Recap: The Amazing Race Australia 6, Episode 21 – “Take the initiative and eat it!”

Teams fly to Broome, the gateway to the Kimberley, for the Final Leg. Upon arrival, teams open the first clue telling them to head to Sun Picture Garden where they must feed each other sweet and sour pork using 2.4m-long chopsticks.

Heath & Toni eat their food first followed by Angel & Frankie with Kelly & Georgia in last. The next clue reveals the Road Block: Who’s come out of their shell? For this Road Block, teams will head to Willie Creek. They will get on a boat to collect a panel of oysters in the water and bring it back to land. They will submerge them in water and coax at least four of them to open up. Once open, teams must insert a metal clamp, hoping they will open up enough so they can put a peg in it. They will then hand them over to a master pearler who will see if there’s a pearl inside.

While Angel & Frankie stop to flag down a car and ask for directions, Toni gets started with the Road Block. She talks to the oysters to try and befriend them. Kelly & Georgia arrive 2nd and Kelly gets on the boat. Angel has to wait until he gets back before she can get on.

All teams get caught up as they wait for the oysters to open up. After some initial worry, Toni is able to get her oysters open first followed by Angel and Kelly in last.

After the oysters, one team member will hop on a boat that will take them to a sandbank where they will grab an oyster shell with a Yawuru word inscribed on it meaning “dust storm.” They will write the word in the sand. Their partner will take a helicopter ride and must identify the word in the sand within three minutes.

Toni chooses to be in the helicopter, but she and Heath fail their first attempt. Angel takes her turn in the helicopter and she is able to read Frankie’s sand writing, moving into first. Kelly & Georgia get it on their first attempt, leaving Heath & Toni going from first to last.

After the sand writing, teams must head into the mangroves where they will hunt for 20 snails before each cooking one and eating it. All teams again catch up to each other before they begin collecting snails. All three begin grilling and Angel & Frankie admit they their feelings for each other have grown even more during the Race.

The orange team maintain their lead as they open the next clue revealing the Road Block: Who’s king of the castle? For this Road Block, teams must make their way to Mantra Frangipani Broome where they will collect a bucket and spade before traveling to Simpsons Beach where they will look for a race-colored Mother of Pearl button hidden inside 1 of 200 sandcastles.

Angel & Frankie end up driving straight to Simpsons Beach without collecting their bucket and spade at Mantra Frangipani. Heath & Toni and Kelly & Georgia end up grabbing their buckets before them.

Heath, Kelly and Frankie decide to do the Road Block and Heath finds the button first.

Beau says that teams have unknowingly collected clues from locations close to clock towers and the clues have been dropping hints since the first one in Chefchaouen. For this task, teams will be given six blocks with the clock towers printed on them. They must arrange them in the order visited before being given six clock faces with the times they were at each location. This will reveal a six-digit code (with a two-digit time needing to be added together) which can be used to unlock two padlocks on a chest revealing the final clue.

Heath & Toni use their notes on the clock towers since they had noticed the bolded “TIME” in their clues.

Meanwhile, a hermit crab leads Angel & Frankie to their button and they hurry to try and catch up. But Heath & Toni are able to finish their times before they even arrive.

Heath & Toni open the final clue telling them to make their way on foot to the Finish Line at Gantheaume Point. They step on the mat and Beau officially declares them the winners of the biggest Amazing Race Australia grand prize ever.

Before stepping on the Mat, Angel puts on her father’s jersey. He had recently passed away and she hoped to be wearing it when she won the Race. She and Frankie, however, have to settle for 2nd. Kelly & Georgia are 3rd.

Beau tells everyone to head to 10play to apply for next season.

Episode Thoughts

I’ll do a Season Wrap-Up on Tuesday. Maybe by then we’ll have a more definitive answer as to whether or not TARAu is actually dead. Again. lol

So let’s just talk about this Final Leg.

First up, the “chopsticks” task was so random. I honestly would have rather they cooked Chinese food, to be honest. But with the teams so stressed and almost hyperventilating and at level 100 or something, it made the whole thing more fascinating to watch than it deserved to be. And probably the better task of the middle few.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen teams so immediately stressed out and at this level before. Like, it really was on a different level. But funny enough, that tapered off as the Leg progressed. Very strange lol

For the oysters task, I was surprised they didn’t dive into the water. But even more surprised that they had to wait in line to get on the boat. You pair that task with another first come, first served task with the helicopter.

That’s probably one of the more annoying things this season. Like I’ve mentioned before, TARAu likes to force equalizers and staggering teams. So even if teams are close together, there’s a bit of artificial-ness to it that it lessens the excitement.

Having a luck-based, needle in a haystack task on the finale? Ehh… not a fan.

And the clock task is a cute take on the memory task. But by this point in the Race, it wasn’t going to make a difference since teams were already spread out enough, thanks to the sandcastles, to not matter anymore.

Anyway, it was a pretty typical Network 10 TARAu finale. Processional, linear and lacking the excitement and climactic feeling you would expect from a Final Leg.

Team Thoughts

I was rooting for either Heath & Toni or Angel & Frankie to win. Probably more Angel & Frankie just because I liked them from the beginning and they had done well from the beginning of this 72 Leg season too. But Heath & Toni are great winners. I am happy for them and am happy that we finally have a female TARAu winner.

Heath & Toni started out slow, but definitely improved and stepped up during the 81 Leg Race. So their trajectory is probably the best of the season and worked out very well for them.

Angel & Frankie were probably the reverse. They started off strong, but started to stumble. Probably thanks to the 85 Legs they had to actually Race. It showed this Leg too as they made simple mistakes they didn’t do early on. They probably could’ve won had it not been for their simple slip-ups.

But I think they are legit TARAu All-Stars. Something about the orange teams on these Network 10 TARAus? Of course Tom & Tyler. And though Sefa & Jessica didn’t make it far, they were still one of the best teams last season.

Anyway, I wish the show had asked Angel & Frankie about romance earlier and then played up that storyline more. I mean, I think we all noticed the romantic tension all season. Yes? lol But they were really cute in that moment here.

I thought it was funny how Kelly & Georgia said they were favorites coming into the finale. Ummm…. Okay. lol I’m glad they were 3rd. Again, it’s tough and no offense to them. I think they would’ve been a strong contender had they not gotten COVID. But they didn’t Race every one of the 90 Legs this season and that would’ve put a huge asterisk on a win. Which maybe would’ve fit with this crazy season and its lax rules. But whatever. I’m glad a team that Raced every Leg ended up winning.

Episode Quotes

Angel: “Take the initiative and eat it!”

Toni: “I’m gonna smash you with these sticks.”

Heath: “I think I deep-throated it!”