Amazing Race|According to Pauliina Koutala, the producer in charge of the program, the clue tested the participants’ ability to come up with different alternatives for their movement.
The summary is made by artificial intelligence and checked by a human.
The couples who used a taxi in the Amazing Race Finland competition caused confusion when the task was to travel to the airport by public transport.
Traffic and transport systems professor Heikki Liimatainen from the University of Tampere confirms that a taxi is by definition a public means of transport.
Pauliina Koutala, the producer in charge of the program, says that the assignment tested the contestants’ ability to read the clue correctly and think creatively.
Is it taxi public transport?
Many are thinking about this Amazing Race Suomi -viewers of the show on the weekend when the show’s third production season started on Nelose.
The competitors set off from Helsinki’s Suvilahti. When they had completed the first task, they were instructed to leave for Helsinki-Vantaa Airport.
The additional instructions were that on the way to the airport “only the use of public transport is allowed”.
Major some of the couples ended up traveling to the airport using traditional means of public transport, i.e. train and bus. Some of the couples also thought about using a taxi, but ended up saying that a taxi is not a public means of transport.
The couple who solved the task the slowest, an entrepreneur Sara Sieppi and his brother Artturi Sieppi came to a different solution.
“We should find a taxi”, Artturi said to his sister, when the two set off from Suvilahti.
When the second last radio presenters Mia Haataja and Karoliina Tuominen heard about Sieppi’s plan, they asked a passer-by to find out on their phone whether a taxi is a public means of transport. After receiving an affirmative answer, Haataja and Tuominen also jumped into the taxi.
In the end, Siepit and Haataja and Tuominen were at the airport faster than many of the couples who solved the task before them.
In social media, the solution has aroused astonishment. Some of the viewers have been of the opinion that the use of taxis should not have been allowed and that contestants who resorted to taxi travel should have been punished in the program.
Transport– and professor of transportation systems Heikki Liimatainen The University of Tampere laughs when asked for his opinion on whether a taxi is a public means of transport.
“By definition, public transport is passenger transport that is publicly available. In addition to public transport, it includes, for example, taxis and rental and sharing services,” says Liimatainen.
Public transport such as buses, trains and subways is therefore a significant part of public transport, but public transport also includes, for example, taxis.
Practically Amazing Race Suomi -in the task, it was mainly forbidden to use one’s own car or other means of transport, to ride with a friend or to walk.
However, Liimatainen admits that very often in everyday language, public transport is used as a synonym for public transport. This has understandably confused viewers.
The program executive producer Pauliina Koutala tells HS that the purpose of the assignment was specifically to test the contestants’ ability to read the given clue. At the same time, it was tested whether they can think of other options for their movement than the most obvious ones, i.e. bus and train.
“A taxi is a public means of transport. If we had wanted to limit the options to only public transport, it would have been written in the instructions. In the format of the program, the essential thing is to read the hint and understand what it means. If something is to be prohibited, it is written separately in the hint,” says Koutala.
Koutala says that in the program he noticed how those who finished last started questioning the obvious options and came up with asking passers-by for help in finding out if a taxi is a permitted means of transport.
Koutala says that after-thoughts between the participants are natural throughout the trip.
“Every time there is a competition, the production meets the competitors after the day of the competition and goes over the day’s events. If something has been bothering you, an answer is given.”
Helsingin Sanomat and Nelonen belong to the same group.