94 replies to this topic

[SeaBreeze341]

Typically during a regular TV year where there's a September-December autumn season, followed by a February-May spring season, the Amazing Race tapes its second season around the time the first season is wrapping up on television. Usually it's between Thanksgiving week and goes until right before Christmas. Upon TAR20 being held back for a "mid-season" debut, when nothing had been mentioned all week in terms of sightings, there was worry that they wouldn't even tape before New Year's. That would mean a taping in the winter months with a summer start (as I doubt TAR would emulate its second season with an early 2002 taping and a normal spring start).

With not much time before the Christmas/New Year's holidays, they really had until tomorrow (11/28/11) to start if they wanted a season really without the racers and staff missing Christmas with their families. Fortunately, things got going this weekend! Alright! Not really an all-star season to honor it's TV 10th year and its 20th season, but fair enough, it seems to be full of minor celebrities, recruits, and familiar faces. Nothing new, except this effort to get the same folks they've been casting has doubled.

[keram]

If you dig around on the site, you'll find a handful of pictures of racers at LAX. Also, the most horrible rumor ever seems to be true. It's all over twitter.

Brendan and Rachel will be appearing on TAR 20.

Fuck TPTB.

[katycat74]

NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Why must those two ruin another guilty pleasure show of mine...why???

[SeaBreeze341]

Second straight season with a crossover, third involving BB, fourth in five seasons, and overall five reality cross-over.

While I might laugh at an early exit (at the people that put them here, not Brenchel), I think I'd root them on more. I'd love to see someone crowned as the first person to win two major reality shows! However, that's based on their popularity or negatively as it relates to other teams, their situations, they're body of work/overall results, and everything else in general.

[Holliday]

I can google but I'd rather read astute TWOPer's words of wisdom. So...who are Brendan and Rachel?

[pixiepoop]

I would sooner dig my eyes out with a spoon than listen to Rachel complain and baby talk her way around the world. If it is true I hope they choke and exit early.

[keram]

Rachel and Brendan were contestants on Big Brother 12 and 13. It would take me too long to describe how horrible they truly were, so you'll have to take my word for it.

[Saeward]

Not a prediction, but she's such a whiny, helpless pile of crap, I could easily see them knocked out early. She obviously had "Big Brother skills," but they were almost entirely the kinds of things that don't help on Amazing Race.

But that's not the "most horrible rumor ever." A Kardashian team would be worse. Evil Dick would be worse, too.

[tgrfan23]

I don't watch the other CBS "reality" shows, but man, this casting cross-pollination is tiresome. I blame Romber.

[jessied112]

NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Why must those two ruin another guilty pleasure show of mine...why???

ITA. I hope they get out on the first leg. That would be freaking hilarious. I have hopes for this, though, because unlike Big Brother, this show can't be rigged easily in their favour so as long as they suck, then I think we're good. Hopefully they're horrible at navigation or mental challenges or something. At least let them be horrible at navigating so I don't have to see their faces on my screen for long.

[Atomickey25]

Oh good I thought there was going to be the first 16 year old on the show!! What a relief....

I hope that TPTB know that I am still here waiting for them to put me on the show as the first ever below 18 year old racer...

If they ever put in another teen besides myself I will never watch the show again T_T

it would break my heart knowing that I wasn't picked

[niklj]

Oh boy I can't wait to watch this poisonous relationship on ANOTHER show. So excited to hear Brendan passively-aggressively control Rachel yet again and watch her subsequent breakdowns because the joy that was the Zac/Laurence team showed TAR NEEDS more douche.

I'll wait till they're eliminated.

Edited by niklj, Nov 28, 2011 @ 1:45 AM.

[Lantern7]

I don't watch Big Brother. All I know is that it involves socially inept people fighting and occasionally fucking, and it keeps Julie Chen away from Les Moonves for three months. So there's going to be another BB alumni team. So what? How bad can they be? Here's my perspective:

1. Is there a team where one or both members have frequently appeared on a reality show, dominated the shit out of it, looked like total assholes in the process, and possibly did the unthinkable with a bathroom implement?

2. Is there a team where one or both members have the last name of "Hantz"?

So far, I haven't heard either, so I'm not upset. I realize that karma might bitch-slap me for saying this . . . but c'mon, they're a Big Brother team. How long can they last?

ETA: The link is work-safe, but it might make you a little nauseous. Just so you know.

Edited by Lantern7, Nov 28, 2011 @ 2:55 AM.

[pixiepoop]

I pray that Brendan and Rachel get eliminated early. But unfortunately Rachel is very adept at the challenges the do on BB so it might translate that she is good at the things they have to do on TAR.

[Hanahope]

You can always hope they do as well as the last BB team that got eliminated pretty early, like first or maybe second.

2. Is there a team where one or both members have the last name of "Hantz"?

Oh god, do not even go there.

[Nutjob]

Oh god, do not even go there.

Seriously. If Russell is on, I WILL NOT WATCH.

[keram]

I pray that Brendan and Rachel get eliminated early. But unfortunately Rachel is very adept at the challenges the do on BB so it might translate that she is good at the things they have to do on TAR.

As I remember from the show, she is a holy terror on the road. She talked of numerous moving violations she had racked up whilst driving.

Which means that Brendan will have to drive ... which means that Rachel will have to navigate. I am hoping they land in Paris, and end up driving to Italy before they realize that they never should have left Paris in the first place.

[stinamaia]

Seriously. If Russell is on, I WILL NOT WATCH.

Nor will I. At least, not until he is gone off to sequesterville.

[jessied112]

So far, I haven't heard either, so I'm not upset. I realize that karma might bitch-slap me for saying this . . . but c'mon, they're a Big Brother team. How long can they last?

Actually, you'd be surprised. Surprisingly, Rachel is very good at both the mental and physical challenges, though I'm sure it'll be totally different from BB challenges. Brendon, on the other hand, isn't the smartest tool in the shed (even if he does have a Chemistry degree or whatever) so I think he would be the weak link in their group.

And I said the exact same thing their second time around on BB. Then we ended up with Rachel winning it all and Brendon getting evicted twice. They're like gnats that just don't go away. Though when they're seperate from each other, they can be tolerable. But together?

[pjamma]

Isn't Brendon suppose to be finding a cure for cancer? How does he have time to go on another reality show? The world needs him!

All snark aside, this news really does bum me out because I know they are going to do well. They are fierce competitors.

It's going to be a real test to see if my love for TAR outweighs my dislike for Brenchel.

Edited by pjamma, Nov 28, 2011 @ 10:11 PM.

[jessied112]

Isn't Brendon suppose to be finding a cure for cancer? How does he have time to go on another reality show? The world needs him!

I know! He can't leave the work up to us Neanderthals! Sorry, Neandertalls.

But I agree. I dunno if they'll do well (this race does seem to rely on a lot of luck) but they may or may not get farther than we'd like them to. However, maybe they'll turn out to be Ethan/Jenna and get out on the first leg. Or we could be subjected to a Jordan/Jeff run and have them eliminated in the middle. Or the worst case scenario of them winning the whole thing to pay for their honeymoon (if they even get married...wait, are they married by now?)

But I swear if I hear 'my fiance Brendon' on TAR, I swear I'll go and punch somebody.

[SnideAsides]

I'd love to see someone crowned as the first person to win two major reality shows!

They'd be at least the second, after Australian comedienne Julia Morris won both It Takes Two (essentially DWTS with singing) in 2009 and Celebrity Apprentice Australia about a week ago.

The one issue they're going to have with Brenchel is getting the balance between "crossover! again!" and "another boring YDC" right -- from what I can gather, BB doesn't have the audience in the US for CBS to promote Brenchel the way they did Romber, but BB also isn't big enough on an international level to edit them as The Big Brother Team, given this show's massive international audience. In many countries, TAR is "Baywatch in Germany" big, and those ratings are really what's been keeping the show alive all this time in spite of constant CBS assfuckery -- with huge ratings, CBS can charge foreign networks more for the rights to air the show; if the ratings drop internationally, so does the money CBS makes from the show, and it becomes more likely the show gets cancelled. Given BB really isn't widely seen outside of the US (which I'm sure is their reason for casting Brenchel - they're infamous enough to matter for Americans, but not enough to get help everywhere they go), foreign markets aren't going to respond well if it becomes The Brenchel Show.

I do hope they continue the new trend of having the penultimate leg being in the Americas, though. Non-US North America has been criminally ignored in TAR's history (five legs in 18 seasons, and STILL no official Pit Stops in the world's second-largest country), and most of South America's been treated horribly too - Brazil as the first two "warm-up" legs three separate times, the tasks in Chile pretty much NEVER having anything to actually do with local culture, every single "go to Argentina" clue given in a neighbouring country (one in Uruguay, the other three in Chile), and only single legs in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia - so pretty much anything they do is going to be welcome, as long as they don't completely fuck it up the way they did with Brazil last season.

Then again, the last three visits to mainland Africa have all involved exactly two legs in exactly one country, with the first leg's Detour taking place at a kid's school in the area (because Africa = Education, apparently), so maybe the show's just in a rut.

[auntlada]

However, maybe they'll turn out to be Ethan/Jenna and get out on the first leg. Or we could be subjected to a Jordan/Jeff run and have them eliminated in the middle.

I'd rather see them be like Alison and whatever her boyfriend's name were. They were really annoying briefly before they were out (on the first or second leg -- I don't remember which). But they did provide one funny moment when their dogs wouldn't stop having sex. May the animals of TAR get Brendan and Rachel out in a similar way.

[Lantern7]

Sorry to invoke nasty thoughts. I just figure those who carry the H-word would be a few hundred times worse than any mental munchkin from Big Brother. And those assholes can't hold a candle to the heinousness that is Evan & Kenny. Besides, Allison finished runner-up on BB4, and she and her idiot boyfriend got eliminated second. Granted, they did win the first leg, but the point is they bowed out early.

Any other interesting people positively identified yet? I'm interested to see if I know anybody going into a season. Speaking of which, I just want to admit that I was wrong about a season with a round number (20) being full of "all-stars," Granted, those seen at the airport might be decoys for all we know, but I doubt it.

[uoflfan]

I really don't mind "celebrities" from other reality shows (unless it includes the tiny deplorable Hantzes) as long as it means another season of TAR in early 2012. If the rumors about Brenchel are true, it won't be so bad since there aren't any cameras in the bedroom on TAR. Plus, I can think of much worse teams from BB.

[Je Me Souviens]

Dipping the toe into the TWoP waters for the first time. (Long time reader, long time lover of TAR, and of course, a bona fide Phil-o-phile.)

It will be interesting to see Rachel on the Race. I'm curious to see how she handles the makeup issue as I'm assuming she won't have the time (or energy/inclination) to put on her spackle and Lily-Munster-Face Mask every morning before embarking on the race legs. And would there be enough room in her rucksack to pack all that stuff, anyway?

She also won't have (much) interaction with the other teams/racers. Most of her time on the Race will be spent with Brendan and Brendan alone. She acts differently in front of an 'audience' (aka fellow BB houseguests) - and taking that element out of the equation (along with her makeup crutch) might show a very different Rachel than we're used to seeing. She also won't be sitting around with ample amounts of time on her hands to contemplate how to put on a show/spectacle in front of the cameras following her 24/7. But then again, this is Rachel we're talking about. Still, I think this will make for some good times ahead.

Edited by Je Me Souviens, Nov 30, 2011 @ 5:20 AM.

[vanyag]

A sibling of a friend said she saw TAR20 running around Vancouver yesterday. Can anyone confirm this?

[Masem]

Highly doubtful. They only 'just' left (the weekend before thanksgiving? We're not 20 days out yet), and would only likely use Vancouver as the last stop before the final city.

I don't know if any of the other TARs are running, and always remember that the format of TAR makes it a fun localized activity for any city , so they could have seen this.

[theschnauzers]

Vancouver has some sort of local entity that puts on a local version of TAR quite often. Every time TAR is filming, there's something about Vancouver having Racers, and it turns out to be that local group.

[SnideAsides]

A sibling of a friend said she saw TAR20 running around Vancouver yesterday. Can anyone confirm this?

I don't know if any of the other TARs are running, and always remember that the format of TAR makes it a fun localized activity for any city , so they could have seen this.

One other version definitely is - it's about 95% certain that sighting is linked to one of teams from the second season of TAR Australia on a flight into another major Canadian city.

Edited by SnideAsides, Dec 6, 2011 @ 8:11 PM.