TARA S5E2: Oh no, not a good endorsement for the Grab App?

Hi guys, I'm surprised just how popular my last review of the Amazing Race Asia S5E1 was, so here we go for S5E2. On social media, the response had been quite favourable, it seems that the fans of the show were generally quite happy with this episode and it was entertaining enough, but as usual, allow me to bitch about the following points:

Tolonglah, let Vicky and Rachel speak in Bahasa Indonesian.

There were several occasions where the English subtitles were provided for Vicky even when he was speaking English. I feel bad as English is clearly not his first language and when under the intense pressure of the race, sometimes it comes out garbled and hard to understand. I can relate to that, I can speak some Malay but when put under pressure, it does come out all wrong. I was told on Facebook that another fan of the show heard a producer shouting "speak English" when the contestants were in Kebun Raya Bogor - I didn't spoke that the first time round but when it happened again in episode 2 when Treasuri and Louisa  were receiving their clue at the end of the Bandung Biathlon challenge, I realized that the contestants were indeed forced to speak English instead of their native languages. I can see why - AXN is trying to produce a programme in English for a pan-Asian (and possibly international) audience, but when the contestants are under so much pressure, the last thing you need is a producer off-camera shouting, "speak English!". Okay, so this is clearly not the fault of the contestants but the TAR producers.

I have spoken to Antoine of TAR Canada S4 about this issue and he confirmed to me that teams were allowed to speak in any language they wanted and English subtitles would be used if the French speaking teams spoke in French. Even if that was the case, Antoine said that they chose to speak mostly in English as they didn't want the other teams to think that they were scheming against them behind their backs by speaking in French, as not all the teams spoke French. He also told me that they were in fact a bilingual family and spoke both languages at home, so he definitely wasn't forced to speak English against his will on TAR Canada. However this is clearly not the case in TARA when teams are forced/pressured into speaking English all the time when clearly, English is not a first language for many of them. Am I the only one upset about this? But enough said, I have already bitched at length about this in my last TARA blog post - I think it is a mistake on the part of the producers. It is helluva annoying though.

The shock eliminated of Alphaeus and Brandon - not a good endorsement for the Grab App?

 Alphaeus and Brandon who came in first on the last leg and left the detour first were eliminated because they entered the wrong address into the GPS. What does this say about the Grab App? Whose fault is it? I don't think it was clear in the episode: yes there was a product endorsement with Grab , but how much control lay in the hands of the contestants? Were the taxi drivers taking some or full responsibility for navigation (as often was the case in TAR China 极速前进 when drivers are often provided, they usually don't trust the contestants to use taxis)? What seems to have happened was that Alphaeus and Brandon entered the wrong address into the GPS and even after they realized it was leading them to a destination 42 km away, they didn't think there was anything wrong. I have actually driven in Indonesia before (in both Java and Bali) and yes it can be extremely confusing to find a location even if you do have an address. Being Malaysians, they can communicate with the locals and they did ask some locals who gave them the wrong directions. I feel bad for them - but then again, even Parul and Maggie, the lovely Filipino beauty queens who don't speak the local language, got hopelessly lost and still managed to check in before Alphaeus and Brandon.

Being let down by a bad taxi driver seems to be a recurring theme in TAR, but in this case, it seems that we can't put the blame on the Grab driver as it is clear that the teams were expected to at least play a major role in the navigation. Anyone who has ever used a GPS navigation device will know not to totally trust it, well, not without at least applying a healthy dose of common sense. Asking the locals for directions seems to be a safe bet in most cases, but even then, it still didn't help Alphaeus and Brandon. I note that Rei and Keiji got bad advice in leg 1 in Jakarta, when they were told that Fatahillah Square was walking distance from Museum Bahari - that led to them arriving there last whilst the other teams got a taxi. So much for useful advice from kind locals. It does seem to be a case of bad luck for Alphaeus and Brandon - but it hardly left the viewers a shining endorsement of using Grab in Indonesia, did it? Use Grab: things can go so badly wrong and you can end up so hopelessly lost you get eliminated despite being a strong team. Tak bagus.

Tolonglah, let poor Tara have more lines. 

Once again, our poor co-host Tara barely spoke. What is the deal with Tara? Or rather, why are the producers being so mean to her? Allan still does most of the talking whilst she gets a few words in here and there. Do they not trust her to deliver her lines with confidence? It certainly couldn't be a problem with her English as she sounds perfectly fine in English (unlike Rachel and Vicky who are clearly struggling at times). Even when you watch the extended clips on Youtube featuring teams checking in at the pit stop, Allan still does most of the talking whilst Tara does barely more than greet the teams as they arrive. Shouldn't Allan be more encouraging and engage her in the conversations?

Finally, a challenge which I do like.

I like the Grab bike challenge as it showcases an interesting aspect of local culture well. I had recently visited the Dominican Republic where people do take motorcycle-taxis (known as el motoconcho locally). Now this is unheard of in most developed countries but it is a cheap and cheerful way to get around town, especially when there are terrible traffic jams. The motoconcho can simply weave through gaps in the jam whilst those in cars are stuck there for hours. And of course, there are motorcycle taxis in Indonesia as well where they are known as ojek. Shame it was done in TMII at 6 in the morning, I would have liked to have seen contestants ride an ojek through the crowded streets of Bandung or Jakarta just like the locals. I visited TMII in 1992 and it was definitely one of the more interesting locations on TARA S5 so far - but surely they could have done a lot more with such a pretty location to showcase Indonesian culture? But in any case, I think most viewers were staring at disbelief at the way Will and Alex messed up in TMII.

Will and Alex - oh dear. Aiyoh. Quick, you need an alliance. Now. 

Good grief. I did mention in my last post that I like this team because they make good eye candy, but I didn't expect them to live up to their himbo image. They had a bad leg - being the last team to get out of TMII and clearly struggling with the Bandung Biathlon challenge when they couldn't figure out how to operate the traditional bamboo gun. I suppose there was a part of me that wanted them to do well but now I am just going to enjoy watching them struggle. When you are clearly weaker than everyone else, you need to form alliances and ask for help. Other teams will want to help keep you in the race if they think that they would rather run the final legs of the race with you rather than the strongest teams. It is a very strategic move when there are U-turns coming up - you don't want to be U-turned. Will and Alex have somehow managed to finish 7th in Bandung, only because two other teams had a far worse time there. The next leg would be a very good time for them to cosy up to a few other teams and seek an alliance because let's face it, this two are going to need all the help they can get. How many teams have thought about strategy as such?

Nice locations but once again, poorly designed challenges, sigh. 

I feel really bad saying this as I actually know one of the people who worked on setting up the challenges - okay, the tea plantations in Bandung were a gorgeous setting, but searching for a Wayang Golek puppet in the bushes was a dumb idea. You have two quite different aspects of Indonesian culture here: growing tea and Wayang Golek (traditional Indonesian puppet theatre) but trying to combine the two by chucking a Wayang Golek into the bushes seems like a poorly thought out plan. The producers should have made a greater effort to focus on either aspects of Indonesia's culture. I note that there is a better tea challenge in TAR US: remember the tea tasting challenge in Kolkata, India - TAR US S18 E6 where Luke had a total meltdown.  That was a challenge all about tea culture which had a far bigger element of skill than luck - really, how fast you found the Wayang Golek in the bushes was down to sheer luck and those who arrived earlier clearly had an advantage. Likewise, there is a better challenge for the Wayang Golek: in TAR US S15 E3, they had to get their clue from a dragon in a water puppet performance in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - okay, the water puppet performance wasn't long at all, but at least we got to see the puppets in action. Many of the viewers would have never seen a Wayang Golek performance before, it was a missed opportunity to showcase a bit of Indonesian culture to them on TARA. Did you learn anything about Wayang Golek in this episode?

Poor Mike, JK was such a pain in this challenge.

In the last episode, I thought that JK and Mike were very irritating. In this episode, I realized it was mostly JK who was the irritant and I felt very sorry for Mike. Good grief, after TARA, they have got to go back to working together and he has to continue putting up with JK. Teams arguing and cracking under pressure is nothing new in TAR, we have already seen Rachel and Vicky do just that in leg 1 in Jakarta. However, in this case, I got the impression that JK was playing up to the camera whilst Mike was already consumed by the frustration of having to go back for more eggs. Certainly, we saw a lot of team playing up to the camera in TAR US S28 which featured Youtube stars - where do I even begin? However, trying to be cute and quirky for the camera whilst your teammate is intensely frustrated is more than a case of bad timing - it's just bad taste and crass. I realize that TAR like casting local celebrities to boost ratings, but I find it hard to believe that JK can be that popular in Singapore. Singaporeans, let me know if you beg to differ.

Yvonne and Chloe - beauty and brains. 

Well done to the Malaysian beauty queens for running a great race and winning leg 2 in Bandung! Shame they didn't get a prize for being the winners of this leg. (Come on, sponsors, that sucks - I thought they deserved a prize.) Interestingly enough, two teams which barely escaped elimination in leg 1 have done tremendously well in leg 2. Yvonne and Chloe were 9th in Bogor whilst Anita and Tom who were 8th in Bogor finished 2nd in Bandung. Some may attribute this to an element of luck in this leg (their taxi drivers did not get lost en route to the tea plantation) but how do you explain their poor performance in the first leg then? These two teams have certainly established themselves as serious contenders in this series. In terms of consistency, Treasuri and Louisa (2nd, then 3rd) and Eric and Rona (4th and 4th) proved that they have what it takes to make it to the end. It is still hard for me to pick a favourite at this stage though - if one team has stood out thus far for you, please let me know.

Who will be eliminated next? 

I predict that the next team to go will be one that does not work well together - so far we have seen meltdowns from JK and Mike as well as Rachel and Vicky. I would guess that either team would be the next to get eliminated, but then again, I could be somewhat biased as I have never liked either team from the start at all. I certainly did not expect Alphaeus and Brandon to get eliminated so soon especially after they had won the first leg, so the next elimination may be the team who suffers a stroke of bad luck. Will and Alex's poor performance in this leg of the race has not inspired confidence at all and as much as I like them as a team, they need to change their strategy if they want to stay in the race. The next leg will be in Georgetown, Malaysia and that may be enough to give them the valuable homegrown advantage they badly need. But yes, admittedly, I know there's a big difference though between whom I think will be eliminated next and whom I want to see eliminated. I like Will and Alex but I fear they may be next to go.

So that's it from me for now. I am actually typing this whilst my boss is on a conference call and it has given me the valuable minutes to complete this before the next episode of TARA. Let me know what you think, thanks for reading.