this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2026
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Last week I had two predictions. And I think I got one of them right.
Spoiler from here
I predicted that)
So Ben did not end up in Northern Ireland, which I am a bit sad about.
But I really think that Sam didn't want to win this round. And he probably selected the cards to make it so. At one point there is a pretty big cut between the moment he says let's get one more card, and the moment he draws a 10 minute bonus. He had already shuffeled.
I also want to say that I think it's not the first time that they manipulate the cards. In Japan, Sam was in such a bad position that I think he cheated to take the relocate card. But to stay fair, he deliberately hide badly so that it would not change the outcome of the game.
I think the cynicism is unwarranted. They've always been fairly transparent with the audience on the Layover, and they'll regularly talk about how the optimal play for game strategy and for audience excitement are in conflict and how they resolve it.
In this case, Sam gave a pretty convincing explanation of how he ended up where he did.
Northern Ireland is not reachable with 4 hours to hide. Even if someone hid literally in Ayr station and was found at the optimal time, it's about 5 hours to Belfast on the rail replacement bus and the ferry. The Liverpool ferries take longer.
Even the old High-speed Sea Service from Stranraer would have been difficult, taking 2h10 plus check-in at the end of a branch line, plus time getting away from the port in Belfast.
I don't think this is much of a spoiler when it's known to anyone who's done it, or just looked at the timetable.
I'd been waiting all season for a Northern Ireland run and I'm a bit sad about it not happening but it would have been difficult to do to be fair. They were counting ferry terminals as part of the map but not airports so you'd only really have Liverpool and Stranraer to plan an NI run from, and the ferry iirc takes about two hours which cuts a good chunk out of the hider's head start. There's so few stops here and if you want to film somewhere really scenic that's within walking distance of a train station you'd be left with the north coast and Derry.
Sam and Ben mentioned having Irish citizenship so an all-Ireland season should be pretty feasible, though Adam would technically need two visas even if that's never really enforced. Maybe something like battleships with the county map divided in half.
Just re the spoilers, the syntax is
I think that the "spoiler" needs to be all lower case like that.