Recap: The Amazing Race Australia vs New Zealand, Episode 3 – "Proper preparation prevents piss-poor performance."

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The third Leg of the Race begins. Since Daniel & Ryan won the step counter task from last Leg, they will depart the Pit Stop first instead of third with a 30-minute advantage.

They open the first clue telling them to travel by taxi to the Thai border where they will cross on foot before hopping on a bus to Bangkok. Once in the capital, they will head to the Now Travel agency for their next clue. Teams will receive $195 for this Leg.

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On the bus ride over, Christie’s comedy baffles the other teams. The 2nd bus with John & Murray and Sally & Tyson has a problem with their tire, so John takes over and screws the tire in himself.

Meanwhile, the first bus arrives in Bangkok. Daniel & Ryan and Emily & Jono get to the travel agency first and find they must now fly to the popular Thai island destination, Krabi.

Daniel & Ryan, Emily & Jono, John & Murray and Sally & Tyson are able to take the first flight arriving at 7:50am. Cat & Jesse, Aston & Christie, Ashleigh & Jarrod and Carla & Hereni have to take the second flight arriving at 8:50am.

On the way to the airport in the morning, Christie is upset with Aston over something, including not getting enough sleep. Christie expresses her problems to Ashleigh & Jarrod at the airport and then continues to air her side on the plane. She says Aston does not understand the “Six Ps”

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“Proper preparation prevents piss-poor performance.”

Once in Krabi, teams must find a flagged massage station for their next clue. There, teams must choose a spa treatment from a list written in Thai, not knowing how long any of them will last. Once the massage therapist is finished, they will receive their next clue.

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Sally & Tyson get a foot massage and Daniel & Ryan get a full Thai massage. Emily & Jono end up with a head and face massage and John & Murray also get a foot massage.

While the teams are enjoying their massages, Murray starts commenting on his massage, which immediately annoys the other teams, especially Jono. Realizing that he is riling the others up, Murray turns it up a notch and proceeds to chat it up with John about anything and everything.

John & Murray are finished first and receive the next clue, the Detour.


For this Detour, teams will travel by traditional long tail boat to Railay Beach.
In Climb Up, teams will scale sheer rock faces to each grab a Race flag from the top. They will exchange the two flags for their next clue.
In Drill Down, teams will drill into fresh coconuts and collect the juice up to a marked line. Once they’ve gotten enough juice, they will receive the next clue.

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John & Murray and Sally & Tyson choose Climb Up while Emily & Jono choose Drill Down. Daniel & Ryan are left to enjoy the rest of their longer massage.

The 2nd flight arrives and it’s a scramble for taxis which they must buy a ticket for before heading outside to the queue. Cat & Jesse are out there first and they even point to their ticket which says “1,” but Ashleigh & Jarrod and Carla & Hereni manage to position themselves a little further down where they can jump into taxis first.

Back inside the airport, Aston & Christie make-up and decide to go on with their day. “We’ve both had a good bitch, it’s over, it’s done.”

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Ashleigh & Jarrod pick a head, back and neck message. Carla & Hereni get a foot massage. Cat & Jesse get a back massage. Aston & Christie get a traditional Thai massage… and fish spa.

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John & Murray finish the rock climb first and open the next clue telling them to follow the path to East Railay Beach where they will find the U-Turn! They hurry over and decide to U-Turn Sally & Tyson since they will not U-Turn a Kiwi team and Sally & Tyson are the closest Aussie team to them at this moment.

They open the next clue revealing the Road Block.


For this Road Block, teams will jump back onto their long tail boat to Chicken Island where they will have to dive down into the water to find a pearl clue inside a golden clam.

Daniel & Ryan arrive at the rock climb as Emily & Jono and Sally & Tyson run to find out who’s been U-Turned. They hurry over to the coconuts as Emily & Jono encourage them.

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Back at the massage, Carla & Hereni finish first and Jarrod can’t believe it. He thinks this is absurd, but they finish right after.

Daniel & Ryan finish the Detour and are shocked to see Sally & Tyson have been U-Turned. They encourage them as well as they hop into their boat.

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At the Road Block, Murray and Emily dive down. While waiting, Jono jokes with John about being right on their heels. John says Jono shouldn’t get too cocky since they could have easily been the ones U-Turned. He then points to Emily getting close to Murray in the water. “So my little sister is pushing your big friend around?” Jono quips.

Murray is pissed. He flashes the Express Pass and says Jono just lost their chance to get it.

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Ashleigh & Jarrod arrive at the climbing, but they decide to do the coconuts. They can’t get a hang of the drill, so they go back to the rocks face and try to catch up to Carla & Hereni. Back at the massage, Cat & Jesse and Aston & Christie finish together and they head off.

Back in the water, both John & Murray and Emily & Jono finish and are speeding off to the Pit Stop at Koh Poda.

But it is John & Murray who arrive at the Mat first and officially check-in as Team #1. They win round trip tickets to any European destination via Virgin Australia and codeshare patners Etihad Airlines plus $5000. Grant reminds them they need to give away the Express Pass before the end of this Leg, so he asks for names. John & Murray say they will give the Express Pass to Carla & Hereni.

Emily & Jono have to settle for 2nd.

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Ryan quickly finds the pearl clue and he and Daniel (after a jump in the water) hurry to the Pit Stop where they finish 3rd. Sally & Tyson are next in 4th.

Cat & Jesse and Aston & Christie both choose the coconuts. But Aston doesn’t know how to put the drill together. They go over to ask if Cat & Jesse are willing to help, but unfortunately, since they’re fighting for last, they say no. Cat feels bad about it, Jesse not at all.

At the Road Block, Ashleigh & Jarrod and Carla & Hereni finish and they head to the Pit Stop to finish 5th and 6th respectively. Grant asks John & Murray to come to the Mat and they hand over the Express Pass to the mums.

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Aston & Christie decide to switch Detours and try it out. Aston goes up the line first, but she comes back down so Christie can try it first to see if she can do it. She isn’t able to go up very far, getting frustrated. They decide to just go back to the coconuts and they actually quickly finish.

Aston & Christie manage to catch up to Cat & Jesse at the Road Block. Cat drops her pearl clue and struggles to go back down into the water to grab it. Aston jumps in and finds her peal as Cat & Jesse speed off.

The married parents officially finish 7th and Aston & Christie end up in last place and are eliminated from the Race.

Christie apologizes for not being able to keep a cool head this Race and is sorry for some of the hurtful things she’s said.

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Episode Thoughts

I actually thought this was only an okay episode. The tasks were really simple and we didn’t really get to even see much of Thailand. The Thai massage task, I think, kind of started the Leg off slow. And it actually felt like a good time for a non-elimination Leg.

Crossing the Thai border by land was great (we need to see more of that on all Races), but all the psedo-equalizers and separating of teams took away from what could’ve been great side-by-side competition.

Instead we only got John & Murray vs. Emily & Jono, which I guess leads into next week. But a whole episode focusing on John & Murray is certainly not a very enjoyable hour, now is it?

Kinda disappointing considering the great first two Legs.

My Subjective Team Rankings

I still don’t have an all-out favorite. I like most of the teams well enough, but no one yet I’d root for to win it all.

Daniel & Ryan are pretty good. I do like their combination of being strong competitors while also taking time to enjoy the Race. Just don’t enjoy it too much. I know it’s the editors choosing to repeat what they’re saying about John & Murray being here to win and them just wanting to enjoy their time here, but that will all get old really fast. Hopefully they ease up on that.

Carla & Hereni have become totally invisible these last two Legs. I’m afraid they’ll be another Sam & Renae who had an amazing first Leg and then completely lost all awesomeness as the Race went on. I’m putting Carla & Hereni this high in the hopes that the “mama grizzlies” come back soon.

On the flipside, Sally & Tyson have recovered very well from their disaster of a first Leg. They stepped up their game and have become much more fun to watch. Cat & Jesse have done solidly well too. They’re fun and Jesse’s comments about other teams continue to be great as well. They definitely seem like the next boots, which is unfortunate. But we’ll see.

I see a lot of people love Emily & Jono, but I’m just meh on them. They feel too much like a Nick & Starr or a Meghan & Cheyne or a combination of both and I was definitely meh on both teams during their seasons. And especially when there’s a more awesome sibling team Racing right now (Sukhi & Jinder! Woohoo!), they’re just okay for me. But I definitely like seeing them go up against John & Murray.

Ashleigh & Jarrod are okay so far. Not as much fun this week and actually kinda grating even, on Jarrod’s part at least. The shtick (though I don’t feel like it’s an act) felt sort of forced this week from him and they weren’t all that fun to watch. Just okay Racing too.

Aston & Christie were still hilarious, but I don’t understand what was up with Christie. I think they definitely could’ve survived if they had hustled a little bit more instead of having tantrums and bickering with each other. Wasting time at the Detour definitely didn’t help, nor did ending up with the longest massage. It sucks that they’re gone now because there really isn’t any other team that will provide the laughs as consistently as they did. But, Race-wise, they just didn’t cut it.

John & Murray are horrible. The show made a point to show Aston & Christie as the “crazy Kiwis” who can’t stop talking, but it was really John & Murray who couldn’t shut up. Not only are they uber-competitive to the point of being obnoxious, but they have that Art & JJ quality of wanting to stir up unnecessary trouble. There’s a difference with being strong competitors and being just plain jerks.

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