Hola guys and yes we're back in yet another Spanish speaking country. - the Dominican Republic (DR), this is a country I have visited and love; it is also another first for TAR as they have never visited DR before. This is quite a touristy island popular with Americans, so I am surprised it has taken them this long to finally visit DR. The teams spent this leg in Puerto Plata in Northern DR - the last leg was so incredibly controversial but at least this leg was a lot more straightforward. Let's begin with the average ranking statistics to see where the remaining five teams stand after 9 legs.
Average ranking statistics after leg 9 in Puerto Plata
- Ricky & Cesar 1.33
- Rod & Leticia 3.22
- Juan & Shane 3.44
- Amber & Vinny 4.55
- Yvonne & Melissa 5.55 (eliminated in Puerto Plata)
Last week, I correctly predicted the results of this leg, purely based on statistics: the strongest team won again and the weakest team was eliminated but there was one major flaw that Cesar made. He decided to work with Melissa on the first roadblock where they had to memorize a series of 10 Taino symbols - after he received his clue, he should have spent a few moments making sure that Melissa got hers right as well but he just ran off without doing that and she fell all the way to last place. Unfortunately Yvonne & Melissa never really had a chance to catch up after that as they were that far behind and this led to their elimination. The cacao harvesting task was actually fairly straightforward and the baseball roadblock wasn't difficult enough to slow a team down enough to allow them to catch up. This was a tactical error on Ricky & Cesar's part because you would want to take a weaker team with you into the final as you don't want to race against stronger teams in a final. Therefore that was a very good reason for Ricky & Cesar to give Yvonne & Melissa as much help as possible on this leg, as they were only two minutes behind Amber & Vinny, who are a much stronger team.
Should the teams have been allowed to help each other at the first roadblock?
Well, it wasn't against the rules! The rules state that the team member who wasn't participating in the roadblock cannot assist, they may shout encouragements but they simply cannot get involved. But there is nothing in the rules to stop teams from helping each other. I understand that some viewers are upset when teams help each other, but that's just too bad as you have to realize, as a viewer, you have no say over the rules of the race. But this is my response to the situation - we have the 2024 Olympics in Paris happening in just a few weeks, the rules of each sport competed at the Olympics is set by the respective sporting organizations and not the viewers at home nor the spectators who have bought tickets. There are times we might not be happy with the outcome, ultimately nobody cares if the audience is unhappy. If you are really unhappy with the rules in a sport at the Olympics, their response would be, "tough, you can watch another sport or do something else, I really don't care if you're not happy. Your opinion really doesn't matter here." Hence the response with TAR would unfortunately be the same, as you will be asked to watch something else instead.
What was the point of making the teams trek through the rapids?
I note that the racers didn't have to go all the way back to the beginning of the trek at the rapids, the symbols they had to memorize were all located at the very end of that trek. Therefore the memory challenge effectively took place after the racers had a fun experience going down those rapids, DR is famous for these massive limestone caves and I have visited a few when I was there, it was most refreshing to swim in them when the weather was very hot. Hence this all felt like an advertisement for the fun things tourists can do in DR, rather than an integral part of the detour which was really all about the memory challenge. I bet the producers were hoping for a racer to freak out when they had to jump from a height into one of the plunge pools, but it didn't happen, mostly because Michelle & Sean have been eliminated already.
We're in yet another Spanish speaking country.
Yes I have so many of you on social media complain about this but I don't think Cesar's ability to speak Spanish had a big impact on the outcome - Yvonne is also a native speaker of Spanish but that didn't help their team at all avoid elimination. Juan is a native speaker of Spanish, yet their team's poor stamina meant that Rod & Leticia (who really don't speak any Spanish at all) still beat them to the pit stop. Cesar speaks Spanish as a mother tongue, but it was not of any use to him in the first roadblock which was a memory challenge involving symbols on a rock. The task on the cacao plantation was just brutal, hard manual labour which involved no language skills at all and finally, the baseball roadblock was all about physical skills and whether or not you spoke Spanish wasn't a factor at all. The only times when it was useful was to communicate with your driver, to check if they knew where they were going and finally to ask for directions for the pit stop. Ricky & Cesar won again because they were strategic, efficient and highly skilled - Ricky got through that baseball roadblock very quickly. Rod & Leticia weren't even close at all, they were just locked in a battle with Juan & Shane for 2nd place and I'm shocked to see how Juan & Shane couldn't outrun Leticia, credit were credit is due, this woman is strong. Juan just seemed to have given up at that point. You might say, oh it's a moot point as they both know that Ricky & Cesar have already won this leg and there is no prize for coming in second - however, given the way the teams have been released at the start of each leg in 15 minute intervals in this season, Rod & Leticia have increased their chances of making it into the grand finale if the last four teams are split into two groups for the start of the next leg.
Vinny really doesn't speak Spanish.
Vinny claims he does but no, he really doesn't. Not enough anyway to be of any use, that seen in the taxi where they totally failed to communicate with their taxi driver was painful to watch. Amber wasn't any help in that situation - she was complaining to the camera or to Vinny instead of trying to take control of the situation. Granted they were unlucky enough to get a taxi driver who didn't know where they were going, they needed to be a lot more assertive to deal with such a situation. It was once again painful to see these two bicker on this leg, that's why I think they're going into the next leg as the weakest team - not just statistically, but if they are up against Juan & Shane, they're most likely to be eliminated next. Many of you were not impressed with the way Vinny behaved on the cacao farm - he didn't figure out how to use the tool to harvest the fruit and started damaging the trees by climbing on them to pick the fruit. Oh at this stage, I just feel really bad for Amber because they are dating and quite frankly, I don't know what she sees in Vinny and she deserves better.
Do the locals in DR speak English?
Some do but it really depends on where you are. If you're in one of the more touristy areas in Punta Cana, then you will have all these hotels, bars and restaurants with English speaking staff charging to American prices. But if you were to go to where the locals live and spend their money, then the prices will fall rapidly and everything becomes a lot more affordable. However, the locals really don't speak any English at all once you step out of the touristy areas. I travelled across DR on public transport and nobody spoke a single word of English with me. Once in a while, I would stumble upon someone from Haiti working in DR and I could speak to them in French as well - DR shares a border with Haiti on the island of Hispaniola, as DR is a lot richer and safer than Haiti, many Haitians work in DR. So I mostly spoke Spanish when I was there, once in a while a little bit of French if I met a Haitian but forget about using English the moment you step away from the touristy areas. It is a really poor country but I felt very safe traveling there and had some incredible experiences in DR. The locals I met in DR didn't speak any English at all but they were all incredibly friendly and helpful.
Two roadblocks but no detours?
This as unusual, but as long as no racer exceeds the maximum number of roadblocks in the season (usually 6), the racers just have to adapt to whatever was thrown at them. I found the cacao farm task a bit boring though as it was just hard labour, it favoured the stronger racers but there was really nothing that interesting that could have produced an unexpected outcome. I felt the producers were lazy though, surely they could have created a detour option at the cacao farm - you should always have a slow and steady option which involved a lot of hard labour and a skill-based option which could be a lot faster if the racers have the right skills. How about a difficult chocolate tasting detour for racers that think they know their chocolate well? I also think that the baseball roadblock was way too easy as none of the teams got stuck there for too long - some took longer than others, but none of them were in any danger of elimination as a result.
Wait, Rod has done 7 roadblocks already, that's more than 6.
So for Rod & Leticia, currently Rod has done 7 and Leticia has done only 4. However, given that there were 2 roadblocks on this leg, that means there could be a total of 13 roadblocks instead of the more usual 12, so we can reasonably assume that there will be 2 more roadblocks in the next two legs (one in DR and one last one in the USA). Therefore Leticia would have to both in order to make that split 7-6. This is not a good position to be in as she has absolutely no choice but to do so, even if it would be a physically demanding roadblock that Rod could complete a lot more easily. I am puzzled as to why Leticia didn't do at least one of the roadblocks in this leg, since she could have easily completed both.
How far as it from the baseball stadium to Paseo de Doña Blanca where the racers got their next clue?
Practically everything was shot outdoors in this leg.
November (when this was shot) is the tail end of the rainy season in that part of DR but don't forget that this was shot during the Covid pandemic, hence it is a lot easier to socially distance in outdoor areas than in a confined indoor space.
What is going to happen next week then?
We are going to have a double episode next week, so they will run the next leg in the same part of northern DR around the Puerto Plata area where one more team will be eliminated and then they will go to Philadelphia for the grand finale.
What are my predictions for the final?
I am just going to do with the statistics, the weakest team Amber & Vinny would be eliminated next and that will leave the three strongest teams for the finale. Ricky & Cesar will win not just the next leg but the grand prize of a million dollars this season but shouldn't surprise you. As for which team will be second or third, given that Juan & Shane will lose the advantage they have of having a native Spanish speaker, Rod & Leticia will probably outperform them back in the USA.
Has there ever been a team as dominant as Ricky & Cesar on TAR?
On TAR Asia S2, Marc & Rovilson won 8 legs but notably, crumbled at the last hurdle which was the classic memory challenged and finished 3rd in the finale. Still, their average ranking for that season was an impressive 1.46 but Ricky & Cesar currently stand at 1.33 and can still make that average even lower if they win the last two legs. Rachel & Dave (S20) won with an average of 1.83 whilst Eric & Jeremy (S9) finished 2nd with an average of 1.75 so we could see Ricky & Cesar as the strongest team ever in TAR US history this season. I am struggling to find any team with an average as brilliant as theirs across the TAR franchise. There's Tom & Tyler from TAR Australia S4 with an average of 1.64 and they won an impressive 8 legs but they didn't win that season and were eliminated just before the finale. What these results show us is that even the strongest teams can make big mistakes in the finale, so let's not take anything for granted yet.
Why do I like Ricky & Cesar so much?
Right from the first episode, I already picked them as my favourite team. They're a gay couple and I'm gay as well, but that's not the only reason why I liked them from the start. If I wanted to be shallow and support the hot guys, then I'd be team Juan & Shane all the way instead. I like Ricky & Cesar because they are down to earth, they're not built like super strong athletes like Rod, Juan or Shane. If I may be blunt, they are carrying some excess body fat which makes them more like your average American. They are all-rounders though, they are great at navigating, communicating with the locals, supporting each other and they never bicker like some of the other teams. Yes they have an advantage as Cesar speaks Spanish but there are three teams with native Spanish speakers in this season and so it's not like Cesar's ability to speak Spanish is that unique. In any case, I've said this before, anyone can learn Spanish - it's just a foreign language. No one in my extended family speaks any Spanish, no one in my husband's family speaks any Spanish, but I am the only one who took the trouble to learn Spanish as a foreign language and I have mastered it to a very high level.
How has TAR S36 performed with American viewers?
This season has been fairly consistent, with between 2.6 to 2.9 million viewers per episode. The worst case scenario is for the numbers to drop significantly during the season - that would indicate that the viewers were so disappointed with the season that they gave up watching it. That has not happened in this season, but if we were to compare it to TAR S26 and TAR S16 for example, those numbers are way down. TAR S26 attracted between 5.5 to 6.3 million viewers per episode and TAR S16 did even better at between 9 to 12.7 million viewers per episode. The way we choose our entertainment options has evolved so much over the years and I can easily choose to watch a series from another country if I want to, I'm not limited to what my local TV stations choose to broadcast. Thus in this context, TAR has to work even harder to stay relevant to retain their viewers. The show has been losing viewers slowly over the years and it would be sad if the show got cancelled eventually if those figures keep falling. Hence the challenge for the producers would be to reinvent the format for the next season so they would have something fresh and new to entice new viewers from a younger generation. It is hard to keep a format like this going after so many seasons, bear in mind that TAR US S1 made its debut way back in 2001 when Phil looked so young. It is even harder to compete with new shows which are starting with a blank slate and the producers can create something brand new, such as Destination X - more on that later.
When will we have S37 of TAR US?
What else is there to watch in the meantime if I like TAR?
Well, there's always TAR Canada and Australia to watch later this year. I also like the Traitors very much, that franchise has been spread around the entire English speaking world (UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). There is the Mole Netflix S2 (USA) which we can expect this summer. There are also the Dutch and Belgian versions of The Mole - these are in the Dutch language but English subtitles are available if you don't speak Dutch. There is The Race to Survive S2 which will be available from the 20th May. There is also Race Across The World (UK) on the BBC but I'm less fond of that one given the terrible casting and format which makes it an inferior version of TAR. I have already talked a lot about Physical 100 S2 as well, which is different but quite watchable if not a little bit too cheesy for my liking. There is also a brand new programme called Destination X (you've heard it here first) that has already had one season in Belgium and it has been confirmed that there will be a British and American version next year as well, so look out for it. Destination X is such a brilliant new format that combines many elements of TAR that we love so if you love TAR, I can promise you that you will enjoy Destination X - if you have any other suggestions to add to this list, please let me know!
What is Destination X? (Bestemming X in Dutch)
In the first Belgian season, ten contestants were taken on a trip around Europe but they are confined either in a bus with no windows or a plane with no windows, without being told where they are going, hence the name Destination X. The contestants are then given clues as to where they might be and play games along the way, where they can sabotage other contestants - they are playing as individuals so they have to decide how much they want to form alliances to try to get further in the game or keep any useful information from others to make sure they make it to the next round. At the end of each episode, the contestants are given a map of Europe and they have to mark on the map where they think they are, the contestant who places themselves furthest from their actual location is eliminated and the remaining contestants then move onto the next destination, where they will repeat that process all over again until there is only one winner who gets the 50,000 euro prize. That's about US$53,900 only which is little compared to the million dollar prize pot on TAR, but you have to remember that this is a Belgian programme made in the Dutch language. Belgian is a bilingual country split down the middle into French speaking Belgium (Wallonia) and Dutch speaking Belgium (Flanders), so this is really a programme only for the people in Flanders with a population of about 6.6 million. Okay at this point you might think, so this is like a geography quiz right, you have to match loads of clues to identify the country you're in? No, it is on another level. In episode one, they went out of their way to convince the Belgian contestants that they are in the UK by making them do loads of challenges about British culture and serving them British food, whilst being served by an English-speaking butler who has a British accent. That was all complete misdirection as they were actually in another country altogether and the contestants have to work out what is real (the vegetation, the types of trees) and what is fake (the actors like the butler). Some contestants worked out where they were quite accurately whilst others were totally deceived. I have only just started watching S1 of the Belgian Destination X and I'm loving it already. Belgium is the country that gave you the Traitors and the Mole; innovative reality TV formats could rank as their top export to the world.
That's it from me on this episode, we're almost at the finale. Please leave a comment below, many thanks for reading!
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