Topic: TAR 27 Ep 5 LIVE SHOW Updates & Commentary!

[TARUSAFan]

Did anyone else find it funny when Logan & Chris were following Cindy & Rick... they really showed their paparazzi side

Yeah, Logan & Chris' taxi driver told them that they were at the place already but still Logan said "No!, follow them!" 

[realshowfan]

Leg 5 with the Big 5

Definitely more of a leg focused on tourist attractions than on challenges. Admittedly, I still don't understand the rationale behind the new editing (if there is any :x), but this was definitely an improvement from the Texas-GreenTeam-centric editing. We get to see more of the other teams, even though a lot of it was actually negativity 

But speaking of Tanner & Josh vs Justin & Diana, this is the second time Justin & Diana beat Tanner & Josh in a race with water transportation 

The fruit balancing footrace to the Pit Stop was fun to watch. Overall, this is a leg I'd sign up to do in a heartbeat! Gorge swing over gorgeous Zambezi, crocs and lions

[Platrium]

Before I read anybody's comments, and the commentary for this episode, I just wanna say how disappointed I am of myself for not waking up on time for the live show.
Oh wait, not just that, I'll give my opinions as well.

I like this episode!

1.) The edit on Tanner & Josh and Justin & Diana has finally improved, meaning less focus on them. I'm so glad of it!
2.) The W-turn was a disappointment, big disappointment. I'm glad how the end turned out though due to the W-turn not being used.
2.) Nature and wildlife: We got to see it from the roadblock, to the detour, to the ARI, and even at the pit stop. This is why African visits are awesome!
3.) The roadblock was a switchback I wasn't expecting, so I'm glad I finally got to see a switchback again. My "good" opinion: The view was amazing! My "bad" opinion: It made leg design quite dull. Anyway, I like the roadblock overall.
4.) The detour with the crocs was cool. The other detour allowed me to see nature. The thing is... the detour seems really imbalanced that way. Good news is it didn't make a big impact in the teams' placements. The crocs detour was linear though, like the roadblock. Anyway, I like the detour overall because I got to see wildlife and nature.
5.) The walking with the lions allowed me to see nature and wildlife at the same time. Really amazing!
6.) I like seeing Denise & JE's reaction on the EP. It was coincidental how Tanner & Josh said they would probably give it to the team next to them. Also, I'm glad somebody else aside from the strongest 2 teams won the leg. It adds more flavor to the season.
7.) The preview seems to show another heights roadblock. That would not have been a problem if the last 2 roadblocks weren't on heights as well.
8.) I'm glad the focus of this leg was on the last 4 teams. They don't get a lot of spotlight because of the rivalry edit, so I'm glad I got to see the focus on them this leg.
9.) ChacAttack and the Paparazzi making that mistake on the roadblock was and  at the same time. I'm glad none of them got eliminated due to that though.
10.) Jazmine & Danielle, however, did terribly in Legs 4 and 5. They started by unnecessarily crossing the border during the roadblock in Leg 4, which caused their drop to the bottom 4. Then they stumbled to the pit stop this leg, but they were still given a chance, but the mistake on the Lion Encounter ARI gave ChacAttack and the Paparazzi the good cushion those 2 teams needed. They made so many mistakes in the African legs, and they also had a lot of bad luck. Poor Track Stars.
11.) The cheerleaders on the W-turn: But, the way they raced Leg 5 was . They didn't make a mistake this leg compared to the last 3 teams I mentioned above. That's what propelled them from last to 5th. Also, they don't seem to have an alliance, and they're luckily standing on their own, so they are obviously an underdog team to root for!
12.) The fruit basket addition while going to the pit stop "to make things interesting" worked really well! It shuffled the 1st 2 teams, and it gave suspense on the last 3 teams. Oh yeah, the edit on the last 3 teams for suspense was great! It reminds me of the fight for last during Leg 2.

I think that's all I have to say for now.

[Platrium]

Did anyone else find it funny when Logan & Chris were following Cindy & Rick... they really showed their paparazzi side

Yeah, Logan & Chris' taxi driver told them that they were at the place already but still Logan said "No!, follow them!" 

 

[Belle Book]

Did anyone else find it funny when Logan & Chris were following Cindy & Rick... they really showed their paparazzi side

Yeah, Logan & Chris' taxi driver told them that they were at the place already but still Logan said "No!, follow them!" 

And they almost paid the price for it!   

[Platrium]

Tiffany & Krista randomly getting 5th place, despite arriving last at the virtual pit-stop 
But now their u-turn power is gone 

Jazmine & Danielle did lose because of themselves
(1) They should have u-turned Tiffany & Krista to ensure they are not last in the 1st pit-stop
(2) They went to the Pit-stop instead of the lion task
(3) They did not read the clue correctly and did not pick up the clue for the lion task
(4) They could not balance fruit 

As far as U-Turning Tiffany & Krista, hindsight is always 20/20.  And they weren't the only ones having problems balancing fruit.  The key errors were going to the Pit Stop instead of the lion task and failing to read their clue correctly and thus not picking up the clue for the lion task.  Read the clue!

Things might have changed if Jazmine & Danielle U-turned the Cheerleaders, but if I understood their confessional correctly, they said they would've done that if they knew they'd still keep on racing, because if they weren't gonna continue racing, why U-turn when you're right at the end of the leg? I think somebody mentioned something like the U-turn being useless because they could just run to the end. After this episode, I just found the good and bad effect of it. The good: They didn't know they'd continue racing, so they didn't do it, but they would've if they knew. The bad: The W-turn was wasted.

As for the Cheerleaders getting last to 5th, it just shows how reading the clue and following instructions carefully can save them from elimination.

[Andre]

Is this the biggest W-Turn failure in TAR history?

[RaceUntilWeDie]

Is this the biggest W-Turn failure in TAR history?

If you mean the biggest failure in terms of the plan/strategy? Maybe.

But W-Turns in general have not been delivering.

The only really good/memorable ones that come to mind are the very first one in TAR 17, which was the ideal way that W-Turns should be played. 2 teams U-Turn 2 other teams. Rewatching it, the battle between Brook & Claire and Chad & Stephanie was intense and the one in TAR 18 where Kent & Vyxsin U-Turned Jaime & Cara right next to them  TAR 22 Leg 10's was also nicely done and made for an exciting race to the finish at night.

Since then, W-Turns have ended up not used or used for stupid reasons and didn't add any suspense. That's five seasons without a good W-Turn... unless there's another one coming up, hopefully.

[Keepcopz]

Is this the biggest W-Turn failure in TAR history?

If you mean the biggest failure in terms of the plan/strategy? Maybe.

But W-Turns in general have not been delivering.

The only really good/memorable ones that come to mind are the very first one in TAR 17, which was the ideal way that W-Turns should be played. 2 teams U-Turn 2 other teams. Rewatching it, the battle between Brook & Claire and Chad & Stephanie was intense and the one in TAR 18 where Kent & Vyxsin U-Turned Jaime & Cara right next to them  TAR 22 Leg 10's was also nicely done and made for an exciting race to the finish at night.

Since then, W-Turns have ended up not used or used for stupid reasons and didn't add any suspense. That's five seasons without a good W-Turn... unless there's another one coming up, hopefully.

Another good example of W-Turn is the one in Amsterdam from 21, that burning another slot plan was pretty good tactic. But I agree with you, 17 had the best use of W-Turn. (And best result <3)

W-Turn is not really delivering lately, but because of the production too not just by the team. Like the one in Namibia from last season. We all know the Olympic would go anyway with the U-Turn or not since there was no HoH. Had the production brunched teams up, it would be really really interesting how the U-Turn will play out and what the aftereffect will be. Another example is from Japan in 26, put W-Turn in first leg? Why? Teams haven't known each other yet and it will likely become the big failure. How about they save it and put it in maybe Germany or Peru instead? That would create lots of drama rather than this.

[Jobby]

Or how about not putting it as the last thing to do on the leg and ANY TEAM who's U-TURN would have no opportunity to catch up and potentially die. If teams know that they are at the front, they are unlikely to use it, especially the 6th and 7th place teams since they are so near to the pitstop and don't need much of a buffer time.

BUT if it's in the middle of the leg, the U-TURN is often used because the middle teams know that they are in the back of the pack and would like to extend their lead over other teams!!!

I wish some TAR leg designers would read this and finally wake up their idea on the leg designs especially on legs that have a U-TURN. A U-TURN right at the back of the leg is totally not dramatic at all and does nothing!!?

[dryedmangoez]

This would be a good episode to consider for next year's Emmy submission.  It had everything; solid tasks, beautiful scenery, ANIMALS!, hilarious drama and exciting competition.

[serendipity]

Or how about not putting it as the last thing to do on the leg and ANY TEAM who's U-TURN would have no opportunity to catch up and potentially die. If teams know that they are at the front, they are unlikely to use it, especially the 6th and 7th place teams since they are so near to the pitstop and don't need much of a buffer time.

BUT if it's in the middle of the leg, the U-TURN is often used because the middle teams know that they are in the back of the pack and would like to extend their lead over other teams!!!

I wish some TAR leg designers would read this and finally wake up their idea on the leg designs especially on legs that have a U-TURN. A U-TURN right at the back of the leg is totally not dramatic at all and does nothing!!?

In fact, I think the producers would know that it makes no sense for teams to use the U-turn right in front of the pitstop, especially without knowing the KOR twist.

If you think about it, the whole point of making a U-turn there is to force the team with EP to use it in Leg 4, because normally they would be afraid of getting U-turn so anyway will use it to get ahead. As you can see, it really worked as Tanner/Josh also followed what the producers wanted them to do.

[serendipity]

This leg is supposed to be linear and boring, but glad that the bottom 4 teams kept making mistakes which made the leg suddenly interesting to watch! The first 4 were pretty boring and straightforward in comparison.

So funny that the bottom 4 making so many mistakes this leg:
Cindy/Rick - missing RB location
Logan/Chris - missing RB location, almost forgo the faster crocodile task
Tiffany/Krista - u-turning when in last place and probably know it's a KOR
Jazmine/Danielle - missing lion task location and forgot to find the clue

 

[Platrium]

This leg is supposed to be linear and boring, but glad that the bottom 4 teams kept making mistakes which made the leg suddenly interesting to watch! The first 4 were pretty boring and straightforward in comparison.

So funny that the bottom 4 making so many mistakes this leg:
Cindy/Rick - missing RB location
Logan/Chris - missing RB location, almost forgo the faster crocodile task
Tiffany/Krista - u-turning when in last place and probably know it's a KOR
Jazmine/Danielle - missing lion task location and forgot to find the clue

 

Agree! Without the Bottom 4's mistakes, the episode would be too dull.

[Andre]

Tiffany and Krista should have known it was a KOR leg. They met Jazmine and Danielle on their way to the U-Turn board

[dryedmangoez]

This leg is supposed to be linear and boring, but glad that the bottom 4 teams kept making mistakes which made the leg suddenly interesting to watch! The first 4 were pretty boring and straightforward in comparison.

 

I agree!  They had THREE "first come, first served"/get in line tasks.  Ugh.  This Leg could've been a disaster, but the teams, SURPRISINGLY saved it and made it the best episode this season so far!

The teams have been pretty bland so far, partly because of the focus on Texas vs. Green.  But with the rivalry taking a backseat this Leg, it gave time for every single team to get a chance to be featured.  It was great.

[Marionete]

So much happened this leg.
Overall, I'm happy and this was DEFINITELY the best leg of the season so far. Nevertheless, it was just because of the teams and the mistakes they made, so I still have some negative things to say about this leg.

First of all, I agree that this time there was a lot LESS focus on Texas vs. Green, but the episode still began with that and the ENTIRE recap was about their rivalry. For me, it set a bad tone for the episode.
I really liked something that was posted here and I want to stress it even more: the tasks were basically tourist attractions, not challenges. And the only "challenging" one was the paddling one, which also proved rather easy.
Roadblock was great and after a KOR I didn't mind the slight bunching that happened due to the teams having to wait in line. However, the detour continued the linear trend and there was no true challenge in it.
I don't really want to say anything about the lion encounter, because I've read a lot of negative things about that task on TAR's facebook page and I don't know what to think. If what's being posted is true, then the inclusion of this task is really sad.

What got me frustrated was the thought that had teams not had any screw-ups like TrackStars not reading their clues or Papparazi/Chacattack missing their roadblock location, this leg would have been SO FRIGGIN BORING. And there was 0 possibility for any team to catch up during the tasks, because they always had to wait for those in front.

[Marionete]

Btw, Denise is hilarious and Logan & Chris bickering and then reflecting on their bickering is giving some new life to this season.

And I forgot to mention how awesome balancing fruit on heads to the pitstop was Saved the episode and created amazing pitstop drama.

[cbacbacba1]

I just noticed that the scream of Tiffany when she fell at the roadblock was played agian when she was feeding the crocodile 

[Jobby]

#balancingfruitbasketonheadtaskappreciation

Dedicating a post to the task which gave Denise and Earl James the leg win. <3

[RaceUntilWeDie]

I don't really want to say anything about the lion encounter, because I've read a lot of negative things about that task on TAR's facebook page and I don't know what to think. If what's being posted is true, then the inclusion of this task is really sad.

Wait, what was wrong with it?

[gamerfan09]

I don't really want to say anything about the lion encounter, because I've read a lot of negative things about that task on TAR's facebook page and I don't know what to think. If what's being posted is true, then the inclusion of this task is really sad.

Wait, what was wrong with it?

Ignore them. More animal activists posing as TAR fans complaining about every little insignificant thing

[Jobby]

Which makes me even wonder if they watched the episode, with a part of the edit given to explain what was the point of the lion encounter and how they breed the lions so as to repopulate the specie... omg, i just can't deal with some so called "animal activists"... go be a vegan and survive on veggies then.

[stekay]

Screaming @ these people. They need their moment in the limelight. NEXT!

[serendipity]

I didn't read TAR facebook and not know what's going on, but judging from the episode TAR didn't show any harm to any animal so far. I think what racers do was just normal sightseeing activities which ordinary people would also do, I really don't know what they are complaining about, it is not like they put those animals in closed cage and abuse them.