Recap: The Amazing Race Australia 7 (Celebrity Edition), Episode 7 – “This is the most not-food thing I’ve seen.”

Teams have flown from Penang to Siem Riep, Cambodia and head to Chum Theany souvenir shop for their next clue. That clue directs them to Angkor Wat where they must find an offering and then search the complex’s highest point for a monk to give it to.

Alli & Angie are able to arrive at Angkor Wat before previously first place Jana & Cor. The daughter and mum find a monk and hand him the offering, but he doesn’t have their clue. So they have to go get another one. They end up running into Jana & Cor who have spotted the correct monk from the highest point. And they head over together.

Harry & Teddy, currently in last, actually end up finding the monk first. But they had not collected their offering yet.

Jana & Cor and Alli & Angie make their offering and open the next clue which reveals the Detour: Protect Your House or Protect Your Empire. In Protect Your House, teams must memorize the contents of and recreate a traditional spirit house. In Protect Your Empire, teams will learn one of the world’s oldest existing martial arts – bokator. When they can properly demonstrate a sequence of four moves, they will get the next clue.

The mum and son choose the bokator, the daughter and mum choose the spirit house.

Meanwhile, working together, Darren & Tristan and Bec & Kate are at the highest point and see the monk. But as they head down, Emma & Hayley ask if they’ve found the monk and Darren tells them they found the wrong one. The sisters are annoyed that Darren & Tristan and Bec & Kate would point them in the wrong direction.

Bec & Kate feel bad having to go along with Darren’s deception and they laugh at the instant karma when Emma & Hayley arrive at the spirit house before them.

At the bokator, Jana & Cor are having a bit of trouble getting the hang of the moves and begin to get frustrated. Darren & Tristan are happy to see it, but fail their first attempt. The mum and son also fail their first attempt and they immediately argue.

On the other side of the Detour, Alli & Angie and then Emma & Hayley get the thumbs up on their second attempts. By the time Bec & Kate return from checking the example again, the two teams have already left.

Back at the bokator, Darren & Tristan pass on their second attempt as well. Jana & Cor continue bickering and that allows Harry & Teddy to pass them when they get the thumbs up on their first attempt. The mum and son end up getting the thumbs upon their third attempt. Bec & Kate are now in last.

After the Detour, teams must head to local restaurant Asana Old Wooden House. Alli & Angie and Emma & Hayley open the next clue revealing the Road Block: Who’s good in the kitchen?

For this Road Block, teams will prepare and then eat a local delicacy – tarantulas. Once teams eat their plate of three tarantulas, all the garnishes and anything else that they are served, they’ll get the next clue.

Angie and Hayley head to the cooking stations and are shocked to see the tarantulas on the table. They quickly fry them up and take the plate to the table. That’s when a waiter serves them four bowls of other bugs as well.

Tristan arrives and begins to shovel down the food. Jana & Cor are able to arrive next and Jana chooses to do the Road Block.

Tristan and Angie finish their food and they can now make their way on foot to the Pit Stop at Wat Damnak Buddhist Temple.

Teddy arrives and starts the Road Block. Harry squirms just watching Teddy have to go through this since he loves him so much.

Bec & Kate arrive and Kate decides to do the Road Block. But once Bec sees the spiders, she cannot handle even being in the vicinity of them. She thinks they should take a penalty, even though Kate is more than willing to complete the task. They have to be together when eating. So Bec & Kate end up taking the penalty which they will serve out at the Pit Stop.

And at the Pit Stop, Darren & Tristan claim first place with Alli & Angie taking second.

Jana & Cor are next to finish with Emma & Hayley right behind them.

Bec & Kate arrive at the Mat and Beau tells them their penalty time is one hour. With 19 minutes left on the penalty, much to Beau’s shock, Jana & Cor arrive to check-in as Team #3. With 15 minutes left, Emma & Hayley step on the Mat as Team #4.

With about five minutes left, Harry & Teddy step on the Mat as Team #5.

That means Bec & Kate are last and eliminated.

Episode Thoughts

Another solid episode. Always stunning to see Angkor Wat and the surrounding area on TAR. The first task with searching for the monk was good. A little bit of trickery, but a fine first task for the Leg.

The Detour was really good. Both tasks on their own presenting their own unique challenges. And a balanced pair of tasks as well as teams can choose which they can do better at. Also helped to shuffle the teams a bit and that is always exciting.

The Road Block was alright. Eating tasks (and specifically, eating tasks involving things Racers might deem disgusting) can be easy and even lazy tasks to include on the Race. But I think it fits perfectly here on TARAu7 because of the celebrity Racers.

And speaking of, it’s really amazing to see how the teams are giving it 100%. They always mention they are doing this for charity. That reminder motivating them to do their best. When I honestly would have assumed that teams would just more easily give up since they probably could afford to just use their own money to donate to the charities anyway. But they’re doing their best to really help share the charities’ stories and get that chance for some moneys too.

I mean, you might not even get regular people who are Racing for themselves to be as motivated and dedicated as these celebrities. So kudos to all of these teams.

Hope Network 10 and TARAu have similar casting success for next year’s (just announced!) season!

Deleted Task of the Week Alert!
Hehe. The show looks to have cut out a task between the Detour and Road Block. As seen in the clue here:

Teams needed to head to the Old Market to purchase some fresh ingredients which they would bring with them to the restaurant. We see teams with an orange tote bag:

And then this bag of vegetables that we can assume the teams exchanged for their next clue.

I actually would’ve loved to have seen this task. Having teams interacting with locals in the market would’ve been great. We did see a few placements shift between the Detour and Road Block. So we have to assume it’s because of the shopping task.

I think including the shopping task would’ve been fun to see. Not just for teams being out and about with the local peoples. But also to chip away at some of the time they spent on everything else. Even cutting off like a few minutes from each of the monk search, the Detour and then the Road Block would’ve made for a tighter and fuller episode.

The episode overall was still fine and enjoyable. And just a bit better than how TAR35 has been stretching things out to fill their one hour runtime. But it would’ve been great to see the extra task still.

How interesting that Bec & Kate’s penalty time, which they finished and had teams arrive during its duration, was 1/3 of a normal TARUS Leg. Meaning, TARAu’s Legs are much longer than TAR35’s 3-hour sprints. lol

Overall, TARAu7 continues to be so good!

Team Thoughts

I am surprised how much I ended up liking Bec & Kate. I wish they didn’t take the penalty. Especially as I did really feel their sincerity in saying they are fans of the Race. Of course, I definitely wouldn’t be able to relate to Bec being so afraid of something she can’t even be within a foot of them. But at least it wasn’t quitting at a table setting challenge! These sisters were a great team to have on this season.

Meanwhile, I hope we get to see rivalries heat up! I’d love to see Alli & Angie and Emma & Hayley take on Darren & Tristan. I don’t know where Jana & Cor or Harry & Teddy fit in to that battle. Though Jana and Cor definitely do enough battling between themselves already!

I really do appreciate the teams taking the Race seriously and not just treating this like some paid gig.

Episode Thoughts

Harry: “I should be a monk.”

Jana: “I like how they’re working as a team.”

Teddy:” Bruv. No, this is the most not-food thing I’ve seen.”