I think it's important to be constructive in terms of feedback about this show, especially with so many people essentially now trying to draft off their success with their own overland shows. The reality is this is pretty competently produced marketing piece.
That said, and I know Clay and those guys from a few interactions, but people need to separate out a real travelog show from what is a marketing piece. Their north american and yukon series are where things peaked as far as storytelling, even if their technical level climbed after. But the south american stuff was boring as shit.
There's absolutely little challenge in the stories being told, and my desire to see a bunch of well equipped white guys tackle dirt roads is pretty low.
The other thing is they're now in a position where people are looking to them and their builds as "the way to do it." And that's a bit dangerous because some of their advice makes me scratch my head. For example look at their last series with their tires. They took AT's into the jungle and absolutely got their ass handed to them when EVERYONE knew MTs were a better choice. But general paid their bills, so there's that.
This season I am pretty perplexed that they put aluminum sliders on their Tacoma. I mean I guess anything is better than their insistence on sticking with running boards, but aluminum? Dude, no. I love CBI, and had XO said "we're testing out aluminum rock rails to see how they perform" I'd have given them a pass. But to justify rock rails in aluminum was foolish. There's a reason sliders/rails are steel for a reason. Dear XO, you can't claim you're all about that weight savings when you've packed your Tacoma to the gills with extra crap, and then skimp on critical armor. Here's a reality: Expo rigs are heavy, they're heavy for a reason. They're not rock crawlers or desert pre-runners, quit trying to skirt the issue.
Phew...okay...now breath...
op2:
