Recap: The Amazing Race 37, Episode 5 – “Can you be quiet? I have a headache.”

Recap: The Amazing Race 37, Episode 5 – It’s Not Personal, It’s Business

After staying with locals for a homestay during the Pit Stop, teams open the first clue of the 5th Leg in the morning directing them to the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary. But as teams start the Leg before sunrise, all teams end up equalized at the HOURS OF OPERATION at 8am.

While waiting, the first teams talk about the Driver’s Seat. Scott & Lori say they took it personal. But they agree to put it in the past and move forward. Lori and Ana hug it out.

Teams enter the Monkey Forest and walk through seeing all the monkeys. But they are surprised to see Phil who tells them they will now face a Live Double U-Turn Vote.

Teams will vote for which team to U-Turn and the top two vote getters will be U-Turned. They pick up their flip photos and separate to discuss amongst themselves before they reconvene.

Brett & Mark vote for Scott & Lori. Jonathan & Ana vote for Nick & Mike because they are a team they haven’t really gotten to know yet and could be a threat to them later on.

Pops & Jeff vote Jonathan & Ana because of the 25 lbs. Han & Holden vote Scott & Lori as do Melinda & Erika too. Lori is shocked and says they didn’t think they were a threat.

Carson & Jack vote Jonathan & Ana to ensure it wouldn’t be them U-Turned. Jonathan & Ana are now shocked that Carson & Jack would vote for them.

Nick & Mike vote Scott & Lori. Scott says he loves all of them like their sons and their sons would never vote for them. Lori says they are not friends with any of them anymore. Mark tells them they cannot present themselves as a weak team all the time as a strategy.

Alyssa & Josiah and Scott & Lori both vote for Jonathan & Ana. That means Jonathan & Ana and Scott & Lori are U-Turned with four votes each.

Phil hands them the next clue and flags them off for the Leg. Teams must now make their way to Pantai Pandawa.

On the way, Carson & Jack are relieved they didn’t get a single vote and they think they are winning the social game. Scott & Lori stay positive and are resolved to win this Leg outright. Jonathan tells Ana to stop crying and Race.

At Pantai Pandawa, the waiting clue reveals the Detour: Coconuts or Coral. In Coconuts, teams must use a bike to deliver 60 coconuts to a beach café along the shoreline. When stacked like how the locals do, they will get the next clue. In Coral, teams must attach five species of coral onto a hexagonal reef star frame. When approved, they must swim into the water to plant the frame on the ocean floor.

Han & Holden, Nick & Mike, Alyssa & Joshua, Melinda & Erika choose coconuts. Brett & Mark and Carson & Jack choose Coral. Jonathan & Ana choose coconuts first, but switch to Coral when they pass it first. Scott & Lori choose to do coconuts first so they can get the physical task out of the way.

Jonathan & Ana don’t pay attention to the different types of coral. They get the thumbs down three times before realizing their mistake. Carson & Jack and Brett & Mark get their frames approved and head out into the water. Jonathan & Ana finally get the thumbs up on their sixth attempt. Ana overcomes her fear of the ocean to get the Coral side of the Detour done.

Alyssa & Josiah are first to deliver all their coconuts and get the clue once they return the bike back at the coconut truck. Pops & Jeff and Scott & Lori are next.

Melinda & Erika give Jonathan & Ana some tips on the coconuts as the mother and daughter finish their last trip. Han & Holden encourage them and point them to the delivery point. Nick & Mike and Melinda & Erika are next to finish the coconuts.

Meanwhile, Scott & Lori get the thumbs down on seven attempts.

After the Detour, teams must make their way Nusa Dua Beach. The waiting clue reveals the Road Block: Who wants to meet their match? For this Road Block, teams will choose a surfboard with a unique sticker on it then swim out into the surf to search amongst dozens of surfers for one with a matching sticker on their surfboard. Teams will exchange the surfer and their board for the next clue.

Jack decides to do the Road Block. Brett is close behind. Jack, however, is only looking for the color of the surfboard and not the sticker. Brett finds his matching board as Josiah arrives and starts. Jack finally realizes what he’s looking for and he finds the right board.

Brett & Mark and Carson & Jack can now head to the Pit Stop on foot: Taksu Art Stage. Brett & Mark are Team #1 and win $10,000. Carson & Jack settle for second. Alyssa & Josiah are Team #3.

Back at the Detour, Jonathan & Ana deliver all their coconuts, but Jonathan says he’s reached his limit of sun and heat exposure for the day. He takes a moment before joining Ana back to return the bike.

Scott & Lori, meanwhile, finally get their corals approved and head out into the water to place the frame.

Back at the Road Block, Pops finds his surfboard as Han heads out to start. She finishes as Mike gets started on the Road Block.

Pops & Jeff and Han & Holden check-in at the Pit Stop as Teams 4 and 5, respectively.

After Erika quickly finds her match, she and Melinda head to the Pit Stop as Team #6, just beating Nick & Mike who have to take 7th.

It’s now down to Jonathan and Scott at the Road Block and Ana is worried about Jonathan just shutting down.

Jonathan finds the surfboard, but he needs to take some breaks on his way back to the beach. He keeps the clue from Ana when he returns. Lori gives Ana a hug as they leave. Scott reunites with Lori on the back after getting his clue.

It’s now a footrace, apparently. But Jonathan & Ana get to the Mat as Team #8. That means Scott & Lori are last and eliminated.

Episode Thoughts

I don’t get the need for a “Live” vote other than TAR wants to have some Survivor and Big Brother-type drama. Which, the teams definitely delivered a little bit. But it really seems out of place on TAR. Like, it’s different from the drama that emerged from teams just Racing and being competitive and stuff like that. I dunno. I think teams can just vote at a board and then find out who gets U-Turned later. Just like the drama that emerged from the Driver’s Seat.

Sure, it can be fun for teams to go at it like that. But I dunno. It *feels* too manufactured and put on. Rather than just letting teams confront each other during downtime or at tasks and stuff. I want drama, but not obvious drama, if that makes sense.

Anyway, here we go with another two task Leg. So basically, the show was ensuring any of the U-Turned teams would get eliminated tonight. Or even more so, they wanted to make sure the Driver’s Seat team was in danger and easily eliminated too. No chance for either U-Turned team to potentially catch up.

As for the tasks themselves, they were just okay. The coconuts were definitely a physical task. But certainly not the kind of memorable task that one involving teams actually riding the bikes would have been. The coral side of the Detour was a great way to highlight conservation efforts. But if anything, they should’ve had teams do two frames instead of one at least.

The Road Block was the most basic task you could have thought of. Like, come on now. That was an Active Route Info task at best. And teams just finished it in the same order they arrived.

So this episode and Leg were ones that you wanted to like and love. But it’s really hard to when it is beyond basic and barebones. Again, I still don’t understand how TARAu with its budget that is probably half of TARUS’ can do more each Leg. It’s crazy!

That said, somehow they filled the episode with enough material that it didn’t feel too stretched out. But still, if you look back on it, it was a pretty forgettable Leg that should’ve had a lot more to enjoy.

Team Thoughts

That said, the teams definitely helped to elevate another episode. Starting of course with the U-Turn targets.

Jonathan & Ana definitely have main character energy. And I think it’s well-deserved. Strong Racers. Big personalities. An interesting dynamic. Lots of drama potential. Very unique. I mean, I can understand the need to take a moment. At the same, none of us can understand what Jonathan himself was going through. It did seem more than simply needing to take a break. But just that alone is a very unique situation on TAR. Add to that all the drama they have with each other and with other teams, they are very much main characters at this point. And it’s very fun actually.

It’s too bad about Scott & Lori. They also are a very interesting team. While I would otherwise be annoyed by their “Oh no, not us!” kind of protests especially when they’ve Raced incredibly well so far, I also like that kind of competitive nature as well. They feel slighted by the vote? No problem. They respond by just doing their best through the Leg and not whine like certain other teams of the past? Excellent! And so after that initial “We’re not friends anymore” to the other teams, they just dug in and did their best to catch back up. Which, thanks to the slim Leg, they had zero chance to do so. So it would’ve been interesting to see them continue in the Race as I think they really could’ve gone all the way.

And if neither of these teams existed, then Carson & Jack would definitely have been the big targets. They too have done very well so far. And they probably won’t be under the radar for too long.

For the true under the radar team, that’s probably Alyssa & Josiah. Again, they’re pretty quiet most of the time. But they’re also Racing solidly well too. So they could easily go far.

Brett & Mark have been kind of middling so far. But they again muscled their way through this Leg and it paid off. I feel like they can keep this momentum up and also go far.

But certainly can’t count out the other teams either. Especially with the way the Legs have been structured, it’s anyone’s Race at this point. Pops & Jeff, Han & Holden, Melinda & Erika and Nick & Mike were good this Leg. They did fine. And I can easily see one of several of them step up bigtime too.

Also nice to see Melinda & Erika and Han & Holden giving tips to Jonathan & Ana as they were running off. Not stopping to help them or do the task for them. Just giving them a tip and cheering them on and continuing on their way. That’s how it should be done.

So it really is anyone’s Race still at this point. So it’s great that the teams are pretty evenly matched to help counter the barebones Legs.