Amazing Race Australia standings
Amazing Race standings again.
Nathan and Tyler: 2.6
Jeff and Luke: 3.5
Matt and Tom: 3.6
Sam and Renae: 4.7
Sam and Renae and the surfers got very lucky that leg - the odds that their flight connection would work, or that their flight wouldn't be delayed was pretty low I would have thought. At least Sam and Renae went that route because they were out of other options - the surfers chose to fly it, and could have been completely screwed by it.
Actually that was one point that occurred to me as to why TAR-US hasn't gone to Israel - it really does limit your connections flying out again. You can't fly through quite a few of the Arab countries - I was wondering why no one went through Dubai, which seemed a logical hub to try to get to Sri Lanka from to me until I realised - and so unless your next leg is Europe or the US/Canada (or possibly Singapore/Hong Kong?) you've got a more limited selection of flights and connections going. I also wondered how Mo and Mos would have fared had they gotten that far in the race - on the one hand their presumed Arabic language skills would have helped, on the other their looks possibly wouldn't have. (TAR-Asia of course doesn't go there because Malaysia at least won't allow its citizens to travel to Israel. No idea if that's also the case for Indonesia, although I suspect it might be.)
Pretty much that entire leg was done in TAR-Asia 4, but I enjoyed seeing it again. These teams seemed to have fewer problems with money and being screwed over by taxi drivers than did the Asian team, which was interesting. Possibly because it was the second leg (I think) in TAR-Asia 4, and so teams had less money to bargain with, whereas having it as the penultimate leg here meant that teams that had saved or not had their money stolen had a bit more wiggle room.
I have to say that I don't understand the somewhat random penalty awarding - I thought Jeff and Luke would have been penalised at the mat, like everyone else, and would have received the same penalty rather than a shorter penalty. I wish they'd make it a bit more transparent as to what the penalties are and when they're going to be awarded, at present it's all a bit haphazard.
I'm looking forward to the finale, although I'm not really barracking for any of the remaining teams. Nathan and Tyler are probably the most efficient racers of this season, but then again they managed to get all their money stolen, they talk like they're stoned all the freaking time (and then wonder why people are having trouble understanding them), and they have had some advantages with task design. They're also starting to show major signs of fatigue, which could slow them down a bit. Sam and Renae have been mostly good racers, but seem to get lost a fair bit, not that that's come across well in the editing. Even without the godawful Intersection sawing task in leg 7 their average leg standing at this point would still only be 4.5. They started off well but appear to have hit killer fatigue very early which hasn't helped. Jeff and Luke... I find kind of boring to be honest. Yes, that's probably editing decisions as well as there's been points where their sense of humour's come through, but the rest of the time has just been a lovefest of "my dad is ace and coping so well despite being so old!" and "my son is the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" and holy crap, whatever. They've come in first once, (the sawing Intersection) and that was because the surfers let them do so because of Luke's major contribution to the task. (I'm still annoyed over that leg design, can you tell? It really should have been a non-elimination leg.) Out of the three teams the surfers probably have the edge, but again luck is a major factor in all of this and it's anyone's game. And I really hope the internet speculation about the editing of Jeff and Luke means they're going to win is wrong, because if so? Ergh. Edit the winners more interestingly, please. And try and even up the gender based tasks a bit earlier on or something.
Anyway. What the hell am I going to do when TAR-Oz finally finishes??
Nathan and Tyler: 2.6
Jeff and Luke: 3.5
Matt and Tom: 3.6
Sam and Renae: 4.7
Sam and Renae and the surfers got very lucky that leg - the odds that their flight connection would work, or that their flight wouldn't be delayed was pretty low I would have thought. At least Sam and Renae went that route because they were out of other options - the surfers chose to fly it, and could have been completely screwed by it.
Actually that was one point that occurred to me as to why TAR-US hasn't gone to Israel - it really does limit your connections flying out again. You can't fly through quite a few of the Arab countries - I was wondering why no one went through Dubai, which seemed a logical hub to try to get to Sri Lanka from to me until I realised - and so unless your next leg is Europe or the US/Canada (or possibly Singapore/Hong Kong?) you've got a more limited selection of flights and connections going. I also wondered how Mo and Mos would have fared had they gotten that far in the race - on the one hand their presumed Arabic language skills would have helped, on the other their looks possibly wouldn't have. (TAR-Asia of course doesn't go there because Malaysia at least won't allow its citizens to travel to Israel. No idea if that's also the case for Indonesia, although I suspect it might be.)
Pretty much that entire leg was done in TAR-Asia 4, but I enjoyed seeing it again. These teams seemed to have fewer problems with money and being screwed over by taxi drivers than did the Asian team, which was interesting. Possibly because it was the second leg (I think) in TAR-Asia 4, and so teams had less money to bargain with, whereas having it as the penultimate leg here meant that teams that had saved or not had their money stolen had a bit more wiggle room.
I have to say that I don't understand the somewhat random penalty awarding - I thought Jeff and Luke would have been penalised at the mat, like everyone else, and would have received the same penalty rather than a shorter penalty. I wish they'd make it a bit more transparent as to what the penalties are and when they're going to be awarded, at present it's all a bit haphazard.
I'm looking forward to the finale, although I'm not really barracking for any of the remaining teams. Nathan and Tyler are probably the most efficient racers of this season, but then again they managed to get all their money stolen, they talk like they're stoned all the freaking time (and then wonder why people are having trouble understanding them), and they have had some advantages with task design. They're also starting to show major signs of fatigue, which could slow them down a bit. Sam and Renae have been mostly good racers, but seem to get lost a fair bit, not that that's come across well in the editing. Even without the godawful Intersection sawing task in leg 7 their average leg standing at this point would still only be 4.5. They started off well but appear to have hit killer fatigue very early which hasn't helped. Jeff and Luke... I find kind of boring to be honest. Yes, that's probably editing decisions as well as there's been points where their sense of humour's come through, but the rest of the time has just been a lovefest of "my dad is ace and coping so well despite being so old!" and "my son is the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" and holy crap, whatever. They've come in first once, (the sawing Intersection) and that was because the surfers let them do so because of Luke's major contribution to the task. (I'm still annoyed over that leg design, can you tell? It really should have been a non-elimination leg.) Out of the three teams the surfers probably have the edge, but again luck is a major factor in all of this and it's anyone's game. And I really hope the internet speculation about the editing of Jeff and Luke means they're going to win is wrong, because if so? Ergh. Edit the winners more interestingly, please. And try and even up the gender based tasks a bit earlier on or something.
Anyway. What the hell am I going to do when TAR-Oz finally finishes??