Recap: The Amazing Race (24) All-Stars 2, Episode 5 – "She could be, like, a super sewer."


Recap: The Amazing Race (24) All-Stars 2, Episode 5 – “Can’t Make Fish Bite”

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Teams open up the first clue of the Leg telling them to fly to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Teams can either buy tickets at the Triways Travel Cafe & Boutique travel agency or go straight to the airport.

The leading teams find a direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Colombo leaving at 11pm and arriving at midnight. Margie & Luke’s taxi driver drives past the travel agency, so they go straight to the airport. Brendon & Rachel go the travel agent and learn the direct flight is fully booked.

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Their only other option is to connect through Singapore, but they only have 30 minutes between flights. The manager says it’d be impossible for them to make the connection, but Rachel insists. They don’t have a choice. It’s make or break.

At the airport, Margie & Luke learn of the full flight the other teams are on and now must look for something else. The meet Neobie who uses his laptop to help them find other flights.

Brendon & Rachel come running into the airport and quickly check-in and run to the gate. They pass by Flight Time & Big Easy who now realize last Leg was non-elimination. They tell the other teams.

Brendon & Rachel land in Singapore and run through the airport. They manage to catch their connecting flight and are on their way to Colombo. Back in Kuala Lumpur, the other teams are boarding their direct flight. Margie & Luke check on their standby status, but there’s nothing. They get left behind as the others fly off.

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Brendon & Rachel arrive in Colombo first and they make their way to Gangaramaya Temple where they find… HOURS OF OPERATION! The Temple opens at 5:45am, so the others teams, minus Margie & Luke, catch up.

When the temple opens, teams take off their shoes and put on traditional wear to enter and receive a blessing before being handed their next clue.

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Teams must now take a train to Galle and find the King Coconut Stand. While the teams enjoy the 2+ hour train ride down the coast, Margie & Luke are just boarding the plane leaving Kuala Lumpur.


In Galle, teams hop into tuk-tuks and brave the crazy Colombo streets to the coconut stand in Koggala where they find the Detour.
In Fishing Pole, teams will climb onto a pair of fishing stilts and must each catch a fish. They will exchange them for a clue from the local fisherman.
In Spin Control, teams will learn and perform a traditional folk dance while continuing to spin drums known as rabans.

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Dave & Connor, Jet & Cord and Jessica & John choose Fishing Pole while Brendon & Rachel, Flight Time & Big Easy, Leo & Jamal and Caroline & Jen choose Spin Control.

Dave & Connor and Jet & Cord finish the fishing Detour and the Globetrotters, Leo & Jamal and Caroline & Jen get the dance Detour. Brendon struggles with the spinning rabans and he and Rachel have to make 14 attempts to finish.

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Jessica & John are struggling at the fishing Detour and decide to switch when they’re the last team there.

The other teams are making their way back to Trendy Connections Garment Factory in Galle where they find the Road Block.


In this Road Block, teams must properly stitch together a shirt using the pieces provided. When the floor manager, approves, they’ll have their next clue printed on the front of the shirt.

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Big Easy, Connor, Jennifer, Leo and Jet choose to do the Road Block. Brendon & Rachel arrive at Trendy Connections and they find their Speed Bump.


For their Speed Bump, they must silkscreen 15 t-shirts with the Sri Lankan flag and get them approved before continuing on.

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With the other teams having trouble getting the hang of sewing, Brendon is not far behind when he gets started on the Road Block. Back in Colombo, Margie & Luke are only now boarding the train for Galle.

After flirting it up with the Cowboys on the train over, Jen decides to turn to Connor for help. Jessica & John catch up and Jessica decides to do the Road Block.

Connor is the first to finish and he and Dave head to the Pit Stop at the Colombo Rowing Club where they officially check-in first and win $5000 each. Caroline & Jen are next and take 2nd.

Jet & Cord finish 3rd and Leo & Jamal take 4th.

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To ease the tension, Flight Time decides to do some basketball tricks for the workers. After that, Jessica finishes next followed by Brendon and then Big Easy.

But at the Pit Stop, Jessica & John finish 5th, Flight Time & Big Easy take 6th and Brendon & Rachel step on the Mat in 7th.

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That leaves Margie & Luke. They finish the fish Detour, head to the Road Block and then meet Phil after dark to learn they are officially eliminated.

Episode Thoughts
After four pretty solid episodes, I think this might have been the weakest one yet. It was actually kinda dull, especially since Margie & Luke were so far behind that the result was already decided in the first act of the episode.

Sucks the Twinnies bombed so bad in the first Leg that they didn’t get to make it to the Sri Lankan Legs. But it was great to see that train ride showing off the beautiful Sri Lankan coast. They even used some classic TAR music for that sequence too.

But the tasks themselves were pretty bland. The Detour was alright and actually look good on paper, but either they edited it poorly or the potential didn’t pan out when the teams actually completed the tasks. The Road Block is basically a modified Switchback to The Amazing Race Australia 1‘s Leg 11. Exactly the same Road Block in the same exact location, only TARUS added that printed clue part.

The most interesting thing about this task is that it shows TARUS will likely “Switchback” to tasks from foreign TARs more often. After the TARPh-inspirerd Road Block in the TAR23 finale, we get this sewing Road Block from TARAu. Which means whenever TARUS returns to the Philippines, you can be sure they’ll be heading right to Daraga, Albay where we will be treated to the 4th iteration of the Jig or Pig Detour. Which, admittedly, is a great Detour and would be perfect for a U-Turn.

But anyway, this was an incredibly slow episode. Just look at the Road Block. There was so much talking just to pad the teams sewing. And then Flight Time’s Globetrotter demo. It was a very bland task. Or, they just did not edit it well enough to make it exciting.

And what about Dave & Connor getting $5000 each but Brendon & Rachel only $2500 each? That’s unfair Bertram van Munster.

So, weakest episode of the season by far. But great to see the train ride and the blessing and beautiful Sri Lankan scenery. And it was fun to see another TAR fan make a cameo on the show.

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Neobie joins in the great tradition of Izad from TARAS1 who helped Charla & Mirna. Though of course, Margie & Luke are no Mirna & Schmirna. (lol)

My Subjective Team Rankings
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Brendon & Rachel had an alright Leg and probably would’ve finished higher had they not had to do a Speed Bump. But also, I think they weren’t hustling or even worried at all because they knew Margie & Luke were so far behind. Otherwise, I think we would’ve seen emotional Rachel come out. Still, they’re the only team left you can depend on for competition and hilarity. So please Race smarter AND harder going forward.

Jessica & John and Flight Time & Big Easy have been tolerable. Margie & Luke just ran out of luck, though TAR edited out Luke’s “Don’t help [Brendon & Rachel]!” which he apparently uttered at the airport. Well thanks a lot Luke after what Brendon & Rachel did for him last week.

Leo & Jamal are okay too, but their unfunny antics returned this week with Leo at the Road Block. The workers apparently loved it. They must have been working long hours that day.

Dave & Connor are continuing to get really boring in addition to their overly talkative annoyingness from the last few weeks. I just really don’t get why TAR needs to use them, Dave especially, to narrate every single thing. It’s a horrible buzzkill which is worse in an episode like this one which was slow to begin with.

Caroline & Jennifer can cozy up to all the male-male teams they can, but being a Cowboy fantard is probably the worst thing they could be. Ewe. And Jet & Cord. Ugh, just soon, please.


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2 thoughts on “Recap: The Amazing Race (24) All-Stars 2, Episode 5 – "She could be, like, a super sewer."

  1. Thanks for your synopsis of the episodes, but judging by how poor (lack of extreme details) your updating has been in comparison to seasons past, I, and my family, made the right decision to give up on TAR. It’s a shame they veered so far off from what made the race fun and exciting in the first place.

    I know it’s your blog and you are no fan of the cowpokes, but your subjective rankings are really showing your pettiness in regards to these idiotic non-stars. Just list the order as to who is running a decent race, even if they don’t happen to be decent members of the all-encompassing human race.

    Again, thanks for the updates on your blog, but seeing as to the abysmal group making up this season, I’m pretty sure I won’t be back until TAR returns to what made it great back in the day using fresh faces and serious racers. Bringing back these same low-quality buffoons season after season reeks of utter ratings desperation. It’s just too bad the producers don’t listen to uber fans like yourself. Maybe the show wouldn’t be slowly circling the drain as it is if they did.

    1. Thank you so much for your comments. I sincerely appreciate it. I think you’ve given me an idea for a full blog post really.

      You know, I’ve definitely noticed my recaps have gotten shorter and less detailed myself. And it definitely saddens me. I guess a little part of it is because I haven’t been as excited in the last few seasons. But then that’s due in large part to how overly simplified and (I hate to say it) dumbed down TAR has become in recent years. The Legs have become so linear (something I regularly bring up in my Episode Thoughts) and incredibly simple that there isn’t much to go into detail about! Back when I needed to recap scene by scene because teams were doing different things and were at different places, now teams are in and out of tasks just like that without much drama or excitement. So seeing my recaps be less detailed and shorter saddens me too.

      With my team rankings, I’ve always made a point of emphasizing that they are completely subjective. That is, I’m ranking them not on their Race ability or Race performance, I’m just ranking them on whether I like or enjoy them or not. While I try to be as objective and straightforward as possible in the recap itself (with some attempts at levity when necessary), I’ve always left my opinions in Episode Thoughts and the Team Rankings. In my Season Wrap-Ups, I have lists of which teams should’ve gone further, whether teams deserved to win or not and those are all based purely on my personal preferences. Maybe I should make that a little clearer in the future I guess. But I don’t think I can ever make objective team rankings because my idea of good Racing or what makes a good team would completely differ from everyone else’s criteria. And knowing that I couldn’t ever be completely objective, I made it a point to be as subjective and petty as possible. (Believe me, this is not the first time someone’s taken issue with my team rankings lol)

      Again, thank you so much for your comments and it’s great to see you’ve read my past season recaps too? I definitely wish TAR gets back in the right gear. Some people will try to argue otherwise, but the ratings have declined every single season the last few years. The steep decline coincides with the Race becoming more simplified and tired with the casting becoming less inspiring and exciting. Yet apparently Bertram van Munster and Co. can not see that and don’t think the series low ratings or Emmy loss are any indication of the declining quality of a once truly Amazing Race. =(

      I definitely hope you’ll come back to TAR soon. It’s sad to see so many fans tuning out these last few years. And as much as I want to just free up my Sundays too, I can’t. My philosophy is I need to watch something in order to criticize it. And when that show is a show I’ve loved for more than 12 years, I will definitely keep watching and point out what I think it wrong and what I wish they would do differently. Believe me, I share your hope and sentiment regarding current TAR.

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