Two episodes in and no suggestions? For future TARs, I would like see:

• A financial bonus for finishing a detour or roadblock quickly/very well. For instance, in last night's episode, if a team got a red hanky from a cow in say, less than 30 seconds, then they would receive $50 extra at the start of the next leg. I'm not into screwing teams (e.g., the yield, whatever it is that happens this season in the non-elim legs), because with the lack of regular sleep and food, they're already pretty screwed.
  
• Getting rid of the Yield. Its premise only encourages inter-team conflict, of which I find there is already plenty.

yay to getting rid of the yield!!!!!!!

I also think they should continue to have teams that are different from the previous seasons...as in season 4 had more all male teams, while 5 has only one. And get rid of some of the many "dating" couples...they only seem to confuse me.

I would like to see the money that is handed out scaled back, which seems to have happened so far this season. I was reading some of Miss Alli's old recaps, and I believe that the total money given for the first two legs in TAR 3 was almost $800.

I like the bonus money for certain tasks idea. It's like a Survivor Reward Challenge or something.

Maybe the Yield should cost travel money.

That's an interesting suggestion, cutecouple. It would make using the Yield a much more strategic decision, particularly if a team were to have to decide whether it's more advantageous to Yield another team or spend the extra money on a taxi rather than bus tickets. Adding more strategy to the decision whether to Yield or not would definitely make it more palatable as a Race element.

I would suggest a change to the non-elim rounds, since it seems unfair that some teams who suck for one leg get a pass and others suffer the consequences. However, it sounded like (in the introduction by Phil) that there will be dire consequences for coming last, even in the non-elmin rounds, so I'm happy!

The only other thing I would like would be a "blooper reel" episode as the last episode - after the finale of the race. Come on, who wouldn't want to see that? :-)

Also, I have to agree that the yield sounds yucky compared to the Fast Forward, but I don't want to suggest changing it until we see it in action a couple of times.

I think i'm coat-tailing some posters above but how about this: Give the racers less money each leg, but add an optional mini-challenge for money on 3 or 4 of the legs? Make the task like one of the good fastfowards i.e. the Momily/Guido coin challenge, or that Waltz/Champagne Steve/Josh one, where they have to complete something a little frustrating and time-consuming, but give them a good amount of money (i don't know how much good would be, but I think even $100 would be worth it) Granted, it would be able to cause bunching (insert Cab-back/Bus-front theory here), by letting the teams in back opt not to get the money. But teams that get the money may Cab their way ahead of the poor teams later on.

I totally agree on the posters that mentioned an "Ultimate" 4/5 day leg instead of a actual non-elimination point. Have 2 detours, 3 roadblocks, and two yield points (one at a detour, one at a roadblock). Probably insert one of the uber-long rides at this point, so that we don't kill any of the racers. Let's see if any of the teams actually stop and rest.

I'm guessing there are really 6 typecasts in the show: Models, Old Couple, Exes, Relatives (Mother, brother, cousin), "Young/Basic" Couple, the something-involving-"gay" team, and the "best friends" team (ie. friends/co-workers/frat brothers/mothers-with-a-relationship-that-is-not-sexual). What are other typecasts that can make the show?

Now the sterotypical "black team" can land in any of those typecasts. I'd ask where are the Asians? (Kathy (of Michael/Kathy was the only one I could think of). I could totally picture my 40-something Filipino parents racing. My mom would bitch at my dad's driving, my dad would bitch at my mom's direction skills. They would speak SpanTaglish. And I don't think that Asians have advantages in India/Vietnam/Korea. Unless you get the sterotypical Korean team, you know the one with the thin girl with the fat head? But I digress.

I'm so against money deprivation. I'm not interested in seeing the Amazing Beg. I also dislike the yield. I think teams should win or lose on their merits, their resourcefulness and luck, not because of some game sanctioned inequality.

Especially if the Yield lasts only a few minutes. If you halt a team based on emotion instead of logic, you're asking for trouble.

Adding a few Survivor twists to the game might also work. For instance, instead of a trip of some kind, try an even bigger and more important reward for the first-place team, applicable to every single leg (where one pair would always be gone): the right to decide which of the remaining teams to eliminate. This would add another angle to the race: a power battle. Best part: no non-elimination points, so everyone else would always be at risk.

No, please. No elimination by choice of the other players. Please. Then you get alliances and backstabbery and it turns into Big Brother on the Road and is just as tacky and nasty as every other reality show out there. Racers will be eliminated for being good, or for not kissing ass. The strongest Racers will go, as soon as they don't come in first. Please, no. This is skill, and ability, not manipulation and pettiness. The Yield is bad enough.

Gotta go with Rabrab. One of the reasons I watch this show is because it is merit based. NOT a fucking popularity contest. If it turns into a poplularity contest I will stop watching. I don't watch Survivor or Big Brother for that main reason. (Well, that and the fact they have crap people who have zero functionality, zero personality and no intelligence. I do try to watch the first episode of Survivor, but as soon as the editing and drama go to the back-stabbing crappola fest I stop watching. I don't even waste time on BB anymore, there will never be an interesting person on that show again.)

I totally agree with Rabrab, too. The only other reality shows I've enjoyed have been the Apprentice (based on merit -- granted, from The Donald's viewpoint alone, but backstabbing did zero good in the long run) and last season's King of the Jungle on Animal Planet, again based on merit and demonstrated abilities. I enjoy watching people on Survivor suffer, but the game itself is just pathetic compared to TAR and I don't watch it for the game as much as the misery of the idiots willing to starve for 40 days for peanuts.

Even the Yield is going too far for me. Let teams succeed or fail on their own merit.

What I'd like to see is more of what we've seen so far this year: Tasks that don't have opening hours, so when teams leave the pit stop in the middle of the night, they have to go straight into racing. It just causes killer fatigue to set in that much faster, and makes smart racing all the more critical.

And bring back more Fast Forwards!!!

I was rewatching some old TARs (specifically TAR1.1) and one thing in that episode had was teams trying to find their way around a non-Tourist attraction type area (Songwe Village). I'd like to have more of those kinds of tasks that go off the beaten track a bit. Sometimes I think the more they put the tasks around well-trafficked areas, the more there's a likelihood of teams being able to get assistance from other people. It's not that I'm against getting locals' assistance, or getting cab drivers or 'civilians' to lead you to a certain place (I think that's clever racing), yet I still like the idea of teams having to solve their own problems. (If I could be Whimsical, I'd suggest a "Miming Only" rule with the locals!)

The Songwe villiage and Songwe museum thing to open the second leg was also brilliant on the part of the race planners. Remember how many team went straight for a car, although they just had to walk. Also like tasks like find the smoke that thunders or find the westernmost point in contential Europe. Things that made the team think made the race better I thought.

Another suggestion: Introduce a (TAR3) Flo-inspired "Candyman" clause: If you say you're going to quit more than 3 times, the producers grant your wish and you're escorted off the show. Goodbye.

NO BUYING TICKETS FOR OTHER TEAMS!

I suppose they can't stop them from buying bus, train or ferry tickets, but they really shouldn't allow purchasing another teams plane tickets. Love to see new rule for next TAR!

ITA (with everyone else as well). It's bad enough that American Idol's elimination process is mainly due to people that make themselves look like they don't have a clue, and to add to that, it wouldn't seem like a Philimination if someone else made that decision.

ETA: I like the Mole idea thing mentioned last year. It would be great to see the good old green thumbprint/red thumbprint used here. Rather, a stoplight would be more appropriate IMO for TAR. Speaking of the Mole, I would totally love an exemption scenario used on the show in the future.

Idea: On a couple early legs, have an optional task that takes a long time (about an hour or more). Each leg only has one, and only one team can complete it per leg. The reward for the task is a 'get out of elimination free' pass that they can use on any elimination leg where they come in last -- EXCEPT for the one that they earned the pass on.
Also, scrap the yield and put back the fast forward on all legs without the above tasks (too many optional tasks could get confusing quickly).
Finally, have the following system: in the event that there is a mandatory task that violates someone's religion/beliefs ("Go to the market and purchase and eat the following items: milk, beef..." which would violate kosher), have a team be able to skip the task BUT get a penalty applied to them, the penalty being the time of the slowest team to do the task plus a half hour. The team would also have to cite what law they were following to show that they weren't just trying to weasel out of the task, which could lead to longer delays ("What do you mean you lost the scriptures? I don't remember which exact verse it is!") It might be interesting to see which 'religious' teams would do this and which would say, 'okay, let's ignore religion for this moment...'

After watching this new "twist' for a non-elim leg, I still feel that non-elims are the weakest element in TAR. Granted, there is now a consequence to finishing last, I still feel that the whole episode was for naught. Can you imagine in The Apprentice if the Donald said, "you're fired but this is a pre-determined non-elimination board room episode, so you're still in." Similarly, imagine if Peachy says to the castaway, "the tribe has spoken, but this is a pre-determined non-elimination tribal council, so you're still on the island." Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? It's just as ridiculous for Phil to say the same to TAR teams.

If Survivor and The Apprentice can start with 16 contestants, TAR can also start with 16 teams. Every episode will be an elimination leg. IMO, this singular change would vastly improve the show.

I sure hope they never do. I'm glad they went back to 11 teams.

I think non elims are great episodes where you see the difference between the other reality shows and TAR. In TAR you are on a journey within yourself and a journey to the wonders of the world as well as a race for a million dollars. Non elm legs bring that out for me.

I loved the TAR2 Thailand non elim one where the Racers put aside differences to shop in town while they waited for their train. People bonding through a marvelous experience. And then I loved that I'd see all the teams agan next week without losing any. No, not even Gary at that point cause Dave was cool. I hate losing teams along the way for the most part. More non elims and less with winning the million bucks is my plea.

Also kill the Yield and bring back the real Fast Forward.

But IMO, this would not be a RACE. We might as well watch just a travel show. Lonely Planet/Pilot Guide/Globetrekker is a wonderful TV program that shows this.

What TAR is for me, it's a competition with travelling as a fantastical backdrop. I for one would love to compete on the show even if the grand prize is a blue ribbon. But I still want to see that every leg of the race has true consequence for finishing last. I also feel that the drama of TAR comes from the racers competing to be not eliminated. In the TAR2 Thailand non-elim episode, Chris & Alex didn't even bother to step on the mat before Tara & Wil because they knew it was non-elim. Same for Jon & Kelly on the Malaysian beach. Neither of those teams were worried because they knew they would still be in the Race. This makes for boring TAR. IMHO, eliminating non-elims is the way to go.

I do agree that something needed to be done about non-elimination legs. I didn't like the legs where a team just meanders in like the Thailand one in TAR2. It would've been much better television seeing the two teams fighting to get to the mat first to avoid losing money. I do, personally, believe that non-elims are needed, simply because we'd either end up with a race with 15 teams (which would be a bit unwieldy, both in terms of keeping track of everyone and in terms of getting flights for the first half dozen legs or so--if Bob and Joyce had trouble getting across the Atlantic to St. Petersburg as the eighth team, imagine how anticlimactic it would be to have an extra three teams that would potentially fall a day behind) or a race that was only 9 or 10 legs long, which I don't like the idea of at all. I need to see the "no money" thing in action before I can decide if I like that. An interesting twist they could use on a future season would be a choice between giving up all your money, or giving up half your money but taking an additional two hour time penalty. Another option would be that these teams must complete or have the option to complete an additional detour-like task before advancing in the race in order to get money--say something like the fish-carrying Roadblock last season, or the snail-selling in Morocco.

The other thing is that the position of the non-elims is a bit too predictable-- maybe they could position them a bit more randomly, or start them early in the game. Instead of having them in legs 6, 8, 10, and 12 like they did in 1 and 2, they could have them in, say, 3, 7, 8, and 11. I wonder if they may be doing that this season.

It should be more random. But now that they have added the twist that the last team of each non-elimination legs will lose all money. No teams will want to finish last in NEL anymore. Which means no more strolling into the pit-stop when you know it's a NEL. And notice that every clue to the pit-stop says: The last team to check in MAY be eliminated. The teams will then rush their way to the pit stop since they don't know whether it's a non-elimination leg or not.

Suggestions: Put more Fast Forwards and take away the Yield. Oh ya, and have 12 teams for the race instead of 11 to have less non-elimination legs. That will be good.

To each their own. To me it is The AMAZING Race and not just not a mere race. I want to see the teams amazed, be amazed myself and I could care a fig who wins. There is enough "winning" saturation in this culture to make me ill. I've always seen this show as a quest more than anything else. That's the beauty of this show. It means different things to different people.

I personally like the word "Yield", but they should change it drastically to include it in the Amazing Race. Make it an extra task and give them an unknown prize that only involves them. You could have different classes of yields...each class is harder, but gives more of an reward, and you get to choose.

(A task might be something like "There are five chocolates with white centers in this pile. For each one you find, your prize improves.") The first level could be like $25 or an item that is used in an collect the items task. The next one might be $50 or a map with the future places in the leg marked on it. The next level could be $100 or the ability to switch a roadblock when the person who's doing it is frightened or something. The fourth level could be $200 or so and a language book for the country that they're going to next, and the final level could be $500 or a fast forward (not counting on the one you could use) or a car or bike to use for the remainder of the leg. Teams wouldn't know the prizes they had until they declared they stopped.

It'd be offered on every leg, and each team would be limited on how many they could use (3 or 4), and on each leg one team could capture each prize level. It might be hard setting up these tasks, but they don't have to be much different than a roadblock...(Eat 1/5 of a kg of caviar to advance each level.)

I don't really like the idea of "side tracks" or any kind of extra efforts just to win a special prize or prizes. The goal of each leg is to not be last at the pitstop. I know if I were racing, I wouldn't give a flying fig about going out of my way to get a trip or extra money when I know there's a million dollars waiting at the finish line. And if I were yielded and had to perform a 5-level task like Bobbo just described, I'd be more inclined to get the first level completed and get the hell on my way to the pitstop. I can't see teams wanting to waste time like that.

I personally don't have a problem with non-elemination legs. To me they've just always been a part of the game. I do like the fact that now all the clues say "may be eliminated" so the teams don't know ahead of time. Still, there are times when a team is more or less expecting a non-elim leg (I think Tian and Jaree were truly surprised when they were eliminated), so I'm not too opposed to the money stripping idea if it gives everyone an incentive to hustle their asses to the mat.

Word, free vagabond.

Count in as one who would like to see less non-elimination legs. Although I was screaming for joy last week when the moms were saved. There should be some way of making the race longer (more legs) and have a double elimination race. That way teams that just had bad luck (something not their fault) could have a second chance. We would get to know more about the teams too and how they would handle the pressures of the race. I for one would ahve liked to see teams like Amanda and Chris or Dennis and Andrew around longer. Also I am in total agreement with those who state get rid of the yield and return the FF. And get rid of the penalty for finishing last in non-elimination legs. Not the right way for the race to go, I think.

I would like to see more from the Amazing Editors...

1) Add more time stamps on individual teams for the amount of time it takes each one to do a task.

2) Add a lie-o-meter that tallys the fibs each team gives.

3) Translate foreign language whenever possible with captioning so I understand what the locals are saying even if the team doesn't.

Some of this could be made part of the web-site, but it would be nice to know as I watch how well or terrible a team is doing.

I'd like to see the Yield in action before passing final judgement. I was thinking of softer/different versions of the Yield, like only being able to Yield the team directly in front or behind (or within a given radius) and/or only being able to Yield a team in front until the yielding team passes the yielded team. (And, how does a Yield in its current form work on a team in a car?)

As for Fast Forwards, I'd like to see easier versions, but it seems to make sense that it takes a lot to earn them, and that the payoff is huge. That's the biggest problem with the Yield - teams do little to earn them (other then find them along the way), but the consequences during the leg and the rest of the race could be huge. The one thing I want is that if there is to be something like a Yield/FF, then they always have to be earned with a task.

And I'd like to see teams do a loop through a city/area every few seasons, like going from London, to Paris, to Berlin, then unexpectedly back to London to start a different leg. Just to shake things up.

ETA: As long as I'm going:
1) If there's going to stunt casting at the level of bringing on stars from other reality shows or prior seasons of TAR, maybe they could be put to use as hosts or subhosts of specific tasks. I was gonna push voting for them but that would mean that TAR would have to edited and aired as its being taped.
2) If the reason for FF's going bye-bye is partly financial, maybe some sponsorship could be sold for the FF's (within reason).

You can only yield a team behind you. That team is yielded when it gets to the Yield. So, no cars are involved.

I agree with those that previously posted on these ideas.

1) Return the Fast Forward with each leg.

2) Limit the amount of tickets racers can buy on behalf of other teams. (I don't think that all teams should be able to buy an unlimited amount of tickets for themselves either, ie regular tickets and multiple stand-by tickets.)

3) No spoon-fed transportation.

4) If you say, "I quit" then you're done.

5) Less predictable legs. Why does each leg have a detour and a roadblock? Why not two detours and two roadblocks?

I'm okay with spoon-fed transportation if it's in areas where there's not much real transportation. For example, charter flights to some more out-of-the-way destinations like Namibia are fine to me. Same with spoon-fed cabs if it's in an area with disreputable cab drivers or limited cab availability. I am definitely missing the driving/navigation tasks this season, though--not as many, and definitely no long-haul drives so far.

Fast-forwards- I do like that they're not a guarantee every leg, but I think two is too few, because now their use is anticlimactic--a reward for a team that's ahead rather than the saving grace for a struggling team. I think maybe having five or six available overall would be about right, or maybe having them appear only in even-numbered legs of the race.

Maybe they've never done Egypt before because they knew they couldn't do it safely without so much spoon-fed transportation. I agree that I'm not crazy about spoon-fed taxis, but my desire to see new locations on TAR wins out.

Word, Lingo. I can't see any other way they could have done Egypt. If they ever go to Greece I expect the same spoon feeding there. There are just some places you have to use it. Like the old adage says, safety first.

Oh and did I mention 50 times already ... lose the damn Yield and bring back the real Fast Forward. I did? Well this is number 51 then.

Just wanted to add some Detour/Roadblock ideas so that the producers won't have to go the "eat large amount of gross stuff" route all the time in the future.
Roadblock
A person must enter a completely dark room to search by touch for an object of a specific shape. The room is filled with many objects of different shapes. Filmed in night-vision.

Detour: Sisyphus or Tantalus (when in Greece)
Sisyphus: Teams must roll a large ball up a steep hill.
Tantalus: Teams must eat a large number of grapes.

Detour: Perfect Balance or Perfect Pitch
Perfect Balance: Teams must take an odd assortment of objects and place all of them on a set of scales so that each side of the scale balances perfectly.
Perfect Pitch: Each team member must throw a baseball from a mound to the plate and hit a small target.

Roadblock
Teams must type a page of gibberish exactly correctly on an old fashioned typewriter with no backspace or correction fluid. If they make one mistake, they have to go back to the beginning.

A detour I came up with during a recent trip to Italy:

Search: Look around Pompeii for a specific object (my suggestion is a fountain). It doesn't take much strength and isn't scary unless you can't stand sexually explicit pictures, but much of the city looks the same so it'll take some brain power to keep track of where you've already looked.

Slope: Hike to the top of Mount Vesuvius. Doesn't take much brain power at all, but it's tough on the legs and the view down will be hard for acrophobes.

If the teams are ever at a computer lab for a task:

Turing or Turning

Turing: Teams must use the 'turing' test on several hidden rooms. They must get a certain number right to win. It's a fifty percent chance even if you just guess, but you would have to do something like 10 of them.

Turning: Teams must get in a 'geeky' car (maybe one of the cool new hydrogen models) and drive on a long track that ends back at the lab. There's only one track, but hydrogen refueling tanks stations are practically nonexistent, so if you ran out of gas, you'd have to get back to the lab some other way and do Turing.

If teams are at a military place: Halo or Half-life

Halo: teams must drive a Halo warthog (think of a Humvee) with a paintball gun on the back through a course and shoot certain targets. Teams with good driving skills and good aim should go fast, teams without won't.

Half-life: teams must get paintball guns and proceed through a course with 'enemy' paintballers. If they get shot too many times, they must start over. Not as much skill is needed, but it could take a while.


If teams are at a castle: werewolves or vampires

Werewolves: Teams must go through a spooky forest to retrieve a silver dagger. It's easy going, but hard navigating. Hours of operation: 10 PM to 4 AM.

Vampires: Teams must climb to an unspecified turret in the tower, retrieve a garlic wreath,and climb down. Less navigating but more physically demanding,and more hit-or-miss. Horrs of operation: same as werewolves.
Last leg: finding Phil or phasing Phil

Finding Phil: Teams get one final, extremely vague clue (Phil is at the top of the cities tenth largest tower, unless he's at the bottom of the third deepets basement, and the city is one of the following five...) and must find Phil with just that clue.

Phasing Phil: teams must go through several clues, each one leaving them with a few puzzle pieces. The completed puzzle shows where Phil is, but teams must do one more task to get some cool object that will 'phase' Phil. A leg-long detour.

I like the idea of a penalty for the team which finishes last in a non-elimination leg, but I don't think I like the no-money penalty. For one thing, a team that knows about it going in might buy trinkets that they can later sell during the course of the race. For another, it telegraphs which legs are non-elimination but letting the viewer wonder "is this pit stop area too poor for a non-elimination?" Lastly, begging (or WHATEVER the Twins are doing next week) is unseemly.

I've seen doing both ends of a detour as a suggestion, and while I kind of like that, it would have proven absolutely fatal in this past leg, unless they were allowed to do this simultaneously.

What I'd suggest is to give the last place team a "Penalty Task" which must be completed at some point during the end of the leg. Something time consuming but not fatal. Like "Take this camera and take a photo of yourself shaking hands with 10 different doctors." or "Find a church, a mosque, and a synagogue." or "Eat a hamburger at 5 different McDonald's." It'd be up to the team to figure out when they could do this, but they have to do it or they can't finish. In this last leg, the Moms may have been able to do this at the airport and before they went to the helipad, but it would have taken them time and effort which is a real penalty.

I'm assuming you didn't see Super Size Me!

Those are all great ideas. I think having to do an extra task would be 1) potentially less offensive than beggings, 2) much more random and 3) potentially add another "cultural" element to the game.

I have heard that in some foreign markets, fast food joints use GOAT MEAT instead of beef. There's a cultural difference.

I've eaten enough goat in the US of A to know that's not that big a difference. Albeit not fast food goat.

Edited becuz spelling iz gud.

Dare I say it, but I am finding the Race less interesting in these later legs than in previous editions. It's not very interesting to see Colin and Christie continue their march on towards the finish line. The competition is just very weak this year.

They need better casting, and I'd prefer casting of real people like Chip and Kim and Linda and Karen, and not teams that are cast only because they provide high drama.

If the Yield stays, make it more fun. Force one competitor to channel Jerry Seinfeld, looking away and shouting "I choose not to Yield!" while the partner points at the person and agrees.

Stop making the racers take the train in India. The female racers invariably get groped, and I'm sure BvM and the production people know this. The women can't go on the female only car becuase they have (presumably) male camera and sound people. I'm uncomfortable watching it - both Mr. lawgiver and I said at the same time that they should stop going that. I feel like it's setting them up for groping - yuck.

On the other hand, the Insider videos make it clear that Kim didn't get groped. And Kim wasn't wearing a tank top and skimpy shorts in a Muslim country. Gee. Could there be a connection?

(this should be in the Episode thread but I don't know how to get it there ...)

There should be at least one clue that directs them to a latitude and longitude, given in a populated city that has oodles of resources they can use to figure that out. No GPS based navigation. Make the teams really sweat by having to figure out where to go. In that vein, one clue could also be a map (maybe a contour map) where the words have been stripped or greeked or a photo, forcing teams to ask around and show the photo.

Been there, done that.

Less actors and models, more real people. bluesincenew and I have been calling this the "me and God and Jesus" season based on the number of times religous deities come up during the race.