Topic: TAR14 EP5: "She’s a Little Scared of Stick, But I Think She’ll Be OK!" (Siberia)

[Ashe]

Another exciting episode!  I loved it!  Just like I thought, with Amanda & Kris gone and only interesting teams left, this is a great race we have going for us!  So tense and action-packed!

Margie & Luke: A well-earned first-place finish!  I'm glad they rallied from getting ditched by their erstwhile allies, and I'm glad they did well at the Detour!  Luke really cleaned up at the Roadblock, and I'm happy they notched their second win!  It seems all they've done is finish first or fourth so far.

Tammy & Victor: Ladies and gentlemen, we have our villain (or villain team).  I understand their need to race on their own, and it's a good strategy, for the most part, to use others as long as you need them before then tossing them aside, but there was something about the way they went about ditching Margie & Luke and Jaime & Cara that sort of rubbed me the wrong way.  I don't know why, but it did.  That said, good job on both of their parts at the Detour and nice running from Tammy at the Roadblock (though that was more due to Cara walking rather than running).

Jaime & Cara: Highest finish ever, ladies!  Congratulations!  Jaime's panic over non-English-speaking snowplow guys made me cringe a bit, but she got it together and did well enough at the Detour with Cara.  I think they could've nailed second place had either Jaime done the Roadblock, or had Cara at least grasped the concept of RUNNING!  Especially in the cold!  Still, third place is not too shabby, so great job, girls!  (But I hope the preview of that cab driving away with whatever bag you're talking isn't a harbinger of doom for you.)

Mel & Mike: Not much of you guys this week, but you seemed to do a solid enough job with the Russian Bride Detour.  They did seem to get lost a lot, though.

Mark & Michael: Been awhile since they ran a good leg.  Good work on the Detour and nice job on Mark's part with the Roadblock.  But not much of them this week.

Kisha & Jen: If you come on TAR, ladies, always be prepared in case you have to drive stick at one point.  Looking at YOU, Jen!  That alone dropped them so far back (though getting lost a lot didn't help matters, nor did Kisha leading them away from where everyone else was getting cabs), they almost got last!  They'd better be thankful for Christie & Jodi's unreliable local guide.

Christie & Jodi: Certainly a tough week for you, girls.  You got lost quite a bit, found a local to help you with the Russian Bride Detour, had said local prove how unreliable he was by leading you to the wrong church entirely, and basically landed in last place because of it.  Because I blame that local more than I blame you two, I'm glad you got a reprieve.  But since you're going to India next week, I really hope you can overcome that Speed Bump.

The tasks were good, and I did love that the teams had to rely on their own wits in self-navigation.  That seemed to determine the placings on this leg.  Oh, and for the Detour, I'd have done Russian Snowplow.  As we saw with Russian Bride, that was definitely the harder one, due to the extra bit of self-navigation.

Great episode!  Can't wait for next week!

LOVE: Margie/Luke, Tammy/Victor, Jaime/Cara, Mel/Mike, Mark/Michael, Kisha/Jen, Christie/Jodi
LIKE: No one
NEUTRAL: No one
DISLIKE: No one
HATE: No one

Still only loves left!  Excellent season, excellent casting!

[realshowfan]

This TAR season battles it out with Tocantins as having all likeable cast.

This episode makes sense with what Christie & Jodi said when they won the last leg. I was suspecting it.

Can't wait for next episode!

[apskip]

I want to comment on the supposition that this was not a 12 hour pit stop. According to my best judgment, it was a 24 hour pit stop. Christi/Jodi and Kisha/Jennifer would have arrived at 540am , then waited at the dam until 830am, then gone a substantial distance and about 45 minutes back into Krasnoyarsk(as a city of about 1 million population distances between tasks will not be trivial). The wood stacking looked like to took about  1.5 hours for them, then assume 30 minutes for tranportation to Bobrovy Log Park. That ROADBLOCK did not appear to take more than 15 minutes for those two teams. Then maybe 30 minutes to the Musical Comedy Theatre. That puts them there around 1230pm and their release at 1234pm and 1236pm requires a 24 hour pitstop.

[Slowhatch]

If the logo at the auto checkpoint station was accurate, they were at Tyumenskaya 2, on the northern edge of town.

Haven't found the little church yet, but Wow! If that guy lead C/J to the Archangel Michael church, then they lost a lot of time.

[Neobie]

That's it! Isn't it?

[Boingo]

Here's the "real" wedding church.  Not far from the stadium.  

Note: this must be an old panoramio photo, as the dome is now covered in gold leaf.

[puddin]

If the logo at the auto checkpoint station was accurate, they were at Tyumenskaya 2, on the northern edge of town.

Haven't found the little church yet, but Wow! If that guy lead C/J to the Archangel Michael church, then they lost a lot of time.

In Christie & Jodi's mat chat with Phil .. they stated the driver took them about 20 minutes out to the wrong church because he thought it was pretty then said in total they wasted an hour because of the driver.

[Neobie]

The Church of Archangel Michael is about 10.5 miles away from Komsomolskaya St, going in the completely wrong direction, I think.

It's only about 0.7 miles from the car pick-up to the brides' apartment, though.

[Ruth]

Margie and Luke - Hurray for another first place finish! Loved Luke's expression when they got ditched by Tammy and Victor, it was really cute. And I love how he always rolls his eyes when Margie's talking, it's really funny lol.

Tammy and Victor - Hmm, so they ditched their "allies". But I don't know if it's indeed considered a betrayal, seeing that they weren't really allied with Margie/Luke and Cara/Jaime in the first place?

Jaime and Cara - Their best finish yet, well done! Would love to see them win a leg soon, and love their alliance with Margie and Luke.

Mel and Mike - It's certainly apt that the bunching let the last become first and first become last. Lol at Mike for wanting to pretend to limp so that Margie and Luke won't U-turn them.

Mark and Michael - I was laughing when they ran past Phil, Phil snapped his fingers, and they still didn't realise. LOL!

Kisha and Jen - Not much from them, am glad they're working well together though. No more bickering. =)

Christie and Jodi - That was some bad luck, getting a clueless local. Thankfully it's an NEL and I really hope they won't get screwed by the Speed Bump next leg. Yeah, hope they really race well by being at the back of the pack.

[puddin]

The Amazing Race
Phil's Diary: Episode 6
Episode 5

Clip (2:51)
Phil explores the popularity of boots in Russia

[TARAsia Fan]

It took me too long, but I finally finished the recap.