Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About TAR
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Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About TAR
Alaginger | Monday, June 30, 2003 - 01:07 pm     Where is Phil from? Phil is from New Zealand. His accent may not be typical Kiwi, though, because he's traveled all over the world throughout his life. How do you pronounce "Keoghan"? Phil's last name is pronounced "KOH-gahn". It rhymes with "Hogan". Does poor Phil have to stand out there on that mat the whole time? Naw. Production crew notify Phil ahead of time when a team is about to reach the pit stop. So he can relax somewhere until he gets the call. Phil also helps interview the teams after they check in. Where can I find a copy of the official rules? You're looking at them! Heh, just kidding. As far as we know, there isn't an official copy of the rules anywhere on the web. What are the rules for Detours, Roadblocks, and Fast Forwards? As Phil explains it, "A Detour is a choice between two tasks, each with its own pros and cons." There aren't any special rules to Detours; you can do one task, or you can do the other. Or you can start one task, quit halfway through, and go do the other. "A Roadblock is a task that only one person may perform." That is, one person per team. When the team gets the Roadblock envelope, there is a clue on the front that gives the team a hint as to what the Roadblock is and who should do it. (Often, the team can figure out what the task is by observing their surroundings, or even watching the other teams doing the Roadblock right in front of them!) The team has to decide at that point which one of them will do the Roadblock. Once the team decides who does it and subsequently opens the Roadblock clue, they can't change their mind about who does it, nor can they switch if the designated teammate fails to do it. He/she has to keep trying until they do it. Sometimes, the other teammate is allowed to give advice. The Fast Forward is a task that, when accomplished, allows a team to skip all remaining tasks on that leg of the race, and go directly to the pit stop. The Fast Forward clue is given to the teams somewhere along the leg in another clue envelope (not necessarily at the beginning of the leg). The first trick to the Fast Forward is that only one team can claim it per leg, so if you decide to go for it and another team beats you to it, you've wasted all that time, and you have to go back and finish the leg (the Fast Forward is often found in a remote location). The second trick is that each team may claim a Fast Forward only once during the entire race. So each team must decide, as Phil puts it, "when it is most advantageous to go for it." Another thing about Fast Forwards is that the tasks involved vary quite a bit in difficulty. It may involve simply finding a particular person in an well-known location, or it may involve hiking into and out of a dormant volcano. You just never know! What do people mean when they refer to a Detour as "Reckless/Chicken", "Tortoise/Hare", or "Salad/Dessert"? Most Detours come in two forms -- Reckless/Chicken and Tortoise/Hare. In the first kind, you can either do something scary [Reckless] or something very slow [Chicken] -- hang gliding, bungee jumping, sandboarding, rock-climbing...these are all Reckless/Chicken Detours. In the second kind, you either do something conservative that you won't get done quickly but almost can't screw up [Tortoise], or something you might blow past in a hurry but might stumble on and really hose yourself [Hare]." Description of a third type of detour: "It's sort of Salad/Dessert. Walking is a Salad; a gondola is Dessert. In theory, you always try to choose whatever you can finish first, but if it's hard to tell which is faster, it's hard not to pick the one that's cooler." What if a team didn't use a Fast Forward until the very last leg? Fortunately, our understanding is that Leg 11—the last elimination leg—is the last leg in which a team can use a Fast Forward. How much money do the teams get, and what do the teams have to pay for? The teams are given a sum of money at the beginning of each leg. The amount given to them can vary from zero to at least $500. During the third season, they were given an average of about $200 per leg. They have to use this money for every expense during the leg except airplane tickets. That includes food, lodging, travel guides, and any other transportation costs such as train tickets, taxi fares, or vehicle repair costs. If you don't spend all your money, it carries over to the next leg, so it pays to be frugal. Each team can also ask for a $200 emergency fund once during the race. The team's crew carries this money. We don't know much about this emergency fund because it's never been mentioned on the show, but teams have mentioned it in post-Race interviews. Are the teams allowed to try to gain money while on the race? Sure, if they want to. We have seen teams begging for money at points all around the world. It's tacky, but it's allowed. Presumably, they can also sell things in their backpacks. I'm confused about the rules for booking airplane tickets. Yeah, so are we! The first basic rule is that teams do not and may not use the team's money to buy airplane tickets; they use the production crew's credit card. The second rule seems to be that they cannot buy and use tickets that are more expensive than coach: no first class or business class. (This is presumably to keep production costs down.) So, the team can fly first class or business class if the airline offers to sell them these tickets at coach-class price. It seems that a team can also buy first/business class tickets if they can later trade these tickets in for coach class—with the appropriate discount, presumably. The third rule, it seems, is that teams may only buy one set of tickets per flight. So they can't buy all the tickets on a flight in an effort to keep other teams off the flight. But they can buy a set of tickets and later trade them in for better seats or a better flight. What sorts of items are the teams not allowed to bring? First, they're not allowed to bring their own money. Second, they can't bring any sort of useful information: no language books, travel books, maps, or things of that nature. Nor can they bring written notes of that sort. (Although according to Brennan, nothing stops you from memorizing that sort of stuff right before you leave, and then writing it all down in a blank notebook as soon as possible after the Race starts.) If teams want such items, they have to buy them with their Race money. And frequently they do. Finally, teams are not allowed to bring cameras, because the show does not want pictures to be leaked to the media. What if a team has connections or friends in certain places? A team cannot contact friends or other connections they had prior to the race. However, we have seen racers contact people they've met during the race. Are teammates ever allowed to separate? For the most part: no, unless you're going to the bathroom (and certain Roadblocks, obviously). Of course, since the teammates aren't literally joined at the hip, there is a bit of leeway. Teammates must stay within a certain distance of each other, presumably so that the single cameraman following them can get them both in the shot as often as possible. Why do they stand around reading the clues? I would get into my cab or rental car first and read along the way! It's a rule. When a team gets a clue, they must stop what they're doing, including walking, and read the clue aloud together in front of the camera. (Well, only one of them has to read it aloud.) What happens if a team's car breaks down? Well, that depends on whose fault it is. If it is a vehicle that the Race production provided (i.e. a car that the teams have to drive themselves), and if the team didn't cause it to break down by doing something stupid like driving over sharp rocks, or putting unleaded gasoline in a car that uses diesel, then the team can request a new vehicle from the production crew—but they get no time credit for the time they lost waiting for the new one to arrive. However, if the team caused the vehicle to break down, or if the vehicle is some sort of public transportation (taxi, bus, etc.), then the team is out of luck. They can try to get the vehicle fixed, or (sometimes) they can abandon it and find other transportation. In any case, no time credit is given, because breakdowns are simply one of the hazards of travel. What's the point of arriving at the pit stop first, anyway? Don't they all leave the pit stop at the same time? No, no, no. Teams stay at the pit stop for exactly 12 hours (unless they sleep in or something stupid like that). So if Team #1 arrives at the pit stop 2 hours before Team #2, they get to leave 2 hours before Team #2. Do the teams know ahead of time which legs are non-elimination? They're never told directly. In the first two seasons, however, the teams could guess which legs were non-elimination by the way the last clue was written. In elimination legs, this clue would say something like, "The last team to check in to the pit stop will be eliminated." But the last clue of non-elimination legs would say nothing about elimination. Starting with the third season, all clues were re-worded as, "The last team to check in to the pit stop may be eliminated" after the first few legs. What happens if two teams tie for last place? We don't know! It's never happened before. What happens if both members of Team A step onto the mat after one member of Team B, but before the other member? A team doesn't count as having reached the pit stop until both teammates step on the mat. So in our example, Team A is checked in before Team B. So, there are time penalties? Why? How are the size of these penalties determined? A time penalty is given to a team whenever they break a Race rule or follow clue instructions incorrectly, whether intentionally or unintentionally. The size of the penalty depends on the situation. In most situations, the team is penalized the amount of time they gained by breaking the rules. Usually they are given an additional 30-minute penalty. The only exception seems to be when a team decides to intentionally skip a Race task, such as a Detour or Roadblock. Nancy and Emily did this in TAR1, and for doing so they were given a 24-hour penalty. What if a team unintentionally skips a task? Well, it seems to depend. In TAR3, Derek and Drew got lost looking for the Roadblock clue and managed to accidentally find the pit stop mat. They were told to go back and complete the Roadblock. But in TAR1, Davey and Margaretta accidentally skipped a Roadblock. The Roadblock would have had one of them walk partway up the Eiffel Tower and spy a TAR flag on the Arc de Triomphe with a telescope. According to Miss Alli, "It seems that … when they got to the Eiffel Tower, they ran right past the flag at the bottom that explained what they had to do. Through a combination of luck, guessing, and presumably seeing other teams running around, they (both) ran up the tower, where they got the skinny from Paul about the clue, and figured out that they should go to the Arc. Technically, this is a rules violation, because they both ran up the tower, which means that neither of them completed the one-person-all-alone-goes-up-the-tower task. Therefore, they received a time penalty." When are time credits given? Time credits are given whenever a team is slowed down by the production crew, for some reason. For example, if a team misses a train because their cameraman had to stop and change the batteries in his camera, the team gets a time credit for the time they lost. What about when a team gets in an accident, or they are detained by law enforcement, or something else unfortunate like that? Are they given a time credit then? No. These are the hazards of real-life travel, and teams just have to deal with it. How are time credits and penalties applied? Between legs. Each team's departure time from the pit stop is adjusted according to the time credits and penalties accrued from the last leg. Are there any such credits and penalties that we don't hear about on the show? Sure. According to Team Guido, time adjustments happen all the time. We only hear about it if it noticeably impacts the game in some way, such as altering the order in which teams leave the pit stop. What happens if a time penalty puts a team in last place? Then that team is eliminated. And since a team only gets a penalty for not following directions correctly, they deserve it. What happens if a time credit would get a team out of last place? Is a different team eliminated? We don't know for certain, since it has never happened, as far as we know. Hopefully, in the interest of fair play, whichever team is last after all credits are applied is eliminated. But it would make for a pretty unsatisfying episode ending, for both the eliminated team and the viewers at home. Do the teams ever stop to eat or go to the bathroom? Yes, but according to Team Guido, "not if you don't want to be eliminated!" Since the teams can always eat and go to the bathroom at pit stops (and the food there is free), most teams try to get through the leg without stopping for such things. Can the teams take their packs on planes as carry-on items? If the airline allows it, they can—and they will! No one wants to lose time waiting for their luggage to arrive, so teams try to carry their luggage on whenever possible. Do the teams really have to pack for every possible weather condition? Well, production has been known to give the Racers cold weather gear in Alaska. But it seems the racers had to bring their own cold weather gear for the Italian Alps. So it depends, we guess. What is up with the matching outfits? Are they BLIND?!? Teams are encouraged by the show to develop a "team identity" by bringing matching or coordinated outfits. Some teams take this guideline more seriously than others. Are the teams allowed to wear clothes with logos on them? No. If the teams bring such clothes, they are asked to cover the logos with pieces of tape. Or the editors will blur the logos out. Do the teams get to take pictures? No, teams are not allowed to take cameras on the trip at all, for fear of the pictures being leaked to the press or spoiler websites. The production crew takes some pictures and sends them to the contestants after the race has aired on TV. Do the teams get doctors? What about shrinks? According to past racers, doctors and nurses are always available "at short notice" if needed, although the teams probably do not get time credits for medical delays. A psychiatrist is also available by phone at least after elimination, and maybe during the race as well. Are the teams allowed to listen to music on the road? Yes, if they want, although the production crew may ask them to turn it down or off if they are having problems recording the conversation. For the most part, though, the contestants don't listen to the radio because the music is, you know, foreign. Do the teams know where they are in relation to each other? Not necessarily. The production crew tells them nothing. They only know for sure if they see the other teams. Sometimes they can tell by counting how many envelopes are in the clue box. But sometimes the production crew puts extra envelopes in the clue box. Why don't we see more time-stamps? Why don't we get to see when teams check in? Well, our guess is that knowing exactly how much time separates two teams would sometimes ruin the suspense of the episode. In addition, remember that many time credits and penalties are given to the teams between episodes. If the editors showed when each team checked in at each pit stop as well as the check-out times, they would have to explain the reason for every time adjustment. Why doesn't this show ever cast smokers? Oh, they do. But the contestants are not allowed to smoke during the Race—at least not on camera. We're not sure why. Possibly it's to protect the camera crew from second-hand smoke. In the rental cars, why does the other teammate always sit behind the driver? Wouldn't it be easier to sit next to the driver? The cameraman always gets "shotgun"! And the sound man sits behind the cameraman, so that the cameraman can film either the driver or the other teammate. What do teams actually do at pit stops? According to Phil, they "eat, sleep, and mingle with the other teams." They are also extensively interviewed there by Phil and others. They can also shower and do laundry at the pit stops that offer those facilities. Teams probably also prepare and strategize for the next leg, and they have been known to call for taxis to meet them there at their departure times. Presumably they also go to the bathroom. How much time do they really get to sleep? Not much, it seems. You'd think 12 hours would be enough time to eat and be extensively interviewed and whatever else as well as get enough sleep, but apparently not, because racers often complain about not getting enough sleep. Though part of the reason for the sleep deprivation is trying to force yourself to sleep when your body doesn't want to. Do the racers really stay at those cool pit stop locations? Not always. Sometimes they are moved to a more hospitable location nearby. Do they get their own rooms and beds? Not always; it depends on the location. Sometimes they all sleep in the same room. Sometimes they sleep on the floor. Sometimes they sleep in tents. Do they have to pay for their own food there? No, the food at the pit stop is free, which is why the teams will often not stop for food during the race (food bought during the leg is not free). Can they leave the pit stop locations during their pit stops? No, they're confined to the pit stop. The show doesn't want the contestants to run around town and accidentally find the production crews setting up the next leg! However, production has been known to occasionally set up supervised tours for the contestants during extended pit stops. I've heard that pit stops are sometimes longer than they appear on TV. Is this true? Why? Yes, there are extended pit stops. The pit stops are always extended by a multiple of 24 hours, so that when the show airs, the viewers can't tell which pit stops were extended. So, for example, if Team A checks in at 4 pm, they'll still leave at 4 am. But they may be leaving on Day 3 or 4 instead of Day 2. Pit stop extensions happen for a variety of production-related reasons: extremely bad weather, problems setting up the next leg, Phil being sick, a team lagging several hours behind the rest of the production, and so forth. What kind of crap do candidate teams go through before they are cast for the show? First, they fill out a lengthy application, and send that in along with a short video of themselves. Selected teams go through an initial interview process. A very select group of candidate teams are flown to LA and sequestered in a hotel where they are not allowed to talk to each other. There they are subjected to more interviews as well as psychological and physical fitness exams. Finally, they are interviewed by Bertram van Munster and top CBS executives. What do the teams tell people about where they went for a month? How long do they keep the secret? Teams are allowed to tell only a very select group of individuals about being on the Race, and of course everyone who knows must sign a legal form swearing them to secrecy. Anyone who leaks information can be sued by CBS for ten million dollars. For everyone else, the teams must come up with some sort of story, to tell their employers in order to get out of two months or so of work, and so forth. They have to keep up their story until the teams are announced by CBS about a month before the race airs on TV—whenever that might be. And of course, they can't tell anybody who won the race until the season is over. Are new teams allowed to contact old teams for advice before the race begins? No, since that would entail telling the old teams that they're on the race, which they can't do (see previous question). How is the whole visa/passport thing handled? All such paperwork required to get into countries visited during the race is filled out and handled before the race begins. Since the visa/passport thing is handled some time before the race, don't the contestants know ahead of time where they're going? Not exactly, because the contestants fill out the paperwork for dozens of countries, not just the ones actually visited on the race. How is this show filmed, anyway? I never see any cameramen. Ah, the magic of television! Every team is accompanied by a two-man production crew composed of a cameraman and a sound techie. In vehicles, the cameraman always rides "shotgun", and the sound tech sits behind the cameraman. So if they're in a car, the second teammate sits behind the driving teammate. And in a taxi, both teammates are squashed together behind the taxi driver (the better to get both teammates in one shot!). In addition to these two-man crews, there are also extra camera crews set up at the locations of the race tasks. But you almost never see these crews on the show, thanks to their own skill, as well as the work of the Amazing Editors! What happens if the crew want to eat or go to the bathroom, or their camera breaks, or something? Teams must stop if the crew calls for a food or bathroom break. (On the positive side, this allows the contestants to eat or go to the bathroom themselves.) If the production equipment breaks down, the team must stop what it is doing until the situation is fixed. However, the teams get time credits for any time lost because of these crew-related delays. What if the crew can't get on the same train/plane/whatever as their team? A team can never abandon its crew, so if the crew can't get on the vehicle, then the team can't either. So when a team books tickets on a train or plane, for example, they must reserve 4 tickets. On the show, you almost always see them say "two", but this is only said for the benefit of the audience. Off-camera, they ask for 4 tickets. Does the team have to pay for the crew's expenses? No, the crew pays for its own tickets, cab fares, and other expenses. Is each team stuck with the same crew for the entire race? No, the crews are rotated at each pit stop, for fairness. Where do the eliminated contestants go? I've heard of a place called "Sequesterville." Most of the eliminated teams are brought to one centralized location (different for each season) for the remainder of the race. At this location, they are given a modest stipend and can relax until they are flown to the finish line at the end of the race. TWoP forum posters have dubbed this location "Sequesterville", and somehow this term has spread to some of the racers as well. Where were past "sequestervilles" located? TAR1's sequesterville was Paris, France; TAR2's was Cancun, Mexico; and TAR3's was Lisbon, Portugal. For some reason, production tries to keep these locations secret, but they always leak out anyway. Can teams contact their loved ones while they're in Sequesterville? No, because that would reveal to the loved ones that the team lost. The show does everything it can to prevent such spoiler information from being leaked to the media. Do the losing teams get any cash prizes? Yes, the losing teams do get small cash prizes, staggered according to how long the team stayed in the race. For some reason, these amounts are kept very secret (much more so than the Sequesterville locations). Our understanding is that for most teams, the cash prize is not nearly enough to cover the expenses (equipment, lost wages, etc.) of going on the show. But remember, the teams do get an all-expenses-paid vacation for the duration of the race. So don't feel too bad for them. |
Lslb | Monday, June 30, 2003 - 07:20 pm     Interesting stuff. Thanks, Alaginger! |
Hippyt | Wednesday, July 02, 2003 - 12:22 pm     Great article,thanks Alaginger! |
Babyruth | Wednesday, July 02, 2003 - 12:25 pm     Love this article, too! What was the source? |
Scorpiomoon | Thursday, July 03, 2003 - 06:31 pm     I was curious about many of the things mentioned in this article. Thank you, Alaginger, for posting it. |
Cinder | Thursday, July 03, 2003 - 09:11 pm     I was watching the Caroline Rhea show the other day and Flo and Zack and 2 other teams from the last race were on there. They were asked if they got frequent fleir miles and Flo said yes. Then one of the older brothers (Ken or Gerard) said Continental was good to him. I thought this was odd since they always fly different airlines- but maybe they meant going to interviews and stuff. Also regarding the question: "What happens if a time credit would get a team out of last place? Is a different team eliminated? " Didn't this happen with Guido and the mother daughter team. Oh- Never mind- that was a penalty- not a credit. |
Vsmart | Friday, July 04, 2003 - 09:14 am     Re the groping of the women on the Mumbai (Bombay) train. On a PBS special on Indian trains (largest employer in the world), women requested & got female only compartments. |
Jan | Friday, July 04, 2003 - 02:15 pm     makes sense.Unfortunately these guys wouldn't be able to use them unless both team members AND the Camera person AND the SOUND person were all female. Unlikely that would happen. But if I had to travel there, I would certainly use it! |
Hummingbird | Saturday, July 05, 2003 - 09:20 am     In the above explanation of a Roadblock, it is clear that only one team member performs the task. On this week show, both guys picked out and carried the fish together. Wasn't that cheating? I didn't hear any mention of a penalty. |
Spear | Saturday, July 05, 2003 - 10:50 am     No one did this. You're probably talking about Chip and Jeff, who aren't teammeates but who at that Roadblock said they would work together. Remember that Chip and Reichen are clean-shaven while David and Jeff have goatees. |
Alaginger | Sunday, July 06, 2003 - 08:10 am     Babyruth.......you asked the source. It was from www.tarflies.com. |
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