Recap: The Amazing Race Australia 5, Episode 12 – “Why’s he licking me for?!”


The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 12 Recap The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 12 Recap

It is 4am in Adelaide as teams start the 12th Leg by learning they must fly to Port Lincoln. The Cowboys learn that their Salvage advantage is an iPad they can use for directions. Chris & Aleisha’s Sabotage is that they cannot ask directions for this Leg.

Upon arrival in Port Lincoln, teams must drive themselves to the Fishermen’s Memorial. The clue waiting here reveals the Detour: Toss or Roll. In Toss, teams must toss 10kg fake tuna into three circles. In Roll, teams must play bocci against Beau’s Croatian friends and win 10 games. For every point the Croatians score, teams must put on a Croatian scarf.

The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 12 Recap The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 12 Recap

Jaskirat & Anurag choose the tuna. Holly & Dolor arrive first at the bocci court. Also choosing the tuna are Ashleigh & Amanda, Brendon & Jackson, Skye-Blue & Jake, Jordan & Violeta, Stan & Wayne while Chris & Aleisha choose bocci.

The Super Sikhs easily finish the Detour and can now make their way to Port Lincoln Marina where they will encounter an Intersection. For this Intersection, teams will jump in the water and attach a buoy to a rope and chain before swimming four metres below surface to attach it to an anchor point.

The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 12 Recap The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 12 Recap

Jaskirat & Anurag hope they can team up with Ashleigh & Amanda and think they will easily arrive 2nd at the Intersection. But the girls are struggling so much at the Detour that they decide to switch.

While waiting, the Super Sikhs debate who to team up with. They believe they will have their choice of teams once they all arrive. Brendon & Jackson arrive and they think for a moment before eventually deciding to work together.

However, there are only two boats. Each boat can carry four teams, departing 15 minutes apart at 7:30 and 7:45… TOMORROW MORNING.

Skye-Blue & Jake and Jordan & Violeta decide to work together.

Back at the Detour, Chris & Aleisha who arrived last at the bocci ended up leaving first, leaving Holly & Dolor and Ashleigh & Amanda.

The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 12 Recap The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 12 Recap

Stan & Wayne arrive at the Intersection board and decide to work with Chris & Aleisha. Ashleigh & Amanda have to settle for Holly & Dolor.

The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 12 Recap The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 12 Recap

Next morning, the teams work out their responsibilities before arriving at the task site.

The second boat teams manage to finish the Intersection before the first boat.

Teams will now drive to the Port Lincoln National Park sand dunes. Here, one team member will be blindfolded. Their teammate will direct them using a walkie talkie to walk backwards and deposit flags along a route. Afterwards, teams can run to the Pit Stop.

Ashleigh & Amanda finish first and hurry over to the Mat to claim 1st and a holiday. Holly & Dolor take 2nd followed by Stan & Wayne in 3rd.

Chris & Aleisha had been in fourth at the dunes task. But they make a mistake and Chris has to retrace his steps to correct it. That allows Brendon & Jackson and Jaskirat & Anurag to finish 4th and 5th, respectively.

The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 12 Recap The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 12 Recap

Chris & Aleisha finish as Team #6. Skye-Blue & Jake are 7th.

That means Jordan & Violeta are last and eliminated.

The Amazing Race Australia 5 Episode 12 Recap

Episode Thoughts

I think it’s completely unnecessary to talk about the Salvage and Sabotage. We know they’ll be absurd. And it was. The last place team that should’ve been eliminated last Leg gets to use Apple Maps. Uhh… okay.

The Detour was alright. Both tasks were challenging and needed a bit of luck, perhaps. It was good to see bocci as a task. It was fitting as a Detour and thankfully not a Head-to-Head like TARUS. *cringe* For the tuna side of the Detour, why not have several rows so teams can go at the same time? They should’ve made it a little harder I think though.

The Intersection task itself was fine. But why the two boats and a sign-up board? That was horrible. Really, the biggest benefit of the Intersection is to have drama as to who teams up with who. For one thing, I don’t think the teams understood how the Intersection worked. Second, having a sign-up board and departure times negates any kind of maneuvering as to who to team up with.

And then of course, teams would be traveling back on the same boat anyway. It was essentially a four-team Intersection.

Or maybe this is where they should’ve had that newfangled T-Junction. The biggest chunk of the episode was devoted to the Intersection. Might as well shove the T-Junction onto this Leg since there was an equal number of teams. But they’ll probably only do it on non-First Class Legs.

TAR10’s first Intersection will always be the best ever.

Anyway, I didn’t realize again that it was late afternoon and teams would continue Racing the next morning. The Detour essentially meant nothing again. I really think TARAu could’ve worked out logistics a little better than this. Halfway through the episode, it was basically like teams were starting a whole new Leg.

The sand dunes task was also okay. But paired with the other tasks on the Leg and odd Leg design, it really just fell flat. And for the Leg to be decided on that one task feels messy.

Overall, it felt like a very barebones Leg. And I am actually quite surprised they were able to fill an entire episode with just the tasks they included. Maybe the most boring episode of this endless season.

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

No change in this Leg’s rankings since nothing really happened. It was great to see Chris & Aleisha recover a little bit this Leg. Holly & Dolor actually did very well and it was fun to see. Jaskirat & Anurag were a very middling team this Leg.

Stan & Wayne did a little better this Leg. Ashleigh & Amanda were in their peak condition. If the bigger personalities didn’t make much noise this Leg, Brendon & Jackson, Skye-Blue & Jake and Jordan & Violeta certainly wouldn’t have either. Jordan & Violeta had an inconsistent Leg. They had potential early on, but really just got lost in this season of 24 teams.

Episode Quotes

Dolor: “Why’s he licking me for?”

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