Recap: The Amazing Race Australia 6, Episode 10 – “You wanna see explosion? I’ll show you explosion.”

Two Stowaway teams Kathy & Chace and Stuart & Glennon arrive at the hotel in Turkiye before teams fly to their next country: Colombia. However, only SEVEN teams will be flying out because Tiffany & Cynthia, Fliss & Tottie, Jodie & Claire, Kelly & Georgia and Lauren & Steph have COVID and will sit out the Race until the Final Leg they test negative and the show determines when it is best for their budget to fly them out to the next country.

Upon arrival in Bogota, Kathy & Chace and Stuart & Glennon will depart last as teams must hop into taxis to make their way to Parque de los Periodistas. Here, they will pick up a phone and head to Calle del Embudo where they will take a selfie with three graffiti artworks by Gauche and the artist tag.

Angel & Frankie enlist the help of a local while Frick & Gabby and Heath & Toni decide to work together. When they run into each other, both sides friendly share the locations of graffiti they’ve already found.

Meanwhile, Chelsea & Jamus are shocked to find themselves now in last position when they pick up their phones.

On the other end, Angel & Frankie get their selfies checked and receive the next clue revealing something called a Detour: Sparkle or Spoke. In Sparkle, teams will head to the Emerald District where they must sort between real and synthetic gems. In Spoke, teams will play bike polo and score one goal within 10 minutes.

Pako & Mori move into 2nd with Flick & Gabby and Heath & Toni in 3rd. All four leading teams choose Spoke. But Angel & Frankie have already scored and completed the Detour before the now-joined three teams even arrive.

Chelsea & Jamus get over their initial frustration and finish before the Stowaways returning teams. Especially when Kathy & Chace do not take correct selfies. Lawyer cousins still stay in 2nd last while Stuart & Glennon are bringing up the rear.

The engaged parents end up arriving at the park in 2nd. There are only three open courts and Pako & Mori are annoyed that they are left waiting when they had helped Flick & Gabby and Heath & Toni get here. Chelsea & Jamus are excited when they end up leaving the Detour in 2nd followed by Heath & Toni and then Flick & Gabby. Kathy & Chace finish 6th with Stuart & Glennon arriving after everyone else has left.

After the Detour, teams head to Club De Tejo La 76 where they will play tejo which involves tossing iron discs at gunpowder-filled targets. When they hit one, teams will get the next clue.

Angel & Frankie hit a target and leave just as the other teams begin arriving.

As the other teams have trouble hitting the target, Kathy & Chace end up hitting one on their first attempts, moving them into 2nd place. Heath & Toni and Chelsea & Jamus claim they did not hear or smell any explosion from them. Teams hit targets one after the other. And when Stuart & Glennon arrive and score, they leave Pako & Mori now in last place.

Anyway, the next clue tells teams to shop at Samper Mendoza Market for seven herbs (cedron, chamomile, passionflower, lavender, mint, elderflower, coca leaf) needed for a nighttime brew. Teams must shop for the herbs in Spanish without showing the list to the vendor. For the Stowaway returning teams, they will have to face a Speed Bump here.

Angel & Frankie arrive at the market at 6:20pm with their masks on, but HOURS OF OPERATION! The market doesn’t open until 7pm. They are surprised to see Kathy & Chace arriving 5 minutes later.

Not wanting to just stand around doing nothing, Kathy suggests she and Chance just walk around the market to perhaps check out where the herbs are being sold so once it actually opens, they’ll know where to go.

On the way to the market, Heath & Toni’s taxi driver decides to drive over exposed iron rods in the street, making them fall behind. They decide to just walk the rest of the way.

At 7pm, five of the seven teams get started as they run into the market with their pushcarts.

Angel & Frankie and Kathy & Chace clash a bit at the Lawyer Cousins’ preferred vendor. When the Church Friends get their herbs checked, they find they have been given too much. They have to return to the market to weight out exactly the amount they need.

Pako & Mori arrive last, but Mori makes use of his Spanish skills to quickly get all the herbs they need. The other teams start getting herbs one after the other.

Kathy & Chace get to the checking truck first, but also find they have too much. So they decide to just rip out some of the herbs right there instead of having to go back to the market to find a scale.

Stuart & Glennon finish the herbs first and open the Speed Bump clue revealing they and Kathy & Chance must purchase more herbs.

Flick & Gabby move into first place and can now make their way to the Pit Stop at Parque Bicentenario. Angel & Frankie get the thumbs up next and hurry to catch up. Both teams arrive at the park at the same time. But Angel & Frankie reach the Mat first to claim the win. Flick & Gabby have to settle for another 2nd.

Chelsea & Jamus take 3rd just ahead of Pako & Mori who finish 4th. Heath & Toni are Team #5. Scott says they are the first team ever on Amazing Race Australia to get a flat tire.

It is now down to the returning teams. Stuart & Glennon are able to check-in at the Pit Stop as Team #6. That means Kathy & Chace are last and eliminated. Kathy is very frustrated since they had done so well all day and were done in by an Hours of Operation.

Episode Thoughts

Not gonna lie, I definitely feel Kathy & Chace’s frustration.

First of all, FIVE teams now down with COVID? Come on. I mean, two was bad enough. Now we have five teams? When you have the cast and crew catching COVID left and right, then you’re doing something wrong.

Of course, most of the world has adapted to the COVID Era. We’re all out and about, doing our business, etc. That’s definitely different from running around the world and interacting with all sorts of random people every day. But again, that’s the risk when you want to force through an Amazing Race at this time.

(Funny to see teams suddenly wearing their masks more now lol)

If they insist on running the Race, then production has to do a better job keeping teams safe from COVID. Maybe that means designing Legs in a way that limits teams’ exposure to people who haven’t been tested. Or just eliminate teams that catch COVID. I saw someone post about how teams get eliminated if they get sick or injured. What’s the difference with COVID then?

But with vaccines, people who catch COVID don’t get morbidly sick and are probably asymptomatic nowadays. So they can go about their day even being COVID positive. People just don’t care anymore. If they are positive with COVID, they’re not isolating themselves anymore. You’re probably just as likely to interact with a COVID-positive person on your local grocery store run. Is that a good thing? No, but it’s reality.

So, would a TAR just let the teams run around COVID positive? That’s a decision they have to make.

But one thing’s for sure, having teams randomly going in and out of the Race is just not a viable solution moving forward. Especially TAR seasons that aren’t 67 Legs long like TARAu.

Let me be clear, it’s not the teams’ fault. And it will definitely suck for them if they catch COVID and are eliminated because of it. But that’s just the way things go for a COVID Era TAR. Sorry.

That said, Kathy & Chace definitely have a reason to be upset. At least in the immediate aftermath of the Leg.

The Speed Bump placement was specifically so one of the returning teams were eliminated. There’s no other reason to put it right before the Pit Stop AND AFTER an Hours of Operation.

So I’ve done some Google scouting and it shows the market as being both a night market and being open from 5am to 5pm. Whichever it is, there is really no reason to enforce such an artificial Hours of Operation for teams. As we saw Kathy & Chace doing some reconnaissance (smart move actually), we saw the vendors were ready to sell to teams. TARAu could’ve easily spoken to the market bosses to allow teams in earlier if those were really the true hours.

So there was really no need to hold teams and ensure they all started at the same time. It basically negated the entire Leg before it. It’s the same criticism for back in the day when TAR would fly somewhere in the middle of Legs. In 2022, there is no reason to negate entire chunks of Legs like this.

But an Hours of Operation right before the Pit Stop? Nonsense.

I don’t like having teams popping in and out of the Race whenever the show deems it is financially viable. But if you’re going to bring teams in and out, then why sabotage them when you do bring them in? What’s the point in not having eliminated them to begin with?

Now, I will say, one thing that TARAu6 has done better than TARC8 is in giving the returning COVID teams a Speed Bump instead of that stupid Pass. The placement of it here is stupid. But the idea of a Speed Bump (like TAR33 did, but did not show) is better than TARC8’s nonsense too.

Lots of nonsense in TAR these days.

Anyway, let’s talk about the rest of the Leg that was erased.

The selfie task was fine. On TARPHDME, it would’ve been a Samsung-sponsored task. More opportunities for extra budget moneys of course! Lol

It was nice to finally have a Detour, but then teams ended up choosing just one side of it. Both tasks were okay on paper, but maybe the bike polo should’ve been more than just one goal. It’s not hard to see why teams chose it when it was obviously much quicker to finish.

The tejo task is a good Active Route Info task. It would’ve made for a nice Road Block as well, especially when we didn’t get one this Leg. Lol at the teams trying to discredit Kathy & Chace actually hitting a target.

And the herbs task was good, especially having to purchase in Spanish (I hope there wasn’t any English translations on the paper). But the Hours of Operation just ruined it.

Overall, it could’ve been one of the stronger Legs this season. But the inexplicable end really spoils the whole thing. That’s a common occurrence with these Network 10 TARAus.

Team Thoughts

Seeing the Angel & Frankie/Flick & Gabby rivalry turn into a friendlier, but still competitive one was great to see. That’s the kind of great Racing that’s fun to watch. I won’t say anything more to as not to jinx them though. lol

It was also fun seeing Chelsea & Jamus actually do well this Leg. They definitely have great Racing in them. As long as they find a balance between the good Racing and their fun outbursts, then they’re good to go.

I liked Kathy & Chace when they were on. They were definitely positioning themselves as one of the stronger teams. And they proved as much this Leg. I really liked them going into the market early without actually buying the stuffs. Even if the Speed Bump were earlier in the Leg or if there were no Hours of Operation, they would’ve easily survived. Maybe even won the Leg, that’s how strong they were. And it’s not about getting a lot of rest, they were Racing like this back when they first started. So as much as TARAu’s messy COVID contingency plans suck, it would’ve been great to see a team like Kathy & Chace go up against Angel & Frankie and Flick & Gabby. Oh well.

Pako & Mori and Heath & Toni had to work a little bit harder this Leg. But they’re teams that can always move up whenever they need to.

Stuart & Glennon are alright. They definitely had a chance as well. But they did just enough to stay ahead of the cousins.

And that’s it! All the other teams are gone. And most of the COVID teams are ones that were already invisible anyway. So… there’s that, I guess.

Episode Quotes

Mori: “It’ll be great to communicate with the foreigners.”

Angel: “You wanna see explosion? I’ll show you explosion.”

Gabby: “Can I go under you?”