Treasure Hunters: Earth Wind and Fire
The last two weeks on NBC’s Treasure Hunters, I have been wondering about the Earth Wind and Fire theme. I’ve also been wondering why the treasure hunters are not using Ask.Com as often as they should be.
I was talking about this last week with AP N Tenn who does the Treasure Hunters Recaps. Remember when the teams took so much time in the church? They needed to figure out that their scrolls contained secret writing which could be exposed by heating the parchment with a candle.
Was that really fair? Did they have enough clues? I think they did - and I think they are… missing a lot of major clues. As a quick test, I went to ask.com and typed in “Benjamin Franklin secret writing methods” and clicked on the first link in the search results. Guess what I found on the very first link?
That first result shows a picture of “a letter written in invisible ink.” And if you scroll down the text, there’s a section on invisible writing. It says some writing was brought out with heat, and some with chemicals. How much more of a clue do we need???
We saw the same thing with Follow the Drinking Gourd. Any team which had thought to research the clue would have had a serious advantage.
I almost have to wonder… are the teams restricted from using ask.com? I can’t imagine that’s the case. I should think it’s the opposite. Imagine how dramatic the advantage will be for any team which uses ask.com to solve the puzzle. Surely that’s good advertising for ask.com, showing how useful they are?
Last week I got to wondering about the “Earth Wind and Fire” theme. Fire brought out the writing. The mask was dug out of the earth. Blowing on the mirror (wind) brought out the writing on the mirror. The traditional Four Elements are Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. Did you notice what brought out the secret writing this time? Water!
Remember the Mount Rushmore puzzle? They had to solve the clue based on where they had been and what had been the previous puzzles. I’m now wondering if some part of the final puzzle will involve recognizing the pattern of the Four Elements.
Throughout the season we’ve dealt with hidden messages. The clue was hidden behind the loose rock this week. We had a clue hidden in the death mask. We used red glasses to see hidden writing, and the red star on the quilt. The swamp journey was ordered according to the song lyrics.
But, let’s look specifically at the invisible writing. We have made the invisible writing visible by blowing on the mirror; heating the parchment; washing the map. Wind, Fire, Water. If the next invisible writing comes out with some application of Earth, we’ll know we’re on to something!
Speaking of earth… I’m still wondering about that pointless and endless digging for the death mask. It was a physical challenge, but looked like random luck as to whether it would take ten minutes or ten hours. But whenever I think “Earth” I think of that challenge. Perhaps it’s leading us to a future clue? Who knows… but I’ll keep it in mind!
Of the remaining teams, I wonder if any of them will actually think about why they’re lugging that laptop around. In fact, I wonder if any of them are researching Rosicrucians right now at the rest stop. When I look at ask.com, I find references to secret symbols that include Earth Wind and Fire.
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August 2nd, 2006 at 8:29 am
I have been wondering all season if some of the teams are playing the Amazing Race instead of Treasure Hunters. On the game set up at the very beginning it was pretty clear that this was a season long puzzle and the clues built on one another. So much of what some teams are doing is just random luck. And I very much agree with you about Ask.com. These teams have a ton of time getting from one venue to the next (and probably sitting in airports) why are they not searching their fingers off to learn more about what they have already done to be prepped for whatever comes next. And, frankly, some of this stuff even I knew already (or knew enough to run to the computer and check it out) and I am neither a Genius nor a CIA operative. Continuity of episodes. I think the teams missed that memo.
August 2nd, 2006 at 9:45 am
Kathleen you are so right! It really looks to me like they’ve missed the point. Continuity of episodes, all leading to one cumulative puzzle. Aren’t they told this over and over?
I really have to wonder if they’re not taking any thinking time at all, or if we’re merely not being shown that part. It sure looks like they’re running from place to place and not THINKING. But it could be that the producers know that thinking is not good for ratings