Guten tag and I wonder if you were left as shocked as I am by this episode. How on earth did Andrea & Malaina get left so far behind right from the start? When was the last time a team didn't even finish a leg and had to be eliminated by Phil like that? So much to talk about, but first, let's look at what is happening with the average ranking statistics after this leg in Germany. Firstly, let me put my hands up and say I found some calculations error in my last blog post for leg 6, so I have no excuse to be harsh on any of the racers who struggled with the math challenge in the roadblock. I have since went back and double checked all my calculations in that last post - I am very sorry about that, evidently I suck at maths.
Average rankings after leg 7 in Cologne, Germany
- Rob & Corey = 3.42
- Greg & John = 3.71
- Steve & Anna Leigh = 4
- Todd & Ashlie = 4.28
- Joel & Garrett = 5.71
- Morgan & Lena = 6.14
- Robbin & Chelsea = 6.42
- Andrea & Malaina = 7.71 (eliminated in Cologne)
So last week, I mistakenly wrote that Greg & John were the team to beat after having made a mistake with the calculations but it turns out that Rob & Corey were the strongest team last week and despite finishing 4th in this leg, their consistency has kept them at the top of the leader board. However, Greg & John have once again proven themselves as the team to beat by getting another first place finish in this leg despite not being on the first ferry. They jumped into the lead by being the first to find the designated carpark in Cologne and held onto that lead until they arrived at the pit stop mat. Still, it was their poor performance back in legs 3 and 4 in Vietnam that keeps them behind Rob & Corey but only just. This leg did take me by surprise because the deciding factor actually turned out to be navigating - in particular, finding that carpark in Cologne. Robbin & Chelsea did extremely well by simply following Greg & John to that right carpark to finish in 2nd despite a disastrous start in this leg, whilst the other teams who were on the first ferry wasted precious time finding the carpark in central Cologne. But first we have to talk about what happened to Andrea & Malaina.
How did things go that badly wrong for Andrea & Malaina in Germany?
Look we have all gotten lost before but this is why Andrea & Malaina's meltdown shocked me. Firstly, they had survived legs in Thailand, Vietnam and India which were far more challenging when it comes to navigating given the massive language barrier. Most people in Germany speak English fluently - it may not be like Sweden or Norway where practically everyone speaks English flawlessly, but it is right up there in Europe, especially if we exclude the older folks over the age of 60. They could have easily asked for directions any time they wanted as they had the name of the ferry (Fähre-Kaub) on their clue which they were given at the start of the leg. Thus they literally had to just show a local "this is where we need to go, please tell me how to get there." To be fair, they did stop to ask for directions (such as in a shop) and received clear directions in English but somehow failed to follow those directions. This is Germany we're talking about, so the roads are of excellent conditions, everything is clearly sign posted and driving is a pleasure in Germany. I could only guess that Andrea & Malaina were so exhausted and jet lagged at this stage that they weren't able to think straight and those silly mistakes were as a result of their extreme fatigue at that point. They even went to the wrong ferry twice without once checking with a local if they were in the right place, it would have been as easy as walking up to someone and asking, excuse me, we need the Fähre-Kaub ferry, are we in the right place please? But somehow, they were just so convinced that they had found the correct ferry, neither of them bothered checking - which I am sure made so many viewers at home shake their heads in complete disbelief. They were still suck at Burg Rheinstein when most of the teams were already finishing the leg in Cologne, so we knew pretty early on that they were going to be eliminated. What a shame, as I thought this leg wasn't the hardest, compared to some of the challenges the teams faced previously in Asia.
Has another team ever fallen that far behind before?
TAR S23 E3 comes to mind, that was way back in 2013 when teams were allowed to book their own flights to make their way to the next country and one of the strongest teams got eliminated because of a series of flight delays. Teams had to find their way from Santiago, Chile to Lisbon, Portugal. Chester & Ephraim had just won the previous leg in Santiago, but having booked an itinerary which involved two connections, the team ended up nearly 24 hours behind all the other teams and Phil had to meet them at Lisbon airport to eliminate them as all the other teams had already finished the leg before Chester and Ephraim had even set foot in Portugal. Now that's an example of a strong team that got very unlucky with flight delays but we can go way back to TAR S1 E9 when Joe & Bill (ie. 'team Guido') won the fast forward and could proceed straight to the pit stop but chose to get a nice hotel in Bangkok and wait over 8 hours for the next bus to Krabi (485 miles or 782 km) away - they wasted their massive lead when they made a poor decision not to spend money on getting a taxi to check in quickly, allowing all the other teams (who spent money on getting a taxi) to get ahead of them. This dropped them way behind the other teams and that deficit eventually cost them any chance of winning the season despite them being one of the strongest teams on that season. Okay, that was S1 when it was a brand new concept back then, but now we are already at S35, surely Andrea & Malaina have watched enough seasons to know what they have to do on the race? Oh well, they were already the weakest team left at this point, so I shouldn't be surprised but to see a team simply crumble like that: it was so painful to watch but then they were not the only team who struggled in Germany.
Loads of other teams struggled with the navigation as well and there was so much arguing in the cars. Andrea & Robbin argued but it is hard to decide whether Morgan & Lena or Steve & Anna Leigh were more painful to watch. Look, I've dealt with a lot of high stress situations at work before and anyone who has worked in customer service before will teach you this basic principle: when you have someone in front of you who is emotional and upset, you have to deescalate the situation by calming them down. However, some people with poor social skills make things worse by making that person even more emotional and upset, now that's when things go into a vicious cycle where both parties are making a bad situation even worse and that's what we saw with both Morgan & Lena and Steve & Anna Leigh. I must point out one thing though: Anna Leigh is 28, Lena is 29 and Morgan is 31 - they are all still quite young relative to Steve who is 54. I don't claim to be a saint, I too have lost my temper before when I was very stressed but one thing I can claim is that my social skills have improved a lot over the years through experience and at the age of 47, I am now a lot more apt at dealing with difficult and stressful situations than 20 years ago - it is called growing up and becoming wiser and I'd like to think that Anna Leigh, Lena and Morgan will all become wiser for the experience. Steve on the other hand is already a lot older than all the other racers, yet the amount of immaturity he displayed when arguing with his daughter was shocking - it was a disgraceful display of excruciatingly bad social skills on his part. I am trying to be polite here without going too far in condemning just how badly Steve had behaved on this leg, but it suffices to say that even though I have never liked Anna Leigh on this season, I actually felt sorry for her when I saw the way she was being treated by her father. How do you become this old and still think you have the right to behave like a brat like that? I have seen better behaved and more reasonable kids in elementary school. Did he not care that this was reality TV or was he oblivious to the fact that there was a cameraman in the car capturing his bad behaviour? Oh after this episode, I now want this team to lose. I don't care who wins, as long as it isn't Steve & Anna Leigh; this team might just self-destruct under stress in due course.
Are parent-child teams a bad idea given the power dynamics of a team?
Well not necessarily so, just look at how well Rob & Corey are doing - they are a father and son team. I am sure some of you are also watching TAR Australia and there is a mother and son team there Jana & Cor and good grief, they argued so much; they fought so much more than Steve & Anna Leigh to the point where other teams had to step in and tell them to calm down. A parent-child relationship is often unequal if the parent thinks that they know better and would overrule the child, this may cause tension in any decision making process (for example, when choosing a detour or whom to do a roadblock) if the parent wants to make that decision without consulting the child. This may be something that is just a habit within the relationship - the parent is just so used to being the responsible adult making all the decisions, the parent forgets that the child is actually now all grown up and wants to be treated as an equal in that relationship, especially when on TAR. Ron & Christina from TAR S12 and S18 were particularly hard to watch as Ron was just a horrible father to poor Christina on both season However, this kind of power dynamic can happen in other kinds of relationship as well - for example, in TAR S14 the winning team Tammy & Victor were siblings, big brother Victor was 9 years older than Tammy so he often overruled her in the race. Even when she thought he was making a terrible mistake, he would just ignore her and do things his way regardless - such as in leg 3 in Brasov, Romania when he got them totally lost in the woods when he followed some random hiking trail when looking for the detour. Many of us did not like the way Victor treated Tammy in that season, but that unequal relationship did not prevent them from winning that season. But who could forget the toxic duo Jonathan & Victoria from TAR S6 - the husband and wife team (they are divorced now) were always fighting as Jonathan as a horrible husband to Victoria and treated her really badly on the race, it was obvious that he called all the shots in that relationship and she wasn't respected in that relationship. Other team member had to step in at times to defend Victoria against Jonathan, so it goes to show that parent-child teams doesn't always have to lead to a power struggle, it all boils down to the nature of the relationship between the two parries prior to even applying to be on TAR. The winners of TAR S24 were a father and son team Dave & Connor and they worked super well as a team to win.
Let's look at that math puzzle at Burg Rheinstein.
As someone who messed up the rather simple calculations of the average rankings in my last post, I am not the best person to do math puzzles but let me run this through with you. The team member doing the roadblock had to work out what was 5 groschen - the formula given to the teams was as follows: 1 groschen = 24 heller, 4 heller = 1 kappen, 2 kappen = 1 witten. The teams had a large bag of witten coins - thus to get to the right answer, this is how you work it out.
5 groschens would be 5 x 24 = 120 hellers.
120 hellers would be 120 ÷ 4 = 30 kappens
Finally 30 kappens ÷ 2 = 15 wittens. Thus the teams had to hand over 15 witten coins.
I reckon it is probably easiest if you had pen and paper to write it out so it looks a lot more logical, rather than to just do it all in your head. It is not that difficult as all you had to do was to follow the formula, once again, it was just a matter of more haste less speed. I was actually quite surprised that Chelsea just used the process of elimination to get through that roadblock rather than try to solve the math puzzle, but she was the only one there at that time and if she thought it would have been faster that way, then fair enough her strategy in this case certainly did not harm their ranking in this leg.
Wait, what was the point of that carnival thing?
I thought the carnival task where they had to ride that big bicycle and throw some roses into the crowd was utterly pointless. It is hardly like the real thing given that it was recreated in indoors and there was really no skill involved - it just wasn't possible to mess it up in any way and the teams left in the order they had arrived in. Sure you could argue that they are showing a part of the local German culture in Cologne, but I would have liked to have seen the teams to have challenged to do something that could result in drama but instead, it was so straightforward and simple. There were so many great dancers there, why not make the team learn some kind of traditional German dance (which was done in TAR S34 E2) so we'd have the possibility of some teams doing it faster than others and mixing up the order for a bit more drama? That way you will have added some drama to the episode and showcased the local culture at the same time. I am shaking my head, those producers were not really thinking straight when they included this pointless task on this leg.
Is it Cologne or Köln?
It depends on whether you're speaking English or German. The English speaking world have had a long history of messing up foreign names and anglicizing them beyond recognition. Some German names have been subjected to that whilst others emerged unscathed. Examples of German city names which have not been messed up by the English include Berlin, Frankfurt and Hamburg. However Köln became Cologne, München became Munich and Deutschland became Germany - I could go on to list many other city names which have been corrupted when translated into English.
Ashlie you're a star!
I really loved that moment when Ashlie helped Rob out when it came to figuring out the code 4711 on the Hohenzollernbrücke - with Rob being deaf, I'm sure the friendly locals would have helped him out regardless but Ashlie decided to be kind and generous to her fellow racer. Perhaps if they had been the last two teams fighting to escape elimination, okay then it might have been a different story but it is just so nice to see a racer act with kindness and generosity like that. Ashlie you are amazing, so this is why I am hoping Todd & Ashlie will make it to the grand finale.
Which detour was easier?
I think the mustard detour would've been easier for most teams given that it was simply a memory challenge whereas the soccer-darts challenge involved a lot of skill to score exactly 66 points. But to be fair, I think both challenges were hard - in the mustard detour, you weren't told which ones you got wrong and which ones you got right. It was either "right" or "try again". But at least the teams could keep going back and using taste, smell , texture and sight to identify the mustard - note that only two team attempted the soccer-darts challenge and Todd & Ashlie wisely switched when they realized the amount of skill involved in it, so only Rob & Corey completed the darts-soccer challenge. I would have been tempted to do the mustard challenge given that I do speak German, but that detour is a lot more than just memorizing the names of the different types of mustard. The dart-soccer game does look very fun though and I feel it would've been very tempting as well. I probably would've done what Todd & Ashlie did, I'd try the darts-soccer game first to see just how hard it is and then switch detours if necessary. By that token, Todd & Ashlie did handle that decision making process very strategically.
Did I mention that I have lived/worked in Cologne back in 2014?
Oh yes it is a city I know very well! I used to do a lot more acting when I was younger and had more hair - there is a German Drama called Alarm für Cobra 11 which is set in Cologne and in one episode, I was the guest lead where I played the villain. It was a one-off though as my character was arrested at the end of that episode, so unless they were going to write an episode where I break out of jail and I get to wreck havoc in Germany again, I'm afraid that's it for me on that series. But yes, I did spend time in Cologne back then filming that episode and that is why it is a city I know well.
Which team will win the next leg and which team will be eliminated next?
Well at least I got one prediction right last week when I said that Greg & John will win again but I was wrong when I thought that Morgan & Lena would self-destruct - they struggled on this leg due to their navigation related problems but it was weakest team statistically that went this time. Thus I am going to guess that the strongest team is going to win the next leg and that would be Rob & Corey - we see three teams competing for the express pass in the previews (Rob & Corey, Todd & Ashlie and Greg & John) so it is safe to say that these three teams are probably going to finish in the top three. However, I am really struggling to predict which team would go. Statistically, the weakest team right now is Robbin & Chelsea but they just finished 2nd in Cologne, proving that they have the potential to beat all the best teams in this season. In the previews, We see Anna Leigh throwing a massive tantrum whilst driving so we know the teams are going to self drive again in the next leg, so I am going to guess that the team that will be eliminated next is going to be one of the teams who proved that they had a lot of problems navigating in Germany. This narrows it down to Steve & Anna Leigh, Joel & Garrett, Morgan & Lena and Robbin & Chelsea. I am going to rule out Steve & Anna Leigh as they are stronger than the other three teams and I'll rule out Robbin & Chelsea based on their strong performance in this last leg in Germany. I'm going to have to pick Joel & Garrett given how they just mentally checked out in this leg rather than try to beat Morgan & Lena - I know Morgan & Lena were a hot mess when they were fighting in the car, but at least they got their act together to make sure that they finished ahead of Joel & Garrett in this leg, since neither team knew where Andrea & Malaina were and they both thought they were fighting to avoid last place. Sorry guys, this is nothing personal.
You absolutely must watch TAR Australia S7.
I just watched the finale of TAR Australia S7, the Celebrity Edition. There was a major plot twist at the end which was a first in TAR history in the entire international franchise. I can't see it ever happening again anywhere else given that I don't think the producers could have foreseen that coming but it was pure reality TV magic which left the racers and the viewers crying. Just when I thought I have seen it all after watching so many seasons of TAR from all the franchises, this one totally took me by surprise. That season of TAR Australia S7 was only ran in three countries: India, Malaysia and Cambodia, with so many legs in Malaysia. So like did they do a deal with the Malaysian tourism board? Obviously it is all in English as they are Australians; if you love TAR you have got to watch all the TAR Australia seasons if you haven't yet!
As for next week
Given that I am in London, I usually get to watch the TAR episodes every Thursday morning after it has been aired in the US - I am 5 hours ahead of New York. However, I will be flying off to Chisinau early on Friday morning so whilst I will definitely watch it on Thursday, I don't think I'd be able to do a full post given that I have literally no time on Thursday afternoon to write it as I'd also need to pack as well and sort out various things for my trip to Moldova and Romania This holiday will be 6 days long: from Friday to Wednesday.. So I will probably do a very short piece with the average rankings, a few key observations (given that I have visited Slovenia a few times before) but it won't be as analytical as my usual posts. Okay so that is it from me on this episode, please leave a comment below and many thanks for reading.
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