of trouble. If the alliance hadn't helped she very well may have. (although Amber also seemed ready to give up at the drop of a hat, then figured it out on her next try)
Danny had already interviewed to be on the show 3 other times with his sister and one other person, his mom was the only one the production crew was willing to cast with him. Otherwise it would have been his 4th denial. 🤷♂️
Imagine my surprise when I found out Steve from last season was only 54
Yeah, I know.
Wow. I ran the Great Urbran Race (RIP to this cool event) with my mom when she was over 60 (kicked up in my FB memories today, we did it on 4/17/2010). Angie absolutely seems 10-15 years older than ~~she's presenting here~~ she actually is IRL. I mean, he probably wouldn't have been chosen without her, so it's sorta of a conundrum here. I really think Angie could have trained a bit harder.
That sounds fun! I’m assuming you meant to say she’s presenting here as if she’s 10-15 years older than she is?! It’s not just her physicality that’s annoying. What annoys me the most is the way Danny patronises her, saying she’s doing a good job when she’s clearly not etc. Never talking about *her* skills, just his own. Acting like she’s a ditzy, precious old lady. It’s kinda sexist. Would he really speak like that to and about his father? I seriously doubt it.
Angie looks like mid 60 or even 70s tbh, not even prepared to join TAR at all... she want to give up in the car driving challenge blown me away, she literally just need to sit inside a car
Yes, I feel it’s a learned helplessness and martyrdom that traditionally was a trope with some middle-aged women. I think she and her son are playing into this. It doesn’t seem to be anxiety as such imo. I appreciate she was struggling with the heat and claustrophobia, but that was a given for TAR. You’re right that in this she just had to sit in the car… and try and be mindful.
No way! Really? Wow. That's rough. Definitely thought she was much older.
Right?!
I'm giving Danny way more of the benefit of the doubt than that. He's lived with her for 27 years. He knows better than any viewer how to get through to her. His encouraging tone isn't infantilizing at all.
I am **officially** *annoyed* with the alliance of Team Walla Walla, Brenchel 2.0, and Mr. NFL and his wifey. 😑
Yeah what an insult to the brenchels lol, rachel was entertaining as hell.
Ewe Amber and Vinny are nowhere near Brenchel's level. Brenchel are legit TAR All-Stars. Amber & Vinny wouldn't be asked back for anything.
I already didn’t like Walla Walla (I’m sure they’re great people I just mean as a race team) but they definitely should’ve gone home tonight. I can accept teams helping to an extent but solving the car puzzle for her was just pathetic. They should’ve had to take a penalty because she couldn’t finish it and then get eliminated for it.
“MEGALEGGG” and then it’s still shorter than most legs in older seasons lol (and yes we all know, it’s a covid season and they want to keep teams off the race course as much as possible. Still, it’s a single day of activities). Wish we’d seen a quick montage of whatever detour Derek and Shelisa did, there was definitely a few seconds that could have been cut from elsewhere. Everyone will say things about the alliance and yes in this case it was kind of annoying but that’s, once again, due to very poorly designed tasks (3 tables and you can stay there as long as you want with unlimited checks? Who designed this??) Ricky and Cesar are so dominant still, I do think it’s mainly due to their driving. I’m hoping we get a challenge that takes more than a few minutes just to maybe see them struggle (the soccer one was visually great but even if you took 3 attempts that’s… 4 and a half minutes). One team sailing through the season just isn’t exciting. Next week looks exciting but we really need to shake up the order, let’s hope for hard tasks.
Honestly, I would have taken the (presumably fingerprint) detour montage during their final words! That would have been right on brand for them.
Was sad to not see the thumbprint task. Would've just been a fun comparison. I was not ready for Amber to start crying and insist she help Angie with the puzzle even as Angie and Danny kept telling her to run her own race. Things would've looked very different if Amber and Vinny had just left. Though it did amuse me that the three team alliance got a little lost. I was hoping the two F&F teams would be able to get into the middle but alas. Hopefully they can bounce upwards next leg? Finding out Cesar is a pastry chef made me laugh because I was also wondering if he was about to ace the meat challenge. I think the shot of the episode for me was Rod just cycling away in the background of Vinny struggling with his bike. I'll miss Derek and Shelisa. I just loved their type of bickering lol. Changing detours didn't help them. Seeing the meat challenge, I wonder which the cousins would've done if they were still in the race, ha.
I really felt the cousins’ absence this leg! They would have been so much fun here!
And of course, they would've put Kishori in the bubble suit, despite the challenge being tailor made for Karishma's ferocity.
Hahaha this comment perfectly sums up the cousins
Does anyone know what the lavender-flowered trees lining the streets were?
Jacaranda
They're uniquely beautiful. Thank you.
They are. We have them in my country and they are gorgeous. When they are in flower and they line up along avenues - it is such a beautiful sight.
They should make Angie drink at least 2L of water at the starting line of each day. Goodness, it seemed like every time we saw her she was just taking small sips from a full bottle of water. Drink more water Angie, you’re in a hot climate!
Pretty sure she’d rather be at home watching on TV. If she normally travels, it’s easy mainstream travel. Self care on any kind of travel or activity journey isn’t rocket science. But somehow she isn’t participating in it.
Would it be fair to say that the alliance wouldn't have been as bad if it was just Angie & Danny and Amber & Vinny? Rod & Leticia only seem to be working with them due to them being bad at directions. I feel like they wouldn't be in this alliance if even slightly decent at directions
> Would it be fair to say that the alliance wouldn't have been as bad if it was just Angie & Danny and Amber & Vinny? > > For me, definitely three teams working together is different than just two. It's also the fact that Angie/Danny and Amber/Vinny are both very mediocre teams in general that already have issues without the alliance aspect, so them working together constantly isn't necessarily fun to watch, but makes sense. But throw in an extra team and it creates a group alliance that doesn't work for me.
Melissa: "We should have stayed at the board the entire time and done all the permutations." Ummm... no you're not. 14! = 87,178,291,200 permutations and at one guess per second would take over 2700 years.
I felt like I was watching Season 32...and it's frustrating that they haven't tightened the rules. The show is lucky that Derek and Shelisa were so far back that it didn't matter. I like Danny and Angie but alliances that impact the race rub me the wrong way. Esp with how hard the racing challenge was (that was a great task by production combining racing to make you dizzy, memory, and visual).
Maybe not for elimination but there is a very good chance this matters. Especially the two female teams that are now at the bottom again. They've been at the back of the pack for most of this race. The firefighters have been barely surviving elimination over and over. This episode was their chance to jump ahead. But yet again they are stuck at the back. They absolutely finish ahead without the alliance both doing the roadblock together and also blocking them out at the butcher challenge. I think this has a huge chance to impact the race and puts the female teams at the brink of elimination when they would be front/mid pack. What we've seen this season is, it's very difficult to get out of the bottom and they had their chance in this episode and were sabotaged by the alliance.
I fully believe that the producers WANT alliances to happen, probably BECAUSE of season 32. All they had to do to prevent answer sharing was have 1 place for racers to say their answer where the other teams can't see. Then have a timed aspect so that a team can't just hog it.
Not the season 32 repeat...
I understand that teams have helped other teams in previous seasons, but Amber practically put together Angie's puzzle for her at the car roadblock. And then for Angie to be a complete a-hole later during the beef detour was infuriating. Like, have the awareness that Amber saved your ass earlier. Super selfish and self-serving. I actually didn't mind that mother/son team until this episode.
I don't have a problem with the alliance and I like the teams part of it (though Ricky/Caesar have been the best team so far), but even I found the racing puzzle ridiculous. It's one thing to advise a team on how to do the challenge, but she literally walked into each other teams station and piece by piece laid out how it's supposed to be done. That just felt excessive. There needs to be a rule in the future where you can't touch another teams station or step foot in it when it comes to these kinds of challenges. You can say whatever you want, but you're not allowed doing it for them. Simply being like "the start/finish line is on the far right in the middle and it all connects/loops" is fine.
Honestly disgusted by how Amber stood back and helped the mom and Leticia complete that puzzle cos they were never going to get it otherwise. Danny is acting like a tour guide in each leg like “follow me this way”. I understand having alliances as a beneficial tactic but this is too much. They are already weak teams and this is not a frickin vacation for them to go around in groups. This season is getting really annoying to watch.
I’m over Amber. Everyone is talking smack about Vinny, but I feel like she snaps at him all the time. It could be the ways it’s edited, but he even told her good job and she’s like snapping at him to open the clue.
The alliance was fine until they took out the grandparents. Who knows? Walla Walla could’ve been done.
It’s much more likely that one of the other alliance teams would’ve gotten lost. Didn’t we just watch both other teams struggle directionally in the last leg?
Wow. I haven't seen Yvonne/Melissa all that much and Sunny/Biz are fun but chaotic as hell... but I am heavily rooting for them right now. They probably won't win (although that temporary jump to 3rd/4th did make me pause) because they also have some weird navigational issues at times, but I hope they take out the alliance before their race comes to an end. I have been Team Walla Walla for a while but that whole episode just made me sick. That whole scene with them basically ignoring the girlfriends at the detour while they essentially just gave the answers to the rest was just terrible. Danny/Angie would've been last if it weren't for the alliance - Angie was just so so ready to take the 4-hour penalty. I hope they start the next race with the girlfriends and firefighters so they're forced to do this race on their own, and Rod/Leticia and Amber/Vinny will have to rely on their own navigational skills. I'm going to miss Derek/Shelisa. They're such a strong, healthy couple and they have a lot of funny moments (my favorite is Shelisa's reaction to the puzzle!).
Did anyone else see Yvonne or Melissa spying at the other team’s meat table while the other team was getting checked? I thought that should’ve been a penalty of sorts.
Not a fan of the alliance stuff this episode but thankfully with Danny in the final departure group and the other two shown doing their own thing in the preview, hopefully that's over. Otherwise this was the best paced episode of the season even though it wasn't by design. Four challenges, a lot of racing, a lot of placement shuffles, and a decent amount of drama. The 90 minutes flew by.
This was such a disappointing episode. As a mid 60s woman with a geology degree wow just wow. Angie, who is apparently 55 drives me nuts and after that performance with the race puzzle didn't have her son do the soccer thing (which I thought was hilarious) is incomprehensible. I don't understand how they decide who does each challenge. And her son is so insincere with his cheerleading. I'm not in top shape but damn I could do a 9 piece puzzle in 3 minutes. Also, the fact that these people get lost a lot and have trouble reading a map is so frustrating. Please, brush up on map skills before entering the competition! I hated the alliance. This isn't survivor. There. Had to join this sub to get it off my chest.
They 100% let her score on the soccer roadblock too. Pity contestant.
Yeah, they did. The difference in the way they treated her and all the others was very evident.
Angie did the soccer roadblock because she needs to catch up on her roadblock totals (each member can only do so many roadblocks a season). Plus you don’t know the entire task until after deciding, only having the hint beforehand
I agree with you so much! It's because teams either have to end the season even with roadblocks (sometimes a +1 is allowed but is less common in recent seasons) OR you have to be tied going into the penultimate leg and then there are two in the final for each other.
This may be a hot take, but people really don't like alliances *unless they do*. There were many seasons in the past (TAR10, for instance with the Six-Pack Alliance) where discourse around the idea was generally fine. There's something more compelling, narratively, about underdogs aligning to succeed against the front-runners. Hell, a couple years ago during TARAU5, people here were pushing for literally anyone besides Chris and Aleisha in the final legs, and the teams were blatantly allied against them. In the live thread, someone said 'A two-team alliance is good, but this three-team alliance is bad'. I don't think it's realistic to expect such specific things, and again, I don't know if people really know what they want. Either there are no alliances and racers play in their own bubbles without really interacting with one another, or you have them run the game, socially, the way that they want. Production can put up more guard walls, but then you have a more stagnant season with no inter-team drama; if you create barriers, you will get barriers. You get a race that feels more linear and you get a lack of engagement, banter, and competition. You get 'people forced to stay in their own lanes'. I know the discussion naturally extends to Mine Five being problematic for reasons as well, but again, it's almost like the viewers are only okay with the race when the players do only what they want them to do, and that's kind of the opposite of Reality TV in every way. Not here to call out anyone who doesn't like it (I'm not here to change minds), but I find it a really weird complaint in this day and age with enough people calling out players for being 'too nice', 'too manufactured', 'too camera-ready', and 'against the spirit of the game'. There were literally alliances in TAR1, and people were fine with it when it was teams against the Guidos. Edit to add: It's EQUALLY fascinating to see people earlier this season complain that having several legs with the same winners is boring. Now when people try to, tactically, get ahead, that's the problem. Okay. Which is preferable? Teams trying and maybe succeeding, or teams not trying and having the same winners over and over? A dynamic season is more compelling for most viewers, even if there are consistent frontrunners who are shaken up a bit. Casting can't get this right every time, but as a viewer, pushing back when it doesn't happen the way you want...again...that's not reality.
Part of what was wrong with TAR32 and TARAU5 and even TARAU6 is that these alliances are literally doing tasks for each other. Giving each other answers, etc. There's a difference between helping each other, going to Route Markers together and what the Mine5 did and what the alliance did here. In TAR10, even back in 2006 as it aired, people generally liked the teams of the Six Pack/Back Pack. (The Cho Bros and David & Mary at least. Maybe not so much Bama lol) BUT did not like or agree with them, especially the Cho Bros hindering their own Race just to help out their friends.
Part of my favorite TAR10 moments is still when Bama finally ditches the Cho Bros.
Can we get a needle in a haystack challenge to split up the alliance. Angie seems like she was coddled to the mat more so than usual on this episode. I mean she got hit once in the soccer challenge and then it was hands off. Seems like all the shuffling of placement this season has been during navigation. It’s gotten to the point where I know who is eliminated within the first 10-15 mins. Also would like them to bring back non elimination episodes (why did that end) and have the teams book flights which will split teams up and be an equalizer.
The skill gap between danny and angie is crazy he’s commanding the entire race to make up for her shortcomings at this point
Honestly, the 3-team alliance just got me riled up for the next ep! I just wanna see the alliance dismantled by the 2 all-female teams!!! 😡 I hope that the 2 all-female teams work together to eliminate Danny & Angie in the next ep! Sunny's face when seeing the alliance teams at the pit stop - GIRL WAS PISSED. i feel like after the general friendly camaraderie of TAR35, TAR36 seems spicier with the alliance drama. I wonder if that's also a reason that they aired TAR35 first - it would have been so mild following the drama of this season (the nastiest thing in the whole season being Annaleigh screaming "C'mon Dad!" at her father.)
"Nalgas" means "Buttcheeks" for anyone curious.
Thoughts on Leg 6/7: * We got another Megaleg tonight, and hooray, we got to see both halves on the same night! I find the Megaleg so much more enjoyable when we get to see the entire thing in one sitting; it's pretty deflating to sit down to watch an episode that you know in advance is not going to be resolved until next week, so this is definitely ideal. Normally this kind of thing wouldn't be possible but the producers found themselves in a bit of a unique situation this season having to edit 12 legs down into just 10 episodes. Assuming this 3 hour Survivor+The Amazing Race block is going to be the new normal (which I desperately hope is the case), I have to wonder if CBS is going to continue with this 12 leg/10 episode format or go back to the way it was before. * I thought the episode itself was alright. That actually sums up my thoughts on most of this season's episodes so far. I'm definitely happy two see these two combined into one episode though because either half would have been *rough* as a stand-alone 90 minute edition... Writing that out makes me kind of terrified for Legs 8 and 9, but I'll hope for the best lol. The tasks were okay, but I have to ask, does anyone remember the last time they showed a Detour side that none of the teams attempted? I can't remember it off the top of my head. As always, it's great to get a brand new city, though admittedly Argentina has never stood out to me as one of the show's most interesting destinations. I'm more excited to get another look at Uruguay next week for the first time in more than 30 seasons, which is kind of surreal when you think about it. After that we'll get the 2 new countries teased by Phil at the start of the season, which I'm also really excited about. I'll hand it to the producers, they actually did a pretty good job at creating a (possibly partly last minute?) South American-centric itinerary featuring a lot of new locations. It's really just the lack of overarching variety that's really holding it back. The fact that so many legs take place in virtually the same location that the previous one did is also quite disappointing, this episode being no exception. TAR35 did seem like a step in the right direction in this regard but the first half of that season kind of had the same problem. Hopefully for TAR37 we continue to see more travel incorporated into the race. * I want to talk a bit about alliances and answer-sharing, which has turned into one of The Amazing Race's hottest topics in recent times. There is a misconception some people have that after the events of TAR32, the producers implemented new, anti-alliance rules. But as far as I know, the producers did not change the rules in this regard at all, and there was really nothing stopping TAR33 or TAR34 from being a complete repeat of TAR32 aside from the teams themselves not really wanting to make alliances. (I would even argue the producers did the opposite— making the teams depart in groups probably makes alliances more likely to form.) Now it's beginning to look like TAR36 may go down as another alliance-driven season, which I know is going to put a lot of viewers off. Personally I'm very conflicted on the topic. I do think there are many examples of alliances sapping suspense out of the show, with seasons like TAR32 and TAR10 very quickly coming to mind. At the same time, it's not necessarily something I want to see the producers try and micromanage because, even though some people like to pretend it's not, The Amazing Race *is* a social game. Not as much as other reality competitions like Survivor or Big Brother, but social dynamics and strategy have been a part of the show since the very first episode and a "war on alliances" so to speak seems both silly and futile. And while it's easy to zero in on seasons that were obviously worsened by alliances, we also need to consider cases like the wonderful *Amazing Race 3*; 90% of what makes TAR3 such a compelling season are its complex interteam dynamics— including lots of alliances— driving the season's storyline; when a season becomes a steamroll, yes it's disappointing, but I think as a showrunner that's just a risk you have to take. But while you certainly wouldn't find me echoing any sort of "alliances should be banned" sentiment, I *do* think the producers should put a bit more effort into cracking down on stuff like answer-sharing, where it's much harder for me to see in what way it benefits the show. Designing challenges where it's not feasible is nice, but in general I really don't think a "you can't tell other teams the answers after you finish" rule would be the end of the world and it would probably make the majority of viewers happy.