TAR - All Stars Episode 5

... Spoiler Alert! ... Spoiler Alert! ...


If you haven't yet seen (and you intend to see) episode 5 of The Amazing Race Series 11 – All Stars Edition (TARAS), do not read any further!


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(Bevis’s Catchup text)

The last TARAS episode we saw here in Australia ended with Rob & Amber being the last team to reach the Pit Stop and the fourth team to be eliminated from the All Stars edition of the show. The Pit Stop was located on the Martial Glacier in Ushuaia, Argentina.

For the Roadblock, one team member had to use a large, landmine-seeking rat on a series of complicated leads and cords to find a race marker above a deactivated mine. Once their rat gave the signal that it had found something, an Apopo Mine Technician would search the area. When the Race marker was found, the team would receive their next clue.

This leg's Detour was ‘Pamper’ or ‘Porter’. In ‘Pamper’, teams had to travel half a mile to the Maputo Central Market, choose a nail polish kit, and convince people to pay them to paint their nails, which in Maputo is a job usually performed by men. Teams needed to earn at least 30 meticals, which is about one US dollar, to receive their next clue. In ‘Porter’, teams made their way two miles to Market de Janet where they would use their bare hands to fill 10 large 45-pound bags with coal and sew each of them shut. Then, teams had to carry one of the ten heavy bags to a specified address where the owner would hand them their next clue.

For the record, this was the order in which the teams reached Phil on the mat last episode, and the order in which they started this leg of the Race:

1. Oswald & Danny
2. Eric & Danielle
3. Teri & Ian
4. Joe & Bill
5. Dustin & Kandice
6. Uchenna & Joyce
7. Charla & Mirna
8. Rob & Amber


Note: If you're already ahead of this point in the series, please refrain from giving any spoilers in your comments. Thank you.

As always, I’ll provide my thoughts on each team in this episode, listing them in the order in which they arrived at the Pit Stop (hence the 'Spoiler Alert!').

(Bevis’s Catchup text – end)

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1. Charla & Mirna


Last week: 7
This week: Up an impressive six places!

If I was giving each episode an individual title, I would call this one, ‘The Equaliser’, cause things happened that allowed the people at the back to catch up. Those who started off first, fell to the back of the pack and those at the back managed to get to the front. This trend was proven by Charla & Mirna who managed to make their way from last place to finish first. At what I think was the roadblock task, each team had to choose one of their members to lead a trained rat over a course to detect a defused landmine that had the flag they needed. Sound crazy, well it was. I kept imagining that they forgot to defuse one and suddenly the rat would be blown to smithereens, but that didn’t happen. C&M were the last team to complete this task but it was hard to judge how far behind the others they finished. The thing that put them ahead was the detour task, where teams had to choose between shoveling coal into sacks with their bare hands or paint the nails of people in a shopping alleyway. This is one of the situations that I mentioned one or two weeks ago where one of the tasks is just crap and puts people behind. Although it might seem a daunting task to convince passersby to part with even a few small coins to have their nails painted, this task was by far the quicker one for everyone that did it. C&M performed the task very well and were funny to watch as they persuaded even some men to have their nails painted.

Although I have commented in the past that these two generally annoy me, I was actually glad, albeit somewhat surprised to see them come in first. The are certainly a little left of center, but are quite entertaining to watch!


2. Dustin & Kandice


Last week: 5
This week: Up three places

This was yet another team and another instance for these two where they failed to properly read clues. During the first task where they had to find another clue at an avalanche beacon with a tracking device, these two headed straight for the snowfield without bothering to get the tracking equipment. Upon realizing this and having to head back for it, it was funny to hear Charla and Mirna comment that the beauty queens really weren’t that smart. Interestingly enough the two blondes were the second team to chose the nail painting task over the coal shoveling. Even though they were previously behind, this choice allowed them to come in second.


3. Teri & Ian


Last week: 3
This week: No change

Hmmm, the third team to do the nail painting task. Not much to say about these two.


4. Oswald & Danny


Last week: 1
This week: Down three places

While C&M are by far the most unintentionally funny pair, these guys often cause me to laugh due to some of their jokes. O&D were the first of the teams who did the coal shoveling task to finish and when they arrived at the pitstop they were covered from head to toe in coal dust. I’m not sure which is which, but one of them came running up to the host Phil with his arms spread for a hug. The usually unflappable Phil who is meant to stand impassively next to a local in native dress, took off in a run in the other direction. It was very funny to watch. In the end they must have settled down and were given the well deserved 4th place.

Although due to all the equalizing in this leg this didn’t end up mattering, at the start of the episode during the avalanche beacon task these two finished it up last seemingly because they couldn’t figure out how the tracker worked. This caused them to become pretty frustrated with each other.


5. Joe & Bill


Last week: 4
This week: Down one place

Perhaps the most disturbing thing that I learn this episode was that they both claim to wear ‘thongs’ or ‘g-strings’. That is an image I could really do without. It became even clearer this leg that most of the other teams dislike these guys as much as I do.


6. Eric & Danielle


Last week: 2
This week: Down four places

How the mighty have fallen. I was happy to see these two finish so far back. Mostly cause I find Eric to be somewhat overbearing and bullying. His constant putdowns and ‘semi joking’ insults of his partner and girlfriend Danielle should give her a clue of what life will be like further down the road with this jerk. An example of this was seen when he blamed her for coming in behind Joe & Bill in the last minute footrace, but from what I could tell, he was also behind them when they made it to the mat.


7. Uchenna & Joyce - SAFE!


Last week: 6
This week: Down one place

Oooh, they were lucky this was a non-elimination round! From what I could see the main problem they had was finding the house where they had to deliver the sack of coal from their shoveling task. They were informed that if they didn’t finish the next leg in first place, they would incur a 30 minute waiting penalty before they could check-in.


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Last week's tips:

First Team: Oswald & Danny. (Wrong)
Last Team: Charla & Mirna. (Wrong)
Biggest Argument: Charla & Mirna. (Wrong) – It was Oswald & Danny on the ice.
Smartest Team: Oswald & Danny. (Wrong) – I guess it was Charla & Mirna.


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Next episode's tips: (as tipped in the comments last week, once the ‘double episode’ thing was realised)

First Team: Eric & Danielle.
Last Team: Teri & Ian.
Biggest Argument: Eric & Danielle.
Smartest Team: Danny & Oswald.


If you haven’t already done so, check out the review of this same episode that BEVIS posted on his blog.


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