Now that the deadline is passed - How were your videos?

[CollegeARFan]

It was a very sad day when I finally realized that I had no chance of the next Amazing Race.

I asked earlier about whether it would be stupid for two 20 year olds to apply. Main response was yes. We sent one in anyway. We really decorated our package with the words "Give us an interview - You have nothing to lose!" and Stickers of Music Notes and Sesame Street Characters (we figured we would play up our age).

We filmed our video in two segments:
1) On the Maid of the Mist. That's the famous boat that goes right near the base of Niagara Falls. We were soaked, the camera was soaked. The video was AWESOME. (PS - We mentioned if we didnt get on, it would be a shame if that didnt at least make the contestants visit the Falls, because they are missing out on the greatest wonder of the world).
2) In my apartment. We talked about how close we were, and how we wanted to go across the world together, and that we knew we could win. We talked about how much we fight and how we annoy one another to the infinite degree, but that we couldnt imagine doing this with anyone else. We then mentioned how we were worried that it was alcohol the reason why we couldnt be on - so we said how we don't drive - as many empty vodka bottles rained down on my living room couch.

Overall I think it was a solid package, and at the very least, hopefully they will remember us NEXT year - when we will no doubt apply for the next one.

Would love to hear some other stories.

[Zaius]

Just curious - when was this deadline you speak of? I never read anything from WRP relating to any particular date when it's officially over. Some posters here have said they called and WRP told them the calls have gone out, others have said they called and WRP told them the calls hadn't gone out yet, so there's no way of really knowing through those sources.

[SonicAD]

Um... I think you have to be 21 to get on anyway...

[Sgrmac]

other message boards are also chattering with talk that 'calls had gone out for the first interviews'...hard to conform...but this past week and next were the 'potential times for calls'

[martini]

We filmed our video in two segments:
1) On the Maid of the Mist. That's the famous boat that goes right near the base of Niagara Falls. We were soaked, the camera was soaked. The video was AWESOME. (PS - We mentioned if we didnt get on, it would be a shame if that didnt at least make the contestants visit the Falls, because they are missing out on the greatest wonder of the world).
2) In my apartment. We talked about how close we were, and how we wanted to go across the world together, and that we knew we could win. We talked about how much we fight and how we annoy one another to the infinite degree, but that we couldnt imagine doing this with anyone else. We then mentioned how we were worried that it was alcohol the reason why we couldnt be on - so we said how we don't drive - as many empty vodka bottles rained down on my living room couch.
.

Sounds like a great video! We were just in our house talking to a camera being ourselves. After we saw our "serious" video, we hated it. We chucked it and submitted only the left over funny bits.

My guess is that they pick a day of the week (say Tuesday) and decide that they will only watch videos that arrive on Tuesdays and the rest will go in the trash bin. Unless they have an extremely large staff, how could they possibily find time to watch every video?

What do you think?

[TAR4 ATC Dave]

My guess is that they pick a day of the week (say Tuesday) and decide that they will only watch videos that arrive on Tuesdays and the rest will go in the trash bin. Unless they have an extremely large staff, how could they possibily find time to watch every video?

What do you think?

From what we were told by the guy who cast us, they watch every video. Do I believe they watch every one start to finish? No...

But I believe they give them all a look.

Dave

[martini]

From what we were told by the guy who cast us, they watch every video. Do I believe they watch every one start to finish? No...

But I believe they give them all a look.

Dave

Thanks, Dave. That makes me feel a bit better. :-)

I was trying to figure out what kind of "human resources" would take. Each video is 3 minutes. Let's say that the have 12,000 teams apply (I made up that number I have literally NO IDEA). That would be 600 hours of video tape. If you have a staff of 30 people, they would still have to watch 20 hours each. Even if they only what 1.5 minutes of each video that would still be 10 hours of video each. And that doesn't include the minute or two it would take to cue the video in the VCR.

It all sort of feels like Santa trying to get to every kid's house in the world on Christmas Eve. The logistics don't add up. Hence, my Tuesday theory.

Enlighten me, Dave!

[CantGetEnufTAR]

I too "did the math" on this whole app thing.

It was shortly after the due date, as I was growing ever more impatient by the lack of a phone call from them. I'd say this impatience started, oh let's see, on the way home from dropping the package off at the FedEx office. Yeah, right around then.

I'm "known" around here for running the numbers on everything, even if there aren't any numbers to run. I've forgotten exactly what I "assumed" and "approximated" way back in October, but will give it my best shot again.

Let's assume a total of 15,000 apps were received. And, let's assume that they wanted to choose on average 75 teams per interview city. Ten cities, that equals 750 teams, or 5% of apps.

I envisioned something like this--
Each day someone from WRP would go across town to the MailBoxes-R-Us place that was receiving the apps and pick up the new app arrivals. Once back at WRP they would add the new ones to their existing pile(s) and would continue reviewing.

A package would be opened, its contents sorted through to make sure it is complete and valid, maybe a quick glance thru written app, tape inserted. Now, I'd venture a guess that quite a few are "rejected" within the first few seconds of video, while others are completely watched.

Assume the opening, sorting, etc., prior to starting video takes 1.5 minutes FOR EACH AND EVERY APP! Let's assume average video length is 2.5 minutes (though many will not be fully watched). And the average time to fully read the written app is 5.0 minutes (though many will not be fully read).

I use "m" to abbreviate minute(s) below.

Let's say--
10% are rejected at 0.5m into their video.
20% are rejected at 1.0m into their video.
20% are rejected at 2.0m into their video.

(The rest have their entire video watched [2.5m] and now move on to have their written app more closely scrutinized...)
20% full 2.5m vid, but rejected after 1.0m of app.
20% full 2.5m vid, but rejected after 3.0m of app.

(The rest have had their entire video watched [2.5m] and app fully read [5.0m] and now move on to be "decided upon" [whatever that may entail]...)
5% full 2.5m vid, full 5.0m app, but rejected after 5.0m of "deciding".
5% full 2.5m vid, full 5.0m app, and ***ACCEPTED*** after 5.0m of "deciding".

And, that would be it, they would be down to 5% of apps, and scheduling of semis would begin.

The total time breakdown is---
10% (1,500 apps) "cost" them 2.0m each, total 3,000m.
20% (3,000 apps) "cost" them 2.5m each, total 7,500m.
20% (3,000 apps) "cost" them 3.5m each, total 10,500m.
20% (3,000 apps) "cost" them 5.0m each, total 15,000m.
20% (3,000 apps) "cost" them 7.0m each, total 21,000m.
5% (750 apps) "cost" them 14.0m each, total 10,500m.
5% (750 apps) "cost" them 14.0m each, total 10,500m.

So, to get to our desired 5% (750 semi-finalist), it took 78,000 minutes. That is 1,300 hours.

Let's assume that someone on-staff devoted to this selection process could realistically devote 7 hours per day to this task. That allows for the occasional break, read the newspaper, play a few games of solitaire, personal phone calls, you know "work" stuff...

So 1,300 hours divided by a "work-day" of 7 hours, equals about 186 "work-days".

Obviously it would take 1 person 186 work days.
It would take 2 people 93 days.
3 people, 62 days.
4 people, 47 days. 9 work weeks w/o Sat/Sun.
5 people, 37 days. 7 work weeks w/o S/S.
6 people, 31 days. 6 work weeks w/o S/S.
And so on.

Obviously if my "estimates" are correct, it wasn't 1, 2, or 3 people, because it didn't take them 2+ months or more to set the interviews.

From what I've gathered there are not too many on the staff (at least during this initial app review phase). My impression is that there are maybe as few as 2, and maybe as many as 4 to 6 that do all of the initial watching.

But, let's not forget that they can start watching them before the due date. Apps started (not the first time when they were there and then gone soon) on Sep 12, and were due on Oct 8. That is 26 days. Figure they started receiving a fairly sizable amount of apps 5 days into it. So, for 21 days during apps they could get started on reviewing them. That's 3 work weeks w/o S/S.

So, subtract 3 work weeks from the above totals.
4 people could be done 6 work weeks after the due date.
5 people, 4 work weeks after the due date.
6 people, 3 work weeks after the due date.

I think my estimates of times and the process is at least in the ballpark. So, I guess it shows that the process could be done by a staff of say, 3-7 people.

Then I'd say the staff grows once the calls for semis go out, and the time per team goes way up.

[martini]

I too "did the math" on this whole app thing.

It was shortly after the due date...

Then I'd say the staff grows once the calls for semis go out, and the time per team goes way up.

Wow! You are like Rainman.


(btw... i'm joking, not trying to insult)

[AR Boy]

I think they would first judge the tape cover and labels to see your personality e.g. scabby people have an old used tape with crossing out the name of old porn movies or a delicate couple using a new tape with careful care. Obviously, scabby guy might not be worth a look and the delicate couple would be lucky.