Hello everyone. Apa kahbar? We knew this episode was going to be controversial and I'm not happy with the way things panned out for a number of reasons - judging from what I have read on social media, I can sense that many agree with me as well. And that's just the double U-turn vote, we have so much to unpack but first, as always, here are the average ranking statistics after leg 5 in Bali and finally, we see some movement this week with Carson & Jack rising all the way to the top. Thus with the two strongest teams being U-turned, we finally see some movement in these statistics this week.
- Carson & Jack 2.2
- Jonathan & Ana 3
- Scott & Lori 3.6 (eliminated in Bali)
- Alyssa & Josiah 3.8
- Brett & Mark 4.8
- Melinda & Erika 5
- Pops & Jeff 6
- Han & Holden 7.2
- Nick & Mike 7.6
Do we like the way the double U-turn vote has been conducted?
The key question that I have encountered on social media is this: is it fair to try to get rid of one of the strongest teams this way? After all, in previous seasons when a U-turn has been deployed, it is usually placed after a detour, so the team that completes the detour first earns the right to get to the U-turn board and U-turn a team behind them. It is a powerful tool and privilege, thus should the right to U-turn be a privilege you have to earn? This appeals to our sense of fairness as viewers and fans of the show, because we want to see a fair outcome rather than an episode where we feel like the producers have manipulated the process to force a certain outcome rather than just let the process take its natural course. This live vote U-turn has been done before, in TAR S31 E8 in Switzerland and whilst that brought out a lot of drama because of the whole social element of having to show your vote in front of everyone else, I'm not sure that lends itself well to this format. I recognize that social alliances are a part of the process and has been part of the narrative of TAR over so many seasons, but I hate to see this turn into some kind of popularity contest. Hence this is why I was puzzled that Carson & Jack were able to totally sail under the radar and not get targeted at all whilst Scott & Lori bore the brunt of this vote. Now back when this was done in TAR S31 E8, it was Rachel & Elissa who U-turned (along with the eventual winners Colin & Christie) and the story then was it was because Rachel & Elissa had not been friendly with Chris & Bret (and Rachel has such an incredibly caustic personality anyway), that's why they were U-turned because of the social element. From the pervious episode, I could see that this was the way it was set up as well, with many of the other teams so sick and tired of Scott & Lori trying to be too humble and claim that they were the slowest team when they had been consistently in the top 3 (and even won leg 2 in Kyoto). Whilst that may be mildly annoying at best, I actually think that Carson & Jack are a far bigger threat than Scott & Lori and I am puzzled by the voting pattern. This reminds me a lot of how the round table in The Traitors is conducted and how players want to vote for someone whom they think will receive enough votes in order to get rid of them, but do we want that element of game play being used like that on TAR?
Oh dear. When I saw how Jonathan & Ana struggled with the coral detour, I thought that gave Scott & Lori a chance to slip ahead of them but they made the same mistakes and took even longer - this is an attention to detail task and they needed to pay attention to the example, in order to get the right type of coral into the correct formation on the frame. I feel so bad for both teams, I know exactly what it is like to be in that situation when you're under so much pressure to get it right the first time, you just want to get out of there as quickly as possible but it then becomes a case of more haste less speed - thus the two strongest teams struggled on a task that other teams who were under less pressure managed to complete with ease. I would have preferred Scott & Lori to have continued in the race as they are a lot more likable than the very caustic Jonathan, who still managed to find a way to say the most offensive, arrogant crap on camera to annoy the viewers and make us truly hate him despite having barely escaped elimination on this leg. But as I've said so many times before, this is not a popularity contest. I had predicted from the start that Jonathan will do two things on this season: he will be the villain who will alienate the viewers the most by being ridiculously arrogant and obnoxious in a way that will make even the most autistic person you know come across as sociable in comparison. The second prediction is that his team will definitely make top 3, possibly winning TAR S37 because this isn't a popularity contest (well, at least they got the U-turn vote over and done with already), it is a race and even the most obnoxious player with a personality of a stinking pile of garbage can win the race. Oaky, I have made my point, I really hope Jonathan gets eliminated soon.
Why were the two U-turned teams surprised?
Duh. Looking at the results from the first four legs of this season, I would say that it was obvious that only four of the teams were in any danger of being U-turned and those would have been four strongest teams - the two teams that were U-turned along with Carson & Jack and Alyssa & Josiah. The weaker teams will always be safe in this situation because it would be a wasted vote to target a weaker team for two reasons: they will be eliminated eventually anyway as the race progresses and you don't want to waste this chance to get rid of one of the strongest teams in the race. The only other reasoning that may come into play in this situation is to target a team in the middle of the pack like Melinda & Erika or Brett & Mark because a very strong team may simply complete both sides of the detour and still survive the leg, but given that the teams weren't given a chance to get together and discuss how they were going to vote tactically, they just defaulted to going for the two strongest teams which isn't an unreasonable thing to do under such circumstances. Hence this outcome was completely predictable of course, so why were the U-turned teams surprised with this outcome then?
That was random! Jonathan & Ana voted for one of the weakest team in the U-turn vote, why? It seems like they didn't understand how this process worked - this was a wasted vote as no one else was going to vote for such a weak team. You want to keep weaker teams in the process and get rid of your stronger opponents, thus that wasted vote means them effectively losing that vital chance to use that opportunity to target a stronger team that would be a threat to them. This was yet another bad decision on the part of Jonathan & Ana which continues this trend of them making one poor decision after another - they are clearly not as strong as I thought they were given how many silly blunders they've made.
What does it mean to get rid of a really strong team midway through the season?
TAR S37 is the real loser in this case as stronger teams make a more interesting season, this is because we want a final that is unpredictable, that will leave us biting our nails till the very last minute to see which team will eventually win. But if somehow a weak team or two weaker teams make it into the final with a very strong team, then the outcome is so predictable it would then be practically a forgone conclusion. As fans, that is not what we want in a final and it could ruin what could've been a great season - I feel bad for Scott & Lori but I can see at least four strong teams left in this season. I would have much rather seen a weaker team get eliminated in this leg as that would have made this season more fair.
Detour: Coconuts or Coral?
We have a classic choice between hard labour vs skill, there was far less skill involved in the coconuts side of the detour as the coral detour required great attention to detail. However, I do wonder why the coconuts detour was so boring? It was unimaginative and very low budget - sure they grow loads of coconuts in Indonesia and there are plenty of coconut trees everywhere, but just carrying coconuts with a wheelbarrow? Come on, that just come across as extremely lazy on the part of production. If I were on the production team, I would reduce the number of coconuts they had to carry but then make them do something with the coconuts once they got them to the destination. For example, there are loads of tasty local cakes which contain coconut as an ingredient, various parts of the coconut can be used for these cakes, including the coconut juice, milk and inner white 'flesh' which is very sweet. I would have used this task to highlight this aspect of the local cuisine as that would've made it far more interesting than just making it all about hard labour under the hot sun.
Why did Jonathan do the roadblock despite already suffering from heatstroke?
Oh yeah, this really confused me. Jonathan was already succumbing heatstroke at the end of the coconuts detour, he had to sit and rest as he had a terrible headache. Yet by the time they got to the roadblock, he immediately said that he would do it when he was already physically in a bad state at that point. Why didn't he just let Ana do it whilst he took that opportunity to rest? Instead, he struggled on, almost passing out on the surfboard at times and it seemed like a highly irrational decision. Ana would have almost definitely done a better job of it even if she isn't as physically strong, but at least she wasn't on the verge of collapse then! Why didn't Ana step in and challenge that terrible decision? Why did she allow Jonathan to do that roadblock? This team have made a series of blunders and bad decisions in Bali such as wasting their express pass on an easy task and now this: whilst they are still statistically the second strongest team after a poor performance on this leg, I daresay they are no longer the favourites to win and that makes me very happy as I'd want to see any other team but them win this season. I don't mind Ana but like so many people on social media, I find Jonathan abhorrent and obnoxious. But hey, like I said earlier, this isn't a popularity contest. There have also been some people on social media that Jonathan was casted specifically because of his toxic, obnoxious nature as it would be boring if the entire cast consisted of nice, polite people with great social skills and it wouldn't be reality TV without this season having a classic villain like Jonathan that everyone can really hate and celebrate when he finally gets eliminated.
Did we like this roadblock with the surfboards?
It was so-so, after all, there is a big surf culture in Bali and this roadblock does highlight that aspect of the culture. There is also an element of paying attention to detail and that cost Carson & Jack the win on this leg as Jack wasted a lot of time looking for a similar surfboard rather than focusing on just the decal (ie. the plastic stuck on logo) on the surfboard.
Brett & Mike finally win a leg, I knew they were strong.
I had said from the very beginning that I thought Brett & Mike were a great team who could win this season and finally, they have hit their stride and shown us what they are truly capable of. They did make one very poor decision in leg 2 in Osaka that dropped them to the back of the pack but they have finally clawed their way to the top. I like these guys and I hope they have learnt from that mistake in leg 2 to be a lot more ruthless in their game play, in order to stay in the race.
Who is going to win the next leg in Dubai?
The previews that I have seen don't reveal much, apart from the fact that they will be going to Dubai (again) and there will be a fast forward. This makes it a lot more unpredictable of course, as the team that successfully completes the fast forward first can go straight to the pitstop and win the leg. This might come down to something as silly as getting the fastest taxi from the airport to the first location, as we saw a sign in the preview that read, "fast forward in progress" after a car drives off from a parking spot, that means it must be some kind of driving challenge that only one team can attempt at a time and it will be first come first serve, hence that throws a spanner in the works, making it virtually impossible to predict which team will get there first to attempt it. I only hope it is fiendishly difficult so it will at least be a lot harder to predict the outcome - after all, the fast forward is a huge privilege that ought to be earned, rather than something that you win because you managed to get a great taxi driver. My two favourite teams in this season are Carson & Jack and Brett & Mark, so I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that it will be either of them who will win. It'll be interesting to see how Jonathan & Ana perform on this next leg, especially after they have had their confidence shaken by this double U-turn.
Which team is going to be eliminated next?
I am going to guess that it will be one of the weakest teams: Han & Holden and Nick & Mike are both at the bottom of the pack at the moment. The would only be logical. Hey, I really like both of these teams but you can't argue with the numbers and I am going to leave my emotions at the front door and just go with the statistics, so I will predict that Nick & Mike will be eliminated next in Dubai. Though in the preview, we see Pops & Jeff getting frustrated after having just missed a train on the Dubai Metro, so they could be in trouble as well but statistically, they are still a stronger team than Nick & Mike. I'm so excited to talk to you about Dubai as I have lived and worked there in the past, so it is an interesting city that I know really well. Alright guys so that is it from me on this episode, as always thank you very much for reading.
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