Recap: The Amazing Race 30, Episode 5 (or Episode 4, Hour 2) – “It smells like bull poop.”


Episode 30.05 (or Episode 4, Hour 2– “Gotta Put Your Sole Into it”)

TAR3005

Teams must now drive themselves up the coast to Les Baux de Provence, visited on the very first season of The Amazing Race.

The first clue awaits at Château des Baux which opens at 8:30am. And that clue reveals a Road Block: Who’s ready to go medieval on this Road Block?

TAR3005 TAR3005

For this Road Block, teams must assemble a trebuchet while their partner will be held in a stockade until they’re done.

Lucas is first to get the thumbs up. He and Brittany can now head to Cafe de la Fontaine where a man enjoying a glass of red wine will hand them the next clue.

Cody, Kristi, Eric, Henry, Chris, Tim and Conor finish the Road Block in that order.

TAR3005 TAR3005

Lucas & Brittany arrive at the cafe and open the clue revealing the Detour: Full of Bull or Colorful. In Full of Bull, teams must search among 100 replica bulls of different sizes to find a red, white and blue ribbon. In Colorful, teams must unlock their clue from a replica of Vincent Van Gogh’s The Langlois Bridge at Arles with Women Washing.

Lucas & Brittany and Kristi & Jen are first at the Arènes d’Arles. They both find their ribbons and can now head to the Pit Stop at Hotel Benvengudo. Eric & Daniel arrive at the amphitheatre just as they leave.

Lucas & Brittany and Kristi & Jen step on the Mat as Teams 1 and 2 with Lucas & Brittany winning a trip to Bali. Eric & Daniel arrive as Team #3 just as Lucas pulls out the engagement ring and asks Brittany to marry him. She says yes.

TAR3005 TAR3005

Henry & Evan and Alex & Conor are 4th and 5th and arrive just in time to enjoy the engagement celebration.

Cody & Jessica are 6th.

Meanwhile, Joey & Tim arrive at the Van Gogh puzzle and they figure it out, except for the latch on the easel itself. This is while Trevor & Chris haven’t even found the amphitheatre yet.

Trevor & Chris manage to find their flags and head to the Pit Stop as Team #7. That means Joey & Tim are last and eliminated.

TAR3005

Episode Thoughts

So I know they edited these two Legs into one episode, unlike last season when the doubled up episodes were regular episodes with previews and credits and others seasons with the “Stay tuned for the 2nd hour, blah blah.” But really, that’s just to make it seem less like they were burning off the season as a filler and timeslot warmer for Survivor. (Though CBS probably regrets the scheduling now, considering the miraculously higher ratings. We’ll wait and see how the 9pm hour does.)

Nice Switchback to a TAR China 3 task with the trebuchet hehe
But the special effects/CGI explosion was funny. They couldn’t just launch sacks of powder?

More odd editing choices this episode. The flash transitions and quick cuts to random teams at random points of the Leg were more abrupt than exciting. Not slick or seamless at all.

And then this hilariously absurd cut of every variation of “Oh my God” that exists:


I mean, the midieval setup was great, but not shocking enough to elicit all those OMGs. Especially when it was obvious that not all the exclamations came from that actual moment. And proven as one of the “Oh my God”s was used later during the Detour. So strange.

I was shocked when they got the Pit Stop clue after the Detour. Like, seriously?! Road Block and Detour. That’s all! That’s so crazy. I don’t even know.

I will say, however, that this episode felt much more full than the other one. And this had even less tasks. Very, very strange.

Needless to say, neither of these episodes were able to match last week’s overall greatness. Hopefully the Switchback next week will help pick things back up.

My Subjective Team Rankings

TAR30 TAR30 TAR30 TAR30 TAR30 TAR30 TAR30 TAR30

All teams are pretty much on equal footing for me. I don’t hate anyone. I don’t even really dislike anyone. The only changes on my rankings are Alex & Conor and Cody & Jessica sliding down. Cody & Jessica just felt a little too “on” this episode, that is, they were playing up to the camera a lot more than they did in the first four Legs. And Alex & Conor slide down only because teams like Trevor & Chris, Eric & Daniel and Joey & Tim were more interesting this Leg.

Much kudos to Joey & Tim though for choosing the Van Gogh Detour because it would be a shame to see a pretty creative task go to waste with no one attempting it. And they figured it out too. It actually would’ve made a good Road Block even.

2 thoughts on “Recap: The Amazing Race 30, Episode 5 (or Episode 4, Hour 2) – “It smells like bull poop.”

  1. One thing – You have people building Trebuchets, so why not also get them to fire them? That just seems so much more fun, and would be something to watch. The CGI explosions are ridiculous. They could easily have had a target get hit or something, much better.

    The whole episode was that task really, as I do like the idea of being put in the stocks as the non-competing member. Should be done more often with the one not doing the task also having to do something.

    1. I wonder if the ones they built were even functional? Probably just display type of things. Though on TAR China, I think they did fire their trebuchets after building them. So it’s possible. It certainly would have been more fun for them and for us to watch.

      I agree that they should have more Road blocks where the other team member is involved in some way.

Share your thoughts!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top