Hola once again and oh yes, I correctly predicted the winning and losing teams in this leg again, though admittedly a lot of that was guided by the hints we got in the previews. This was an interesting leg as we see the order of the teams well and truly mixed up once again with plenty of drama and close finishes. As always, let's start with the average ranking statistics to get a sense of where these teams stand relative to each other after leg 4 before we analyse this leg in detail.
Average rankings after leg 4 in Medellin
- Ricky & Cesar 1.5
- Rod & Leticia 2.75
- Derek & Shelisa 3.75
- Juan & Shane 4.25
- Amber & Vinny 5.75
- Yvonne & Melissa 6
- Angie & Danny 6.25
- Sunny & Bizzy 8.25
- Michelle & Sean 9 (eliminated in Medellin)
- Kishori & Karishma 9.25
Oh the joys of Latin American Spanish accents - I'm sure you'll remember the first two legs were ran in Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, the double L in Vallarta is pronounced like a Y but Medellin also has a double L and in the local Colombian accent, that double L is more like J sound, so the way Phil has been pronouncing it is actually pretty accurate. Forgive me for stating the obvious, the accent in Mexico is very different from the one in Colombia, the same way the accent in Dallas will be very different from the one in Liverpool or Sydney.. I noticed that Vinny actually mispronounced it like an L sound, so perhaps I had overestimated his ability to speak Spanish. Clearly, Vinny is extremely resourceful and thus he is able to make the most of what little Spanish he has, but in this episode I realized just how limited his Spanish ability is.
What was the point of the paragliding?
Prior to the leg starting, the teams paraglided into Medellin but that wasn't even part of the race, the teams set off only after that segment was completed. So it was like a cool and fun thing to do when you're on holiday there, but why include it in this leg if it really wasn't even a part of the race? I'm sure the racers do get a little down time between legs to do a little bit of exploring as tourists (and sometimes a little bit of that makes it into the final cut), but if you're going to show that the racers like Leticia and Sean who are afraid of heights have somehow managed to overcome their fears to do this challenge, then it should have been a part of the race. It's almost like the local tourism board asked for this to be a part of the episode in exchange for their help and support for the filming in Medellin. I can understand why it would be trick to incorporate this experience into the race: firstly, it is weather-dependent. You need the winds to be in the right direction and not too strong in order for it to go ahead, such as in S27 E1 when there was a fast forward that was supposed to have been a tandem hang glider ride, but no teams were able to do it as it was too windy. There is also the issue of capacity, would there have been enough instructors to allow the teams to all fly within a short period of time (say 30 minutes) or would some of the instructors have to face a long drive through heavy traffic back up the mountain to the starting point? Some experiences are truly magical and I am sure this one was, but it's just a question of whether or not this activity belongs in this episode or not as forcing it into this episode feels like pushing a square peg into a round hole.
Allow me to pick up on something from social media about leg 3
There was actually a lot of hate on social media directed at Anthony & Bailey for taking it too easy in the last leg, for not caring whether or not they got eliminated or not. Did they perform badly? Yes and a lot of that boiled down to their indecision when it came to their choice of detour; but once you have made a massive error that will lead to your elimination, there's really no point in stressing out about it and showing a lot of emotion. The best thing to do at that stage was to simply accept the situation as it is without too much drama and express gratitude for having had the opportunity - hence I think it is unfair to accuse them of not caring or not taking it seriously, but there comes a point where you just accept your fate and there's nothing you can do about it. Oh the Tyra Banks screaming at Tiffany Richardson meme from 2005 comes to mind. Oh boy, that epic rant was from 19 years ago but it is still the same thing happening all over again.
Was Vinny really too mean to Amber?
To be fair, I think he realized that he had really crossed the line when she started crying in the taxi - on TAR, you do want to motivate and encourage your partner to try harder, but then when it comes to something like running, Amber is already clearly trying her absolutely best and there wasn't a magic formula or combination of words that would make her run any faster. She is limited by her stamina and hence no amount of words, abuse or encouragement is going to suddenly just flick a switch in her and make her sprint twice as fast, no that was simply not possible and that is why Vinny was being rather unrealistic and unreasonable. He should take a look at how Danny treated Angie in this leg and learn from Danny.
Angie & Danny really rose to the occasion.
Let me be the first to admit I had been super mean and dismissive to Angie & Danny especially in the first two episodes, but in this episode, they started out in the third group, 30 minutes behind the first group and they managed to claw their way to third place, passing so many strong teams along the way. I feel like I owe them an apology for having written them off early in the process because they have proven that they can rise to the occasion and shine if given the right kind of tasks. It seems that the teams had to walk some distance between where the taxis dropped them off and where the first clue box was at the base of the escalators; Angie was at a disadvantage as she couldn't run that part like some of the younger teams, but their wise decisions with the detour and roadblock meant that they still managed to come out on top. When Danny wanted to go up the escalator whilst looking for the first clue box and Angie kept refusing to do so, I was shouting at my computer, "listen to your mother!" So all in all I was impressed by just how well they performed in this leg.
Was one side of the detour easier than the other?
I was going to point out that the teams who chose 'Wall Scribe' instead of 'Dance Vibe' performed much better, in fact the top three teams in this leg chose that detour. However when I saw how Sunny & Bizzy had a total meltdown at that detour and were eventually forced to switch despite being painfully close to the right answer, I realized, okay this puzzle is really for people who have done something similar before or have at least watched a few episodes of the classic American game show Concentration which was all about solving rebus puzzles to win prizes. Unfortunately for Sunny & Bizzy, this was simply not something they had done before and were forced to switch. I was surprised so many teams chose to learn the dance routine though as it looked complicated and none of them wanted to switch; unless you're a professional dancer who has taken so many dance lessons before you can memorize the choreography really quickly, it was going to take your team quite a while to get out of there. Anyone who has watched enough episodes of TAR will know that the dancing doesn't have to be good, you just have to memorize the steps correctly and the judge is not really judging whether your performance is good or not but simply whether you have done all the steps in the routine. This is the ultimate memory challenge - if given a choice, I'd always recommend avoiding any kind of dance challenge on TAR.
What was the distance from Comuna 13 to Plaza Botero?
By road, it is about 6.5 km (4 miles) depending on the route you took through the city but the traffic in Medellin can be really bad and thus you are dependent on your taxi driver to figure out the best route to take. That distance doesn't seem particularly long but when you factor in the very heavy traffic it can take quite a while to get across town if you're unlucky.
Wait, Juan is from Medellin? Surely he has an advantage over the other teams?
Yup not only is he Colombian, he was raised in Medellin before he left at the age of 9 but he didn't have any home ground advantage at all on this leg, dropping a position from 4th to 5th. Juan & Shane started out in the second group and they took quite a while with the detour, so they were never really in a strong position to challenge for the win in this leg. This is just like in the recent TAR Finland S1, when teams raced two legs in Ho Chi Minh City in E3 and E4, one of the racers Anna Nguyen was an Vietnamese immigrant who grew up in Ho Chi Minh City and the taxi drove right past her high school. You'd imagine she would have a massive advantage in those two legs but Anna & Peter finished 5th in both legs despite the fact that Anna was in a city she knew really well and she was the only racer who spoke Vietnamese, go figure. I loved Amazing Race Finland S1 and that season is available now with English subtitles on Daily Motion for free.
What kind of programme is TAR?
So let me reflect on the kind of criticisms I had on last week's post - quite a few people attacked me for having been way too harsh on Sean when he wasted a lot of time refusing to walk down a steep path in the coffee plantation. I also read a lot of the comments on social media and it was split into two camps. The first attacked and criticised Sean for threatening to quit the race over what was a relatively easy task that wasn't even a part of the roadblock (it was Michelle who did that roadblock, Sean merely had to walk down that path to the waiting area). I used the word 'tantrum' to describe his behaviour and I got a lot of hate for it - I stand by my choice of words, especially after I saw how others used much stronger language to describe his poor behaviour on that hillside. Then there were others who were a lot more sympathetic towards Sean - they saw him as an ordinary man who didn't claim to be some kind great Olympic athlete or superman, but just your average Joe who had his flaws trying to overcome his fears and so none of us should be attacking him. I want you to imagine this: can you imagine watching the 2024 Paris Olympics and then seeing someone struggling in the pool, screaming for the lifeguard for help? You're confused - this is the Olympics but the guy can barely swim? You then realize that this is a guy who is trying to overcome his fear of water by taking part in the Olympics. I am of course telling you the story about Eric Moussambami of Equatorial Guinea (AKA Eric the Eel) took part in the 2000 Olympics; Eric gained entry to the 2000 Olympics without meeting the minimum qualification requirements via a wildcard draw designed to encourage participation by developing countries lacking full training facilities. Eric took part in the 100 meters freestyle event and really struggled to finish the heat, given that he was such an amateur who was woefully unprepared to even swim 100 meters. Do you want to see top swimmers like Michael Phelps and Joseph Schooling compete at the Olympics and break the world records, or do you want to see people like Eric the Eel struggling to stay afloat in the pool? Sean was having his Eric the Eel moment on that slope in that coffee plantation but was he set up to fail? I have a theory that the casting directors deliberately want the racers to crack under pressure to create more drama.
This is not 'Go Hard or Go Home', that's a very different kind of programme.
It does boil down to the casting decisions: let's look at the theme of older racers in this season's cohort of racers. Derek & Shelisa are holding their own as the third strongest team at the moment despite being older enough to be the parents of some of the younger racers. Yet we see racers like Chris who was eliminated in leg 2 not so much because he was old (he's only three years older than Derek) but because he was overweight and unfit. Thus if you want to cast older racers to tick a diversity box, at least pick an older racers like Derek or Shelisa or will represent older racers in the best possible light, rather than someone who will be eliminated very quickly. There are other reality TV programmes where people get to face their fears and embark on a journey of self-improvement without that element of race involved, where there isn't a million dollar prize on the line. I recommend this show called Go Hard or Go Home produced by the BBC, a group of young people who have all kinds of personal problems and issues are brought to a remote location in the Dominican Republic where they are paired up with a mentor to train and lose weight. There are plenty of challenges every episode and a lot of tears where the contestants cry and bare their souls about all the trauma they have been through and how taking part in the show has helped them find their way in life. You want drama about messed up people recovering from their personal traumas and demons, that's the show for you. At the end of the show, there is no cash prize, just a title, an award and a lot of pride. So that's the show you can watch if you wanna see someone like Sean overcome his fears to become a better man, it's all about his emotional and spiritual growth as part of the process but never about a race or winning a prize. But on TAR, there is a race on to win a million dollars and thus any kind of drama associated with racers overcoming their fears is secondary. I am guessing that some people like that kind of drama on the race because they want to think, yeah ordinary folks like that can go on the race and win a million dollars, maybe I can as well. CBS doesn't want viewers to think, "I can never do something like that, this is for people stronger, younger and smarter than me." This probably explains a lot of their casting decisions and I think the producers are trying to make TAR too many things to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. In my opinion, they should make it more like the finals at the Olympics, where only the best teams are chosen for each season to make it super competitive, I think that would be a better programme.
Was it inevitable that Sean & Michelle were eliminated?
Actually no. I was surprised that Sean actually took part in the paragliding tour (despite it not having any consequences in this leg), as aerobics instructors, they pulled off the dance detour faster than many of the other teams who chose it. When they got to Botero Plaza, there were still many teams there and of course, Sunny & Bizzy were way behind at that point as they had to switch detours. I honestly didn't think that Michelle would be so stuck on that detour given how many of the other racers eventually figured it out. But she simply couldn't figure it out and I think I can see what was going on with a lot of the racers who don't speak Spanish - the key to orientating yourself on the map was to spot the Museo de Antioquia (Antiquities Museum) and that was clearly marked on the map and there were huge sign with that words Museo de Antioquia on the front of the museum itself that anyone could have read from a distance. My theory is there's a phenomenon called "looking but not seeing". If you do not speak the language (in this case Spanish) and there's a sign in Spanish, you do not even bother looking at the words because you think, I can't understand it, I won't bother, I'll focus on other visual clues that do not involve words in Spanish. I have noticed that my husband did that a lot when we were traveling in South and Central America - I am fluent in Spanish, he doesn't speak Spanish, so I always read all the road signs and anything with words on them when navigating my way through Latin America whilst he would rely on visual clues like, "oh look, there's a lot of young adults coming out of that building, it looks like a university." Whereas I would look for a sign with the word 'universidad' rather than try to decipher it that way. Thus my guess is that the racers who struggled with the challenge saw the words 'Museo de Antioquia' but promptly ignored them, dismissing them as "Spanish words I don't understand as I don't speak Spanish", not realizing how important that piece of information was. To be fair, loads of racers struggled with this roadblock but Michelle took far longer than everyone else. I did wonder if they simply handed the clue to her after Kishori & Karishma had checked in, given that there are no non-elimination legs in this season, but I suppose that's a moot point at that stage. Just imagine if Sean had decided to do that roadblock instead of Michelle, -would he have solved it faster than her? Sunny & Bizzy got lucky as a result of Michelle's problems.
I actually liked seeing Sean & Michelle give Phil a lesson in double-Dutch skipping.
I liked that short scene as we don't see enough of Phil in most episodes but I think it was important for us to be reminded that most people are perfectly able to function and perform well in their everyday lives where they do the jobs they have chosen for themselves; it is only when they do something like TAR that they are taken so far out of their comfort zone and that's when they struggle to cope with all these unfamiliar challenges they have to face on the race. After all, Sean doesn't have to face challenges with heights in his everyday life and Michelle doesn't need to read maps at work either - it was good to be reminded that these two will just go back to what they do best at home, rather than remember them for the times when things really fell apart for them on the race. After all, if I do successfully get on the British version of TAR and I crash out somewhere before the finish line, that's how I'd like to be remembered, as the guy who is simply going to go back to what he does best in his comfort zone rather than "oh he was the dumb loser who couldn't solve that puzzle."
Who will win the next leg? Who will be eliminated next?
I am torn between two teams here: Ricky & Cesar are statistically the strongest team at the moment, but you can't ignore the fact that Amber & Vinny just came in second twice in the last two legs, having performed impressively well in Colombia. I think it could be either of these teams who could win the next leg in Santiago, Chile, but I am going to go with the statistics and say it will be Ricky & Cesar since I think I see Amber struggling with a rock climbing task in the previews. As for who will be eliminated next, it is so obvious: Kishori & Karishma are statistically the weakest team at the moment and they managed to avoid elimination in Medellin, but that was only because of Michelle's total meltdown at the roadblock. I think their luck may run out soon, but we also see some other teams struggling in the previews. Rod & Leticia and Sunny & Bizzy are shown having an argument over navigation and directions, but I think Kishori & Karishma's luck will eventually run out in this next leg. This will be fun, I love Santiago and it is a beautiful city that I know really well.
Sorry about this but I'm off on holiday next week!
It's my birthday next week and I'm off on an epic holiday across three countries over six days to celebrate turning 48. One of my ambitions for this year is to break my own record for the most number of countries visited in one year - my previous record was 12 which I have achieved a few times but so far in 2024, with this trip, I would have hit 11 already in April: Poland, Slovakia, Czechia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Belgium, France, Italy, Monaco and because I live in the UK, I am not sure if I can include the UK or not which would then bring it up to 12 already. Given the way work is going this year, it does look like I will not only break that record of 12 by quite a long way but I will also visit some new countries that I have never visited before, fingers crossed. For those of you who only know me through my blogging for TAR, my official job title is "Strategic Advisor", but I specialize in the financial services sector. So I help companies in this industry as well governments (working with central banks, ministry of finances and various relevant departments) to find their best strategies to achieve their goals. But as for next week, I fly to Nice in France on Wednesday and I will only return to London the Tuesday after, so I will posting the review of next week's episode a bit late, it'll be a shorter piece that I will put together on Wednesday the 17th April but as the next episode is in Santiago a city that I know really well, I do want to share my insight into that episode with you guys. But in the meantime, I will be visiting some of the locations around Nice and Monaco which were visited in TAR S26 as well as way back in TAR S6. On my birthday, I will have breakfast in Sanremo, Italy, then lunch in Monte Carlo, Monaco and finally dinner in Nice, France - actually, I've done this routine of 3 meals in 3 different countries on the same day a couple of time before. I love traveling so much and hence that's why I am such a huge fan of TAR. You can always follow my travels on Instagram. Okay guys so that's it from me on this episode, please feel free to leave a comment below and many thanks for reading.
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