I’m wondering if it has something to do with their travel path with borders. I know this was filmed around late October… maybe going back through Queensland meant they could more easily travel to another state like WA? Dunno.
If the episode involved returning to Townsville, it should have been done the day after teams visited Green Island off Cairns.
The Townsville Bulletin reported last weekend on the teams’ return, also revealing they visited Jezzine Barracks (now called Kissing Point Fortification).
https://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/townsville-set-to-hit-tv-screens-accross-australia-as-race-returns/news-story/75f0401fa1d3d6f6fcd2f97d6d4b767b
Oh ffs! Another non elimination leg. Two detours and 1 roadblock for no fucking reason. Why are they killing this format?
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Obviously because they want to stretch out ths show as much as they can so that they don’t run dead against MAFS.
Of course it’s ridiculous but guess it’s better than them running dead with fillers like Jamie.
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Tomorrow it’s the Glasshouse Mountains. looking out for the latest non-elimination twist - Exile Beach 
Hello Survivor 
I was trying to work out what the point of the whole brains / brawn thing was, if they just let the teams immediately switch detour 
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Also reported in the local media last week (paywall):
https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/coast-businesses-on-show-in-amazing-race-episode/4202886/
If there are 24 episodes this season, there would have to be more non-elimination legs in order to have three teams competing in the finale. Fingers crossed there were no more First Class Pass.
They honestly could have / should have filmed two seasons back to back (save the other for later in the year) rather than stretch this season out this so long. Based on the rumoured remaining locations and number of episodes there are still a fair number of legs to go which is going to drag. It is also very inconsistent to suddenly have non-elimination legs that don’t follow the sabotage / salvage rule (even though I hate that rule, it makes it feel like they made this one up to save a new team).
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I hate both new teams. They’re annoying.
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I didn’t believe it last year when Beau made this comment because I thought they’d NEVER change the format to keep teams in the race. This year I see how wrong I was because the producers seem to be changing the format constantly to fit their narrative.
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I didn’t even watch it tonight and glad I didn’t after hearing that it was another non-elimination leg. I guess now we shouldn’t expect more than 1 elimination per week…
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First time in the show’s history there are consecutive non-elimination legs.
Bundaberg Brewed Drinks founder Cliff Fleming featured in the roadblock in tonight’s episode.
Tomorrow night, the remaining teams would reach Brisbane where one team would be eliminated on top of Story Bridge.
And the same team placing last twice in a row and being saved both times. Beyond farcical.
Whoever gets eliminated tomorrow night would rightly be spewing at the blatant production favoritism (especially if it’s one of the consistent top teams who’ve never finished last).
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Sounds like the producers are trying everything to keep the new teams in.
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5 of the last 7 legs have been non-elimination.
It’s no wonder ratings are sliding when there’s zero payoff to anything happening. Team makes a mistake? Not to worry, they’ll be saved at the mat and bunched up with everyone 5 minutes into the following leg.
I won’t criticise production for their admirable job working around complex (and evolving) border closures, but why stretch the race this thin? If they wanted this many legs they should’ve just started with 20 teams, like the huge cast Australian Survivor does. Their seasons definitely last longer but at least the non-elimination episodes are kept to a minimum.
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How many more weeks left?
And what’s 10s next reality format after this?
I’m going to say Masterchef, which probably won’t come till Easter so be prepared for more Amazing Race.
Three more weeks left, if Wikipedia is correct with its episode count of 24 episodes.
They’ve completely destroyed it. There are still 10 more episodes remaining of the season. A lot of the locations lately have not been exciting either. It feels like they just decided to go back to Qld last minute to get more episodes. I am now missing episodes here and there and don’t bother catching up. It seems like you just have to tune in on a Tuesday to see someone go. 
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