The Race continues in Tasmania at Lake Pedder. From here, teams will drive to Gordon Dam where they must drop a basketball into a net 140 meters below.
With Skye-Blue & Jake getting lost, MJ & Chelsea arrive first and are able to make several attempts before Jaskirat & Anurag arrive next. The Footy Mates make it on the 14th attempt. Brendon & Jackson make it on their 3rd attempt, Ashleigh & Amanda on their 5th attempt. Formerly last place Skye-Blue & Jake make it on their first attempt. Jaskirat & Anurag make it on the 18th attempt. Chris & Aleisha fall to last until they make it on their 33rd attempt.
After the dam drop, teams will head to Westerway Raspberry Farm to perform the Detour: Crush or Crunch. In Crush, teams will pack raspberry puree into 20 boxes to exact standards. In Crunch, teams must get in a water bucket of apples and find one with a dyed black core.
MJ & Chelsea initially choose the apples, but it is freezing and difficult so they switch to the raspberries where the Cowboys are already working. Ashleigh & Amanda arrive and see them quit, but they give it a try anyway. And it is the right decision. Skye-Blue & Jake also finish the apples quickly.
Jaskirat & Anurag choose the apples as well while Chris & Aleisha choose the raspberries.
Ashleigh & Amanda and Skye-Blue & Jake open the next clue pointing them to an Intersection. For this one, teams must drive to the Bush Inn in New Norfolk. Teams will shuck and eat 100 oysters.
They team up and start shucking and eating, but it’s not the most delicious thing for them.
Jaskirat & Anurag and MJ & Chelsea finish the Detour next and team up at the Intersection. They finish before the last pair even arrives.
The first four teams can make their way to Willow Court Asylum and use a map to navigate themselves through the haunted location to the Pit Stop.
Last place teams Brendon & Jackson and vegans Chris & Aleisha must pair up. On the way to the inn, Chris & Aleisha consider taking a penalty rather than eating the oysters.
Once they arrive, Chris & Aleisha suggest a penalty. But Brendon & Jackson refuse to quit. They end up agreeing to have Chris & Aleisha shuck while the Cowboys eat. But when Brendon eats his first oyster, he decides he just can’t eat any more. Jackson insists they are not quitting, meaning he would have to eat 100 oysters.
Chris tries to convince Jackson into taking the penalty, especially when they’re already in last anyway.
Jackson realizes he’s got 65 more left, but he can’t take anymore. They decide to take the penalty and leave.
At the asylum, Ashleigh & Amanda and Skye-Blue & Jake make their way through the eerie, dark building with laughing babies and random opossums and snatched wigs.
Ashleigh & Amanda end up finding the Mat first and run ahead of Skye-Blue & Jake to check in as Teams #1 and #2. The Gold Coast Girls win the First Class Pass and the two ugh Passes to dole out later.
MJ & Chelsea are 3rd with Jaskirat & Anurag in 4th.
Chris & Aleisha end up as Team #5 and Brendon & Jackson are Team #6. Because they are at the back of the pack, their penalty is void.
Ashleigh & Amanda decide to Sabotage Chris & Aleisha. Aleisha says she is not surprised because the girls have the Cowboys “wrapped around their finger.”
Episode Thoughts
It is best to have processional, first come-first served tasks at the beginning of the Leg so that teams have the entire day to catch up. Better than pulling numbers or something for morning departure times.
The Detour being at the same location was good. And both tasks had their own unique challenges so I think this was a balanced Detour. The Crush Detour was tedious and the Crunch Detour was cold. For the Crunch Detour though, both team members should have gotten into the water. Maybe have a time limit for each team member so both would get wet.
The oyster shucking and eating is a good Intersection. Especially if teams have different taste buds, it can be a challenging task. As we of course saw with our resident vegans.
It’s an interesting situation with the Cowboys and Chris & Aleisha. Quitting always sucks. And I don’t necessarily relate to a pair of vegans. But Brendon couldn’t stomach the oysters either. So to think Jackson would eat 99 all by himself and knowing they were last, taking the penalty may have been the best option. If this weren’t an eating task, I wouldn’t be as forgiving. Jackson powering through 99 oysters would’ve been amazing and would warrant big props. But it looked to be impossible. They might as well take the penalty. Though knowing they were in last, I didn’t realize the penalty would be voided anyway.
The haunted asylum was an awesome Pit Stop. Now this is the bit of logistics that works out well. Having a nighttime Pit Stop at a haunted asylum? Perfect!
I actually would’ve loved to have seen teams perform some kind of task here to prolong their time in the dark asylum. The show obviously planted those dolls and wigs to up the eerie factor. But it would’ve been funny to see them go all out with the scares.
Anyway, another normal Leg. And that meant a solid episode. Even if the Non-Elimination was obvious and predictable.
Now what I’m wondering is when in the world are we going to see the T-Junction? If they actually did forget about it, then that’s great! But with the next Leg being an elimination Leg, that would only leave five teams.
They can’t possibly save the T-Junction for the Final Four. That would defeat the purpose of this possible disastrous twist. Can’t even do it with five teams either.
Could the show really bring in a final Stowaway team this late? Then do the T-Junction in Leg 19. (Which at that point, you have to hope the Stowaway team is on the losing team and vote them out.)
If not, the show would need three more Non-Elims if it’s really 24 Legs. And two of them might have to be back-to-back. Otherwise, every other Leg would have to be Non-Elim including the Penultimate Leg. Or even crazier, have a Final 2 which would be pretty boring.
Welp, we’ll have to wait and see.
My Subjective Team Rankings
GAP GAP
Not much really from the teams this episode. The tasks definitely took the spotlight instead of the teams, which is definitely not common on this season. Though it’s not like the tasks were all that special.
I don’t know what it’s like to be vegan, so I can’t relate to Chris & Aleisha not being able to even try to eat the oysters. I’m definitely never a fan of quitting. So I was sad to see them have to do it. But it seemed to be an impossible situation. Hopefully they can overcome the Sabotage once again next Leg.
MJ & Chelsea did well this Leg. They lost some time switching Detours, especially when the other teams were able to do it. But they’ve shown they can always make up time somewhere else. Jaskirat & Anurag are the same. They can mess up, but are able to find ways to recover on the next tasks.
Ashleigh & Amanda‘s quick work at the Detour really secured their win this Leg. I can’t blame Brendon & Jackson for not wanting to quit. But there was really no option for them to finish that Intersection with only Jackson left to eat 99 oysters by himself. Skye-Blue & Jake had the best luck this Leg at the dam site. And that also secured their top 2 finish.
Episode Quotes
Amanda: “I’m in a bikini in the freezing cold.”
Amanda: “This is a Race, not a beauty pageant.”
Skye-Blue: “Don’t throw up, just swallow it.”
Jaskirat: “I feel like a dog.”