TAR S30 ep1: "You're a Champion, Prove It"

[Questor]

I don't have too much to say about the opening episode, and apparently neither
does anybody else. So here's a thread where people can not talk about it.

In the opening minutes the producers have given us clear and memorable identity
hooks for each of teams, including hashtags. I'm going to largely ignore them
and exercise my own perogative. My list of the teams:

Big Brother
Eaters
Goat Yoga
Indy Racers
Lifeguards
Musicians
NBA stars
Pro skiers
Ring girls
Twin EMTs
Yalies

A public start in New York City's Washington Square Park with a splash in the
fountain leads directly to Iceland, one of the few countries that can equal the
spectacular scenery we were treated to last season during the leg in Norway.

Contestants get a good look at some of that scenery as they complete a
Tyrolean traverse over a high river gorge to retrieve a flag to earn their next
clue.

At the roadblock, one team member must take an off-road buggy ride splashing
through a riverbed while sighting ten numbered letters to be assembled into the
name of their next destination. Some teams stumble over the difference between
an unaccented and an acute-accented letter oh.

The racers return to Reykjavík where they must discover that porskalysi is cod
liver oil and the Black Death refers to a liquor called Brennivin, which we are
told roughly translates to "burns inside you" (although that is incorrect).
Then one team member gets a shot of one and the other person gets the other.
I'm thinking these two drinks are complimentary chasers -- if you take a shot of
Brennivin, you'll probably want to follow it up with a shot of cod liver oil,
and vice versa.

No detour this leg? Teams head directly to Phil after solving that little
drinking puzzler.

There's a little bit of drama at the mat, as the NBA stars incur 30 minute
penalty for giving help during roadblock. Their time expires just seconds
before the final two teams arrive for a photo finish.

finish order:

1. Pro skiers
2. Big Brother
3. Yalies
4. Musicians
5. Indy Racers
6. Eaters
7. Lifeguards
8. Twin EMTs
9. NBA stars [8th to arrive]
10. Goat Yoga

11. Ring girls -- eliminated.

[JDunlop]

Thanks for stArting the thread. I agree, after one episode I can tell all the teams apart (although don’t quiz me on individual names other the the NBA players and Joey Chestnut.)

Most of the racers were carrying labeled plastic bags at some point (I didn’t recognize the logo), I wonder if there was a detour that ended up not being aired because it didn’t change the order (and perhaps the episode was cut from 90 to 60 minutes.)

[p***@gmail.com]

Post by JDunlop
Thanks for stArting the thread. I agree, after one episode I can tell all the teams apart (although don’t quiz me on individual names other the the NBA players and Joey Chestnut.)
Most of the racers were carrying labeled plastic bags at some point (I didn’t recognize the logo), I wonder if there was a detour that ended up not being aired because it didn’t change the order (and perhaps the episode was cut from 90 to 60 minutes.)

From the Jen Hudak blog post Brian listed above:

Why were #TheRingGirls and #GoatYoga carrying those bags?

"Production gave us some gear to wear in some of the challenges (boots, rain jackets, wool socks, hat, gloves, etc.). Our additional information told us to bring all our belongings with us when we park the car in Ingolfstorg. These ladies took that a bit literally… Kristi and I put the boots on our feet, tied our sneakers to our bag and left everything else behind. We already had clothes for cold weather, so we didn’t need the products they provided. Given that we weren’t sure if we’d be doing more tasks in Iceland the next leg, we chose to keep the boots. We didn’t keep them for the rest of Amazing Race, however."

The bags had logos for a outdoor wear company and I presume they gave TAR the equipment in exchange for some free advertising (the bags).