Recap: The Amazing Race Australia 7 (Celebrity Edition), Episode 12 – “This has never ever happened in Amazing Race history!” + Season Wrap-Up

The Final Three teams meet Beau at the Pit Start for this Final Leg in Kuala Lumpur. They reflect on their time on the Race so far before Beau flags them off for the start of the Leg. The teams run and open the first clue telling them this Final Leg will put their Race skills to the ultimate test.

First up is communication which will be tested at Fangs by Dekori. Here, teams will build one of the restaurant’s fancy desserts. But only one team member can see it. That team member must communicate what they see to their partner in order to recreate it exactly. What they don’t know is that they will also have a snake friend around their necks while they do it.

Teams hurry to hop into taxis. Emma & Hayley arrive at the restaurant first and are asked to put blindfolds on. Once they are led to their seats, a python is wrapped around Hayley’s neck as she gets started. The other teams arrive and get started as well. Alli is freaked out by the snake and Angie tries to tell her it is just plastic, which it obviously is not. Tristan is freaked out as well as it is one of his fears. Darren tries to calm him down and encourage him.

Alli & Angie ask for a check first, but they have a dragonfruit star in the wrong position. Emma & Hayley get a check and they get the thumbs up and the next clue. Darren & Tristan get their bowl approved next and Alli & Angie correct their mistake and hurry to catch up.

After the dessert, teams must catch a taxi to one of the largest bookstores in the world, BookXcess REXKL. Teams must search the massive store for the travel section and then locate a treasure map. They must then figure out how to use the map by aligning it with the bookshelf in front of them in order to reveal the location of the next clue.

Emma & Hayley get to the bookstore, but get lost in the maze. Darren & Tristan arrive next and manage to find the map first. They try to figure out the map which they think is bizarre. The sisters see them running off with the map and they hurry over to the travel section and finally get it. But they also have trouble figuring out what the map means.

Alli & Angie arrive and find the map as well. Now all three teams are trying to decipher the odd map. But Darren & Tristan finally realize the map corresponds to the bookshelves. Alli sees them holding their map up and she and Angie also realize what the map means.

Both teams hurry to look for the clue inside the book. After the bookstore, teams must now make their way to Masjid Jamek Bridge on the other side of Kuala Lumpur in any way they can. Here, teams must learn an M-pop hip-hop dance routine and perform it.

Darren & Tristan decide to make their way on foot while Alli & Angie hop into a taxi. Emma & Hayley figure out the map soon after and also hop into a taxi.

Darren & Tristan arrive at the dance location first and begin to learn the choreography. Alli & Angie arrive next and Angie is unsure if she will be able to do it. Alli makes sure to describe the dance to her mum in a way that will help her the most. Emma & Hayley arrive in last, but are looking forward to the task.

Darren & Tristan go for their first attempt, but get the thumbs down. Alli & Angie go for an attempt and Alli tries to guide her through it. It’s not yet enough to get the thumbs up. Emma & Hayley give it a go and of course get it on their first attempt.

Teams must now travel to Menara TA One for “the final puzzle” where they must correctly place 11 photos of locations they’ve visited during the Race. However, there are also 10 other photos that are similar, but wrong. So teams must pay attention to the details in order to get the correct ones.

Emma & Hayley get to the rooftop location and get started.

Darren & Tristan get it on their third attempt. Tristan has been taking notes all season and they study on the taxi ride over. They get some hope seeing the sisters still on the rooftop.

Alli & Angie get the thumbs up on their 5th attempt and hurry to catch up.

Emma & Hayley and Darren & Tristan push the button to check their answers, but they repeatedly get the red lights. Alli & Angie arrive and get started. Now all three teams are here at the Final Task.

Emma & Hayley say they have been here for over an hour. But Darren & Tristan finally realize their mistake and get the green light. They open the next clue directing them to the Finish Line. First, teams must catch the correct train to Masjid Jamek. Then they must make their way on foot to the River of Life lookout point for the Finish Line.

Emma & Hayley get the green light and hurry to try and catch up. They are a bit frustrated that they fell behind at the Final Task.

Meanwhile, Darren & Tristan meet a family with six children who agree to help them find the Finish Line. And it is the uncle and nephew who officially arrive first to the cheers of the crowd. They share a hug before stepping on the Mat, but then take a seat. They say they would like to step on the Mat together with the other teams as they have felt inspired by both Emma & Hayley and Alli & Angie. They feel all their charities deserve the money.

Beau is touched by their gesture and promises them a hug later.

Emma & Hayley come running up in complete shock as Darren & Tristan explain what they hope to happen. The sisters think that would be amazing so they sit and wait for the daughter and mum.

Beau comes over and they all share some tears.

Alli & Angie get the green light and make their way over to the Finish Line. Darren & Tristan explain what’s happening and they all share a group hug.

They hold hands and hop on the Mat at the same time. Miss Malaysia welcomes them to Kuala Lumpur and Beau officially declares all three teams the winners of The Amazing Race Australia.

Episode Thoughts

I’ll get to raving about this season in a little bit, but let’s focus on this Final Leg first.

And OMG! I have never ever shed even a single tear at an Amazing Race finale before. And here I am a blubbering mess right now. A history making finale indeed! lol

Last night I said they would never do something as shocking as declare three teams the winner. Lolol! Boy was I wrong! But when I thought that, I assumed it would be the show itself instigating the idea that all three teams would win. But seeing Darren & Tristan propose the idea was just the perfect storybook ending to this season.

I have no idea how other people will react to the gesture. But I honestly am okay with it. Officially, there are three winners. But of course we know that Darren & Tristan arrived at the Finish Line first. I should be upset that they cockblocked TARAu’s first outright all-female winners. But that’s okay. Lol

So officially, this was history making for many reasons. We got the first three-way winners. We got the first all-female winners of TARAu. And we got the first mother-daughter winners of any TAR franchise! Lol. An asterisk to the wins, sure. But officially, that’s what will go on the record. Hehe.

Again, I am perfectly fine with ending the season on this emotional note. I was in shock when Darren & Tristan took a seat. But I started tearing up as Emma & Hayley arrived and they explained what they hoped to happen. Then remembering the nice family helped the uncle and nephew find the location. Come on now! Wonderful!

I think all three teams earned the win anyway. If it had been other teams, maybe not. But these have been the three strongest teams all season. So it’s a deserved win. And as much as I liked the other teams who were eliminated, I can’t think of a better trio to share a win.

The season has done a good job of reminding us the viewers that these teams are Racing for charity. But not in a way that was annoying or knocking us over the head with it. The way the teams Raced hard for their charities, this ending really fits.

I doubt next year’s celeb teams will repeat this gesture. Network 10 will probably try to discourage it. And I doubt “normal people” teams would ever do such a thing either. So this will most likely end up being a one-time, history-making ending.

Anyway! Let’s talk about this Leg! Even without that emotional finish, this was really a very strong Leg. A night Leg in Kuala Lumpur too!

I like the way the Leg kind of brought the Race full circle with the skills they learned during the season. The dessert task was a creative twist to the relaying things to your partner. The snake was just an extra bit of fun. But it really was a perfect task to test communication.

The bookstore task was AMAZING! Teams could have been roaming the store all night. Considering this would most likely be a task on a non-Final Leg on other TARs, I’m sure other teams and definitely North American teams would’ve just given the answer to their friends on the Race. But not here! And it was great to see. Such a creative and tricky task.

Next, I might be iffy on having a performance task on the Final Leg. I would’ve had either another task between this and the memory task. Or put this dance task earlier in the Leg. Just to provide more opportunity for teams to catch up after this processional task.

Still, it was great to see teams catch up to each other. And the Final Memory Task was pretty solid. Again, attention to detail. And definitely something TARPHDME would do lolol The visual of teams on the rooftop in front of the Petronas Towers was stunning as well.

All together though, it made for a very competitive and close Final Leg. Actually good tasks and teams sticking close together. It was great.

And of course all leading up to that emotional and climactic moment at the Finish Line. Simply amazing ending to an amazing season.

And so…

Season Thoughts and Wrap-up

Wow! Like I said yesterday, this season is undoubtedly the strongest season of The Amazing Race Australia that Network 10 has produced. I will hold myself back from saying it is even better than seasons 1 and 3, produced by ActiveTV (for Channel 7) and Channel 7 in-house, respectively. But with recency bias, it’s very tempting to do so.

I think nothing will ever top season 2 of TARAu which is still a gold standard season for the entire worldwide Amazing Race franchise. But really, after the alright season 4 and the WTFJUSTHAPPENED seasons 5 and 6, this celebrity edition has really been so incredible.

Even just being better than the absurdity of seasons 5 and 6 would have been a win. But this season 7 has been a revelation and a revitalization of the Australian franchise of The Amazing Race. A refreshing energy that just might have saved TARAu itself.

Honestly, this has been the most excited I’ve been for any TAR, anywhere in the world in a long time. Perhaps since the combo of TAR25/TARPH2 in the Fall of 2014.

And I think the main reason is the show just got back to basics. TARAu tried all sorts of crazy things for seasons 5 and 6. Partly because of COVID, but also partly because of the apparent airing patterns for Aussie reality shows. (Getting that ROI by airing 3x a week for more weeks is also a possible factor, I will guess.)

But I really believe them going back to a “normal” format with a reasonable number of episodes and teams is the key to why this season has been so enjoyable. There was no need for unnecessary and irrelevant twists. No skipping Legs or Stowaways or nonsense like that. No quitting. No absurd, off the cuff penalties. Just back to normal, good ol’ Racing. The things that harmed the last two seasons especially where completely absent this season. And that’s tells you a lot right there.

I was a bit annoyed in the recent seasons when learning TARAu would leave some tasks on the cutting room floor. Especially when episodes felt so barebones and laborious. Especially with less than amazing teams. This season, even though tasks were again cut out of the final product, the episodes never felt like they were missing something. Every episode still had great competition and good tasks. Of course, including those cut tasks would have made the episodes even better. But the episodes as we got them were still full enough to provide the fun Racing we all deserve! Lol

Contrast that with the current season 35 of TARUS which has so far struggled to fill its 90 minute timeslot (one-hour and a four minutes without commercials). TARAu7 was able to fill the same amount of time AND still have content leftover. TARUS should take some notes.

A lot of people might be annoyed with the three-country route. Some might even be upset that the season remained in Southeast Asia. But that was not a problem for me. When TARs are contained within their own borders and can still produce solid, if not great seasons, a route comprised of three countries is not a big deal for me. Maybe it might have been in the distant past. But TAR has evolved to a point where the actual location is no longer a determining factor in whether a Leg or episode is enjoyable or not.

These countries were also perfect in pushing the teams out of their comfort zones.

And with Asia having been off-limits during the COVID Era seasons of The Amazing Race, I have been quite loving the overabundance of Asian Legs on TARs (United States, Australia and Finland).

But good tasks and good locations can only do so much to carry Legs and episodes. That’s where the teams come in. And WOWOW, this season might have brought together one of the best casts of any Amazing Race in a long time. Definitely one of the better cats of TARAu. And I will include seasons 1 and 3 as well. (Again, I have to control myself from getting too excited about this season lol)

When the celebrity casting was first announced, I was kind of meh to the idea. Not because I am totally against celebs on the Race. But really just my general annoyance with TARAu due to the last two seasons.

But boy was I in for a surprise. These celebrity teams have Raced harder than even “regular people” teams! These celebs were competitive and took the Race seriously. I honestly would’ve expected the celebs to all be divas and whine. Basically, I expected all the teams to have frequent moments like that of Harry & Teddy in Siem Reap, complaining to producers about not wanting to do tasks. Or ugly traveler moments like George being horrified by a local coming up to beg for money as if they had some kind of disease.

But nope. Aside from those two moments, these rich, pampered celeb teams came onto the Race and gave it their all. No giving up or quitting here. Which is so refreshing considering quitting is quite a favorite pastime of teams from the last two seasons of TARAu and also TAR Canada too. And those series had regular, everyday non-celebrity teams competing.

Heck, these teams Raced harder than most of the American teams from the last couple of seasons. Most especially teams from the debacle that was TAR32. No holding each other’s hands or whispering answers or completing tasks for each other here. These Aussie celeb teams came to compete and to WIN.

I really was surprised at how determined the teams were during the Race. Of course, they were competing for their charities. And I really thought they would just half-ass the Race, especially since they all could probably afford to donate the $100,000 from their own pockets. But I was definitely wrong. These teams had the competitive fire that I have not seen on a TAR in a long time.

And they all provided their own bits of drama, comedy and even inspiration that you could ask for from any Amazing Race team.

Teams being able to be friendly and fun while still being competitive and not spoon-feed each other during the Race? Imagine that!

Even more surprising for me, I think this might be my favorite Final Three ever from any Amazing Race I’ve watched in the world. Extend that to the Final Four or even Final Five, to be honest. Or even Six! I liked all these final teams that I could have conceivably been happy with any of them winning. That is definitely not a common occurrence for me. In fact, there have been seasons (especially in recent times) where I don’t even have a single team I care about in the Final Leg. But this season was the opposite!

So when you have that perfect combination of good tasks, good locations and great teams plus solid editing and a “normal” format; well, that’s a perfect recipe for a strong season of The Amazing Race. And that is definitely what this season was.

Barring something incredible happening on The Amazing Race 35, I am sure when I say that The Amazing Race Australia 7 (Celebrity Edition) will end up being the best TAR season of the year. It is far and away the best season of TAR that Network 10 has produced. And while still in the mist of the season finale, TARAu7 might just be one of the best Australian seasons yet, period.

Let’s all hope Network 10 can continue this momentum and replicate the success with next year’s series!