Ahoj, dobry den and welcome back to my recap of this latest episode of TAR S38. Before I get started, I am still traveling at the moment and you can follow all my adventures on Instagram. I'm in Singapore as I am posting this: there are loads of tourists in town at the moment for the F1 event and I got recognized by some British tourists today as the guy from 007: Road to a Million S2, so yes I have been reminded why they do want to cast minor celebrities who have done other reality TV shows because people do remember the more memorable characters from these shows. I'm not defending the casting for this season and I have noted that many of you are not happy with the casting for this season - I just wanted to acknowledge that and ask the question: even if you don't watch Big Brother at all, does this affect your enjoyment of this season? This is the third time TAR has visited Czechia - they had been there previously in S15 and S30. We are in Prague for this episode and yes I've been to every single one of the countries visited in this season (don't accuse me of spoilers please - it's all public information on Wikipedia, go have a look if you're interested) and having done a similar reality TV programme before, I feel I am in a good position to guide you through this season. But first, now we have had two episodes, it is time for the average ranking positions to see where the teams stand after two legs.
Average ranking after leg 2 in Prague
- Jas & Jag 1
- Tucker & Eric 3
- Natalie & Stephanie 4
- Izzy & Paige 4.5
- Joseph & Adam 5
- Hannah & Simone =6
- Kristine & Rubina =6
- Jack & Chelsie 6.5
- Kyland & Taylor 9
- Kat & Alex 10.5
- Angela & Lexi 11 (eliminated in Prague)
- Megan & Matt 11.5
Let's analyze the statistics after two legs - firstly, it is pretty obvious that the strongest team are Jas & Jag after having won the first two legs. Then we have a second group with averages from 3 to 5 which are strong teams I expect to see last very long in this season but have yet to challenge Jas & Jag yet. Then we have the weakest three teams at the very bottom of the pack who have done poorly in the first two legs. Is it way too early to predict that Jas & Jag are not only going to win this season, but no other team is going to come close to challenging their dominance in this season? Interestingly enough, it wasn't the weakest team that got eliminated, but I did say last week that it was likely that it would be one of the teams with an older racer that gets eliminated, so that prediction did turn out to be true.
Did we like the throw back with the train travel?
Oh the part of this episode that I enjoyed the most was the chaos with the trains This reminded me a lot of what TAR was like back in the good old days when teams were free to make their own way to the next destination by any means possible. This time, the teams were told to make their way to Prague by train though the routes were not limited and teams used quite different routes to make their way through Germany to get to Prague. This mix of good planning skills and luck with train schedules introduced this element of unpredictability that made this leg more exciting, though it ultimately didn't affect the eventual winner (was there any doubt which team was going to win) and loser (well, Angela was always going to slow her team down in any foot race). I certainly hope we will see a lot more of these in this season and it was a good decision by the producers to include this element back into this season. Seeing the racers navigate public transport in another country, with a language barrier always produces good reality TV and this is something that I'd like to see a lot more of on TAR.
Is it Czechia or the Czech Republic?
Well both actually, it's a long story. The name Czech Republic doesn't make much sense - it would be like calling France the French Republic; whilst that is an accurate description of France, it would make more sense to just call it France. However, since that name Czech Republic has been around since 1992 when Czechoslovakia split in to two countries and somehow, they didn't call Slovakia the Slovak / Slovakian Republic. It was in 2016 when the Czech government first made it clear that they preferred the English version of their name to be Czechia. I also refer you to the Dominican Republic - now that's a different story altogether since there's also a country called Dominica that they often get confused with so people really don't want to change the names anymore to cause even more confusion!
What's the fuss with the fear of heights at the TV Tower?
Now before you say anything, I did two extreme height challenges on 007: Road to a Million S2 - both of which made this task in Prague look easy so if anyone has the right to judge these racers, I do. My point is simple: anyone who has watched TAR before would know that they are fond of such challenges which force you to confront your fear of heights. If you have a fear of heights, then you really ought not take part in TAR as you're going to let your team down. It's like if you don't like swimming and you have a fear of swimming, then don't go to the swimming pool and complain that you're not having fun there. If you don't like dogs, then don't get a puppy as a pet then complain that you're not having fun as a pet owner. It is then a question of casting. I don't like reality TV programmes to set up contestants to fail and embarrass them in the name of entertainment - that feels needlessly cruel. Furthermore, should reality TV producers try to conjure up more drama by deliberately making racers face their worst fears only to use their failure as entertainment? I am not comfortable with that concept either. I'd much rather see a racer rise to the occasion and excel at these challenges rather than break down and cry when they are crippled by their very worst fears. I think reality TV shows should set people up to succeed or at least give them half a chance to do so, rather than deliberately set them up to fail. Still, that was a really cool challenge at the TV Tower - I'd love to do it as it is an awesome way to see Prague.
Detour: remembering the chairs or delivering the goblets?
Now this is a classic choice between skill and labour: memorizing the names of the 11 town names that correspond with the correct crests is difficult but if you have a brilliant memory and if you're not fazed by having to do this in the Czech language, then it could be faster. I'd certainly choose this one as I have worked in Prague before years ago and I speak some Czech. In contrast, there wasn't anything equally as challenging on the other side of the detour, but it was simply more time consuming and hence if one wanted to play it safe, then this would definitely be the detour to choose. There wasn't that much that could have gone wrong with that challenge, unlike the memory challenge which could stump teams as the judge doesn't tell you which town name you got wrong.
Wait what happened with Eric & Tucker?
They had left the TV Tower and accidentally stumbled upon the clue box near Josef Manes' statue - they should have realized that was not the right clue box as they had meant to go to a different statue by the Charles' Bridge, but ultimately it didn't affect their position as the teams were so far apart already at that point. Yes, they got away with a mistake, but stopping for ice cream is just arrogant. Sometimes you have to stop for a toilet or a water break, but ice cream? This well and truly upset quite a lot of people on social media as it made them look as if they weren't taking the race seriously at all.
Are we sad that Angela & Lexi are gone?
I have seen Angela get a lot of hate on social media and that has probably a lot to do with what she did on BB in the past, but I don't actually have a problem with her. I knew her time on the race was limited anyway given that she wasn't that physically fit - the playing field isn't level, how was she ever going to keep up with the younger, fitter racers in what was always going to be a very physically demanding process anyway? This leaves one other older racer in the season: Jack who was 58 at the time of filming. Now don't get me wrong: when I did Road to a Million S2, we were dubbed team granddad, I was 48 at the time of filming and my partner Rob was 57, yet we consistently outperformed all the younger teams when it came to physical challenges. Being older doesn't automatically make you unfit, but it does take a lot of work to stay fit like that into your older years.
Who will be gone next? Who will win the next leg?
We will stay in Czechia for the next leg and I predict that Jas & Jag will win yet another leg with ease. I don't think that Jack & Chelsie will be in trouble as they are in the middle of the pack for now, but it will be one of the teams at the back of the pack who will go - it will be Kat & Alex or Megan & Matt as they are clearly a lot weaker than everyone else. Don't forget, as they are continuing in the same country, the teams at the front of the pack are likely to maintain their time advantage given that they are going to use either trains or buses to reach their next destination within the same country. It is highly unlikely that the teams will all be equalized waiting for the same train if they are only traveling a relatively short distance, so based on their performance so far, I think Megan & Matt will be the next to go in leg 3 as they are clearly not thriving in this process.
Sorry this post is relatively short as I am still on the road at the moment, I will be posting next week's review from home in London so please bear with me until then. In the meantime, thank you for reading.
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