Average rankings after leg 3 in Can Tho, Vietnam
- Rob & Corey = 2.33
- Jocelyn & Victor = 3
- Greg & John = 3
- Steve & Anna Leigh = 4.33
- Morgan & Lena = 4.66
- Todd & Ashlie = 4.66
- Joel & Garrett = 6
- Joe & Ian = 7.66
- Robbin & Chelsea = 9
- Liam & Yeremi = 9 (spared elimination in Can Tho due to Keep On Racing)
- Andrea & Malaina = 9.66
The order of the teams are well and truly mixed up!
As you can see, we have quite a lot of changes in the order of the teams here - Jocelyn & Victor had a disastrous leg in Can Tho, finishing 10th whilst Steve & Anna Leigh jumped from the middle of the pack to grab their first win in this leg. Rob & Corey are now the strongest and most consistent team at this stage despite not having won a leg yet but it was really Steve & Anna Leigh and Joel & Garrett who impressed me on this leg. But I was equally surprised at Robbin & Chelsea storming their way to fifth from the back of the pack, that was truly impressive. Then there's Joe & Ian who found themselves starting this leg in joint first place, thanks to an earlier flight to Ho Chi Minh City (henceforth abbreviated to HCMC) but struggled and stumbled their way through this leg to finish way down in 7th after struggling at the water market and taking quite a long time to finish their detour. It is a combination of luck and skill in this process - Joe & Ian were lucky to get on the earlier flight but they still needed to complete all the tasks very efficiently and quickly in order to keep their early lead. Statistically, Greg & John are strong, but they had their worst ever result finishing in 8th on this leg.
The random nature of the travel agency and the flights
Oh I loved the fact that they had to go to a travel agency to get their flights - this reminded me of the older seasons of TAR when that was standard practice, though I am disappointed that the outcome of that process was totally random. Joe & Ian and Joel & Garrett managed to get on the best flight simply because they picked the grumpy old Thai guy wearing the floral shirt. I miss the good old days when teams had to do their own research and try to get their own flights, thus it was a combination of geography, organisational skills and some luck to try to find the best connections. But in this case, the teams seemed to just put all their faith in their travel agent without playing an active role in the process, there was really nothing to stop the teams on the much later flights to try to ask their travel agent to try to find a better alternative to try to improve their fortunes. After all, as Rob said, when was the last time we actually used a travel agent to book a flight? I'm sure we are all quite capable of looking for the best connections (and deals) online when it comes to our flights. As a fan, I would like to see the outcomes determined by skill, knowledge and effort rather than just pure luck.
How far is Can Tho from HCMC?
Can Tho is 166 km (103 miles) from HCMC and the bus journey approximately 6 hours depending on traffic. I bet you are probably thinking right now, 6 hours, that means the bus has only an average speed of just 27.6 km/hr (17.2 miles/hr) - yes it is very slow for the following reasons: traffic is usually chaotic in HCMC and one can expect loads of traffic jams anywhere in the city. It is obviously a bit easier in the night time but the earlier teams would have been stuck in the late afternoon/early evening rush hour traffic in HCMC which would have been awful. Once you're out of the big city, you can get on the Vietnam Expressway system which to be fair, are pretty decent by Asian standards and it is possible to get from HCMC to Can Tho on these Expressways. These buses often underpromise and overdeliver, so if it is possible to make the journey in 3.5 hours with the right conditions, they'd tell you it will take 6 hours just so you would be a happy customer if the journey took 5 hours. These buses are often quite comfortable and the teams had reclining seats, so they could get some much needed sleep on the way. This is far from ideal of course but it is better than nothing when on TAR.
A waste of the express pass
Oh dear. Morgan & Lena used their express pass in this leg on the wrong task, only to slip down from 4th to 6th in this leg. Oh the power of hindsight, I don't want to be too harsh on them as they had no idea what lay ahead or if there was a better time to use it - unfortunately they did give in to blind panic when they realized the nature of the fruit delivery task in the floating market. The task was clearly time consuming but not difficult, whereas both sides of the detour that came right after that were highly technical and far more tricky and that would have been a better time to use the express pass.
Do you not know what a dragon fruit is?
I am amazed at the number of teams who don't know what a dragon fruit is - it is the fruit of a certain kind of cactus that is native to central America but now widely cultivated in many countries where it is warm enough as that plant likes a very hot climate. So far in this season, we have encountered the durian and the pomelo, both of which are not that tasty but I would definitely encourage you to try the dragon fruit if you've not had it yet. It is like a prickly pear (which is also from a cactus of course) but without the nasty spikes and hard seeds that you have to spit out. The taste is like a cross between a watermelon and a kiwi fruit - it is a heavenly mix of just the right amount of sweetness and sourness with a delightful crunch (again, resembling watermelon but with the seeds of a kiwi fruit). Do try to get your hands on one, it is really nice!
A poorly constructed task where the teams couldn't overtake the team in front.
Whilst the water market is visually stunning and a popular tourist attraction, I felt frustrated that it was literally first come, first serve. The teams that arrived first got to the marked boats first to unload their fruits and that seemed really straightforward - there was literally no way for a team to come from behind (well, short of just using the express pass) to overtake a team ahead by doing that task particularly well. There wasn't really any skill involved either when it came to unloading the fruit at the boats. The only drama during that task was when Joe & Ian messed up when they just forgot to pick up their clue after unloading the fruit, so at least that changed the order of the teams. The reason why I don't like tasks like that is because they do not offer teams to excel at the task and jump ahead, mixing up the order of the teams and creating more drama: tasks like that may feature a great tourist destination but the outcome is often too predictable.
Both sides of the detour were very difficult
Given how difficult both sides of the detour were, I am surprised that none of the teams even thought about switching detours when they struggled with the detour. Andrea & Malaina made the wise decision to stick to their original choice and wait for a stove to be available instead of rushing to the other side of the detour. Given how well they performed on that detour, that proved to be a very good choice. But when Jocelyn & Victor struggle with their detour, oh I felt so bad for them. I think the rice paper crepes that they were making were actually the super thin ones used for Vietnamese spring rolls - so you can either use it just to wrap up a fresh spring roll with loads of salad, crunchy pickles, rice noodles and some meat or seafood would be a light and refreshing starter, or you could fill it with meat, then deep fry it to create a more crunchy version of the deep fried Vietnamese spring roll. I'm very familiar with those rice paper crepes (well I am Asian) but we would never make those at home as it is too much hard work, we would just buy them from the store to save time. So I would get these big packs of dehydrated rice paper wrappers, I dip them in warm water for a few seconds to revive them and it is as good as fresh. So most Asian people would have never had to try to make these rice paper crepes before, so at this detour it was simply a question of watching the demonstration very carefully and replicating the timing of each step perfectly to achieve the perfect texture each time. As for the vinyl part of the detour, it was not something that you would want to try for the very first time under such pressure on the race - it was something that would suit racers who have had some experience working with vinyl. But none of the teams that did the vinyl side of the challenge managed to complete it quickly - it was clearly a rather challenging task, even for those with some experience.
Sleep depravation on TAR is horrible.
Most teams got very little sleep the night before they ran this leg in Can Tho - those on the last flight had to land very late in HCMC at about 9:45 pm, then they have to spend ages clearing customs at the airport - having been there and done that, the queues at the Vietnamese airports can be horrific given how most foreigners require visas that have to be applied in advance but still verified upon arrival. So if we had another hour or two to that, they have to still get to the main bus station from the airport, which isn't too bad by taxi at night, that would be about half an hour or so. But by the time you get to the bus station, it would be at least midnight if not later, then they have to wait for the next available bus to Can Tho, so they only had the chance to sleep on the short flight from Bangkok (which was approximately 1 hour 45 minutes) and then on the bus ride - at least they had reclining seats there. They were lucky to have arrived there around 5 am, which means that it took them about 7 hours 15 minutes from the time their plane landed in HCMC to get to that pier in Can Tho. If any of us travelled to Can Tho under those circumstances, all we would want is a shower and a few hours of sleep upon arrival, given how hot it is in Vietnam. To have to push through that fatigue and still run a leg without making any mistakes is a huge ask, that's why I am sympathetic to the teams who struggled on this leg as they were probably so ridiculously tired. Adrenaline can only get you that far before the body needs some rest. Imagine having to focus on the tasks in the detour which require so much attention to detail when you can barely keep your eyes open - now that's just brutal. Just when the teams get to the pit stop and think that they can finally get some sleep, guess what? They are told to keep on racing. That's brutal given that the teams had just flown in from Los Angeles a few days ago, so you have to add jet lag to the mix on top of everything they have had to contend with from the hot weather to the fatigue.
Wait so is this kinda like a non-elimination leg?
Yes effectively. Phil could have eliminated Liam & Yeremi but he didn't. Talk about luck on TAR! They came last but were simply handled their next clue with some kind words of encouragement. Hence there really isn't that much difference between a non-elimination leg and a 'keep on racing' leg, the racers are not given the chance to rest and are given their next clue. Furthermore, you have to feel bad for the winners Steve & Anna Leigh who won this leg but were denied a prize for it. The teams were told to go to Cafe Tư Điếc in Cần Thơ to get their next clue - that is just 11.6 km (7.2 miles) across town and a short 20 minute taxi ride away and so the next leg will probably be carried out in and around Can Tho.
How's the situation with English in Vietnam?
It is actually worse than in Thailand as Vietnam is a lot poorer than Thailand, thus people are generally less educated than in Thailand and don't forget, the teams are in Can Tho, which is a relatively small city with 1.2 million people. They are not quite in the countryside but you're unlikely to find that many tourists or well educated young people there - both groups tend to be drawn to the big cities like HCMC and Hanoi. The only saving grace for traveling in Vietnam is that the Vietnamese language has been romanized way back in the 17th century when it was a French colony, that means that it is written with a modified roman alphabet, hence the place they are headed to will have the sign that says, "Cafe Tư Điếc". Now you don't need to speak any Vietnamese at all but you still can read that out aloud. The pronunciation is not exactly like English but at least you can mispronounce words in Vietnamese when you read it out aloud to a taxi driver who will probably make an intelligent guess at what you're trying to say. Whereas with other Asian languages like Thai, Burmese, Laotian, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese, those are not written in a script that an English speaker can recognize. Thus you have people like my British friend Adam who got drunk in Spain on holiday, decided to get a tattoo in Chinese as he thought the characters looked interesting, the Spanish tattoo artist Google translated what the message and got to work. Except of course, the Spanish lady doing the tattoo didn't speak English well, so she had misunderstood what Adam said in English (and of course he didn't speak any Spanish). So when he came to me in the gym and said, "hey Alex, can I show you my new tattoo?" I had to be the one who had to tell him, "do you have any idea what those Chinese words mean?" The moral of the story is whilst people in Vietnam really don't speak English (or any other language, they tend to be very monolingual), this is because the vast majority of people are Vietnamese - contrast that to countries like Singapore or Malaysia, where there are many different ethnic groups and thus English has become the lingua franca. At least it is a lot easier for tourists to read street signs and ask for directions in Vietnam, even if it means simply saying the words "cafe tu diec?" to the locals and then hope they would point you in the direction of Cafe Tư Điếc.
Who will win the next leg in Vietnam?
Oh I got this so wrong on my last blog post when I failed to pick the winner and the team that would come in last in this leg. The team I picked to win came in a dismal 7th whilst my pick for the team that would come in last stormed in at a very credible 5th. I put my hands up and say, I totally got it wrong and I suck at this! This is going to be a lot easier though for this next leg - since it is a "keep on racing" leg, the teams at the front of the pack will keep their lead and that means there are two teams who are way ahead of the pack and are starting the leg with a substantial lead, so I am going to guess that Steve & Anna Leigh are simply going to keep their lead and that will enable them to win their second leg in a row in Vietnam, given that they are statistically stronger than Joel & Garrett. Steve & Anna Leigh have proven that they are indeed a very strong team, she was the only one who checked for the remaining 5:45 am departure card at the pier in Can Tho and whilst they may not be as strong as the other teams comprising of young men, they are strategic and can remain calm under pressure - watch this team, I think they could do very well this season and make it to the grand final.
Who will be eliminated next?
As for the team that will be eliminated at the end of the next leg, I think there are two teams in trouble: Liam & Yeremi and Jocelyn & Victor both got to the pit stop within minutes of each other. In fact, you could see Liam & Yeremi approaching the pit stop mat when Phil was still talking to Jocelyn & Victor. These two teams are way at the back of the pack and are both so far behind, but based on the statistics, the weaker of the two teams are Liam & Yeremi so logically, I would pick them. But no, I am looking at the overall statistics and even though Liam & Yeremi ran this leg really poorly and finished dead last, there is still one team who are weaker than them over the last 3 legs and that team is Andrea & Malaina - they were only one place ahead of Jocelyn & Victor. So it is a tough choice, is the very narrow lead that Andrea & Malaina have enough to keep them in the race or would the time deficit be too much for Liam & Yeremi to make up? To get our answer, I turned to the previews for next week. We see some very physically demanding tasks involving carrying mattresses through a street market and a task in the fish market. There is a suggestion that Morgan & Lena feel the pressure without a express pass when faced with a difficult road block, but I don't think they would be eliminated as a result as I really doubt they'll give away a spoiler like that. So given the physical nature of the task, Liam & Yeremi clearly are so much stronger than most of the other teams (they are probably the strongest in fact, even when compared to Joe & Ian and Greg & John) so I think that they would be able to make up a lot of ground when given tasks that are to their advantage. Therefore it is based based on that logic that I am guessing that Andrea & Malaina would be eliminated next.
Finally, this is why I blog rather than talk about it on social media.
Please allow me share with you something that happened. I received a really scathing message from this person on Facebook about my last blog post - look, I don't claim to be an expert journalist who is doing this for a living. I am merely a diehard fan of TAR and I love TAR so much, this is a labour of love and you may not agree with some of my opinions here, that's fine. I invite you to engage me and we could have a very nice conversation about it. But no, this person felt the need to get really rude with me and resort to personal insults to tell me exactly how much he hated my blog post. It felt like a nasty personal attack because that was exactly what it was. I accept that this is all part of the modern social media landscape - you put something out there on any social media platform and you must be prepared to accept the judgment of others. However, when I see something on Youtube or Instagram that I don't like at all, I would simply tell the platform to stop showing me content from this creator. I wouldn't go out of my way to contact this content creator and tell them how much I hate them and their content because no, I am not a hateful person. I am not going on social media looking for a fight. Last night I stumbled upon a comedian on Youtube who used sexist and misogynistic language in his content, I simply picked the 'don't recommend this channel' option and I left it at that - I have enough going on in my life and I don't see the point of arguing with strangers on the internet. I am here because I am simply motivated by my love of TAR and my love for other fans of TAR who are equally obsessed about TAR, just like me. Hence I am not a journalist, I don't write for a living - I run my own company in financial services; this is just something I do for fun and I enjoy it immensely. I can only imagine that the person who wrote that nasty personal attack has a lot of issue going on in his life which has left him frustrated and unhappy, but he is unable to solve those problems and instead, he goes on the internet looking for arguments with strangers like me in order to have an outlet for that frustration and anger in his life. If you do have strong opinions on TAR, then by all means write a blog, start a podcast or even a Youtube channel to share your thoughts, tell the world what you think but don't go attacking others and picking fights on social media - that's just wrong.
Oh and one little update for you regarding my own journey.
I got through the first round of selection for my application to go on British version of a reality TV programme which isn't the same as TAR (we don't have that franchise in the UK). But it will still involve teams of two racing around the world, completing tasks similar to TAR and winning money. I will have the next round of interview in the coming week and then we'll see - it is not the first time I have applied to be on a reality TV show and I've gone quite far in the process before. Once I had to pull out as I couldn't get time off work (I eventually left that job so in hindsight, I should've just said screw it I will do it) and another time I pulled out as I was uncomfortable with one aspect of the reality TV programme's format - that turned out to be the right decision after I watched the show and it confirmed all my worst fears. Obviously, I can't reveal anything at this point but I really hope I will be chosen as I have had the format of the show explained to me and I said, "it is not exactly TAR but it is close enough, I really wanna do it!" Wish me luck guys, the next step is an interview with my race partner in a few days. Okay that's it from me. Please leave a comment below and many thanks for reading.
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