Teams must now fly to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Once there, teams must make their way to Ho Cau Tom Diai Tri Thanh Da, a Vietnamese angler fishing restaurant for their next clue.
A Fast Forward is available on this Leg. To win the Fast Forward, teams must eat through bowls of rice to find a Vietnamese coin.
If teams opt not to try it, they must catch four prawns from the indoor pond at this restaurant to receive the next clue. Tom & Anita arrive at the restaurant last and see everyone is still here, so they decide to go for the Fast Forward.
When they have trouble with the prawns, Alex & Will decide to also go for the Fast Forward. Tom & Anita find it’s not easy eating the sticky rice, so they go back to the prawns.
Eric & Rona and Chloe & Yvonne get the four prawns they need and open the next clue. Teams must now make their way to Photocopy Ngoc Yen and find Mr. Ngoc who will hand them a stamped copy of the next clue.
At the prawns, Tom gets off to a quick start while the other teams are at three. Alex & Will are struggling with the rice and throw up. But on their 46th bowl of rice, they don’t want to give up.
At the photocopy shop, Eric & Rona and Chloe & Yvonne find the Detour: Badminton Bash or Flower Power.
In Badminton Bash, teams must play badminton against a local pro. Teams must score 10 points before their opponent reaches 21 to receive their next clue. In Flower Power, teams must put together an order of flowers from marked stalls. Once they’ve gathered all their flowers, they must deliver them to a flower retailer to receive the next clue.
Both teams choose Flower Power, as do Maggie & Parul and JK & Mike. Louisa & Treasuri choose Badminton Bash.
Back at the Fast Forward, Will vomits once again. But it’s a big one this time. After their 49th bowl, they decide it’s time to cut their losses and head back to the prawns.
At the flower Detour, Chloe & Yvonne decide to stick close to Eric & Rona. At the badminton, Louisa & Treasuri find their Indonesian badminton skills are initially no match for the local Ho Chi Minh pros. But after switching back and forth between two pros, they are able to study their opponent’s weaknesses enough to get their 10 points. Eric & Rona also finish their Detour.
They head to Quan Bui Restaurant for their next clue. And that clue reveals the Road Block: Who’s ready for a snack?
For this Road Block, teams must enjoy a five course meal consisting of mice, bats, scorpions, centipedes and lizards.
Treasuri gets started and is confident she can eat anything.
As Tom & Anita get started with the flowers, Chloe & Yvonne and Maggie & Parul deliver theirs.
At the Road Block, Rona decides she wants to snack. She and Eric head inside the restaurant and find Treasuri in tears. Treasuri is struggling, but Rona encourages her and is able to finish.
Treasuri & Louisa can now head to the Pit Stop at the roundabout known as Quach Thi Trang Square. They officially check in as Team #1… again! And on this 3rd win, they finally get a prize. They’ve won two tickets to any destination on Garuda Indonesia which they can immediately choose using the Garuda Indonesia app.
At the restaurant, Yvonne says as long it’s cooked, she’ll eat it. Maggie decides to do the Road Block, but it is Parul who gets emotional watching her eat all the animals.
Eric & Rona finish the Detour 2nd, but Chloe & Yvonne step on the Mat in 2nd. Eric & Rona settle for 3rd. Maggie & Parul take 4th.
Tom and JK decide to enjoy the Vietnamese snacks. JK is very hungry and is able to finish just before Tom.
Alex & Will laugh at another eating challenge. Will decides to do it and is happy as long as there is no rice involved. They decide to have fun with it.
JK & Mike step on the Mat to check in as Team #5. Tom & Anita finish 6th.
That means Alex & Will are last and eliminated.
Episode Thoughts
A good, full Leg. It was a definitely a full episode even when all the tasks were very familiar.
On paper, you wouldn’t expect prawn fishing to be very interesting and take up almost 1/3 of the episode. But the teams being scared (Eric!), frustrated and swearing up a storm (Treasuri!) made it very fun.
I don’t remember many eating Fast Forwards. The one I remember, because I’ve watched the episode so many times, is the TAR10 cow face eating Fast Forward in Madagascar. For that one, it was a typical TAR gross-out eating task. But this one here was the large amount-type of eating task plus luck as well. Definitely a risky Fast Forward. And unfortunately, it didn’t pan out for Alex & Will. Especially with sticky rice, that would’ve been very hard.
The Detour was fine. The flower market and shoulder basket is a very Vietnam task to have. The badminton was alright.
The Road Block definitely took the “gross” eating task to the next level. It wasn’t just insects, but mice, bats and even a lizard. Not to stereotype or anything, but these were Asian people having a little trouble eating these things. I would love to see this task on American TAR. lol
There was lots of swearing and cursing this episode. I love it! Another week and maybe the most shits ever on TAR. It was awesome. But also, they actually showed Will throw up. Like, they showed everything coming out of his mouth! Wow.
Kinda disappointed that there aren’t prizes on every Leg. Come on now Garuda Indonesia! Or at least, Sony should give out a nice camera.
Overall, this was a very good Leg. Though not as amazing as last week’s, it was full and exciting.
My Subjective Team Rankings
Louisa & Treasuri are dominating the Race, no question. That come from behind was amazing. TAR Asia has definitely had their share of strong female teams. But Louisa & Treasuri are on track to likely be the strongest ever. Amazing Race from them so far.
JK & Mike are definitely the most fun team. JK has had the best quotes and they never feel forced. And most of the time, Mike represents us whenever he reacts to JK as well. As a team, they may not be performing at their best right now. So I do think they need to step it up, otherwise they might be eliminated sooner rather than later.
Maggie & Parul are climbing up there as well. And not only that, but they were very fun this Leg. Maggie especially was great at the Road Block. And I love Maggie telling Parul to have a sense of urgency. For many teams, the lack of urgency has hurt them. I also enjoy Maggie’s random Tagalog.
Eric & Rona have been very consistent. Definitely a slow and steady Race for them and stepping it up when they need to. Tom & Anita, on the other hand, had a little misstep with their Fast Forward gamble. But you definitely can’t count them out yet. They could easily recover next Leg in a new country. I cringed a little though at Tom pointing out they eat dog in Vietnam.
Chloe & Yvonne are definitely the most quiet team right now. They had a great finish this Leg and it could be the start of a good run for them. Alex & Will took a huge risk and unfortunately, it didn’t pay off for them. Their gamble was understandable though. Especially if you’re competitive and are tired of being in the back of the pack. They were a solid team, both Race-wise and personality wise.
Episode Quotes
Will: “Let’s do that shit!”
Alex: “We’re Asian, we love rice!”
Maggie: “It’s really tight in there.”
Rona: “That’s what she said!”
Louisa: “You can cry if you want, but I don’t want you to choke.”
Eric: “Yvonne was right on my butt.”
Rona: “It’ll come out of your ass later.”
Maggie: “Are you crying?! Don’t cry. I’m eating, it’s not you!”
Parul: “How can people eat animals just like that?”
Maggie: “Oh my God babe, it’s a butiki!”
Alex & Will: “We don’t quit, even if we have to die.”
JK: “I’m going to be the fat guy on the show who eats everything.”
JK: “Oh! He said ‘centipede’. Fuck me.”
JK: “I’m not going to eat all this shit and be knocked out man.”