Kalimera, te kanis! Okay this is the very short post on TAR S33 E9 as promised as I'm off to France later today but I couldn't leave you guys hanging without even a short post on this episode - here are the statistics to kick us off as usual.
TAR S33 average statistics after E9
- Ryan & Dusty 2.22
- Kim & Penn 2.22
- Raquel & Cayla 3
- Arun & Natalia 5.55
Will you look at that? Even though Raquel & Cayla were the surprise winners of this leg (I bet you didn't see that coming), the top two teams are now statistically just as strong as each other now. Nonetheless, I also need to point out that when they have luck on their side, Raquel & Cayla certainly have what it takes to win and when Ryan & Dusty run out of luck, they do risk being eliminated. I can't tell you just how happy I was to see Raquel & Cayla win this leg for so many reasons: firstly, it breaks up the monotony of the two-horse race to make the season so much more exciting at this stage. Secondly, Raquel & Cayla have finished second three legs in a row, they have worked so hard and have improved so much. And of course, these two seem like genuinely nice and likable people as well, I was delighted to see them win.
But do we like these 'needle in a haystack' challenges?
The outcome of the leg was determined by the first road block to find the gold coin amongst the stones in the amphitheater - the order didn't change after the teams left even though Kim & Penn did run into Raquel & Cayla on the way but the teams were spaced out enough for the order not to be affected even though Arun & Natalia had a total meltdown when it came to navigating their way through Thessaloniki city. We have seen plenty of challenges like that before in TAR when the outcome of a roadblock would be ultimately determined by luck and that was pretty much the case here. You can try really hard to be systematic and logical to find that gold coin but you really needed a huge dose of luck. Thus I am glad Ryan & Dusty didn't get eliminated because of their sheer bad luck in this case. I would rather see a team get eliminated over a mistake they made rather than just bad luck. Dusty did everything he could in that roadblock and there was not much else he could have done really. So if I were to organize a challenge like that, I would reduce the number of rocks the teams had to search through there, to make this task considerably easier and less reliant on luck.
Did you go to these places in Thessaloniki when you were there two years ago?
Oh yes! Yup, I was in Thessaloniki for a holiday in February 2020. Yes I did go to Trigonion Tower as well as the White Tower as those were two of the most famous tourist attractions in Thessaloniki, but I didn't go to the Dassous Theatre, It was a little bit outside the city center and we gave that a miss. It was the last trip I took before the first lockdown in 2020.
How far was Cafe Jasmine from the Trigonion Tower?
Aaah, I tried to check on Google Maps but I couldn't find the Cafe Jasmine featured in the episode as the name was in Greek rather than English. So I wrote it in Greek and found the full name and address of the place: Γιασεμί Brunch & Cocktails, Ελ. Βενιζέλου 1 Ελ. Βενιζέλου 1, με Έβρου γωνία. The cafe where they smashed the plates is about a 1.3 km (0.8 miles) walk away and we saw the teams make their way there on foot rather than drive. According to Google maps, that walk would have taken you approximately 17 minutes, so it really wasn't that far away to walk/run but again, it was then more a question of navigating and knowing when to ask for directions - this is quite a touristy part of Thessaloniki.
How far was the cafe to the White Tower then?
Oh this was even further, 2.4 km (or 1.5 miles) and that would have taken you about 35 minutes to walk it, but at least it was all downhill to the sea as the White Tower is right on the waterfront. It is quite far mind you but parking around the White Tower is a nightmare given how congested the narrow streets are in the city center so it would have been so much more convenient for the teams to leave their cars up at the Trigonion Tower. So yeah, I thought that given how much running there was in this leg, Ryan & Dusty had a realistic chance of catching Arun & Natalia given how strong they were, but we had no idea just how much of a lead Arun & Natalia had - it turned out that there was enough of a buffer for them to get away with their usual navigational errors. But how could they get lost? The White Tower is the most famous landmark in Thessaloniki - that'll be like asking for directions to the Eiffel Tower in Paris or Trafalgar Square in London. Just ask anyone and they'll be able to help you! Again, this is one of the key factors why they are the weakest team left.
Why was Arun so harsh on Natalia?
Oh man, Asian dads. I feel that Arun shouldn't take it out on Natalia because they both suck at navigation, they are both to blame when they get lost - so for him to take his frustration out on her is just painful to watch. Their relationship dynamics reminds me of Ron & Christina from TAR S12 and S18 another Asian-American parent-daughter team on TAR.
What the heck were Raquel & Cayla complaining about?
Raquel & Cayla complained, "we're in a really old city, I imagine the city has been around for thousands of years. There are minimal street signs, no one really speaks English, everything kinda looks the same". So that's wrong on so many levels, firstly yes you're in a really old city but this can hardly be compared to wandering through the streets of old Jerusalem or Dubrovnik - there are also plenty of European cities with an 'old town' with buildings and streets that date back several centuries, however the outskirts of Thessaloniki where they were driving had been relatively undeveloped until the last few decades when Thessaloniki really grew as a city - that prompted people moved out of the city to develop the suburbs of the city and at the same time, migrants to the city settled in these suburbs rather than the crowded city center. So really, you're far more likely to encounter dull, grew concrete buildings in the suburbs of Thessaloniki that were built post-WW2 than in the third century AD. Furthermore, there are street signs and these are usually bilingual in Greek and English, so a sign pointing you towards Thessaloniki would read like this: Κέντρο της Θεσσαλονίκης / Thessaloniki city center. Your eyes would naturally be drawn to the English version. Furthermore, English is the default second language that Greeks study at school so anyone who has completed at least secondary education would speak some English after having studied it for like ten years at school! It may not be fluent but it would be enough to give you directions. And the teams were driving 30 miles north from the countryside into Thessaloniki - it will get increasingly urban and less rural as you approach the city, so no I don't accept the 'everything kinda looks the same' argument at all.
Was the non-elimination a surprise for you?
Hardly, this was because we knew that there was still one more leg to be run in Lisbon, Portugal and they couldn't go into that leg with three teams - no, you want the suspense of finding out which three teams will make the final leg back in America. So of course, it was a forgone conclusion that this was going to be a NEL no matter what. Just as well, I wouldn't have wanted Ryan & Dusty to have been eliminated under such circumstances. The grande final wouldn't be as fun or the same without them, I am really looking forward to that next leg as Lisbon is a city I know very well and adore.
Who will be eliminated next in Lisbon?
At this stage, it is so obvious that Arun & Natalia are the weakest of the four teams left, so statistically, it will probably be them who will be eliminated next. So the way I see it, the only way they could make the final is if there is another task in the next leg that is totally dependent on luck or if another team makes a really huge mistake, but both are quite unlikely.
And finally, who will win TAR S33?
I love the fact that I can say that it is impossible to guess at this stage. Statistically, it would be a race between Kim & Penn vs Ryan & Dusty, but Raquel & Cayla have just proven that with luck on their side, they can beat these two other teams as well. But it would be no fun if I sat on the fence, so I am going to say that it will be Kim & Penn because they have been so consistent in the last few legs and they have won more legs than Ryan & Dusty, but really both teams are so incredibly strong. It will depend on what kind of tasks they encounter on the final leg and if they throw in something that is very physically demanding, then Ryan & Dusty would clearly have a really massive advantage over Kim & Penn.
Where are you going in France?
I will be flying to Toulouse airport later this afternoon (Friday), but not going into Toulouse city at all. We're gonna get a rental car and drive out into the Pyrenees mountains where we will be skiing and enjoying the lovely countryside for a long weekend, then flying back on Tuesday evening. I love the fact that life is getting back to normal after the pandemic, that I can simply nip over to France like that for a long weekend and this was this kind of thing that I used to enjoy doing a lot before the pandemic. You can follow my travels on this trip and future trips via my Instagram here: @passportalex.
Okay that's the shorter post I promised. I will catch you guys next week for the grand finale and many thanks for reading!
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