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

[Xoruz]

saved

[BourkieBoy]

Episode 1 Thoughts

Well, our first English speaking visit to Nepal certainly didn't disappoint! I felt that this was a very traditional leg in many ways and some of the cinematography was beautiful!

However, I did feel that it was a very poor leg design. In a 90 minute premiere, we had 2 ARIs, a Detour and then a Pit Stop. The tasks themselves were quite good and enjoyable - I did like the first task of rowing a boat out to a floating platform and making an offering before receiving the next clue (also really liked how there were 3 different paths to the lake where the task took place and teams had no idea which path was the quickest)

The second ARI of learning a traditional Buddhist chant was excellent - easily the hardest challenge of the leg by far and it's no wonder multiple teams struggled with this task. Was also really good to see a few of teams playing soccer with some of the child monks and also taking the time to listen to some of the adult monks chanting

In terms of the Detour, found the challenges extremely uneven. The Haystack challenge was so much easier and quicker compared to the Maize Rack challenge (unless you're like me and suffer from hay fever in the spring!). Also felt that the judging of the Haystack challenge was a bit more lenient then Maize Rack and teams who did Haystack did it so much quicker then Maze Rack

Overall, a solid leg in terms of interesting tasks, but the leg was let down (in my opinion), by the poor design and some slow editing?

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Very surprised to see Ed & Tiff being the first ones eliminated. Tiff is an extremely fit woman (she was one of the trainers on the Aussie Biggest Loser over a decade ago), so extremely surprised that they took the penalty on the Haystack challenge. Also not a fan of how the Aussie version deals with penalties for quitting a challenge. A 20 minute penalty for quitting a Detour really isn't good enough compared to the US version where it's 6 hours. Ant & Dan coming in first didn't surprise me - Ant is extremely fit and well practiced for this Race being ex-military. It will be extremely interesting to see how well they continue to dominate until they're disqualified from the Race in the next couple of episodes

[Xoruz]

Can't tell you how happy I am to see another version go to Nepal. The pagoda alone was one of the more stunning starting lines. For how few tasks there were, the deck was constantly reshuffled as they were all pretty difficult. Second season in a row where a team took a penalty on a Detour. These hay tasks are constant killers.

[NumfarPTB]

Fantastic location. Glad that Australia is keeping the tradition of multiple legs per country.
Still getting used to the teams.

[G.B.]

Why don't they just ALL take the penalty? I mean, they do know that it takes MORE than 20 minutes to build a haystack surely. The smart decision is just to skip it and take the penalty because THE PENALTY IS SHORTER THAN THE CHALLENGE

[Xoruz]

Why don't they just ALL take the penalty?

It’s a scale based on how much of the task they completed.

[BourkieBoy]

Episode 2 Thoughts

Wow! This leg was a million times better then the premiere! 

It was good to get the worst task of the leg out of the way first - I despise linear tasks where not only is the task first come, first serve, but there are no positional changes during the task. There really isn't any place for those types of tasks in modern TAR and the zipline Roadblock was exactly that (a super easy challenge to complete unless you are scared of heights!)

However, as soon as that task was over, the rest of the leg was amazing! The meditation bells Roadblock was superb (it would of been so frustrating and tiring knowing that you had to start the 13 ups and down all over again as soon as your bells touched). The Route Info challenge of sleeping in the hostel was hilarious to see some of the teams reaction (let's be real - none of those celebrities would of ever stepped foot inside a hostel previously  ) and both sides of the Detour were challenging - the intricate details required to make that dog necklace was intense (all those orange and yellow flowers would of definitely screwed up my vision for the rest of the day  ) and as for the eating challenge of buffalo spinal cord, stomach intestines and bone marrow... teams did very well to stomach that without too much vomiting!

Getting to the Pit Stop was also quite unique - there were many steps in the temple, but only the correct set would lead the teams to Beau at the Pit Stop.

Overall, a fantasic episode tonight and I'm really excited to see our Nepal finale aired tomorrow night!

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Ant & Dan's disqualification was... an extreme non-event? It was only announced that they had been removed due to a breach of the Race's code of conduct (I was expecting a COVID style gathering of teams to announce what happened and a few confessionals relaying what actually happened). Knew that this was going to be a KOR leg, as the promo last night hinted to it. I wonder if it still would of been a "per-determined" non-elimination leg for Steph & Ben, if Ant & Dan weren't disqualified

[Maanca]

An explanation of where Ant & Dan went https://www.newidea.com.au/entertainment/why-did-ant-dan-middleton-leave-the-amazing-race-australia/

We've known this was coming since filming. Didn't think it would be so soon.

[NumfarPTB]

Was aware the DQ happened while filming, didn't expect it happening this early, and after they got 1st in the first leg. Whoa.....

The zipline was awesome. Do agree that linear tasks are a bit pointless, still gorgeous.
And the balance RB was pretty cool as well.

Split flights were silly, considering the Hostel equalizer, there could've be more drama if everyone were in the same flight.
Can't complain that the detour were not local, however if you could stomach it, the eating side would probably be faster. Having Melissa in the cast, makes me wish we would get someone from Top Chef / Masterchef cast in TAR US or TAR Canada.

[Xoruz]

I think it was assumed that the DQ happened early and that the show wanted to make it as quiet as possible. Certainly made difficult considering they won the first leg, but it was probably the best call. I love riding ziplines, but I can't comprehend how one can go that fast. The placement as said was obviously the best spot. There have been meditation tasks before like with the coins of TAR Asia & Finland, but this was a step up in difficulty. More so that any other version, TAR Australia sill really likes the eating tasks though even from the description it was the faster Detour. The mid-leg flight and hostel stay work better considering this was a KOR, and you know that they wanted a reaction like Lindy's every time they cast celebrities. I also really appreciated the slower moments that allowed Steph to be vulnerable.

[BourkieBoy]

Episode 3 Thoughts

Well! Another good episode to end Nepal Week! 

Starting off right away with the water carrying task was quite unique - it was quite a long distance between the water fountain and the courtyard where the water needed to be delivered to - 6 litres is a lot of water (imagine carrying a 3 litre bottle of milk while trying to go as fast as you can!) It's no wonder a couple of teams needed to go back to the fountain for another attempt. It was also interesting to see the Speed Bump return in this task (interesting to see that they are continuing on with the idea of using the Handicap challenge instead of a whole separate challenge - not too sure about this. Not a fan also of making the team finish last on a KOR complete a Speed Bump)

We then come to the potter making Roadblock - it was an interesting enough task, but felt that the judging of the task was quite lenient? Maybe because I don't like pottery, but felt that this was the worst challenge of the leg by far. We then move onto the Detour, where again the challenges were very unbalanced (at the least the judging was a lot stricter for this challenge). Brush Off was by far the easier task (having to simply scrub tiles to remove all dirt and grime, compared to sanding and then painting a door in a whole new colour). At least the Brush Off doors looked really nice after they had been repainted (that teal color of Luke & Sassy Scott's door was memorizing)

And then off to another temple for our Pit Stop 

Very, very happy with our first English-speaking visit to Nepal. Last night's episode was by far the best, followed by tonight's and then followed by the premiere. Really looking forward to the first ever visit to Uzbekistan on Sunday night!

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Gobsmacked and utterly shocked that Bronte & Benfield were our second boots. You have to understand that Bronte is one of Australia's greatest ever Olympic swimmers, so was expecting her and Benfield to at least make it three quarters through the Race. It just shows no matter who you are, choosing the wrong Detour can be Race suicide (especially if you don't pay attention to the intricate details of the task!)

[Xoruz]

A lot of focus on grunt work this leg as well as some massive rises and falls. Was not expecting that team to finish last. Really shows how one bad Detour choice can be killer. All in all, these past three episodes have been a good showcase for why Nepal is my most sought after country for TAR US. Come on CBS (though there may be some complications at the moment).

[NumfarPTB]

Really sad by that elimination.
Felt like Fewer tasks as they were coming from a KOR, still two very physically demanding tasks, and could be frustrating RB in between. That was still an ARI, a RB and detour.
In the end mostly the luck of the detour choice, and with them designed in a way that seems to be straightforward enough to complete, and being far enough between them that did not incentivate switching (an intersting contrast to previous night's TAR Can that had a detour in the same building that allowed some leeway towards that).

[G.B.]

The show really, really needs to stop using those incredibly stock "ding" and "buzzer" sound effects for when someone does something right and wrong in a task. It sounds so cheap and the sounds play about 50 times per episode. Why do they do that? It's yet another bizarre choice...

Dom starts the meditation task and fails a bunch of times off the get-go... "ERRNT!! ERRNT!! ERRNT!! ERRNT!!"

[BourkieBoy]

Episode 4 Thoughts

Well, that was a very interesting way to start our first ever visit to Uzbekistan! We had another three task leg, but it felt a little better then the premiere last week?

We start off the leg with another eating task - this one was slightly easier in my opinion, but eating that thick and doughy bread would of been extremely tough! (The pure fat they had to eat along with the bread would of been disgusting as well - my worst nightmare).

Coming to the Detour between Fruit & Veg - both of these challenges I thought were quite difficult, because with the Fruit side, not only did you have to sell enough bottles of the pomegranate juice to make 200,000 Som, but you had to make the stuff as well! Veg required very good attention to detail skills (with the radishes, potatoes, beetroots and golden carrots needing to be stacked to the exact height as demonstrated in the example and also lined up in the same order), which a few teams definitely struggled a little with!

We then come to the worst task of the leg - the traditional Uzbek dance that was an Intersection - there was nothing wrong with the task itself(and I quite liked the traditional element of it and also having the teams not practice with the music, but perform with it), it was just the editing of the task! It felt like it went on for at least half the episode and I was very bored of the task halfway through (watching it live with the commercial breaks made it ten times worse )

Overall, not a bad start to the trio of our Uzbekistan episodes and I'm looking forward to what is presented to us tomorrow night!

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Not surprised at all with Steph & Ben's elimination tonight. She was in extremely poor physical condition to compete competitively in the Race to start with and I'm surpised that they event lasted this long

[NumfarPTB]

Australia really - really -  love to use eating challenges don't they.
I would have gone to the veg side as well, almost luck for someone from the juice side pushing to the front, for a minute.
Beau's thing of chit-chating with the greeter became more awkward than usual.
Overall a fun start of the Uzbekistan adventure. Do expect one of the upcoming legs in the country to be a non-elim.

[Xoruz]

Cannot tell you how elated I was when I figured out that they were going to Uzbekistan. Well maybe second to the show itself because they really made a point of telling us how no other version of TAR has gone to Uzbekistan. Central Asia is rare enough in general so it's nice that Australia continues to break new grounds. The architecture alone in this episode was something to behold. They really like eating tasks more than any other version, and just as a reminder, the fat was the same as the Kazakhstan Fast Forward from TAR 13. At least we got to hear commentary from Melissa this time about food. The Detour was quite difficult as the pomegranate had high variance along with a language barrier, and the vegetable task required a bit of skill. The dance task was certainly on the harder end, and I got flashbacks to the last dance Intersection in Agra. Nice start in a new country.

[BourkieBoy]

Episode 5 Thoughts

Wow. I have nothing to say about that episode but wow. Tonight's episode was my favorite TAR Australia episode in many years. I think it's because of the location (the Soviet era apartment buildings and Cold War discussion did it for me I think) and how the episode was run in the rain and ended at night

We start off the episode at the raisin factory (seems that there was a cluebox at the entrance to the factory, but was edited out?), where the teams have remove the stalk off 1 kilo of raisins - this would be extremely hard as judging 1 kilo of raisins would be quite deceiving one would think. Then off we go to the Detour - both of these choices were awesome. In terms of Fix It, it would of been quite time consuming to beat, wash and trim the rug to acceptable standards (that judge was creeping me out!), while Fill Up was by far my favorite eating task so far - who knew eating so much sumelack (which is just wheat and flour mixed together) would make the teams violently ill (let's just say I was glad I'd eaten my dinner before this had started)

The Roadblock for this leg was also very underrated! Having to find just one correct key open the padlocked garage to reveal the car and the next clue would of been extremely frustrating after no success multiple times. I'm surprised teams managed to drive those old manual cars so well, with only Gretel stalling the car!

The Pit Stop at the abandoned waterpark was also a fantastic location

Overall, this was by far my favorite leg of the season - it's going to take something pretty incredible to top this!

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Thank goodness for the non-elimination leg saving Fev & Leni! My childhood hero lives on to fight another day! You were right with your observation Numfar!

[Xoruz]

Last leg focused on the Silk Road era, and this leg focused on the Soviet era. If you're doing two legs in the same city, this is the approach. On top of that, this leg was brutal. The raisins, the carpet, the sumalak, and the Lada. Not to mention the rain on top of that.

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If there was any leg that was a NEL after all that, I'm glad it's this one.

[NumfarPTB]

Agreed fantastic leg, and really happy for it being a non-elim.
Also happy for the team who won this leg.

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Donkeys are back, in the same season that also features Taiwan. LOL.

[NMC]

Just catching up with this Season now, and been thoroughly enjoying it. One thing that's kinda weird and been bugging me though is that nobody's running. Not to clue boxes, not to the Pitstop, not to taxis. Not anywhere! 

During Leg 1 one of the racers (or maybe it was Beau) said something about teams not being allowed to run because production can't keep up with them, but is that actually legit? I just don't get it? 

[G.B.]

During Leg 1 one of the racers (or maybe it was Beau) said something about teams not being allowed to run because production can't keep up with them, but is that actually legit? I just don't get it? 

Beau says a lot of goofy stuff, but it is actually true that teams need to stay close enough to their camera crew so they can actually, y'know, be filmed. Cameramen are always in really good physical shape, but at the same time it was a steep hill with stairs and such so keeping up was probably a little more difficult.

Really needless of Beau to try to make a joke out of it, because that's just going to fuel the conspiracy theories that the show is rigged/staged. I loved Beau when he first started, but I'm kinda getting tired of him trying SO HARD to be funny all the time.

[NMC]

Like you say, Beau drawing attention to it just didn't make sense, because now I'm just aware of the fact no one's running around. Just walking at a brisk pace.

I've just never seen any other version, or even previous Aus season for that matter, stop the racers from actually, you know, RUNNING a race!

Only thing I can think is either their camera crew aren't as fit as usual, or.. and this is leaning more into the conspiracy side of things, they were trying to make things more fair for the less fit teams. Aka, Steph and Gretal. Highly doubt it's that second option though.

[G.B.]

I've seen a few "Live Sighting" videos where they have to have teams hold for just a moment while the cameras catch up. It's never very long, usually only a few seconds, or maybe a touch longer if they have to cross a street or something. Like I said, that was a very steep hill so it probably wasn't easy for them to move to where they needed to be. The one I remember specifically is from Season 27, when one team asked a local for help (who started filming) but the crew told them to wait until they could cross the street and film the interaction. It was only about 30-ish seconds.

To nip something else in the bud, there's none of this happening when teams are in a footrace to the Pit Stop or something like a "pull a number to get your spot in line" area, because the Pit Stop and task locations have extra cameramen hanging around.