We missed Tara in Malaysia! What is going on - is she such a big star in Indonesia that she didn't have the time to travel to Malaysia with the teams? Or did they only have the budget to use her in Indonesia? It does feel rather strange to have a co-host who doesn't even leave Indonesia. She's even less of a co-host now that she's totally absent in the legs outside Indonesia. Poor Tara, as if I didn't feel sorry for her already after the first two legs.
What? Non-elimination leg? Damn!
When it was clear that Rachel and Vicky were going to be last, I was looking forward to seeing them eliminated. This is definitely the one team I can't stand for so many reasons: Vicky was rude to Will in Penang when she saw him in costume, ready for the Chinese opera fight sequence. She was not funny and I get it - she was trying to make a joke in her second language, it is always harder to try to crack a joke in a language that you're not fluent in but she totally failed. Somebody has got to tell that woman that she is not funny, I have no idea what the hell makes her a celebrity in Indonesia or why the Indonesians actually like her, but geez, she's coming across very poor in TARA. She was also clearly fooling around, irritating Vicky when learning the Chinese opera fight sequence, oblivious to the fact that they were already struggling in last place. Last week it was JK driving Mike up the wall, this time it is Vicky who was the most irritating person in the episode. How is it possible that either team are still in the race after three poorly run legs?
Such is the genre of reality TV - you're not an actor playing a character, you're being yourself: warts and all. If you do something stupid or say something really dumb, you'd better hope that it hits the cutting room floor. Mike's comment about shitting in his pants in the taxi in Bandung was really crass and just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, Rachel took things to a new low with her "you look really pretty - pretty ugly" comment. Rachel really needs to realize that she is out of her comfort zone when doing an English language programme - I get it, I can relate to that. I have done TV in other languages before: I struggled when I did a reality TV programme in Mandarin for Chinese broadcast last year, I did a Welsh panel show when I was supposed to have a discussion about a Youtube video I made live on air in Welsh, I have also done TV in Germany where everything was in German. It is bloody difficult to struggle on in a second or third language - what Rachel could have done was to try to crack jokes in her native Indonesian rather than English, then perhaps it would have actually come across as funny rather than plain stupid. Oh Rachel, it misfired on so many levels and you just ended up looking bad - the worst part was that you were so oblivious to how badly it came across. Surely Vicky (of all people) could have warned her - or he is just as oblivious to it?
Why do I want to see Rachel and Vicky eliminated so badly?
It is clear that these two are not fans of TAR at all. They were cast because they were minor celebrities in Indonesia and were put in the show because it was believed that their celebrity status might boost ratings for TARA in Indonesia. Certainly, with the number of Indonesian sponsors in this series, I can see why they wanted to cast an Indonesian celebrity in the show but why these two? Couldn't you have found someone less irritating and more appealing than these two? Like seriously, Indonesia is such a big country with so many celebrities and these two were the best they could come up with to represent Indonesia? Oh dear. That's not good because this doesn't reflect well on Indonesia at all. Loads of people applied for the show across AXN's coverage countries and so many true fans of the shows were denied a once in a life time chance to be a part of their favourite show because Rachel and Vicky were cast. Duh.
Rachel and Vicky made a serious error of judgment when they arrived at Han Jiang Temple and realized that they had to wait as only four teams could do the detour at the same time. Eric and Rona found themselves in that position and immediately switched to do the other task - it was the only sensible and rational thing to do because you have no idea how long you may end up waiting to even begin your detour. Did they not realize how much time they were wasting by waiting whilst everyone else were completing their detour? Anyone who has seen a few episodes of TAR would have done exactly what Eric and Rona did. That's why I like that team - even though they didn't do that well in this leg (finishing 6th), they have clearly seen the programme before and have done their research, so they knew exactly to do, such as finding out information on taxis before even getting out of the KLIA and making an effort to speak the local language. Likewise, Treasuri and Louisa were impressive in being able to switch their train tickets to Penang to the earlier 5:20 pm train - it is clear that they have done their research.
Old KL Sentral vs New KL Sentral: route info instructions are to be followed.
I'm not done with Vicky and Rachel yet - they ended up at the old KL Sentral station instead of the new one where all the other teams went. Good grief, they were very lucky to have still managed to get on the same train as the two other teams (JK and Mike, Will and Alex) but surely they should have been hit with a penalty for not following the directions as stipulated in their route info. In other versions of TAR, the moment teams failed to follow their instructions in the route info, they would be hit with a penalty. I was disappointed that the 8 pm train to Penang actually stopped at the old KL Sentral station too - how lucky was that for them? Shame, I really wanted to see Vicky and Rachel eliminated.
Urgh. The most puke-inducing moment in the episode has got to be Treasuri and Louisa's cringe worthy endorsement of Garuda. Like seriously, the only reaction to that kind of product placement is to cringe and say, "yeah right, as if." To be fair, I've never flown Garuda before but I would never ever trust such a blatant product placement. It was almost as if someone shoved a script into Treasuri and Louisa's hands and told them, "memorize this and say this to camera, try to sound sincere, okay?" Only TAR China 极速前进 matches TARA in terms of in-your-face unsubtle product placement, oh I feel sorry for Allan Wu when he has to plug a sponsor's product every few minutes in 极速前进! Maybe it's a cultural thing - maybe marketing is really that in-your-face and unsubtle in Asia whereas in other versions of TAR, even when there is product placement, it is done so with more style. I am thinking about the way Air Canada has been a proud sponsor of TAR Canada all these years and you don't hear the contestants raving about how brilliant Air Canada is in the middle of the race. No, it would just make the Canadian viewers cringe so hard it would be negative publicity for Air Canada. Oh no. We do marketing quite differently in the West.
Too many chances to catch up in this episode.
There were so many opportunities in this episode for teams to come from behind to catch up. Firstly, all the teams ended up on the same flight from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur. Secondly, when after the teams were split up on three trains and got to Penang at different times, the Arulmigu Balathandayuthapani Temple was not open until the next morning. So any early leads instantly evaporated as teams bunched up at these two points which leveled the playing field - that kinda sucks when you have built up a lead early in the leg. Is this fair? Is this simply a matter of poor planning on the part of the producers? Okay, sometimes you have no choice on these legs which can be pretty long (this one was three days two nights - pretty long even by TAR standards) but surely you could have given the teams that got to the Arulmigu Balathandayuthapani Temple first a bit of an advantage by allowing teams to enter the temple one at a time, in the order which they arrived? But no, the way it panned out, the physically strongest teams got to the temple first after having raced up those stairs. That wasn't a good way to have organized that part of the challenge.
Anyone who has watched TAR would know that you never choose the detour that includes learning choreography - it always takes longer. Not unless you're a dance instructor and can pick up choreography super quickly (I note that Matt and Dana, winners of TAR US S28 were dance experts and choreographers). So if you're like Matt and Dana, then sure, learning choreography will be a breeze but I did a dance commercial in Hungary this summer and I can tell you that memorizing any kind of dance/movement choreography is extremely challenging if you're not used to it. Those street art murals in Penang are so famous, surely locating them would be reasonably easy: just ask the locals for help! Compare that to learning a complex stage combat routine, I would have thought it was pretty obvious which detour was easier. In the end, Treasuri and Louisa won the leg after having breezed through the street art detour. Well done to them, but there was no prize for coming in first in this leg. (Geez sponsors, come on - that sucks.)
My boys Will and Alex came through at last!
It was frustrating that Will and Alex (my favourites from the start for all the wrong reasons, so sue me) finally picked up the pace and finished second in Penang. I get the feeling they could have even won the leg if they had simply picked the other detour - they're Malaysians, they would have had little trouble communicating with the locals to complete the challenge and being so strong, they would have cycled around the streets faster than the others. Still, it was good to see them do well in Penang. The other Malaysian team beauty queens Chloe and Yvonne finished third, so it was clear that they definitely had some home ground advantage there - but not enough for them to win the leg. I certainly like both remaining Malaysian teams and hope to see them continue doing well. Well done guys. Malaysia boleh!
Looking at the statistics for the first three legs, it is clear that Treasuri and Louisa are the strongest team so far (2nd, 3rd, 1st: average position 2nd). If they keep up this form, they will be very hard to beat. Despite a rocky start, Chloe and Yvonne are also looked quite strong (9th, 1st, 3rd: average position 4.33th). Eric and Rona have not had the race they wanted so far (4th, 4th, 6th: average position 4.67th - although they had only just lost a foot race to the mat by a matter of seconds in Penang) but my experienced TAR gut instinct tells me that they are still a very strong and well prepared team who have not been lucky so far (for example, being unable to find the clue at the clan jetties). I'm going to say that if any team is going to challenge Treasuri and Louisa - it will be Eric and Rona. You guys know I am rooting for Will and Alex (5th 7th, 2nd, average position 4.67th) because they're the best eye candy in this series so far.
Who will be eliminated next?
Well, statistically, three teams are very weak. Rachel and Vicky got lucky in Penang as it was a non-elimination leg, but look at their track record: 6th, 5th, 8th (average position 6.33th). The other team that is always flirting with elimination are Singaporeans JK and Mike: 3rd, 8th, 7th (average position 6th). But another team with an equally poor record are Parul and Maggie: 7th, 6th, 5th (average position 6th) but at least I have yet to see Parul and Maggie argue on the race. JK and Mike keep arguing as do Rachel and Vicky. I predicted last week that Rachel and Vicky were on the chopping block and sure enough, they finished last. I am once again going to predict that they could go - either that or it would be JK and Mike. Let's see what awaits them in the next leg of their race in Phuket, Thailand. So, what do you guys think of the race so far: who are you supporting? And which team drives you nuts? Many thanks for reading!
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