The Amazing Race teams stay in Argentina for the third leg of Season 27. The challenges this leg are a tribute to the South American version of cowboys, called gauchos, as teams complete tasks involving meat, horses and horse-drawn carriages. The unsung heroes of the episode aren’t a team but the stray dogs that litter the streets of the Argentinean town. There are countless reaction shots of these adorable pooches throughout the episode. The Amazing Race evidently learned the lesson that everyone should know puppies trump everything. Good thing the dogs are here too because this is another straightforward, albeit slightly more entertaining leg, of The Amazing Race.
The Amazing Race Recap: The Teams Dumpster Dive in the Pope’s Hometown >>>
Tension from the Start
The teams have to go to San Antonio de Areco by bus. The team of Tanner and Josh as well as Kelsey and Joey make it on the first bus giving them the lead. They are eventually joined by the dreaded Justin and Diana. Well the dreaded Justin anyway. (No one knows anything about Diana because she has said a total of five words the entire race.) These three teams are the first make it to the Roadblock.
At the Roadblock, the teams must arrange three slabs of meat in front of a fire. It’s a detail oriented challenge, something Kelsey and Joey are awesome at because they’re news reporters. (You may have forget that little tidbit because they have only mentioned it a couple thousand times.) Tanner and Josh are the first to complete the competition but the other teams quickly arrive after them. All the other teams are there except the break-dancing brothers, Ernest and Jin, who are lagging seriously behind.
Horse-Themed Detours
From the Roadblock the teams have to head to the Detour. They are given the choice between dressing a fake horse or cleaning a dirty horse-drawn carriage. They then must deliver their horse or carriage to their previous destination to receive their next clue. Continuing the Season 27 trend of nearly all the teams choosing one of the Detour options and ignoring the other, nearly everyone picks the fake horse challenge.
Newlyweds, Cindy and Rick, choose the carriage challenge, but forget to take the buggy whip they have to pick up at the challenge marker. Whether real or not, this gives the viewers an illusion of hope for Ernest and Jin. They show up at the meat competition and complete it just as Cindy and Rick backtrack and pick up their forgotten whip.
A Secret Rivalry Comes Out in the Open
Tanner and Josh are the first to arrive and first to finish the horse competition. They are joined by several other teams during their trial including Justin and Diana. Justin continues to scream obnoxious Spanish. He knows about three words but his favorite is “amigo” or more accurately “AMIGO! YO AMIGO!”
Justin and Diana quickly finish after Tanner and Josh and it’s race between the two get to the Pit Stop. The Pit Stop on this leg is at a Gaucho Museum. This is a pretty boring race between them though. Tanner’s hamstring is still in pain and Justin and Diana seem to have no desire in actually running. (Justin has probably burned all his calories by shrieking at the top of his lungs at all the poor locals.) So it’s a slow jog for first place with Tanner and Josh just beating the annoying engaged couple. At the mat the two teams can barely disguise their disdain for one another, especially after Phil tells them the next leg will have a Double U-Turn.
The Amazing Race Leg 3 Prediction: Which Team Will Go Home Next? >>>
Mistakes and Possible Hope
More teams finish their Detour including Jazmine and Danielle, Kelsey and Joey, and Denise and James Earl, but the last couple are unable to check in. Denise helped James at the Roadblock and so, they incur a penalty. This gives Logan and Chris time to catch up and check in before them. While Denise and James Earl wait, it becomes basically a mother-son therapy session as Denise learns maybe she shouldn’t “help” her son so much by yelling at him, since she literally is getting punished for it.
They aren’t the only team with a setback though. The cheerleaders, Tiffany and Krista, (who like to remind the audience they used to be cheerleaders as much as Kelsey and Joey like to say that they’re newcasters) make the same mistake as Cindy and Rick. They forgot their whip for the carriage Detour at the challenge marker. This again gives the audience the false hope that Ernest and Jin are still in this thing but no amount of editing makes it really plausible. Tiffany and Krista find their whip and finish the leg way before Ernest and Jin.
Ernest and Jin come in last and they are eliminated from the race. Yet another leg, yet another easily likable team goes home. At this point The Amazing Race better not use one of its non-elimination legs to save someone as irritating like Justin and Diana or Denise and James Earl on one of Denise’s more talkative days.
The Amazing Race airs Fridays at 8pm on CBS
(Image courtesy of CBS)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
