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Original Message
"Help from locals"
Posted by cheezit on 03-01-07 at 09:40 AM
Does anyone else think TAR should ban the teams from getting help from locals? To me a team getting a local escort isn't them really racing it's the locals. I know there are risk involved b/c some of the locals led them the wrong direction but for the most part they seem to help. I just think it would be more interesting if the racers had to actually find things on their own.

Just my 2 cents

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Messages in this discussion
"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by popeave on 03-01-07 at 09:56 AM
I don't have any problem with getting help from a local, whether it's asking directions or having someone drive ahead of you or having them come along with you. I think it's great to get as much help as you can, and it makes it very interesting to me to see how the racers interact with the natives. Sometimes the local guide is very helpful, and other times they are useless or even detrimental to the team's progress. That's ok with me because that's what makes the race interesting - how do the different racers interact with the situations they are put into or that they create for themselves.

The only reason I would see for any limitations on things like this is if there were concerns about safety.

"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by cheezit on 03-01-07 at 10:10 AM
I'm not talking about asking for directions as much following the local, getting the local in your car, et...
I do see how a local can actually hurt a team and I do appreciate it showing how racers interact with the locals. But for me it still just takes something away from the race. For me it's local vs. local with the racers along for the ride. So instead of relying on their own wits/luck we're not relying on the locals wit and luck.

Maybe TAR shouldn't take it away all together but just put a limit on it like "you can only ask a local to lead you 3 times the race" or something like that. Might make it a bit more interesting.

"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by michel on 03-01-07 at 11:58 AM
I have to disagree: A big part of TAR's charm is the interaction with the locals. I have some quick examples to show how priceless some have been:

1) Romber on TAR 7 in South Africa (?) when they ran into a fan of Survivor who gushed all over them and insisted on bringing them to the finish line to be on camera with them. She was hilarious.

2) BJ and Tyler picking up a hitchhicker in Koweit and learning about the Bedouin culture as they fell behind everyone.

3) Duke and Lauren hiring a local who used them as her cab ride to her brother's place instead. It lead Lauren to wonder if they could pay the taxi for the detour or wind up in jail.

Those, and many others, were so great moments that you can't take that away. We aren't watching a professional rally, we wouldn't even want to watch that. Paris-Dakkar doesn't get TAR's ratings!!

"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by Ripley on 03-01-07 at 05:46 PM
I'm amazed at how many taxi drivers don't know where they are going,and these are the people that you should trust the most on directions.If a local got me lost that would be one thing ,but to pay someone to get you lost, I'd be pissed.
"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by ladybugen on 03-02-07 at 01:20 PM
I've have to give taxi drivers directions to me house from the airport and I only live 15 minutes away. They should at least be able to get to the closest major intersection.


In some places, the racers would not be able to race if locals didn't help. In Asian or mid-eastern countries where the languages (especially written words) are so different, I think many racers wouldn't be able to function if they couldn't ask for help. Those tasks that involve finding a particular address that are already so difficult would cause major problems for many teams.

"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by psjim on 03-05-07 at 01:06 AM
If a local was in a team's car and they had a bad accident, would TAR be liable??
"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by geg6 on 03-02-07 at 01:41 PM
Sorry, but that has been a part of the Race forever.

If you are smart, charming, and multi-lingual enough to get someone to help you? That makes you a good racer. End of story.


"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by cheezit on 03-02-07 at 02:42 PM
I get asking for help and how interesting the show gets when we see racers interact with locals but I still think there should be a limit on the amount of help you can get.
Asking a cabby for directions cool. Following one or having a local drive with you to be your navigator not cool. Sorry, but I think it's a total cop out on the racers part. Plus what do the locals get? 2 seconds of tv time? A chance to speak to an American? A few measely bucks(which I know I know could be worth millions to them but I hate the attitude most racers have after they give them the few bucks). To me it feels like the locals are being used and maybe thats really my issue.

"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by geg6 on 03-02-07 at 03:30 PM
I don't quite get the problem you have with it.

If you're travelling in a place you've never been and in which the people speak a different language, how is it using someone if they offer to help you or if you ask them for help and they agree?

No one forces the locals to help them. Everyone says thank you and/or pays them. And, in many of the places in the Race, the locals are extremely poor and are perfectly happy to do such tasks for a fee.

Sorry, but that's part of a good strategy, IMHO.


"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by Snidget on 03-02-07 at 05:40 PM
*nods*

Different teams have different strengths. Some are really good at getting local help, others are really athletic, etc.

I don't know why one particular skill/strategy should be banned over any other.

"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by Cygnus X1 on 03-02-07 at 08:15 PM
And as we saw with Jill and John Vito, help from a local does not always guarantee that racers will be better off.

In fact, interaction with the locals is one of the things that intrigues me about the show.


Tribe strikes again!
You've been warned, so don't complain.

"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by justmyhumbleopinion on 03-02-07 at 02:40 PM
Honestly, it only bugs me when team I don't like get help from locals. When my favorite teams get help, I'm cheering them on.

I agree with others that if they removed locals from the race, it would remove some of the fun/drama.

"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by Ripley on 03-02-07 at 06:06 PM
Look at the trouble Mirna & Charla were having with the cab driver,sometimes I feel it's better to have a good map than a local.Have you ever tried to get help yourself,nine times out of ten there are 5 people trying to give you better directions and talking all at once and you just get frustrated with them.I don't even try to give directions to my house I just hand the phone to my wife.
"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by Cyndimaus on 03-03-07 at 03:10 PM
I can see both sides. Teams getting help finding places (or not if the local doesn't know how to get there) they otherwise wouldn't is fine. But I think having a local ride with you everywhere you go for the whole day is a bit much. Part of the fun, for me, is watching teams getting lost when other teams have figured it out on their own. I remember last race when Lyn & Karlyn used layover time to figure out how to get to the next clue box and shocked everyone by arriving first. (flying into a closer airport helped in that one too)

I guess it's a mixed bag for me. I like the local help but only to a certain point.


sig courtesy of Cygnus

"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by psjim on 03-05-07 at 01:03 AM
Rules forbid telling people you're in TAR, seems like the same should apply to getting local help.
Is it just me, but how could a local jump in a strangers car and help them? You don't see the local being returned to where they were picked up!!
I guess they are just "dumped" out in the mad rush to the next stop!! <G>
"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by trigirl on 03-05-07 at 08:08 AM
Wasn't it Danny and Oswald who started this trend with 'Fern'? At the time we thought it was brilliant, now it is just annoying and I think lame.

"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by Ripley on 03-05-07 at 03:40 PM
The local that Charla & Mirna got didn't seem to help that much,he seemed to be just along for the ride.
"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by zacz on 03-06-07 at 07:13 PM
I think that the racers should be able to ask locals/taxi drivers for directions but they SHOULDN'T be allowed to follow a local or taxi or take the local along with them.

It would make the race more difficult but it would make it more interesting to watch. When the paying taxis to follow thing came in a few seasons ago I thought it was smart but it just made the race boring. When the clues say DRIVE YOURSELF you should not be able to follow a local or a taxi.

"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by Ripley on 03-06-07 at 09:12 PM
One way to look at it is in the locals perspective also.I don't know if "The Amazing Race"show is as popular in other countries as it is in America.So you are a local from another country and these people come along with a camera and ask you to travel with them and you don't know if they are going to bring you back,it's a hard call the show doesn't really show how many times teams get turned down by locals.I'm sure especially with the All Stars they try more to grab locals than ever before.
"RE: Help from locals"
Posted by mysticwolf on 03-06-07 at 09:26 PM
*shrug* As Schmirna found out, you pays your money and you takes your chances. If they want to use their available money to pay for a taxi to follow I've got no issue with it. Others will use their money to buy a guidebook or map. To each their own. Spend too much and you don't eat. Your choice. (And, making that choice harder may be part of why their discretionary money has been lessened in recent years.)

In any case, it's part of international travel. I've asked locals for directions before. Anyone who's ever traveled widely has. Anyway you cut it, in order for it to work you have to be able to approach a local, communicate with them effectively, and reach some kind of agreement with them about expectations of recompense. (Some of which we may not see. Even if they aren't physically taken back to their starting point, we don't know if they were traveling that way to begin with or if the racers gave them some money for a ride back.)

Sometimes it pays off, sometimes your communication isn't as effective, or the locals aren't as reliable, as you'd like. It's part of the game.


A Tribal Christmas blogging's scary