Today's episode was okay. The detour was balanced between something quick but physical and something that takes longer and requires skill. Didn't look too balanced when I saw
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one side of the detour had the first 5 teams finish ahead, and the other side had the last 3 teams finish later. Ashleigh & Amanda having to switch detours and being stuck at the bottom was interesting to see, and it convinced me a bit in the balance between both detours. Lucky them they got an equalizer with the sign-up board for the following day, so that gap closed up to just 15 minutes.
I feel like the intersection and the hours of operation might've ruined the momentum of the episode, since 4 teams were on each boat that separated teams only 15 minutes apart. This is not new in TAR though. Equalizers just pop at random times, and for
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Ashleigh & Amanda, this gave them a fighting chance.
I also didn't understand why it took
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the teams on the first boat so long to finish the intersection. The editing didn't show if they had to go back after a failed attempt, or if they went back to read their clue, or what part they got stuck at. Editing focused more on showing boat 2 beating boat 1,
so that part confused me. Additionally, the intersection might have ruined the challenge of the sabotage.
(Can I take back me commending how I like TAR Australia's intersections from a week ago? 😅) The task at the sand dunes was challenging and it required good communication. I like how challenging that task was to split the teams apart.
Great to see
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Ashleigh & Amanda's comeback after struggling with the detour. So many teams wanted to intersect with them, but they struggled with the detour, so it was just too bad that they got stuck with Holly & Dolor, who got lucky while just being comic reliefs as A&A pretty much did the intersection for the whole 4-person team.
Interesting to see Holly & Dolor in 2nd place too! They really got lucky with the intersection, especially after finishing the detour in last.
Meanwhile, it was sad to see
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Jordan & Violeta go, especially with a confusing intersection edit. If I had seen more of their struggle at the intersection, and their ARI performance that also had a rushed editing for the last 4-5 teams, maybe I would be less confused with the episode and feel less bad for the eliminated team and how their leg went? 😕 Given how they were hanging by a thread for 5 episodes in a row from Legs 3 to 7, it's good to see them make it this far, and now I wished they won the previous leg because they finished 2nd and were so close to earning that first class pass.
Still appreciate TAR being aired in the middle of a pandemic, but overall, this episode was just not it. The editing could've been improved at least. Maybe cutting out the intersection from the leg would've been fine too?
