It’s time to set off on the 2nd Leg of the Race, but Grant says first place team John & Murray have not yet left their hotel room. So 2nd place team Carla & Hereni will be the first team to depart the Pit Stop.
Teams must now fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia. The first four teams already depart before John & Murray wake up and leave 60 minutes after their scheduled start time. They’re not worried and are actually glad they’ve gotten some extra sleep.
The four teams at the airport are definitely not feeling John & Muzza’s overconfidence.
The teams are on two separate flights via Melbourne and Sydney, but all arrive in Siem Reap at the same time, 6:53pm
Once in Siem Reap, teams must head to the old market and find a marked stall where they will enjoy some tasty Cambodian treats: fried tarantula. Teams must eat a total of seven tarantulas, at least three each.
Sally & Tyson arrive at the food cart first. The teams cringe, gag and swallow their way through the task and Elizbaeth & Todd are finished first.
They open the next clue telling them to travel by tuk tuk to the temple of Angkor Wat, but first, they must buy tickets to the temple at a tourist information center nearby.
Also, teams will be provided a digital step-counter which they must wear during the Leg.
While other teams are slowly trying to get through the tarantulas, John & Murray scarf them down.
Last at the tarantulas are Aston & Christie. They absolutely freak out. Christie screams and tosses her tarantula to the floor. Aston goes to pick it up, but instead picks up a live tarantula and places it onto the plate. EEK!
Meanwhile, John & Murray arrive at the tourist information center first and find it is closed until morning. They see Elizabeth & Todd come up and pretend to have gotten their ticket already. Elizabeth & Todd are frustrated, but Daniel & Ryan arrive and they decide John & Murray are just messing with them… again.
Emily & Jono go directly to Angkor Wat and realize their mistake in not going to the tourist information center first. They are worried that they are far behind in last, but are relieved to find the information center is also closed.
Next morning, all the teams head into the information center together to buy their tickets and receive their pedometers.
On the way to Angkor Wat, Aston & Christie express their annoyance with Elizabeth who they call a “manipulative” “liar” and “dirty player.”
“If she wants anything from me, she can eat a bag of dicks because I’m not giving you anything!”
“Yeah it’s really great you two-faced bitch!”
At Angkor Wat, Elizabeth walks, not runs. While Emily who does run falls on her face and scrapes her knee. Cat & Jesse stop to help her up.
Meanwhile, the cluebox at Angkor Wat reveals the Road Block. “Who’s a zen mast
For this Road Block, teams must count the number of monks wearing yellow and red prayer beads. They will then collect an offering and make their way up the stairs to the temple and pick one of two monks to give their answer to. Only one of the monks will confirm their answer, the other will try to trick them.
Sally, Ashleigh and Ryan get started but they have trouble as the monks are walking around the plaza. While they’re busy counting, their partners Tyson, Jarrod and Daniel make a pact to work together, them three, three Aussie teams.
Ashleigh gets up to the monks first, chooses the left one and says 21, but he says she is incorrect. Ryan and Sally also get the thumbs down and the three of them decide to try and help each other.
Elizabeth, Jesse, Jono and Christie start the Road Block while Carla & Hereni are lost on the other side of Angor Wat. John & Murray ponder using the Express Pass.
The other teams wonder what the hell John & Murray are doing walking up to the temple together. “They’re bloody breaking the rules.”
But they are handing over their Express Pass and they get the next clue. After the Road Block, teams must travel by tuk tuk to Tjoup Snae Restaurant. They will take a reading from their pedometers before getting their next clue.
Meanwhile, Carla & Hereni find one monk sitting along and they look through his photo album. They realize this is incorrect.
Ashleigh thinks she’s got the answer and hurries up the steps, but Elizabeth is in front of her and does not allow her to pass.
The other teams are absolutely disgusted by Elizabeth’s behavior. Even her own son Todd is embarrassed by her. (What!?!)
Hereni finally arrives and starts the Road Block while Jono goes around trying to fish for information. He decides to try something and heads up to the left monk and says 26. He is correct. The monk hands over the next clue.
Heading down, he runs into Christie who begs him to tell her the answer. He does as Jono thinks they’ll just be easier to get rid of later. Ashleigh and Jesse do not appreciate Jono just running off.
At the restaurant, John & Murray record their steps in the hopes of receiving a prize. And after, they open the clue revealing the Detour.
In Shrimp, teams must harvest shrimp from traps located around the Tonle Sap Lake. Once they have 750 grams of shrimp, they will get their next clue. In Shoot, teams will make their way to the floating village of Chong Khneas and level a pool table before sinking five balls against a local pool shark.
John & Murray and Aston & Christie choose Shoot while Emily & Jono choose Shrimp. John & Murray are having trouble leveling the table and John wants to give up and switch.
Back at the Road Block, Ashleigh gets the number 26, but goes to the right monk. She goes to the end of the line and Jesse is the first to get the clue of the trailing teams. The other teams end up just following his lead and they’re all out of there.
Emily & Jon and John & Murray finish their Detours at the same time, but John & Murray leave the docks first to head to the Pit Stop at Baphuon Temple. On the way, Emily & Jon are stopped by guards, asking them for their tickets to get into Angkor Wat. They can’t find it, so they have to go buy new tickets.
John & Murray head to the Pit Stop, but they tell their tuk tuk driver to wait. At the Mat, Grant says he cannot check them in until they settle with their driver. That allows Emily & Jon to run past them and claim 1st place and a $10,000 voucher from Virgin Australia as well as elite frequent flyer memberships. John & Murray settle for 2nd.
Back at the restaurant, Sally & Tyson, Daniel & Ryan and Cat & Jessie choose Shoot while Elizabeth & Todd, Ashleigh & Jarrod and Carla & Hereni choose Shrimp.
Daniel & Ryan, Cat & Jesse, Sally & Tyson and Aston & Christie finish the Detour, in that order.
At the Pit Stop, Daniel & Ryan finish Team #3. And Grant says they were also the best in matching their steps with the pedometers and they’ve won a 30 minute head start on their time next Leg.
Ashleigh & Jarrod decide to switch bloody Detours. Elizabeth & Todd’s both flips over and in falling out of the boat, Elizabeth injures her arm, yellow stuff oozing out of it.
They call for a medic and she gets treated on another boat. They decide to switch over to the pool table as do Carla & Hereni when their boat springs a leak.
Carla & Hereni finish before Elizabeth & Todd, but the mother and son are close behind.
At the Pit Stop, Sally & Tyson finish Team #4, Cat & Jesse take 5th and Aston & Christie take 6th. Ashleigh & Jarrod finish as Team #7.
It’s now a tuk tuk Race to the Mat and it is Carla & Hereni who arrive and officially check-in as Team #8.
That leaves Elizabeth & Todd in last and eliminated.
Episode Thoughts
Another solid episode. Definitely a full Leg again, which is good. I have definitely learned to appreciate equalizers on the Race as it definitely helps promote more exciting competition. As long as it doesn’t feel forced or contrived, Hours of Operation are fine.
The tarantula task reminded me of the balut task in Manila in season 2. Just a filler task for having arrived in the late evening.
The Road Block was interestingly tricky. I wondered why teams didn’t just go back up and down if they were told they were incorrect. Go back down and grab a flower and try the other monk with the same answer and later try with a number up or down from the last guess. It’s not like half the teams didn’t just follow one another at the end anyway, or in Aston & Christie’s case, get the answer handed to them.
Maybe it was just the teams making it seem harder than it was. They were standing around a lot and then getting annoyed with Elizabeth’s harmless antics or John & Murray’s mere existence.
The Detour was interesting. The editing didn’t make it seem that balanced, but maybe it was just the teams making it seem harder again.
Overall, it was another exciting Leg.
My Subjective Team Rankings
So sad to see Elizabeth & Todd go. The fact that the other teams absolutely hated Elizabeth and thought she was a disgusting player was hilarious. I wanted to see her toy with them more and get under everyone else’s skin. I mean, it was so funny to see the others feel so affected by her antics this episode, which were all awesome. Provoking the other teams to call her a dirty player just by walking up stairs!? We needed more of that. But Todd though, trying to do damage control with the others teams was pretty lame. Stick up for the mum dude! She wasn’t even doing anything wrong. They’re like the opposite of Dave & Connor.
Daniel & Ryan are an interesting team. Surprisingly. They’re calm and cool, yet have Raced very well and clean. It would be great to see them actually go all out instead of just sauntering about only enjoying the experience. They might be a scary team if that happens.
Carla & Hereni really took a huge step back this episode, both Race-wise and entertainment-wise. Still, I’d love to see them step up and Race like they did in the first Leg. They’d be awesome to root for.
Ashleigh & Jarrod are fine. I am definitely hoping for more “bloody” meltdowns. But at the same time, Jarrod’s a pretty reasonable guy even when complaining about the dirty, sneaky Elizabeth. Emily & Jono are alright too. They Raced a solid Leg.
Cat & Jesse seem like sweethearts. They’re nice, but also feisty when they need to be. Sally & Tyson definitely stepped it up this week, a much better Leg than their disaster in the first Leg.
Aston & Christie. I don’t know. Their very strong hate for Elizabeth was so odd and hilarious at the same time. But Christie begging for the answer at the Road Block and then basically taking full credit for them moving on in 3rd was really bad. Like, really now? I want them to be funny ladies who scream at tarantulas, not annoying friends who get overly worked up over a mum and take credit for someone else helping you out on the task.
I’m not really liking John & Murray. This was a mess of a Leg for them. Using the Express Pass ALREADY? Totally lame. But their overcompetitiveness and cockiness is really Art & JJ (TAR20) levels and that’s not a good thing.