I’m sceptical about this new season of the Great Australian Trade-Off. I try to be sceptical about many things, and this is one of them, especially after the clunky first few episodes. They’ve mostly redeemed themselves at the moment, especially now that it’s gotten to the semi-final, but the rub lies in that fact that I know it can be bad. It could be bad again!
The semi-final was alright, though, if only because the stars have aligned and I just happen to be looking around for door replacement in Melbourne at this very moment. There was a weird challenge where the contestants were placed in a warehouse full of doors, almost like a giant maze, and they could only walk through the doors if they were timber. The idea was that any tradesperson should be able to recognise a timber door from…say, an oak. If they walked through the wrong door, they failed the challenge. In the end, Azif was the only one to do it correctly, so this put him the lead. However, he really screwed things up in the innovation round when his custom-made door invention with a sensor to identify you, a friend, the postman or a serial killer coming to the door totally failed to do any of those things. One of the hosts dressed up like a postal worker, the other wore a prison outfit and held a giant knife covered in fake blood. The door’s AI identified the postal worker as a threat and called the police (for real!) and swung open for the killer, recognising them as a family member under the ‘welcome anytime’ list.
Yeah, so Azim came last in that challenge. Last one was a good old, basic door fitting session, except they had to replace fifty doors within a strict time limit, with stressful background music. Spoilers: Azim tanked and got eliminated, probably to go and do window frame installation, because he’s had enough of doors.
Two people left for the final…which I might watch. I’m undecided.