TAR - All Stars Episode 11

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


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


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The last TARAS episode we saw here in Australia ended with Eric & Danielle being the last team to reach the Pit Stop but the third team to be saved from elimination on the All Stars edition of the show. The Pit Stop was located at Hong Kong Jockey Club, Happy Valley Racecourse on Hong Kong Island, China.

In the Roadblock for this leg of the Race, teams had to perform the world's tallest Skyjump, walking around the outer rim of the observation deck of Macau Tower, and then take a tethered jump off the deck to the ground below.

The Detour was ‘Noodle’ or ‘Dragon’. In ‘Noodle’, teams had to make two bundles of traditional Chinese noodles. In ‘Dragon’, teams had to carry a dragon head and drum and carry it 3/4 of a mile to Nan Van Lake to find the one dragon boat the dragon's head matched.

After the Detour, teams had to locate a marked Mini Moke and drive themselves to the Pit Stop.

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. Dustin & Kandice
3. Charla & Mirna
4. Eric & Danielle


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!').



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1. Dustin & Kandice


Last week: 2
This week: Up one place

Well, so much for Karma catching up with them this episode! And it almost could have. I have to say that I thought it really stupid to have an equalising situation at the building that had the second yield in it. Three of the four teams basically ended up in a footrace to the yield and the order with which they grabbed some place cards was the order that they had the chance to yield. D&K got the first one, but had already used their yield and as I understand it, being first meant that the teams behind them couldn't yield them either. Second came O&D, and this was where it got interesting. While waiting at the entrance O&D made the offer to D&K that they would sell their yielding power for cash as they had none left. Not missing the chance to sink the boot in, D&K bought the opportunity to have E&D yielded again (although cruel, I found this very funny). True to their word although hating themselves they yielded E&D.

So you'd think that in choosing to shaft E&D again the bad karma would really be chasing the blondes, but they didn't seem to have any real problems after that and obviously stayed at the front of the pack, throughout this very close leg of the race.

The only note I made about these two was that I actually found it quite arousing to see them bouncing up and down on the noodle flattening pole in their black singlets (umm, anyone who saw this will know what I mean).


2. Charla & Mirna


Last week: 3
This week: Up one place

These two were their usual charming selves with Mirna yelling at Charla for telling her to cut the noodles thicker, when they were actually supposed to be thinly cut. While at this task they made the noodle flattening look even more amusing that it does when it's being done normally by lying across the pole and generally looking very awkard.

Now you would think that if you were going in a competition such as this where you know that there is driving involved that you would know how to drive. Apparently not so for Mirna, who managed to get their mini moke car, parked up against a pole and then needed to resort to getting a taxi driver to help them out of the situation (the second time we have seen this happen with her). In fairness to Mirna, Charla can't drive the normal cars either due to her height, so Mirna gets stuck with all the driving.

I think that Eric and Danielle actually beat them to the finish, but due to their wait from last weeks non-elimination they were finally passed by C&M.



3. Eric & Danielle - ”Marked For Elimination” (but SAFE!)


Last week: 4
This week: Up one place

These guys are dead to me. They should have been eliminated last week.

IMO, IF this show must use non-elimination rounds, they shouldn't punish them with delays, or taking cash, but insist that they must finish the next round in first place or they're gone, along with whomever finishes last. This at least shows that they deserve to be in the race (or end up being very lucky).

The only thing worse that could have happened this leg would've been if E&D came last again, only to the told, "Don't worry guys you're getting a third chance at this crucial stage of the game."

From what we saw of it, E&D actually did better in this round than in a number of their previous ones. Dispite getting yielded, they still finished the noodle making task ahead of C&M. They have also had quite a lot of bad luck at airports, but basically I think it's a joke that they are still in it.

I actually find Eric most humourous when he's annoyed, such as the times he was swearing and cursing O&D. Also when he wanted to throw them off the cliff at the end and after the blondes explained that it was mostly because of them, he offered to throw them over as well. If the cameras weren't on him, I think he might have!


4. Oswald & Danny - SAFE!


Last week: 1
This week: Down three places

Two non-elimination rounds in a row! Wow, two weeks in row where the game has not progressed at all...good thinking producers. Instead of non-elim rounds, I would prefer to see extra long legs where the leg was stretched to two episodes.

I believe that in reality game shows it IS important to be fair to all competitors in terms of the rules and so if you are going to give 3 or 4 teams a second chance (even if there's a penalty), it should be given to all teams. A second chance can and has made all the difference in the world. Not being eliminated at the end of a leg is a very different advantage to being the first to a random yield, or making a good or bad decision on a detour.

Anyway, this was a really bad luck round for O&D with a combination of choosing the wrong task and getting a taxi driver who didn't speak English at all and had no idea where they wanted to go. Perhaps the producers told the taxi driver to send them off course, to avoid the embarrasing potentional of E&D getting two non-eliminations in the same series.

Some of the funniest comments still came from this team as Oswald did things such as praying that the body of the driver wouldn't be found after he strangled him (while sitting in the back seat of the cab). Or telling the driver that he should be able to find the next destination as the name was written in Chinese on the clue and then asking him if he could read Chinese.

The sucky thing about O&D coming last now is that they are at a disadvantage at perhaps the most important stage of the race when they have done so well throughout the rest of it, whereas E&D have generally sucked through 70% of the legs.

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PS. Bevis - I'll answer any or your questions I missed, in the comments of the previous post.


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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