Race around the world

[Paul Dishman]

We said that we’d be cracking on and getting to the destination as soon as possible, not hang around sightseeing.

I fancy that there was more of an emphasis on the race aspect in the first two series, so it’ll be interesting to see how it develops.

Good PR for Canada though, Canadians seem to be just so nice

[shtu]

Paul Dishman said:

We said that we’d be cracking on and getting to the destination as soon as possible, not hang around sightseeing.

I get the feeling that they're told to do X number of stops consuming Y days as a minimum.

[Driver101]

Their budget also looks generous. £5000 per couple is much higher than previous series.

Edited by Driver101 on Thursday 23 March 16:15

[Sir Bagalot]

Driver101 said:

Their budget also looks generous. £5000 per couple of much higher than previous series.

1st world country this time.

If I was handed a budget of $5K I know it's going to be tight. I certainly wouldn't be getting a cab for $500.... followed by another cab!!

[Deckert]

Do we think this is staged at all ? are the people they get lifts with set up?
They were all so far apart but ended up all within 17 minutes of each other at the ferry.

[nicanary]

Deckert said:

Do we think this is staged at all ? are the people they get lifts with set up?
They were all so far apart but ended up all within 17 minutes of each other at the ferry.

I'm pretty convinced that the diversions to see local attractions are pre-arranged. No doubt the BBC have come to an arrangement with the Canadian Tourist Board. The teams are told in advance what they have to visit and when. I must admit the whole thing is very suspicious.

[tribalsurfer]

I assume the rules forbid renting a car. There are some big rental places about 5 miles out of Port Hardy. Victoria to Port Hardy would take 6 hours so cheapist car say $100 including fuel.

Same for those on the mainland. I drove YVR to Merritt in about 5 hours, you could do the whole trip to Prince Rupert in a couple of days, dare I suggest get a midsize and kip in the car.

[Rh14n]

Am I right in saying that the ferry only went once a week so there was a very high chance of them catching the same one, even if they dawdled on the way to sight-see/work?

[Driver101]

Sir Bagalot said:

Driver101 said:

Their budget also looks generous. £5000 per couple of much higher than previous series.

1st world country this time.

If I was handed a budget of $5K I know it's going to be tight. I certainly wouldn't be getting a cab for $500.... followed by another cab!!

According to Wikipedia they had £1329 for the 12,000 mile trip between London and Singapore.

I missed the start last night, but when they were displaying the budgets at the end they were in Pounds and not Dollars.

[croyde]

Someone remind me, what's the benefit of winning a stage?

[Doofus]

croyde said:

Someone remind me, what's the benefit of winning a stage?

Don't you get to set off first in the morning?

So you can be first to the sightseeing/working task and then everyone else can catch you up at the railway station in the evening.

[surveyor]

Doofus said:

croyde said:

Someone remind me, what's the benefit of winning a stage?

Don't you get to set off first in the morning?

So you can be first to the sightseeing/working task and then everyone else can catch you up at the railway station in the evening.

Don't they kick out the last, after a bit of time to get them going?

[llewop]

surveyor said:

Doofus said:

croyde said:

Someone remind me, what's the benefit of winning a stage?

Don't you get to set off first in the morning?

So you can be first to the sightseeing/working task and then everyone else can catch you up at the railway station in the evening.

Don't they kick out the last, after a bit of time to get them going?

I think they have 36 hours or something like that at the checkpoints, so time to recharge (& eat!) then set off at time gaps they arrive. In the first one there was an elimination (at second checkpoint I think), but the last one there was a team that lost money so had to bail early, which probably saved the producers setting up an elimination.

Wonder if that will be different for this one vs the ferry to get back off as that essentially will be a reset if all catch the same ferry back to mainland.

[MiniMan64]

While there elements that are set up I think the majority is clearly as it happens. The ferry part last night was poorly planned in terms of the trip as it rather limited a spread of arrival times!

[croyde]

I did enjoy the South America series and watched the first Canadian one last night.

Pleased to discover a whole 1st series to binge as well.

[rdjohn]

nicanary said:

I'm pretty convinced that the diversions to see local attractions are pre-arranged. No doubt the BBC have come to an arrangement with the Canadian Tourist Board. The teams are told in advance what they have to visit and when. I must admit the whole thing is very suspicious.

The simple fact that each couple must have a film crew in tow 24/7 who, no doubt will have every bit of electronic paraphernalia, with them must inevitably compromise genuine freedom to be inventive.

Every action will need H&S approval beforehand - even the tantrums.

[ch37]

Deckert said:

Do we think this is staged at all ? are the people they get lifts with set up?
They were all so far apart but ended up all within 17 minutes of each other at the ferry.

After how farcical things like The Apprentice have become I was ready to pick this apart too, but I think it was just genuinely excellent planning on the production team to thank for this. As all the teams eventually discovered, the checkpoint really only had one realistic route given the ferry situation, so it was ultimately just a task of having several days to get to the top of Vancouver Island from Vancouver at minimum cost. Kept it tight to pull people in for the first episode.

The field spread would have been measured in 17hrs+ rather than 17mins had it not been for the presumably very carefully chosen checkpoint.

The real winners, and I think the actual aim, were those that did that as cheaply as possible, I think two of the teams spent as near to the minimum possible given at least two ferries were effectively essential. The $500 taxi was insane.

As they head inland for the rest I'd expect some field spread and more importantly it seems...significant expenditure differences.

Edited by ch37 on Sunday 26th March 23:09

[Muzzer79]

croyde said:

Someone remind me, what's the benefit of winning a stage?

Your time delta to the others is carried through to the next stage.

So, if you come in to the checkpoint 2 hours ahead of everyone else, you get a 2 hour headstart for the next stage.

Likewise, if you come in half a day behind, you're leaving half a day behind for the next stage.

I thought some of them were too focused on winning the stage and not enough on money. In the early stages of the competition, it's all about making it to the checkpoint in a reasonable time but by using as little money as possible.
Time can be made up in the early stages, but money is hard to make up later on.

The couple who spent 20% of their budget by using taxis, etc but came in first were nuts. I think I saw a brief glance at the check in book and they won by about 2 minutes or something and were only 17 mins ahead of those who came in last. That's nothing in terms of the rest of the competition.

[croyde]

Watching the original series where the older couple arrived 2 days later than everyone else in China but then were first at the next stage in Cambodia.

I like the dad and the son. Great to see the lad go from stroppy prone to tantrums teen turning into a nice young fella happy to sort problems and being nice to strangers.

This is the UK to Singapore one.

[numtumfutunch]

MiniMan64 said:

While there elements that are set up I think the majority is clearly as it happens. The ferry part last night was poorly planned in terms of the trip as it rather limited a spread of arrival times!

I thought the ferry thing odd as well - but not as odd as the boys 'miraculously' finding a good samaritan to drive them the whole length of Vancouver Island

Sure its probably not as spontaneous as we'd like however I enjoyed watching previous series and it never felt as manipulated as this possibly was

Good telly though.....