Yes I have to say I thought the trapeze thing looked nearly impossible to just pick up! No matter your age! While I don’t want to do either, jumping out of a plane would be easier!
Listening to the exit interviews on RHAP, Greg and John said that what really helped them was when they moved from public transportation to driving themselves. They are good with directions and driving in foreign countries so that helped them jump ahead of other teams.
They also mention that Joel & Garrett watched the glass blowing demo 3 times which helped them. Greg and John were over confident that they understood what to do and it cost them 30+ minutes.
Rob and Corey said they finished Grunge just behind Joel & Garrett and finished Glass in two tries. Warning to future racers, don’t ask directions from people waiting for an Uber.
Also, Corey and the Riverdance instructor kept in contact after the race. It didn’t last long, but they did communicate with each other.
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Exactly - which jolted me, because I was expecting a final twist, where a penalty was being assigned for breaking race rules. (I always assumed they require contestants to fly under the radar, to avoid third parties posting mobile videos of key race moments long before the season airs.)
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But they often show the clue to the person they’re asking directions from to show the name of the place they’re looking for and if the person is a fan they’re going to know it’s TAR. I wonder if the plan was for the scramble to take place at night or if there was some flight delay that put it in that time frame. Less traffic but much harder to find someone to ask directions from. And some of those helpers looked really tired, like the Grunge guy with the microphone.
Edited to add: I never look for spoilers until after the season is over, but I just looked up TAR and Seattle and found this post on Reddit - Seattle from July -
“About 15 minutes ago I was getting some gas and a car with 4 people pulled into the parking lot and was asking around for directions. It was two guys plus a camera and sound person. I was nearby and pulled out my phone and they asked to use it while they wrote down directions for a few minutes.
While the two guys were using my phone the sound person gave me some paperwork to sign and said if I wanted to be shown on TV I had to put my signature.
Then when they were done using my phone they were out of there. They seemed pretty stressed and in a rush and mentioned they could win a million dollars tonight so I’m not sure what to think.”
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Joel and Garrett had at least two checks before John and Greg so as long as they drove to the mat location first they would have been first if they hadn’t mixed up the two airborne challenges. I think John and Greg did have to wait for Joel and Garrett to completely finish the trapeze.
I didn’t get that vibe at all! I thought they were amazing. In a way, they were the perfect TAR contestants: smart, athletic, multi-talented, detail oriented, quick learners who didn’t waste a single moment bickering and had a great sense of direction.
The only reason we were rooting for Rob and Corey was because we loved the father-son dynamic. But Greg and John were right up there and I was very happy to see them win.
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I thought the people giving the directions exclaimed that it was TAR (not the contestants)…but I could be wrong.
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To be honest, it was that “perfect” that turned me off!
Again they were fine, played well and fair and seemed generally nice.
Liked the finale. Wasn’t surprised by the winners, but was surprised at how close the first two teams were. Also amazed that Joel and Garrett were able to pull off the trapeze thing fairly quickly - I thought that would be harder for them. I know I wouldn’t have been able to do it !
Lifting the kayaks into position was hard work. The interviews said something about them having to match photos of pitstops as well - Greg and John mentioned that was harder since a lot of the asian temples looked alike. Am puzzled as to why they didn’t show that. Another interview with Anna Leigh and Steve mentioned that there was another activity they all did that wasn’t even aired - guess they do way more than they actually show?
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Greg and John mentioned that as well. It felt like they are dragging things out to fill 90 minutes when, in reality, they are omitting entire challenges.
https://www.givesendgo.com/SmithFamilyServiceDog
They made their $ goal for the service dog! 
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