Topic: TAR Australia 9 (Celebrity Edition 3) Ongoing SHOW Discussion

[NumfarPTB]

A rural leg in non-english speaking country, this would be hard for any cast. 
The limited spots at the detours, just reminded me, wasn't there a rule in the Aussie version  - at least during these celeb seasons - that did not allow for detour swaps, right? So once you commit, you commit. This might still be a lot of the downfall of teams for this version. Strong teams keep falling or almost falling due to hard detours choices. If switching was allowed, we probably would have gotten a different outcome, even with the eliminated team struggling at the potato task. Taking a penalty when teams was mostly close together most of the leg, not a good idea.
The Donkey challenge is a classic, no matter the country.
The Rb was culturally instereting. It was really really close, but surprised the back of the pack were all able to complete it within the time penalty and hike to where Beau was with the Pit Stop.

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Definitely a shock boot. Was almost afraid during the first week that they would somehow dominate the race, especially after that DQ. Losing them during the first half does make the rest even more interesting. But sad that to see them gone before the tiktokers (who had a leg good for their skills), who I understand might be good tv, just not the type I enjoy.

Looking forward to the Sri Lanka legs.
 

[The Queen V]

Loved the Uzbekistan legs. Kudos to the production team completely giving a different feel across 3 different legs.
Nepal was so good as well, though could have been more balanced with tasks.

Hoping that TAR Aus would give Sri Lanka legs more justice than Trendy Connections being featured in other iterations of the Race 

[NumfarPTB]

From snow to almost extreme heat.
It was a fisherman's leg, with every task related to it.

This was rough, under the heat, the smell was probably not the most plesant. And after all of that it is KOR leg.
Brendan racing by himself and Princesses requiring a med-evac.
Tuktuk race to pit-stop was really cool.

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He had some help in some parts, still very  impressed by Brendan racing by himself and concluding the leg on the top. Being a KOR, and still an elimination leg. Really sad to lose this team.

Losing two teams in this episode. Ouch....
Looking forward to the urban leg

[BourkieBoy]

Episode 6 Thoughts

I have been smashed with work for the past week, so I haven't had a chance to watch this week's episodes until today (I'm off from work today), so I apologise in advance for the double post!

We kick off the final Uzbekistan leg with the Speed Bump, where Fev & Leni need to actually find the key to start the car somewhere in the car!  Thought this task was hilarious, but a little pointless.

Moving onto the arrival of the teams at Tersak where we had our Detour of Balls or Guts. In terms of Balls, I'm not sure how hard it would of been to make the 100 salt, yogurt and herb balls? Surprised actually that Dom & Marx took the penalty (we finally have a Boston Rob style advantage quit in TAR Australia!). in terms of the Gits challenge... nothing needs to be said about this challenge other then it was utterly disgusting. Cleaning the sheep innards and getting rid of their bodily fluids and their poo was almost too much. No wonder a large majority of the teams gagged! Also, not a fan of a "limited spots" Detour like this one - it just screams "cheap" and "budget constraints"

Then off we go to the potato farm to plant the potato seedings in... cow manure! I did feel back for the teams that did this challenge straight after the Guts Detour... cue the gagging 2.0! Off we go immediately to the donkey task, where teams had to lead a donkey from the bottom to the top of a hill. I love tasks where teams need to lead animals from Point A to Point B and this challenge certainly didn't disappoint! Loved it when the donkeys would either stop in the middle of the road for no reason or stop and graze at some grass and then watch when the teams got frustrated with them! 

The final task of the leg was the Roadblock - where Racers had to play the tune on Uzbekistan's national instrument. Maybe because I can't stand music tasks, but this was easily the worst task of the leg for me and then off to the Pit Stop, which I thought was stunning!

Overall, our three Uzbekistan legs were fantastic and a great introduction to a country I'm excited to hopefully see more of! Last Monday's episode was by far the best, followed by last Sunday's and then today's. Looking forward to what Sri Lanka can provide for us immediately!

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Utterly shocked that Dom & Marx were eliminated in this leg. They were such a strong team! Just proves that taking a penalty just isn't worth it - you should always see the challenge through to the end. Also, big shoutout to Steve & Bernie for winning the leg on Bernie's 51st birthday! 

[Xoruz]

Fish!

There was a time in the early 2010s when several versions of TAR were visiting Sri Lanka and then nothing for 11 years after TAR 24. Now we're back and have gone from farming to fishing. The setting, the smells, and the heat were pretty brutal.

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So much so that two teams fell by the wayside. Having a KOR after that leg was pretty cruel, so I can't fault Brendan for deciding to leave. The sheer drop in enthusiasm from Lindy & Stella after the broken mast and 40 C heat at the Detour was quite stunning. Even when you're in your element, the race can still wear you down.

[G.B.]

Nah

Setting a "Keep on Racing" leg in a country known for its intense heat isn't challenging, it's just sadistic and potentially dangerous.

[BourkieBoy]

Episode 7 Thoughts

Wow! Another great leg! A very fisherman-esque leg, but one I really enjoyed! (and I hate fishing!  )

First of all, racing in 42! degree heat would be extremely tough, so well done to all of the teams! We start the leg on the oruwa boats (which teams needed to help push into the water) and then sail out to a marked buoy, which teams then needed to drag back to the boat, before they could open their next clue. What a physically exhausting challenge in the heat! We then head off to the Detour between Wet and Dry. Definitely think Wet was the hardest of the tasks, as this required teams to gut 4 baskets of fish (another disgusting task!), while Dry seemed to be easier, but required more attention to detail skills, as the 4 barrels of fish needed to be laid out to dry as per the example (with all the fish heads lying the same way)

Moving on to the Roadblock of untangling the fishing nets - what a frustrating and annoying task! Teams did very well in my opinion not to loose their ****! Then over to our Pit Stop for the leg, at a picturesque beach!

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It sounded like Leni had the flu/COVID, so no wonder Fev needed to race on his own! It was really good to see that teams would help him out at most of the challenges. I don't blame him for quitting on the mat, but kinda of wish he continued on (but he was suffering from heatstroke after the Detour, so that probably would of weighed on his mind quite a bit as well. Thank you for racing and solidifying why you were always my childhood hero, you'll be missed!  . It was also very upsetting to see Lindy & Stella being medivaced from the Race. Wasn't a huge fan of the Princesses, but no-one's race deserves to end because of medical reasons. Also, as other posters have said, it's pretty brutal to have a KOR after what happened on this leg, but boy am I looking forward to seeing our urban Colombo leg on Sunday!

[BourkieBoy]

Episode 8 Thoughts

Another episode down and another very enjoyable leg!

We start off the leg with the bus ride from Negombo to Colombo on an awesome bus - how cool were those decorations and lights!!! After the bus ride, teams make their way to the candy cade inspired mosque known as Jami Ul-Alfar, where they find out that they need to make their way to the Pettah Markets and transport 12 jackfruits on a trolley to 142 Fourth Street

I love chaotic market tasks and this activity sure didn’t disappoint! The streets around the market certainly were a sensory overload and it’s hardly any surprise that a few teams got themselves lost! We then move onto our Detour of Cuppa or Cracker, which I thought were both very evenly matched!

Cuppa was your traditional memorise an order task, but with a little twist! Not only did the teams need to memorise their customer’s tea orders, but they also had to identify the teas (as they weren’t labelled), via tasting a smelling the teas. Thought this was an awesome little twist! Cracker on the other hand seeemd quite simple - simply crack and cook an egg hopper, but the attention to detail (making the hopper the browned appropriately via the example) tripped up a few of the teams

Moving onto the next task, which required teams to play the traditional game of kana mutti bindeema. I actually really enjoyed this task (which required one team member to be blindfolded and smash the terracotta clay pots getting drenched, with the other team member needed to direct), as teams needed to find the pot that released an Amazing Race token, which they could exchange for their next clue. I did feel however that the last few teams who completed this challenge did have a little bit of an advantage, as they had less pots to smash?

Finally, off to the Pit Stop at Galle Face Green, which I thought was another beautiful location to end a leg!

Overall, I thought this was another fantastic leg and one of the best Colombo legs we have seen in any version of TAR. Really looking forward to our Sri Lanka finale in tomorrow night!

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Can’t believe we had another “pre-determined” NEL in this leg, after having an non-elimination KOR leg last leg (lucky for Aesha & Scott I suppose!) I suppose this was due to Fev’s quit & the Princess’s being medically removed last leg

[Xoruz]

The end of a brutal day in Sri Lanka. Teams went from the fish market to the fruit market. Even though it's a short distance from the stall to the shop, the packed streets proved a bit of a challenge. We got a Detour of 5 holes as both Aesha and Mel struggled with tasks in their wheelhouses. Should remember that the racers still have fish brain from the previous leg. This all culminated in a pot smashing showdown.

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The middle legs have all been NELs, so it wasn't a surprise to Aesha & Scott survive. It was more of a surprise to see them go from first to worst.

[BourkieBoy]

Episode 9 Thoughts

Another great episode and it was great to see Sigiriya again after all these years! How good was it to see teams not only travel to Sigiriya by train, but that they were split on two trains!

Having to climb up Sigiriya Rock would have been tough (those stairs, the altitude and the heat would have been a painful combination!) and then having to search for the King’s Lounge was a nice little twist as well. Moving onto the snake charming challenge - all I can say is wow! Having one team member play music to distract the snake, while having the other team member reach onto the basket and grab the token that could be exchanged for the next clue… some serious courage was required!

We then move on to our Detour of Fire Dance or Fire Mask. Thought Fire Dance was extremely hard (looked extremely intricate and almost dangerous with that big fire blow at the end!). Fire Mask wasn’t that much easier though! The mask not only gave me TAR Australia 1 flashbacks, but was extremely intricate with detail and not only were the team members having their own faces painted, but they needed to also paint their partners face at the same time, which made it just that little bit harder!

Really also enjoyed having teams drive their own tuk-tuks to the Detour and for the rest of the leg - thought Aesha & Scott’s Speed Bump of fixing the tuk-tuk before they head off was quite unique as well

Of course the leg finishes with a Pit Stop at another temple - I think that’s the fifth Pit Stop in nine legs at a temple? I think I’m templed out for the season now! 

Overall, I thought these Sri Lanka legs were fantastic and I’m really excited to see how Taiwan treats us in the next few legs! 

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Not surprised at all with Melissa & Leah’s elimination. Felt they had sort of an invisible edit? Also, huge shoutout to Aesha & Scott from going from first to worst and then back to first on this leg!

[NumfarPTB]

Caught up with legs 8 and 9, all designed with very cool tasks.
Although the Columbo leg, oddly felt a bit slow paced, probably due to the sudden drop of number of teams, more than usual, the fact that we had the gap between the airings, made it even more odd, as we were coming from a freaking hellish KOR.

Aesha and Scott whoa, were able to pull a Jet and Cord. Congrats.

A lot of cool things with Tuk-tuks during all these Sri-Lanka legs.

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With 5 teams left, and 6 legs still to go, gotta assume there is probably 3 more non-elim. Sad to lose Mel before the Taiwan legs, considering she have Singaporean parents, would have been curious to see if that might have played into some sort of advantage, though as we seen through both legs 8 and 9, cooking and make-up knowloedge, ended-up not helping that much in very specific challenges.
From the edits, they seem to be building to some sort of rivalry between Aesha & Scott and Rob & Georgie, wouldn't be surprised if both were F3, with hopefully the Currys or Epiphany and Gretel completing the pack.
Curious what they will feature from my home-country beyond Taipei, heading south even if briefly, like TAR12 is something I am hoping for, at least one of the challenges might be in a HuaLien or somewhere around that from the preview. 

[Xoruz]

Loved seeing Sigiriya again on TAR after 20 years with much more focus. I genuinely want to know what they were think in first having a snake charming task and then trying to execute it safely. Much of the focus all came down to the Detour. If pain and the risk for injury leads a team to take a penalty, then I will never criticize that. Even still, the dancing was the easier of the tasks, yet most of the teams chose to paint and fell behind. It was also fun seeing them drive the tuktuks.

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First to worst to first for Aesha & Scott. Quite a rollercoaster. Right when we get the personal story bump(TM) for Mel & Leah, they go home.

[G.B.]

I really don't understand why they don't allow teams to switch Detours in the celebrity version. It seems like such an arbitrary choice and all it does is lead to teams taking more penalties, which is unappealing to viewers, when instead we might get a lot more interesting drama from them wanting to try switching to the other task. No other edition of the race does this, so it's just a really odd design choice.

[Maanca]

I really don't understand why they don't allow teams to switch Detours in the celebrity version. It seems like such an arbitrary choice and all it does is lead to teams taking more penalties, which is unappealing to viewers, when instead we might get a lot more interesting drama from them wanting to try switching to the other task. No other edition of the race does this, so it's just a really odd design choice.

Agreed, I hate this. It makes teams look like quitters who are not.

[Xoruz]

Much like Sri Lanka, Taiwan had a bit of a pop in visits in the 2010s and then nothing for over 10 years. They did not tell teams anything during the reflexology path challenge, which led to unexpected moments like kissing feet. The first Face Off being virtual dodgeball was a bit random, but it wasn't overtly physical and pretty doable in a short time. The Face Off also wasn't a guaranteed killer as it came down to the singing and dancing Detour.

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They never really explained how Luke & Scott passed Gretel & Epiphany in the cab ride to the Pit Stop, though it didn't matter either way with the Virtual Pit Stop.

[NumfarPTB]

Thanks the writers for actually using the word country.
Weird that we start the leg with teams exiting from the MRT exit (Sun yat-se Memorial Hall Station) and not from somewhere closer to the ariport. Probably to make things go quicker. Even considering the RI, there are no metros from TPE airport, there's one for TSA.  They did shots at the memorial, why not start there?
I am simply completely weirded out by the route they are taking to reach NTU Hospital station, as it's not that far from the one Aesha and Scott has just left from the start, in terms of how to travel.
(I bet the crew are caring easy cards for this, instead of getting the tokens).

Very annoying RB. Having to carry the back-pack along the "Health Pathway", without telling the teams what was main thing from the challenge, forcing them to figure out by contextual clues. Does what Sassy Scott did count as helping?
Glad Australia is keeping the Face-Off naming convention, and not whaterver US uses which I can't recall right now.
They do send teams far away for the Face Off location, which I actually had to look for a map, as it is not somewhere I've been before, at the IFG Farglory Square. Weird but kinda funny challenge, but do keep some of the Tech side.

Then sending them all the way back to XinYiDistrict for the Detour, which is way closer to where the leg started, seems counter intuitive.
I am Biased  (duh) singing a taiwanese kid song way easier than k-pop choreo. 
Both Detour locations are close, likely opposite ends of the concourse of the multiple mall buildings, not that it matters since they are not allowed to switch.

Expected to see whatever challenge is set in XiMenDin this episode, as they kept showing contextual shots from there, but seem to be for the next leg, along a night market section. The PIt stop is close to there. Though, another KOR is cruel.....

Still hoping we go beyond Taipei for one of the legs.

[Xoruz]

I see why they did a day leg and a night leg in Taipei. Not too much excitement from a Speed Bump that can be done with Google Translate. Should come as no surprise that they did stinky tofu due to Australia's love of eating tasks. The Roadblock could have been interesting but it mostly led to random guessing and partners helping the Roadblock participants a little too much for my liking (unless it was specified in the clue and never told to us).

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All of the middle legs have been NELs, so this wasn't a big surprise. We are though starting to see the consequences of three teams leaving outside of eliminations with back-to-back NELs.

[NumfarPTB]

A cool happenstance, happy Mid-Autumn Festival.

Australia and their love of eating challenges. Not suprised by stinky tofu as part of it.
Just shocked they made teams travel all the way near the river to RaoHe Night Market (though more iconic), thought thed'd stick around the Pit Stop neighborhood which does have a smaller but still very cool night market nearby.
 

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Feel so silly that I recognized the spot teams were dropping the bags from a gate,on the sweet side of the detour, which is near a store, close to the side street that takes you near the Rainbow bridge. (Sadly not shown)

Not a fan of Claw machines. Much more of a Gachapon person. Guaranteed prize.
But funny how race blinders makes you miss the big screen.

Liked the concept of the RB. A mix of traditional and new, just the partner helping was a bit much. Must've been exhausting so much running around as they were coming from a KOR. It was a weird challenge design, they should have the non RB partner stay where the main Idol was dancing, while the other teamate ran around searching, not along.

PIt Stop, just head to the entrance of XiMenDing.....Cool greeter, we had a Rupaul Drag race winner from the country a couple years ago.

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Happy it was a NEL, clearly a result of losing so many teams at once back in Sri Lanka. Happy we did not lose the Currys.

Glad we are going beyond the capital for the next leg even for a bit.

[Maanca]

The Roadblock clue was brilliant - "Who won't techno for an answer?"

[Xoruz]

Never really seen this cultural aspect of Taiwan before on TAR; one of the benefits of how TAR Australia focuses on their countries. We're nearing the end and the stress of the race is really impacting the teams. Things like the Roadblock, spinning the top, and even navigating Fushan led to a lot of disagreements and frustration among the teams.

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Gretel & Epiphany really started to become undone by the time they hit Taiwan. They did surprisingly well, and I quite enjoyed them.

[NumfarPTB]

Really happy we got to leave the capital for the final leg in tre country.
This has been the most wonderful part of the Autralian seasons, with the 3 leg structure per country. We only get 5 countries per season, but we get to see a lot of each of them.
Great leg.
As they visited somewhere I never been, they did things that I've added to the list of things I want to do now.
Thought they'd be doing some Highspeed Rail, was surprised to find it was self drive leg, and it was not a short drive.
The number RB was awesome.
So those things are called Tops in English. I think I never learned that before. Rob and Georgie Vs Aesha and Scott facing each other during this ARI was fun, then all the teams were there (it was great, after the frustration from the most recent US leg) . The kids  cheering was also fun.
Both detours are hard enough, and team are close enough together, that it was still anyone's game midway through it. The placement shifts around, were great. 
An actual footrace for 1st, Cinema!!

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Currys pulling a last to first, techinically the second time for a team this season. Chef's kiss.
Sad to lose our last FF team also older racer. I was hoping that Beau saying fan favorite team, was being cheeky, and we'd lose the tiktokers, no such luck.

Let's head to the last country of this season next, I expect they'll probably pull another weird KOR, before the last elimination.

[Maanca]

If Luke & Scott win, it will certainly be a strategy for the ages.

Step 1: Have production remove the biggest competition.
Step 2: Profit
 
Ant & Dan are military hulks and would have likely dominated the season.

[NumfarPTB]

And Australia fascination with eating challenges know no bound even in the final country, with that big bowl of chilli at the detour.
The Currys cab driver getting them lost  on the way to the pit stop, so frustrating.

Considering how physical this leg was, glad they didn't try to pull another weird KOR, that would have been cruel.

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As expected the last non-elim of the season. Not mad for that, annoyed to see this team survive another leg.