TARA S5 E8: The statistics don't lie, do they?

Halo semuanya, apa kahbar? Oh, this was a very satisfying episode of TARA because so many things I had predicted in my previous blog posts have turned out to be true. But also, this leg was set in Jogjakarta - a city I visited in 2013, so I was able to recognize a lot of the places featured. It was a shame that they didn't go to nearby Borobudur - which was featured in TAR US S19 E2 and E3. But Prambanan is just as breathtaking (and a lot closer to downtown Jogjakarta). I wonder how many of you die hard TAR fans will remember that in TAR US S19 E2 when they had to count the different statues there? Bill and Cathi had to complete their speed bump at Goa Jomblang after having finished last in the last leg in Taiwan? I digress, so let's get back to TARA S5 E8 and jump right in with the statistics.

That's me in Prambanan in 2013!

And here are the stats! Average positions so far: 

Treasuri and Louisa 2.25

Yvonne and Chloe   3.5

Eric and Rona          4

Parul and Maggie    4.375

The numbers never lie - JK and Mike were the weakest team and sure enough.

JK and Mike went from first to last in this leg - perhaps I am a bit of a maths geek but despite JK and Mike having won two legs in a row, in my last post, I still worked out that they were statistically the weakest team and probably would not make it to the finals. Sure enough, I was proven right. Okay, those two did shock me by actually winning two legs in the Philippines and Singapore but they made two huge errors in Jogjakarta. Firstly, when there was a very physically demanding task, JK opted to do it instead of Mike. To be fair, they couldn't have known just how physically demanding it was as the clues were located quite a distance from the cave itself and the racers couldn't have seen what the roadblock was. The cryptic clue, "who's ready to walk the line?" couldn't have been much help either. It sounded like something to do with balance rather than strength per se but still, when it comes to anything to do with sports, I would have chosen Mike over JK easily - but the guys didn't think: they merely played "scissors, paper, stone" decide which led to the costly, poor decision. Is your strategy based on kid's games like "orwa-baya-som" and "lom chiam pass"? 

The numbers never lie, I'm a stats geek.

Tunggu-tunggu sedikit... is it Jogjakarta or Yogyakarta? 

Oh this confuses a lot of people: as Indonesia was a Dutch colony, the name of the city was Jogjakarta in the Dutch colonial days, but in Dutch a J is pronounced like a Y. So whilst the Dutch spelled it as Jogjakarta (as it is still spelled in Dutch today), it was pronounced 'Yogyakarta' with a Y sound. Since independence in 1945, the official name has been Yogyakarta with a Y and not a J. However, old habits die hard as both spellings are still frequently in use. Even during the Dutch colonial days, most Indonesians didn't speak any Dutch and thus pronounced it as Jogjakarta with a J sound as the letter J in Indonesian is pronounced like an English J and not like a Y. In fact in the local dialect, the city is often referred to as "Jogja" with a J sound. For more on this, have a read here on the history of the name of Jogjakarta/Yogyakarta. The racers and most importantly, our Indonesian co-host Tara Basro referred to it has Jogjakarta, the captions on the screen spell it as Yogyakarta and Allan Wu mispronounced it as Joe-Jakarta. Aargh. 

Aiyoh, what happened to Yvonne and Chloe in Jogja?

Yvonne and Chloe ran a terrible leg in Jogjakarta, which was disappointing as they have proven to be a strong team thus far and are still statistically the second strongest team. Yet in Jogjakarta, we saw Chloe have a complete breakdown when she struggled with the roadblock at Prambanan, most of the other teams breezed through that task fairly quickly - even Yvonne said, "when Chloe said that she wanted to switch board(s), that was when I realized that she had lost her mind." They didn't do too badly on the archery challenge but lost precious time trying to find a taxi when leaving Prambanan. Right at the very last moment, even when the pit stop was within sight, they got overtaken by JK and Mike in the Odong-odong car and they were so close to being eliminated at that point, if it not had been for the local who had given JK the wrong directions to Ndalem Ngabean. That surprised me for two reasons: JK clearly speaks Malay rather well, so he could have easily asked another local if he wasn't sure. Ndalem Ngabean is also a very prominent landmark in Jogjakarta, so it is possible that the man JK asked did not know the city well. Bad luck! 

Goodwill and animosity on this leg. 

This episode started with so much love and goodwill, with JK and Mike deciding to give away their free lounge access to one of the other teams. When JK said, "each team send one girl to me" at Changi Airport, I thought oh shit, what is this dirty old man up to again? But what do you know, it was such a nice gesture. I did wonder why they were routed by Jakarta just to film that 15 seconds segment of the Garuda Lounge at Jakarta airport. There are direct flights from Singapore to Jogjakarta - I've taken one of them before. Nonetheless, the moment the teams arrived at Jogjakarta airport, all hell broke loose when the teams raced to get a taxi. JK took great offence at Treasuri getting a taxi for just her team - of course, he speaks Malay so he understood her perfectly when she asked only for one taxi to Jomblang. The other teams seemed pretty okay with what Treasuri did given that it was a race and the time for goodwill was over - JK begged to differ, calling Treasuri a bitch on camera. Oh boy, flash back to TAR US S14 in Guilin, China when Jen and Kisha got into a big war with Margie and Luke - both teams were very stressed and tired and talk about a 'last straw that broke the camel's back situation'. Poor Margie just exploded at the pit stop and I felt really bad for her as Jen and Kisha were totally wrong. If JK and Mike had caught up with Treasuri and Louisa, would there have been a similarly vicious fight? (Actually probably not, as Mike would have probably stepped in and stopped anything like that.) 

"JK now's not the time yeah?" 

Certainly JK was ready to have it out with Treasuri whilst the two of them were still trying to complete the roadblock at Goa Jomblang - even with both Mike and Louisa shouting at him, "now's not the time yeah? Let's not talk about that now come on." Indeed, JK is probably the least fit contestant amongst all the racers in this season - instead of focusing on what was a very difficult task for him, he lost focus when he started arguing with Treasuri. That could have contributed to him falling off the rope - making him the only racer to have made that very costly mistake and eventually sinking their team to last place. It is ultimately a race - I have seen a lot of scheming and plotting in other seasons - remember how in TAR US season 12 episode 10, at Osaka airport, Christina slyly told the ticket lady to tell the other teams that there were no more seats left on that flight. When the lady told Nathan & Jennifer that, Jennifer exploded . That;s the kind of thing that happens all the time on TAR - it's a race that nobody wants to lose. As the saying goes, don't hate the player, hate the game. If you don't like others being competitive, then you shouldn't have signed up for this in the first place JK. Poor Mike, I feel sorry from him as he deserved a better partner in this race. 

Apa anda bicara bahasa Inggris?

Oh boy. There is often a huge language barrier in Indonesia where English is taught in school but only the rich who can afford a better quality of education can speak it confidently. This meant that the two Filipino teams were at a massive disadvantage since the other teams had at least one member who could speak Malay/Indonesian rather well. But credit to Rona who spoke the most Indonesian out of all the Filipino racers - that is why she comes across as extremely well prepared. Nonetheless, the language barrier didn't prove to be such a big problem for both Filipino teams as they did well and came in 2nd and 3rd in Jogjakarta, so I suppose the language barrier wasn't that big an issue. After all, both teams had already done two legs in Indonesia in this season and this is the third leg in Indonesia. 

Eric and Rona's triumph in Jogjakarta

Yes the mighty Treasuri and Louisa won again in Jogjakarta but consider this: after coming in last but spared elimination in the last leg in Singapore, Eric and Rona had a speed bump to do in Jogjakarta before even making their way to Goa Jomblang. Yet they still managed to overtake so many of the other teams after breezing through the speed bump - at least the Jamu test was a meaningful speed bump that combined an element of local culture whilst involving some element of skill. Eric and Rona finally ran a flawless leg in Jogjakarta. Consider this: if they didn't have to do this speed bump (which resulted in them arriving last at Goa Jomblang), they may have well won this leg (or at least made it a lot harder for Treasuri and Louisa to have won this leg). I have always said that Eric and Rona are a very strong team and finally, they have well and truly proven themselves to be a very possible winner in the finals. 

Does anyone actually remember Tara? 

Oh poor Tara Basro - our co-host in the first two legs in Indonesia. She's back at last but she barely gets to say anything as usual and was no more than a pit stop greeter. But then again, why is she so wooden? Look, she's Indonesian, Treasuri and Louisa came in first in Jogjakarta yet Tara barely expressed any excitement at all. Come on, not even a hug for Treasuri and Louisa, for your home team? No emotions? I'm beginning to find Tara quite boring and forgettable, she lacks the personality of other TAR hosts like Grant Bowler, Jon Montgomery, Alexandre Delpérier and of course Phil Keoghan. Even I find Allan Wu a bit bland but at least he is still the only TAR host who has hosted in two languages (Mandarin and English). So I doubt we'll see Tara Basro in TARA S6, sorry Tara, no offence.

Which 3 teams will make it to the finals? 

Oh this is a hard one to call. Treasuri and Louisa are such a strong team but they did struggle in the Philippines and Singapore. I am sure they will go through and the next leg will be in Banyuwangi, East Java. I think it is a forgone conclusion that they will make it into the finals and are favourites to win TARA S5. Perhaps I am biased, but my favourite team Eric and Rona have definitely hit their stride in Jogjakarta with a very strong 2nd place finish - thus I would say it would be either Parul and Maggie or Yvonne and Chloe who would narrowly miss out on the finals. It is a shame as I like both teams. My gut instinct tells me that it would be Yvonne and Chloe given Chloe's dramatic meltdown in Prambanan - the poor girl is so exhausted and stressed from the race. However, statistically, Parul and Maggie are still much weaker than Yvonne and Chloe. So I am going to ignore my gut instinct and follow the statistics and say that it would probably be Parul and Maggie who will not make it into the finals (as much as I love them). 

Okay that's it from me for now. Do let me know what you think so far of the final 4 teams. Are you as pleased as I am to finally see JK and Mike eliminated? Can anyone stop the mighty Treasuri and Louisa from winning yet another leg? And who will finally win TARA S5? Do let me know what you think please. Many thanks for reading, terima kasih!