A lot of people on social media were talking about whether these racers will have some benefit from their previous experiences on Survivor, Big Brother (BB) or TAR and I think that's completely missing the point. Let's consider the skills you require to do well on TAR: firstly, you need to have good navigation skills when you get dropped off in a city halfway across the world and know how to find your way to the next destination. Secondly, you need to be physically strong enough to do some of the challenges on TAR and finally, you need to be good at puzzles because some of these challenges require more than brute strength. Like seriously guys, you do not need to wait to take part in one of America's most popular reality TV programmes before you learn how to read a map, ask for directions or get fit enough to do a physical challenge. Most of us learn how to do such things anyway because those are useful skills to posses in any case - a lot of people make a big deal about how you need to strategic alliances in Survivor or BB, forgetting that we have to do that all the time in real life. I've worked in some pretty toxic environments where the kind of office politics I had to deal with was pretty downright nasty and there was a lot of backstabbing happening on a daily basis. I love this quote from my former colleague George about this nasty woman we had to work with, "she is so devious she would smash in your teeth just to steal the food that you're chewing in your mouth". Some of us don't need to go on Survivor or BB to have to learn how to deal with people like that, we call it office politics. These contestants have spent only a few weeks participating in these reality TV shows - I'm far more interested in what they are doing in real life and that would be a far more crucial factor in shaping how well they perform on TAR. Are you very well traveled? Do you speak a foreign language or three?
The real world vs reality TV
If you want to see which racer is best prepared for the race, how about looking at the jobs they do in real life rather than the few weeks they spent doing reality TV? So let's take Jannelle Pierzina for example - her job in the real world is that of a real estate agent: so we can infer that she must be good with people, good at sales, good at communicating with members of the public. These are far more useful skills that she can draw upon from her work than focusing on what she did in the BB house. Nicole Franzel is an ER nurse - so we can then infer that she copes well under pressure, another extremely useful skill to have on TAR. Chris Hammons works as a lawyer, he inhabits a world very different from the Survivor island, so I would far more interested in the kinds of skills he can bring from his corporate world than focus just on what he did on Survivor - so for example, does he travel abroad regularly as part of his job? How would he cope in somewhere like Africa? And as for Rupert Boneham - we're all aware of the good work he does with disabled children and troubled young adults, that's very noble of him etc, but would any of those skills serve him well in TAR? Apparently not, we can see how totally out of his element he became in Japan. And what about Tyler Oakley, the famous Youtuber? I like the guy as he does a lot of charity work, but the one team that I thought would have had an edge over the others were Art and JJ who work as US Border Patrol agents - like just think of the kind of challenges they have to face on a daily basis, but perhaps I'm letting my imagination run wild because they were eliminated in Japan because Art couldn't figure out how to climb the 'Mt Fuji' challenge, so I guess they that's just me seeing their jobs through rose-tinted lenses.
Fitness is clearly an important factor in TAR because you're having to do all these quite physically demanding challenges and even just running around from location to location with your heavy backpack can be very tiring if you're not used to it. A lot of it will depend on how well prepared the racers are for this season and age is also a factor. Then there's also the "skinny lady" who would look absolutely great in her photos on Instagram but probably doesn't have much real strength to do a lot of the difficult, more sadistic challenges that we have seen on TAR - I hate to objectify a woman's body like that, it seems so politically incorrect to do so in this day and age but there are quite a few who would fit into that category. Rupert obvious stands out for being older and fatter (though he did manage to complete the slippery slope challenge with ease) and of course, Art and JJ have already been eliminated, but they also stand out for the very same reason. I'm sorry but Chris and Bret do look rather fat as well. A team with two very strong racers would undoubtedly have a massive advantage over the others: definitely the Aghanimals are Leo & Jamal stand out, Colin & Christie are very well prepared, of course Tyler & Korey as well and probably Becca & Floyd (otherwise known as team Fun from season 29) too. Now how much of an advantage these teams will have over the others will depend on the nature of the challenges - the slippery 'Mt Fuji' slope they had to climb wasn't solely down to brute strength as there were handles/grips on the slope that you could use to lever yourself up that slope. Thus it was both a physical and a mental challenge - I do like to see more challenges like that rather than just hand a gift over to the teams who are younger and stronger. There isn't a single past winner of TAR who is clearly overweight and unfit, thus being younger and stronger is obviously a huge advantage.
The totally pointless octopus at Hermosa Beach
At the very start of this episode in Hermosa Beach, the racers had to dig through a huge sand sculpture for their first clue - at first I thought there would be some point to this challenge, like if the first five teams to find their clues would get on an earlier flight that would give them a small head start in Tokyo. But no, despite all that drama of the teams digging furiously through the sand sculpture, all that meant nothing as every single team was on the same flight to Tokyo but not only that, they were all put on the same bus that took them from the airport in Tokyo to Shibuya. So the race really only started the moment the teams got off that bus and were handed their first clue by that man in the blue jacket. Why did they do that? After all in the past seasons, teams typically raced out of the airport and had to find their own way into town - that usually would mean them trying to figure out the public transport system or trying to communicate with a taxi driver who spoke little or no English. I must say I am rather disappointed with this change because I really preferred the older TAR seasons whereby teams were free to book their own flights and make their way from one country to another, but that could lead to teams being up to 24 hours behind the rest if their flights get very delayed. At least this way, no team will fall too far behind and the outcome of the leg will still depend on what they do at the challenges. Nonetheless, in a city as modern and safe as Tokyo, I would have at least liked to have seen them take the train from Narita airport to Shibuya.
If you're given only the name of a business like "ACB Lock & Security" then the only way to find it quickly is to ask someone for help. I don't mean to brag but I have visited many of the countries that the contestants have raced through in previous episodes, so I've done this many times before when I am struggling to find a place in a city halfway around the world. Firstly, you try to find a place like a hotel where you know you will definitely find English speaking staff because they are dealing with tourists all the time. Now Shibuya is actually full of hotels and there are 20 hotels located within a half-a-mile radius from the main Shibuya crossing. Failing which, I would pop into a high class boutique or restaurant that look as if they would hire staff that would be English speaking. If you have to stop someone on the street to ask for directions, then try someone between the age of 18 to 30 because they would be far more likely to speak English than someone much older. I note that Art & JJ approached this man who must have been like 60 to 70 years old, good grief. You can't run down the street screaming, "English? English?!" the way some teams did. That's the epitome of running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Some teams actually found their first clue and then made their way to the next location Edgeof Shibuya fairly quickly whilst others were painfully slow as they walked around in circles. Good grief, if you're clearly lost and have no idea where you are going, then the last thing you want to do is to keep on walking around in circles. I lost count of the times Rupert said, "I don't know" in this episode - oh clearly, he is a fish out of water in TAR.
Two teams were absolutely brilliant in this episode
Oh I am liking them a lot more in this episode. I actually rewatched them in season 23 recently as I visited Gdansk in Poland earlier this month and that was there they were U-turned at the city's Old Crane on the Motława river.. That bit of theatrics when they started fighting on cue when they found ACB Lock & Security to through the other teams of was classic - so many of the other teams from BB or Survivor claim to know all about strategy but they are no match for Leo & Jamal in this department. Furthermore, of all the teams in this leg, they were the only ones who made any effort to speak any Japanese at all, even if it was just a few words like arigato. The others were just shouting at the locals in English which is neither effective nor polite. They're Japanese, not deaf - they can hear you, they just don't speak English. They won this leg, narrowly beating Colin & Christie into second place. Note that Colin & Christie did arrive at the slippery slope challenge whilst Leo was still trying to complete that challenge and Colin did complete it in no time at all. Leo & Jamal were lucky to have managed to stay ahead of Colin & Christie in this leg, as they have both performed extremely well in this leg and stand out as the two teams to beat. However, when you're in the company of people from Survivor and BB, do you really want to stand out as a really strong team at this stage and have a huge target on your back as the weaker teams start to scheme to get rid of you? There is a U-turn vote coming up in this season (as revealed in the sneak peek by CBS for this season) - so that's when you want to fly under the radar and let someone else take the heat.
Where do I even begin? Leaving aside the terrible navigation errors, I have to highlight two dumb and dumber moments from this episode. I must begin with Bret at the top of the slippery slope climb - he gets to the top and then screams, "Am I good? Tell me what to do next!" And then of course his partner Chris was not allowed to give him any help or instructions as he wasn't the one participating in the roadblock. Now this is the kind of mistake that I would categorize as 'more haste less speed' - it would have saved him a lot of time and effort if he had just taken a few more moments to simply read the instructions for the roadblock carefully instead of rushing up that slope. And then there was Rupert & Laura who were in last place when they wasted a lot of time (over 2 hours!) wandering around the vicinity of Onamiron station looking for Shiba Koen - now this is when I must correct some of the American fans of Rupert on social media who claimed that it was dark and there was no one around to ask for directions. That's not true - look you don't need to be a Tokyo-native to figure this out in the age of Google Maps. Onarimon station would be open and even if it wasn't busy, you would still find some people there even at night. This is central Tokyo, a mega-metropolis of 37 million people, not small town in the countryside. Furthermore, there are three big hotels in the vicinity within a 500 meters of where they needed to go (the Mielparque Tokyo Hotel, the Shiba Park Hotel and the Tokyo Prince Hotel) so even if you were convinced that you were totally lost - simply pop into the hotel and speak to a member of staff, who would be happy to offer you directions. Rueprt had an awful attitude - when poor Laura was trying to read the map, all he could do was sulk and say, "I don't know, I'm giving up." Yeah he may have been far more at home in Survivor if this is his attitude on TAR.
Corrine & Eliza's predictions
Oh there was a great moment (in a pre-recorded piece) when Corrine & Eliza were being really bitchy about some of the other teams - let's see if they are accurate. Firstly, they said that Tyler & Korey got really far in their season (they finished 3rd in season 28), then they said that the Afganimals Leo & Jamal were sneaky and really strong competition (which I would really take as a compliment in this context). Sure enough, Tyler & Korey finished 3rd and Leo & Jamal won this leg - so they are pretty accurate so far. As for the 'easy pickings', they said "Victor & Nicole, we nicknamed them team dumb". Are they really that dumb? They finished 6th in Tokyo, in the middle of the pack - so whilst they avoided major mistakes, they weren't exactly brilliant either. Victor did come across as dumb when he admitted to biting down especially hard on the wooden sandals to the point that his teeth hurt just in case there was chocolate inside, duh. And as for Rupert they said he was "really old, he's got this big pot belly, he's not exactly Mr Athletic." Well yes he may be old and fat, but to his credit, he did complete the physically challenging roadblock pretty quickly. But they saved the best for Rachel, "Rachel has raced to the final leg twice, but with Brandon carrying her. Her with Elissa? Good luck to them. Those outfits are a laugh - you're going home." Well Rachel & Elissa finished a very respectable 4th in Tokyo, so they are not a team to be underestimated and looks can be deceiving. Corrine & Eliza finished 9th in Tokyo which hopefully will serve as a wake up call to them - I think they're a funny team to watch, I want to see them continue in the race but they have got to take it up a gear. Ultimately, this is reality TV and we do need feisty, opinionated characters to make it fun.
I think it is pretty clear that racers who have done TAR before have a clear advantage as they have been thrown into this kind of situation before and know how to ask for help - do note that in many cases, such as navigating your way through the city and having to find your next location, you can ask as many people for help as you like and it is not against the rules at all to receive external help. The BB and Survivor teams tended to fall behind because of this reluctance to ask for help, even if they were in a very crowded part of central Tokyo. Is this surprising? Of course not. In a typical TAR season, none of the teams at the starting line have done TAR before so you do have a level playing field as they're just as inexperienced as each other hence it is 'fair' by that token. But note that in this season, we have Rachel Reilly who has raced twice and finished 3rd twice. Then you have Leo & Jamal, another super strong team who are doing it for the third time (with two 4th place finishes) competing against teams who have never ever done TAR before, then you could even say that this is almost guaranteeing Leo & Jamal a huge advantage - the other inexperienced teams would be picked off one by one leaving the final to be effectively an All-Star TAR reunion showdown. I suppose for this format to work, you would have to bring back a somewhat weaker (but charismatic, popular) team to race, one that had only done it once before and got eliminated very early in the process. So this does boil down to a casting decision and I would be surprised if the winner this season isn't a former TAR team who are competing in this season with the vital benefit of experience.
I stress here that I don't know the outcome of the race, so this is purely a calculated guess on my part as a hardcore fan of TAR and there are no spoilers here. I would say that based on their performance in Tokyo, Rupert & Laura are in trouble. Ironically, it has nothing to do with Rupert being old and fat - it is far more to do with the fact that they seem to really struggle with navigating from point A to point B but the biggest problem has got to be Rupert's attitude. He is either saying, "I don't know" or "I give up". Really? You're not even halfway through the first leg of TAR and you're already talking about giving up? Can you imagine if someone went on Survivor and declared, "I don't know if this is for me, I give up, I can't do this. No way. I just want to quit the show now - someone call the producer to send a boat for me and get me off this island now." That would be shocking - now imagine if they said that within the first 24 hours of arriving on the island. Sure, many of the other racers have expressed frustration, anger, anxiety, irritation and stress during the race but none of them have talked about giving up the way Rupert has - one should never speak like that during TAR because you're dragging your teammate down. There's poor Laura trying to make the best of a difficult situation and she has this depressed, fat Rupert dragging himself saying shit like, "I don't know what to do, I give up". So even if they do survive leg 2 in Laos, I don't see them surviving much longer (yes, pun intended) - well, not unless Rupert changes his attitude fast.
Who is the strongest team and most likely to win then?
Usually I would base this on an average ranking because you can't argue with statistics: it removes any kind of personal feeling I may have about a team. Let's go way back to season 29 when we first met Becca & Floyd, now there was a team there which I really disliked because of their behaviour on the race - Matt & Redmond but statistically, they were a very strong team who consistently finished in the top 3. I didn't want them to win because of the way they behaved towards the other racers, but any kind of prediction should put those kinds of feelings aside and focus entirely on the statistics and performance. Based on what I have seen in this episode (and it is early days), definitely I think Leo & Jamal have what it takes to win this, given that this is their third time racing on TAR. Colin & Christie are just as strong and it would be hard to imagine a final without these two teams. Joining them might me someone like Becca & Floyd, Tyler & Korey or even Rachel & Elissa - note that the top 5 teams in this leg all had some experience in TAR, so clearly this is a major factor in this season (with Arts & JJ being an exception of course). I really doubt any of the Survivor or BB teams will be able to take on these TAR veterans in a format that they are so much more familiar with. But if I had to pick one team from outside the TAR group to make it to the finals, it would be Corrine & Eliza for the simple fact that they have clearly done their homework prior to starting this season and that may be enough to bridge the gap with a huge dose of good luck. Well let's see - as I've confessed, I like them. I also adore Tyler & Korey, the Afghanimals and Becca & Floyd.
No comments:
Post a Comment