Average ranking after leg 5 in Dubrovnik
- Jas & Jag =2.2
- Tucker & Eric =2.2
- Natalie & Stephanie 3.2
- Izzy & Paige =5
- Joseph & Adam =5
- Hannah & Simone 6.4 (eliminated in Dubrovnik)
- Kyland & Taylor 6.6
- Kristine & Rubina 7
- Jack & Chelsie 7.2
Firstly, I was shocked that not only did Tucker & Eric win this leg in style, Jas & Jag finished in 3rd! For the first time, I'm wondering if I have to stop assuming that Jas & Jag will definitely win this season, if Tucker & Eric can actually give them a run for their money in the finals? Is this turning out to be a two-horse race now with the teams in the middle of the pack not really standing a chance? However, the fac that Kyland & Taylor managed to finish 2nd in this leg proved that nothing is for certain - when a team gets lucky with the right tasks that play to their strengths, they can leap to the front of the pack. It is always exciting to see a team move from the back of the pack all the way to the front, so I think they are stronger than their averaging ranking might suggest. We had to say goodbye to Hannah & Simone in this leg and interestingly enough the team that got eliminated was not the weakest team but was in fact one that was in the middle of the pack and on top of that, both teams that got U-turned survived this leg! So yes, this is exactly the kind of unpredictable drama that we like as fans of TAR. We like to be surprised, we don't want to be able to predict the results.
It looked cold and wet in Dubrovnik.
This episode was filmed in late March this year, so technically it was spring when the weather can be unpredictable. You may get warm and sunny days, but if you get a blast of wind from the north, the temperature can drop quickly. Most tourists prefer going to Dubrovnik in spring or autumn as it can get painfully hot and really uncomfortable in the summer.
Why didn't Jas & Jag win this leg?
Tucker & Eric were in the lead all the way in this leg and never gave up that lead. They navigated their way very quickly to the start of the detour faster than all the other teams and had the muscle power to complete that very physically demanding detour faster than Jas & Jag. Then we saw how Jag messed up royally on the roadblock when his cart fell apart, so it wasn't Jas & Jag at their best here, they were beaten by a stronger team fair and square. Tucker & Eric simply didn't put a foot wrong in this leg and didn't even get involved in the U-turn drama, which we need to talk about.
Who would you choose to U-turn in this leg?
Conventional wisdom in TAR is to use the U-turn to get rid of a strong team that you would rather not have to race against in the finals. So either use the power of the U-turn to target a team that is statistically stronger than you (or at least about as strong as you) or walk away from the U-turn board. I was surprised that Jas & Jag targeted Izzy & Paige because they were a weaker team, it made no sense trying to get rid of them when there were stronger teams to target. But it was all that drama carried over from what happened in BB and that's why I thought, it's a dumb move. Leave your BB drama behind, you're now in TAR and whatever happened in BB is not relevant to what you're doing in TAR. That was a mistake on the part of Jas & Jag. And as for Joseph & Adam U-turning Kristine & Rubina, again, I'm puzzled. They said it was to save Hannah & Simone but the way I see it, both Hannah & Simone and Kristine & Rubina are teams at the back of the pack. So it really doesn't matter who you try to help as they would be eliminated in due course anyway. It would make more sense trying to target a team like Kyland & Taylor for example, to force them to use their express pass - especially when both express passes are still in the game! I would only use the U-turn strategically to target a stronger team - the weaker teams would all be eliminated in due course and thus there is no point in using the U-turn on them.
Ouch, poor Rubina - that looked really painful.
Oh dear, Rubina sliced her own thumb when doing the detour preparing the monkfish fillets. I did something similar in my kitchen last night when opening a tin of tomatoes and goodness me, whilst the cut wasn't big, it was deep and it took a long time to stop bleeding. Trying to complete the task at hand whilst trying to stop the bleeding must've been a nightmare and I definitely feel sorry for her. This is just the kind of unfortunate mistake that can happen under pressure.
A classic detour choice: hard labour vs highly skilled
Oh I liked the detour choice in this episode because it is a classic choice: on one hand, hauling the heavy fishing nets is a lot more straightforward but it would require a lot of muscle power to complete quickly, whilst preparing the monkfish fillets is the kind of task that requires a lot of skill, attention to detail but for the right racers who have some experience in food preparation, this wouldn't be an issue at all. In fact, I'm so glad the fishmonger judge was not just strict, but very sarcastic too. When he rejected a fillet on the basis it was "like cut with axe" I was laughing so hard. That was priceless.
A really difficult roadblock - this is exactly what we want in a good episode of TAR!
Some of you may complain that the roadblock was too complex, not only did the racers have to build the cart, they had to complete the course in under 36 seconds. I was very happy with the level of difficulty in this task because the last thing you want is for the teams to depart in the order they finish in, that is what happens when the task is way too straightforward. However, this task was so fiendishly difficult on so many levels that it created a lot of uncertainty, we had absolutely no idea who was going to leave next because of so many different kinds of skills involved. First you had to know how to assemble a cart based on an example but with no demonstration. Then there was an element of sporting ability to complete that course within the 36 second time limit - this roadblock was next level and just what we needed.
Time for a sports lesson here.
This is why I try not to read too much of the crap on the internet but this woman on Facebook claimed that this roadblock was unfair to the women as the men who did this roadblock were heavier and thus gravity would make them go down the hill faster than the women who were lighter. That's wrong on so many levels. If it was merely going down a very straight course, like if all you had to do was point your cart downhill and gravity would do the work, then yeah a heavier load would go down faster. However the course was on a street with bends, so you needed to steer your cart carefully to make sure you didn't go off course, that you stayed in the middle of the course. Many of the racers struggled with the steering aspect of this task and lost precious time when they crashed into the tires placed against the walls to prevent the racers from crashing directly into the stone walls on the bends. Furthermore, the course itself wasn't that steep, so it wasn't like you could just lean forwards and expect gravity to take you downhill - quite the opposite, the racers had to propel themselves with their hands and feet to get going at the beginning so not only was it very hard work, it was also a steep learning curve for the racers to figure out the best technique to do this the most efficiently. Some racers knelt on the cart whilst others stuck their legs out. You are propelling your own body weight so being heavier would mean having to push a lot harder, to generate more force to get your cart going - it is proportional. The racers who completed this task more quickly didn't do so because they were just heavier, but they were the ones who scaled that the learning curve a lot more quickly than the others when faced with a game they had never ever played before. Thus we can draw two conclusions from this: firstly, the games producers for TAR will always try to come up with a fair game where nobody would get unfair disadvantages for simply being a lot heavier. Secondly, boy there are a lot of stupid idiots out there on the internet spouting crap and they don't even realize just how ridiculously stupid they are. They have an idea and then they rush online to spout the first thing that comes to mind without first checking if their theory is valid or just plain stupid. I simply analyzed the situation carefully and applied some common sense before writing this piece - it isn't rocket science .
Are we sad that Hannah & Simone are gone?
You're not going to like what I am going to say here: it was only a matter of time before they were gone from this season. Sure it was a bit of a shock that it wasn't the weakest team that got eliminated this time but there are a bunch of teams with average rankings of about 6.4 to 7.2 and they are those at the back of the pack. With the exception of Kyland & Taylor, these teams will get eliminated before the final and they really have very little chance against the teams at the front of the pack. Leave your emotions at the front door and just look at the statistics, we are five legs into S38 and it is pretty clear which few teams we can expect to see in the finals and sorry, Hannah & Simone were never going to be one of them. It is not like I dislike them - they are a perfectly nice team of course; but this is TAR, not a popularity contest.
Do people speak English in Croatia?
Surprisingly well. Anyone under 40 will speak it really well and even the older folks have somehow picked it up because tourism in Croatia is big business; being able to speak English means that you'll be able to make money from tourists.
Who will win the next leg? Which team will be eliminated next?
The previews give very little away - we know they will keep on racing for another leg in Dubrovnik where they will drive themselves. The only useful hint they gave us was Jas & Jag struggling with their car in a scene where it looks like they were trying to do a U-turn in a very tight spot - that will certainly cost them some time and may stop them from winning this next leg. Given that the teams at the front of the pack will keep their lead, I predict that Tucker & Eric will win this leg and statistically, Jack & Chelsie are the weakest team right now and I think they will be next to go. Kristine & Rubina are just as weak, but I feel like this leg in Dubrovnik has lit a fire in them and after surviving the U-turn, I think they will go on to at least survive one more leg. Jack is the oldest racer left and hence I think his age might be a factor in this next leg.
I'm sorry this week's post was a bit later than usual - I had been to another fan event this weekend and you can see some of my posts on Instagram here. It was the kind of event where I could simply sit down with fans of RTAM and share with them some of my experiences during the shoot. Like I'm not even paid to do this but it was fun to connect with fans who enjoyed watching the programme! Okay, so that's it from me on this episode. Many thanks for reading as always!
No comments:
Post a Comment