The Amazing Race 30 - Episode 5: The Claws Are Out

In this episode, the 8 teams were instructed to proceed in Les Baux-de-Provence for their Roadblock Challenge. Team IndyCar was the first team to leave the pitstop & they headed to Château des Baux. Unfortunately, the Château's time of operation was around 8:30 am. The boys couldn't help but feel disappointed for losing their lead. It was an equalizer.

Team IndyCar arriving first at the Château.

At 8:30 am, they read their clue for their Roadblock Challenge. One team member needed to correctly build a trebuchet (a large slingshot during medieval times) from supplied parts following an example. While assembling it, their respective partners were held in a stockade until they received their next clue.

Evan of Team Yale being held in a stockade while waiting for Henry
to assemble to trebuchet.

Lucas of Team OceanRescue took advantage of this challenge since his partner said he was good at building things & it paid off because he was the first person to finish the task. Conor of Team Indy & Tom of Team Chomp were the ones who had the hardest time assembling the trebuchet. It took them several tries to figure out what they did wrong. 

After receiving their clue, all teams went to Café de la Fontaine in Maussane-les-Alpilles to find a patron drinking a red wine for their next clue which was their Detour Task.

In their Detour, they had to choose between Full of Bull or Colorful.

In Full of Bull, teams needed to proceed in Arles Amphitheatre & search the entire area for satchels on artificial bulls scattered everywhere containing each of the colors of the French Flag: Blue, White & Red. They needed to collect 1 of each & exchange them to the Bullfighter for their next clue.

Team Extreme searching for the 3 colors in Full of Bull Detour Task

In Colorful, teams needed to travel to Pont Van Gogh to find a replica of one of Vincent van Gogh's paintings of the original Langlois Bridge at Arles, which was actually an elaborate sliding puzzle, requiring them to slide elements of the painting in a specific sequence in order to unlock the easel & retrieve their clue inside.

Team Chomp trying to figure out how to solve the puzzle
in Colorful Detour Task

Both tasks were fairly easy. One was more of a physical task while the other required puzzle solving skills. Team Chomp was the only one who decided to try the Colorful Detour Task but they weren't able to figure out how to do the task faster. They wasted so much time solving puzzles without realizing how to get their clue inside the easel. The other teams did good in the Full of Bull challenge. They ran around & searched the entire amphitheater for the colors they needed. I figured if Team Chomp decided to do this task as well then it would have helped them zoom past the other teams. Then again, they were the last team to leave the Roadblock Challenge so it didn't really matter which Detour Task to do. They just needed to do it faster than the others to survive this leg.

The pitstop for this leg was at Hotel Benvengudo in Les Baux-de-Provence. Team OceanRescue who widened their lead after Lucas finished the Roadblock ahead of the others was the first team to reach the mat. It was a cue for Lucas to finally propose to his long-time girlfriend. Everybody was happy for the newly-engaged couple.

The Newly-Engaged Couple - Team OceanRescue

FINAL RANKING:

1. Lucas & Brittany (Team OceanRescue) - won a trip to Bali, Indonesia

2. Kristi & Jen (Team Extreme)

3. Eric & Daniel (Team FireFighters)

4. Henry & Evan (Team Yale)

5. Alex & Conor (Team IndyCar)

6. Cody & Jessica (Team BigBrother)

7. Trevor & Chris (Team Well-Strung)

8. Joey & Tim (Team Chomp) - ELIMINATED

THOUGHTS:

The Roadblock Challenge was definitely hard for someone who isn't good with assembling things. So it was pretty understandable why some of them had a hard time with it particularly Conor & Tom. They both weren't paying attention to details that was why they ended up being the last 2 teams in the area. Good thing Team IndyCar was able to catch up with the others during their Detour Task.

I think this episode was fast paced. A team can get eliminated quickly if they made mistakes along the way. Team Chomp could have avoided elimination if they were able to figure out the Colorful Detour Task quickly. It took them several times to realize the mistake they were doing.

I still think Team Extreme is the team to beat this season. They're very consistent in ranking. Team BigBrother & Team IndyCar are both unpredictable since their rankings depend on how well they raced in that specific leg. Team Yale is still my dark horse. By the way, Evan's tooth was finally fixed during their pitstop in Leg 3. She even had a haircut.

Team OceanRescue did well in this episode. It was all due to Lucas finishing the Roadblock Challenge first. Their race for this leg was almost perfect. No mistakes or arguments along the way. I did notice that Lucas even asked for his earphone or something while driving to the pitstop. I was pretty sure he was proposing that time & he did. Brittany was over the moon. They celebrated their first pitstop win with a proposal.

CONGRATS to TEAM OCEANRESCUE!

If you want to watch The Amazing Race 30 here in Asia, catch it at AXN every Thursday night.