This week on TAR, the teams left gorgeous Bora Bora for Christchurch, New Zealand – hometown of TAR‘s own Phil Keoghan! Father/son cancer survivors David and Connor began the leg with a huge disadvantage. Last week, David tripped and hurt himself. It turned out it was as serious as he’d feared – a muscle was torn and he had to go to the hospital. John and Jessica gave David and Connor the second Express Pass, which was both a nice thing to do and the agreement of their alliance. Strategically, it was brilliant – if David is really hurt, the Express Pass won’t help him and no one will have an advantage.
At the hospital, David found out that his Achilles tendon was torn as well. With crutches and a big boot, it wasn’t looking like David would be able to compete. You’ve got to hand it to the guy for even trying to stay in the game.
While at the airport, a group of teams agreed to an alliance and targeted the hockey bros as their toughest competition. I’ve always kind of hated alliances on TAR, but with the introduction of U-turns a few seasons ago they have become more important.
Good luck with flights led to Pam and Winnie moving from last place to first place touching down in Christchurch. Chuck and Wynona ended up in last place, but thinking they were in the lead. Embarassing.
Gorge-ous Scenery
Christchurch was pretty, green and filled with sheep. The teams arrived at Rakaia Gorge, but it was after hours and they had to camp overnight. The jet tour in the morning was really cool, and led them to the Detour – Rev It Up or Reel It In.
In “Rev It Up”, both teammates had to navigate a modified vintage car through a course of pylons. In “Reel It In”, each teammate had to catch a fish. I would’ve gone for the driving, because it sounds like more fun than touching stinky fish.
David and Connor made a mistake in going for the driving though, since they got there and realized he wouldn’t be able to drive that style of car with the boot on. They should have anticipated that possibility and gone right to the fishing. The fishing was slow going, so they eventually played the Express Pass. I don’t think that was the right call – they should have saved it for something more physical and stuck out the fishing.
The teams driving had to beat 83 seconds combined, which took most teams a couple of tries. Jessica and John were first to finish, while Katie got a kick out of pointing out that Max was the weak link on their team. He sucked. I wasn’t surprised when the roller derby moms rocked it, because adrenaline is probably kind of their thing.
Shlameel, Shemozzle (Hasenfeffer Incorporated!)
Gross.
For the Roadblock, one team member had to do something called a Sheperds’ Shemozzle – also known as proof of how bored people who live in New Zealand are. It was like frosh hazing for farmers. They got covered in mud, poo, chicken feathers and indignity. All the while, they had to deliver a dozen eggs in the process.
David and Connor, because of the Express Pass, finished the leg in first place. They won a trip, but then Phil announced that the race was still going and handed them their next clue. And…to be continued. Damnit! I hate when they do that! David will have to decide if he’s capable of continuing on or not. I mean, it’s weird that he would finish the leg if he wasn’t going to try and finish the race. I assume he will attempt to keep going.
Despite the cliffhanger ending, I thought it was a pretty fun episode. What did you guys think?
