Recap: The Amazing Race Australia 5, Episode 5 – “Is my face on fire?!”


The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 5

Teams are on Magnetic Island and will disembark the ferry in the same order they arrived at the Pit Stop. But it doesn’t matter since teams will choose one of a number of different types of vehicles to drive themselves until they find Beau at Horseshoe Bay where they will face an endurance Road Block: Who likes hanging out?

The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 5

For this Road Block, teams will hang onto a pole off the side of a boat in the middle of the water. The team who remains the longest will be the first to depart for the next challenge.

With the teams gathered, Beau calls for the Road Block participants to step forward and hop on a boat to take them to the Road Block poles.

The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 5

The non-participating team members cheer their partners on. But after two and a half minutes, Shane drops. Dolor laughs and says it’s karma. He keeps mouthing off, but Jobelle informs him that Holly has just dropped as well. Shane’s knee is troubling him.

Sef and Chris are next to drop followed by Jake, Dwes and Rani. After 11 minutes, Jaskirat drops followed by Ashleigh. It’s down to a Cowboy and a dancer. More than 30 minutes have passed and Brendon decides to drop. That means Jordan wins the challenge. Violeta is so excited to finally be in first place.

The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 5

It’s already the end of the day, so teams camp out for the night before resuming the Leg tomorrow. But when teams wake up in the morning, they discover Shane is not feeling well. He is in such pain from his knee that he cannot move. Deb has to ask for medical assistance.

Beau talks to Shane and asks if he can continue on in the Race. But Shane says he cannot. The other teams are heartbroken as Shane is taken in the ambulance. They hug Deb as she hops in the ambulance with her husband. Holly & Dolor say they didn’t want Shane & Deb to leave the Race this way. They wanted to beat them fair and square.

The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 5

The Race resumes as teams must make their way to Scallywags Café and eat 20 weet-bix. With no milk.

Jaskirat & Anurag finish their weet-bix first and can now face another Road Block: Who’s fired up? For this Road Block, teams will head to Picnic Bay where they will learn how to breathe fire. They will get three attempts to light up three targets. But if they don’t, they must get to the back of the line.

The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 5

Ashleigh & Amanda manage to arrive at the beach before the Super Sikhs. Amanda goes for an attempt first, but she is unable to light a single target. Anurag goes next, but he is even worse. When Amanda goes for her second attempt, she’s gotten the hang of it and is able to light two targets.

Back at the weet-bix, the Cowboys and Chris & Aleisha are struggling to finish off their food. Brendon & Jackson are able to leave, pushing Chris & Aleisha to last.

At the fire breathing, Anurag goes for his second attempt and he also gets two. Amanda gets her last target and they open the next clue pointing them to the Pit Stop on Picnic Bay. The Gold Coast Girls officially check-in as Team #1 and since this is obviously a Non-Elimination Leg, Beau gives them a First Class Pass as well as the Salvage and Sabotage.

Jaskirat & Anurag have to settle for 2nd.

Violeta is afraid of swallowing fuel and is worried about having to perform the task. She is struggling to capture the technique.

The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 5

Cowboy Jackson, however, is very confident and he is able to get three targets on his first attempt. They were second last and now check-in at the Pit Stop as Team #3.

Last place Chris & Aleisha are similarly lucky. Chris gets all three targets on his first attempt and the once last place team are now officially Team #4. Skye-Blue & Jake are Team #5. Holly & Dolor are Team #6.

Dwes & Katherine check-in as Team #7. Sefa & Jessica are 8th. And Jobelle & Rani check-in as Team #9. Beau asks them to wait at the Mat.

Violeta gets timed out of the Road Block, so they are just given the Pit Stop clue. They run to the Mat and Beau confirms they are last.

It’s time for Ashleigh & Amanda’s decision. They decide to Sabotage Jordan & Violeta since they are the last team. That means Jobelle & Rani get the Salvage.

The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 5

Episode Thoughts

Judging from some of the pre-show news about TARAu5, it was very obvious Network Ten wanted to inject some Survivor into the Race. And this Road Block definitely proves that. An endurance challenge? Huh?

Though really, it’s a little bit of a Double Battle (the original) kind of situation. At the start of the Leg, all teams competing against each other in a challenge feels very HaMerotz. It’s alright at the start of the Leg. A different way to stagger teams instead of sign-ups or simply pulling a time.

I was shocked that they had to camp out. I thought they had arrived on Magnetic Island in the morning and could Race the rest of the day. But strange logistics on this season with all the extra precautions and land & sea travel. So weird resets like this in the middle (or beginning) of a Leg are unavoidable.

Now, the weet-bix task though. Maybe I’m still feeling bored from the grass cutting, but watching ten teams eating dry cereal is certainly not the most exciting thing. Especially after that endurance task. It just feels very… dry. Heh. Perfect for the task I guess.

But I don’t think other eating tasks have been so bland. The pie eating on TAR Canada was hilarious. (Partly thanks to Martina & Phil lol) There’s the infamous TAR7 Road Block with all the drama. Here, it was just teams sitting around the table stuffing themselves with dry cereal.

Apparently there was a Detour that was edited out. I can’t imagine why. It couldn’t have been drier than the weet-bix. They could’ve absolutely included the Detour into this one-hour episode.

Thankfully, the next Road Block with the fire breathing was much better. Definitely a great task. Yes, very processional and linear. But hey, anything for an actual great task.

It’s too bad that it was the only interesting task of the Leg and the Pit Stop came immediately after.

Considering we have 50 (!exaggeration!) Legs this season, the Non-Elimination Legs are going to come often. So this being a Non-Elimination Leg was not a surprise. But with Shane & Deb dropping out, does that mean we get Malaan & Tina back like we got Dwes & Katherine? I doubt it.

To keep the suspense though, can’t they edit out the First Class Pass part so we can be surprised at the end? Like, the excitement of Non-Elimination Legs is we don’t know when it will appear.

Anyway, it seems unlikely that the Sabotage will ever be given to the second to last team. It’s only fair for the last place team to get the Sabotage. And unless there’s huge drama later, it’s always going to be that way probably.

Anyway, overall it was another bland Leg. Yes, it was very dry. As barebones as it was, I was okay with it only being an hour long. And the episodes should be an hour long from now on. So it’s better to have compact episodes instead of the show having to drag out grass cutting to fill out a 90-minute episode, for example.

My Subjective Team Rankings

The Amazing Race Australia 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5 The Amazing Race Australia 5

Jobelle & Rani are hanging in there. I hope their Salvage advantage helps them have a strong Leg next. Ashleigh & Amanda solidified their spot as a top contender with this performance. It’s so awesome to see them do so well this Leg. And I definitely think they’re going to continue to do so. Also, GREAT decision with the Salvage and Sabotage Pass. hehe

A good amount of Sefa & Jessica this Leg. Love Jessica’s snarky comments toward Dolor. It’s too bad about Shane & Deb. Definitely did not expect they’d get eliminated because of a bad knee. But for their time on the Race that they had control over, they were a strong team. Holly & Dolor leap up my list only because they’re hilarious. They definitely help to give this season the spice it needs. I doubt they were giving each other a massage while Shane was being loaded onto the ambulance. But it was an awkwardly funny juxtaposition.

I’m going to pair both Brendon & Jackson and Jaskirat & Anurag together. Both strong, consistent teams. But that’s starting to get a little boring to watch. Especially when the Legs themselves are not too exciting.

Chris & Aleisha finally get their moment this episode. They were really looking bad with the weet-bix. But Chris owning that Road Block was a good moment. A well-deserved leap up the placements. Dwes & Katherine and Skye-Blue & Jake are the teams that faded into the background this episode.

I liked Jordan & Violeta okay. But not after getting the Sabotage. Despite what Jordan says, it’s only fair they get the Sabotage. They should be thankful they’re not eliminated. And it’s absolutely in anyone’s best interest to give the Sabotage to the last place team.

Episode Quotes

Jessica: “Any woman is more resilient than you, bro.”
Dolor: “That’s not very nice.”

Beau: “Take milk everywhere.”

Chris: “We’re little people, we don’t eat a lot.”

Dwes: “I never had the confidence, just in case I burn my eyebrows off.”

Violeta: “Is my face on fire?!”

Violeta: “I just could not spit.”

Share your thoughts!

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

Back to top