Recap: The Amazing Race Australia 6, Episode 16 – “They got no idea what’s going on, do they?”

Teams will travel eight hours on one of two buses from Belize across the border into Mexico and the city of Campeche. The order they arrive will depend on the “loco” Mexican traffic.

They will immediately head to the Salon Rincon Colonial. One team member will become a blindfolded taster while their teammate will serve them crickets, a cockroach, a tarantula and a scorpion. If the blindfolded team member can correctly guess what they are, they’ll get the next clue. For each incorrect guess, both will have to eat a chili.

Pako & Mori move into first place, followed by Heath & Toni and Angel & Frankie. Chelsea & Jamus and Lauren & Steph are first to finish from the second bus, leaving Kelly & Georgia and Tiffany & Cynthia in last. They can now make their way on foot to Parque San Roman. Teams will have to hit two pinatas using balls and a catapult. When it drops down, they can then smash it open with a stick to find a specially marked candy.

All teams catch up at the pinatas and Lauren & Steph manage to smash their pinatas and find the candy first. Chelsea & Jamus are close behind followed by Heath & Toni. Last place Tiffany & Cynthia have now moved into 4th place with Angel & Frankie next.

Teams must now make their way to Calle 59, a street known for its brightly colored houses. Teams must memorize the colors of 25 houses on one side of the street and then match color swatches on a board in the correct order.

On the way, Chelsea & Jamus and Lauren & Steph agree that they cannot work with Heath & Toni on this task because they would just run past them later on. They arrive at the calle, but HOURS OF OPERATION! The “street” opens at 8am tomorrow morning. They have to sign-up at the departure board.

It is now dark and Pako & Mori and Kelly & Georgia are still at the pinatas. The Hubbies finally get the candy and leave, but Kelly & Georgia decide to take a penalty after having been here for four hours. Kelly says he’s hit the pinata numerous times, but it isn’t moving. They are relieved to find the Hours of Operation.

Lauren & Steph are first to begin, followed by Chelsea & Jamus, Heath & Toni, Tiffany & Cynthia and Angel & Frankie. Pako & Mori and Kelly & Georgia are last. But all teams are only minutes apart.

Teams take notes and then later grab the color swatches and return to the houses to perfectly match them to the houses. Angel & Frankie and Pako & Mori decide to work together, but Tiffany & Cynthia are able to finish the task on their own in first.

Teams can now drive themselves to Hacienda Sotuta de Peon where they must pick up harvested henequen, deliver it to the processing factory, comb the fibres and finally twist the fibres into 5m of rope. Teams are not allowed to run through the working hacienda.

Because their cell phones aren’t working, Tiffany & Cynthia, Pako & Mori, Angel & Frankie and Heath & Toni decide to convoy it to the hacienda since only the Church Friends’ phone had directions.

The other teams catch up at the hacienda and get started with the task, but they have to get in line as there’s only one processing and one twisting station.

Pako & Mori are lucky enough to be first in line, thus are first to finish and first to open the Road Block clue: Who’s in the deep end? For this Road Block, teams must find the Dzul Ha Cenote on the other end of the hacienda. After showering so as not to contaminate the crystal-clear cenote water, they will dive in to retrieve a clue.

Heath & Toni and Angel & Frankie are next to finish. Kelly & Georgia, who had arrived last, moves up to 4th, followed by Tiffany & Cynthia, Lauren & Steph and Chelsea & Jamus.

Pako & Mori stay in first and open the Pit Stop clue. But the Mat at the hacienda is a “Virtual Pit Stop” with no food, showers or rest. And a team may be eliminated “depending on how [Beau’s] feeling.”

Teams maintain their placements through the Road Block. Pako & Mori check-in first, but Beau hands them the next clue, much to their confusion. Heath & Toni and Angel & Frankie are 2nd and 3rd. Kelly & Georgia arrive at the Mat, but must serve out a ten-minute penalty. Tiffany & Cynthia are able to slide into 4th. Kelly & Georgia settle for 5th.

Chelsea overcomes her fears and is able to dive into the cenote to grab the clue. But Lauren & Steph are Team #6. Chelsea & Jamus are last, but because this is a Virtual Pit Stop, they will also continue Racing.

Episode Thoughts

A meh Leg. Or was it two Legs? I dunno, it felt like two Legs what with that Hours of Operation splitting the Leg in half again.

Whether it’s the Leg design or the arbitrary penalty times, Network 10 TARAu seems intent on forcing teams to be neck-and-neck even if it means doing so in the most artificial and contrived way possible.

Anyway, the bug eating is just an easy, throwaway task you could do anywhere in the world.

The pinata task was interesting because the mechanics were a bit confusing to me at first. (Also because I was watching the episode at 2x lol) But really, it’s sketchy that Kelly & Georgia would take so long when others came in and out. He said he hit the pinata several times, so I thought once that happened, they could start smashing. But the thing had to drop down. I think one of the teams’ pinata even fell to the ground. Weird. But it’s another opportunity for the show to issue another random penalty depending on how they felt that day.

The color swatch task was pretty nonsense since teams could not only take notes, they could actually take the swatches with them to match to the houses. What’s the point of the task then? Should’ve just had them memorize the colors. End of story. Taking the swatches up to the walls defeats the purpose to the task itself.

The rope task was good… IF there had been more than one station. Having teams have to line up for ONE station really ruined the great task.

The cenote Road Block was okay, but very much a processional task. I like the cenote tasks on TARPHDME20 more. lol

Thankfully this Leg was a KOR Leg. That means every Leg after this until the finale SHOULD be an elimination now. So that’s good.

Episode Quotes

Beau: “Loco Mexican traffic.”

Heath: “Oh my god. Why does it go so deep?!”

Angel: “Just go. Who cares if we lose them.”

Beau: “They got no idea what’s going on, do they?”