Topic: Ep 5 East Coast SHOW updates and commentary *start: 800PM or later* note rules

[apskip]

Last leg, James got his knee in sewage, so Abba is doing the roadblock. Abba thinks his scale is built correctly, but it didn't get approved. His ropes are wrong. He can't find the right rope.

Abbie & Ryan and Natalie & Nadiya both get taxis. Natalie & Nadiya tell their taxi driver that they have to beat the"goras" (aka Abbie & Ryan). Apparently goras means white people but it isn't derogatory. Why can't they just say Abbie & Ryan...

Abba finds the right ropes. *I can't tell which is which. Apologies.

Natalie & Nadiya and Abbie & Ryan both arrive at the market. They both get the clue from the eggplant vender.

Josh & Brent depart 4th at 10:53 AM. Brent works on the farm the entire time, and Josh works in the city 5 days a week.

Rob & Kelley depart at 10:59 AM.

Chips depart at 11:10 AM.

Abba's scale gets approved, so he starts to try to balance it. He finishes the roadblock. Detour!

Detour: Straw Dogs or Bamboo Jungle.
Straw Dogs: Help manufacture eco-friendly jute bag.
Bamboo Jungle: Grab 40 bamboo poles of various lengths and put them on a rickshaw. Then deliver it to a construction site.

This is a point of clarification on the bamboo poles. What was needed was 10 medium-length, 10 long length and 20 short-length poles. 40 total poles is correct but the count of each size did matter.

[shiqiansoh]

Josh & Brent are saved on leg 5, but will encounter a Speed Bump the next leg. How do you feel about Josh & Brent being saved by a non-E?

[apskip]

In a 12 leg race with 11 teams and no TBCs, 2 teams MUST by mathematics be saved by NELs.  Josh/Brent are as good as any of the other teams, but it could have happened to any of the remaining 7 teams. So chalk it up to a bit of luck for Josh/Brent. They are neither deserving nor undeserving in my view.

[theschnauzers]

I think, along the lines that apskip does, but I would add this: if there was a leg that was designed to end up as an NEL, this last leg was it.

[Dobby]

I think, along the lines that apskip does, but I would add this: if there was a leg that was designed to end up as an NEL, this last leg was it.

Yes, I was previously thinking about how I've complained about teams like AJ and Ty, Katie and Rachel who were all eliminated because they were just so behind in the previous leg to even have any time to catch up with the rest of the teams on the next leg because there's no bunching point. I'm glad that this is the first time in many seasons we have 2 legs in the same country, BUT the second leg is instead a NEL and not the first leg. The trend of 2 legs in the first country with the first being a NEL is getting too boring already.

[RaceUntilWeDie]

It is beyond disappointing that we are about to reach the midpoint of this season and to be honest I barely know most of the teams.

Where are the diverse locations? So far this season every single leg has probably had a market in it  .

They seriously need to go back to their old casting style. The last season that casted new teams that were normal and likable was TAR 17. As we all know, TAR 18 was just an all-star season. From TAR 19 and on, they are casting teams with funky occupation names like "Army Wife & Pilot," "Former Showgirls," "Monster Truck Drivers," "Lumberjacks," basically most of TAR 20 and 21. I mean, it's not bad to cast teams with such titles that stand out, but when they cast all the funky titles in one season, it's just not gonna make a good mix.

Sigh… where's the TAR I loved.

[starrynight]

Maybe linked to how much you know teams is if you find teams likeable and so worth rooting for.  I'm not sure there's a team for me to root for still.  I don't really mind if they give them descriptive titles that much, but the fact that people might need to remember them by that rather than anything more personal might be a problem.  Whether that is purely a casting problem or partly an editing problem I don't know.

I'm sure there will be more variety of locations eventually, but hopefully the legs will get longer and the tasks more difficult too.  The thing that made this show amazing was definitely the variety and that meant not just keeping in urban areas.

They nearly all seem to get on the same aeroplane nowadays as well, I suppose that saves money but it does lessen the drama.

I think just by taking it's time more and letting the drama unfold over a longer period you would see more relationships between the teams and the drama would be less through just hectic editing and more by race drama.  The Australian version did it better this year I thought.