Recap: The Amazing Race Australia 6, Episode 18 – “We don’t eat on this show ’cause of budget problems.”

Teams get no rest once again as they open the next clue telling them to drive to Izamal. Kelly & Georgia are in the front of the caravan and Kelly suggests they try and lose the other teams. But Georgia says that’s a waste of time and mean.

Upon arrival in Izamal, teams must find Convento de San Antonio de Padua where they will learn and perform a Yucatecan dance with a beer bottle on their head.

All the teams are learning the dance at the same time. Tiffany & Cynthia fail their first attempt, but Angel & Frankie get the thumbs up on theirs. Auntie and niece pass on their second attempt.

After the dancing, teams must count the 31 exterior and 24 interior arches of the convent. They will then give the driver of a horse-drawn carriage those numbers, referring to a street intersection where Beau’s friend Esteban will give them the next clue.

Angel & Frankie and Tiffany & Cynthia think they have the correct intersections. But it is Angel & Frankie who find the marked door at Calle 31 and Calle 24. Tiffany & Cynthia have gotten decimal point streets.

The next clue reveals a Road Block: Who’s ready to be pinned down?

For this Road Block, teams will head to Sudzal and join some mamacitas in their sewing circle. They will be given a half-finished pattern of a traditional Yucatecan flower design embroidery. Teams will get the next clue when they’ve completed the flower.

Meanwhile, trailing teams Heath & Toni and Kelly & Georgia decide to work together. They split up the counting, Heath & Toni counting the interior and Georgia with maths teacher Kelly counting the exterior. Pako & Mori hop into the conference of numbers. They’re all unwittingly wrong, but they give it a go since they won’t know. Tiffany & Cynthia arrive just as they are about to leave and they decide to just go with the answer the others have gotten.

Pako & Mori, having continued to count on their own, get different numbers from the others. So they decide to trust the other teams instead of their own counting. All of them are wrong, but they end up passing the flagged door anyway.

Angel & Frankie arrive at the Road Block and Frankie gets started by watching the mamacitas. The other teams quickly catch up and Cynthia, Heath, and Georgia all start actually embroidering before Frankie which annoys Angel. Pako and Lauren arrive in last.

But Pako gets the thumbs up first and he and Mori can now make their way to the Pit Stop at Cenote X’Canche. Frankie, Cynthia and Heath are next with Lauren and finally Georgia bringing up the rear.

Heath & Toni end up being the first team to arrive at the cenote. Teams are directed to “take two marked bikes and take the path to the cenote.” They excitedly hop on bikes, arrive at the cenote and zipline down into the water to meet Beau on the floating Mat. They win the Leg and a $5000 Red Balloon voucher.

Pako & Mori and Tiffany & Cynthia arrive and bike to the Pit Stop together. They check-in as Teams 2 and 3. Angel & Frankie are Team #4.

Kelly & Georgia decide to run to the cenote instead of getting on bikes. But they still check-in as Team #5.

Lauren & Steph have arrived, but it is too dark to go down into the cenote so Beau eliminates the cops while on the road.

Episode Thoughts

Felt like a short Leg, but actually not? Though better than the recent Legs since there was no random Hours of Operation in the middle of it. The Leg was okay I guess since they were able to fit it into the afternoon as well.

But wait! I have something positive to say about TARAu! One thing I do like about these KOR Legs is that TARAu actually eliminated a team. I didn’t like which team got eliminated. But making the Leg an elimination Leg and not just a no-penalty Non-Elimination Leg like TARUS does is a good thing.

Now, to this Leg. The dance was good. Especially since both team members had to do it and all teams had to complete it as well. It wasn’t a Detour or Road Block.

The counting task was interesting because it felt like teams were making it harder than it was described. What was with all the calculations? And DECIMALS? WTF? Strange.

The worst part of the task though was getting into the carriage. It’s a poorly designed task because teams could’ve just roamed the streets until they found the flagged door. Which is exactly what the teams, minus Angel & Frankie, seemed to do. It again just renders the previous task mostly useless.

The embroidery Road Block would’ve been good as well. But why did it seem like some teams didn’t even do the task? Some teams did full flowers. Other teams had almost zero yellow stitching in it. WTF were they actually supposed to do?

I appreciate all the driving though. And the cenote Pit Stop is beautiful. (Reminds me of the Oman sinkhole Pit Stop in TARPHDME21. Lol)

Overall, Mexico has been a stunning location. But the Legs were just meh.

Team Thoughts

Lauren & Steph were nice ladies. But that’s one COVID team down, two more to go. Sorry.

Angel seems sort of out of it lately. Perhaps she’s just as exhausted as we are watching the season. (Actually, she should be more exhausted since she’s actually the one running the Race. Lol) I hope it doesn’t affect her and Frankie’s Race. I think I’m still rooting for them the most. With Heath & Toni a close second. We need to have our first TARAu female winner!

Episode Quotes

Georgia: “This is some sick joke!”

Heath: “I don’t have a flat head.”

Graphics: “Embroider? I barely Know Her!”

Beau: “We don’t eat on this show ’cause of budget problems.”