Rob Cesternino (@RobCesternino) and Chief RHAP Amazing Race Correspondent Jessica Liese (@HaymakerHattie) are joined this week by Ryan Danz (@RyanDanz) from the Amazing Race 21 to discuss episode 7 of the Amazing Race 23 “Speed Dating is the Worst” which took teams from Austria to the United Arab Emerites.
Ryan explains that he is on the show solo, because he no longer has a race partner. He discusses that some Amazing Race couples do not make it because of the race and post-race transitions back to the real world are difficult. According to Ryan, the Amazing Race divorce rate is 50%. He also explains that second marriages are much more successful than the first because the partners know what they are looking for and are more mature.
Is TAR 23 a Dud?
Ryan called this episode a “Creampuff” episode and said it was a dud. Jessica agreed saying that you have to work really hard to make repelling and racecar driving seem boring. Ryan said that the race is really controlled by the producers for safety and liability reasons and it takes away the excitement from watching the race. He brings up how racecar driving is not an exciting challenge, especially when you are the passenger and mentions how Cheyne in TAR 15 was able to drive the racecar. Rob brings up how they didn’t mention on the show how racecar is spelt the same forwards and backwards.
Ryan felt last night’s episode disconnected at the detour. He thinks that since the tasks are so boring, there has to be drama between the teams to really keep it interesting and it wasn’t there. If he was on this race, Ryan would have chosen the Dates task because of Abbie’s eye for fashion and design. He brings up how the FCC governs reality TV show and they can’t discriminate against a group of people, so each task is equally difficult. He mentions how the challenges are tested in LA before they tested it on the race course.
Ryan thinks this season and the cast are terrible, but he likes Nikki and Kim. He believes that they interact well together and are one of the few teams he is rooting for. Jessica brings up how much the Baseball Bunnies have had a lot of luck. Ryan brings up that he believes that 75-80% of the race is luck but believes that the stronger teams do manage to find their way to the top regardless.
Strategy or Karma?
Rob brings up the moment that the Icecababes pushes the yacht to leave without the Baseball Bunnies. Jessica thought that was a good move, because you need to do everything you can to get ahead. Ryan wonders how close they really were because of editing. He believes that karma will bite the Icecababes later on in the race. He believes that the production is really good at telling the story so the Bunnies were really close to getting on the boat.
Ryan thinks what happened with Chester and Ephraim took an unnecessary risk and it bit them in the end. He feels that you only need to take that sort of risk if you absolutely need it. Since they already had tickets to stay with the pack, they should have stayed with the pack. Had this been the final leg, everyone feels they should have done it. Ryan feels that the catch-up times at the airport are designed to raise the drama.
Hot Laps and Hot Tempers
According to Ryan, Marie is the top-dog of all females on this season and Tim is very vanilla. He likes how Marie tells it to your face and how she is the same on camera as she is off. He dislikes the Afganimals with a burning passion and they can do nothing to win his affection. He feels they are fake and annoying and hates how they objectify the Ice Queens. He brings up how no one on that race likes the Afganimals. He did say that Bertram Van Munster likes them though, so they could be back for All-Stars
Rob feels that “Dropping in for a Hot Lap” is a euphemism for something else. He felt that the assistant pushing the windshield on the racers helmet back down for a wrong answer was a little harsh. Ryan feels that the Continuation leg is really harsh and brings up how Luke of TAR broke down at the mat when he heard “Keep Racing”. He feels that the race is so intense that you need a break and the continuation leg breaks you down. He also brings up how you never know how you never know the pit stop will be until you get there and they ran the gambit from high class Hiltons to Army Tents.
Answering Your Questions
Ryan would rather run the race with the Twinnies then with Marie and brings up how he is good friends with them.
Jessica feels that the Bunnies should not have used the information of where the dates were to gain good will. Ryan brings up a situation where he had to give away information to the Chippendales to continue on the race and thinks the Bunnies had nothing to gain from the situation. Ryan felt that the carts would have been marked, because everything is marked really well.
Ryan would like to see more Southeast Asia on the race as well as Australia and Africa. He brings up the fact that the producers get Visas for a lot of countries just in case, and they don’t go to all of them.
Rob would like to send out his best wishes to everyone in the Philippines who have been affected by the typhoon. Ryan brings up how the Amazing Race brings people together and that they serve an important purpose.
Ryan thinks that the $2 million had no impact on the race. He would have paid the producers to get on the race. He felt that they were targeted by the other competitors not because of the money, but because of the fact that they were a threat. He brings up how the scene where he won the first leg and how the editing made that scene seem worse than it actually was and he wasn’t motivated by the money.
Ryan was a contestant on Martha Stewarts Apprentice, and how he was ecstatic to be there, but he didn’t feel like he fit in. He had an opposite vibe when he was on the Race. He brings up how the editing of the show really teaches you who you are and tells you what you need to work on. Ryan brings up how the casting associates have a hard rule that there were no crossovers from other reality TV shows from other networks. When the race had a medical drop-out, they made an exception for him when someone who worked on the Race worked on the Apprentice: Martha Stewart and knew him from the show.
Ryan brings up how there are Field Producers in the field, and when the task is subjective they determine who passes the task and who does not. They also tell you what you can and cannot do during a task and brings up a moment where they dropped ice It is not decided by the task judges.
Ryan feels that the strongest team all-time would be Meghan and Chayne, since they are good people but they are studs.
Ryan has a new book out called Ju-Jitsu Jurisprudence. The publisher is actually a fan of the show and saw Ryan on the show and the publishing company reached out to him because he is a lawyer who does ju-jitsu. It is about how he balances his life and his marriage and how ju-jitsu helped him balance his life. You can get the book at www.robhasawebsite.com/ryandanz . The book also goes into behind the scenes of Ryan and Abbie’s elimination from the race, but it does not go into their break-up. He also airs all of Martha Stewart and Bethanny’s dirty laundry from The Apprentice: Martha Stewart. He brings up how Bethanny pulls him aside on the first day and says… (You can find the answer in the book)
There is no Survivor Exit Interview this week, but join Rob for Survivor Know-It-Alls with Stephen Fishback at a special time this week, 10:30 EST and be sure to catch the recap episode with the winner of Survivor: South Pacific, Sophie Clarke.
Make sure you are voting every day for RHAP at the Podcast Awards at www.podcastawards.com
Thanks to Michael Shaheen for another phenomenal Amazing Race Recap
