A rare misstep by the cyclists, switching tasks at the Detour then switching back when they couldn’t figure out how to assemble the tent. I guess they’ve never been camping before? They still powered through without too much intrateam drama. The dentists are back on top, saving Jim’s eyes from popping out of their sockets for another week. The surfers are still going strong. So there’s your top three right there: dentists, surfers, and cyclists. The other teams are simply outclassed.
Although the end was pretty much set early on due to the Mom-Daughter team getting lost, I liked this leg. It cemented my liking of cyclists (even when they disagree they don’t completely fall apart and Alli burning right through that high wire and their impromptu butter churn song were all nice to see) and it made me like a little some teams I was not sold on (The Wrestlers and Dentists).
One weird thing: did I understand the Mom in the Mother daughter team correctly? it sounded like she said she regretted they didn’t fight more because stopping fighting made them a weaker team. Did she really say that?
Impressive work by Betheny on high wire, but even more impressive was the puzzle. Speaking of the surfers, they finished the previous leg second? I was sure they finished in the middle or toward the back of the pack.
No Phil narration in the middle of the race with racers passing by was a bummer.
Taxi Assessment:
Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Lisa & Michelle (#MiamiRealtors) and Dennis & Isabelle (#TheDatingCouple) & Michael & Scott (#TheFirefighters) & Keith & Whitney (#TeamNashville) - Already eliminated.
Shelley & Nici (#MomDaughter) (down from “Flat Tire”) - I’m not sure I can say anything about Shelley & Nici other than to point out that getting very, very lost leads to being very, very last. I had honestly expected this team to go down in a blaze of fatigue-induced anger, not drift away with navigation problems, but there you are.
Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
No one.
Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
Tim & Te Jay (#CollegeSweethearts) (holding steady) - A fourth-place following a third last week maybe means this team should be moved up in the rankings. Still, I just don’t find them so impressive; I think the choice of tent-raising may have been their lucky break. Although, if they do well next week they’ll deserve a bump.
Brooke & Robbie (#TheWrestlers) (up from “Flat Tire”) - I honest-to-God thought Brooke was going to completely collapse trying to do the puzzle, but despite her protestations, once she actually thought about it, she seemed to do OK. Still, Brooke & Robbie seem to remain near the back of the pack (with Amy & Maya, truth be told), so I’m leaving them here.
“Rapido! Por Favor?” - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Maya & Amy (#SweetScientists) (holding steady) - Heh. It’s not all the time that PhD research becomes directly applicable to a TAR task, and I love that actual knowledge of the mechanics of curd formation can make a difference. However, Maya & Amy made at least a couple errors in navigation, which drops them to the back of the pack. That’s an issue they need to work on sooner rather than later. Although I’m tentatively leaving them ranked ahead of Tim & TeJay and Brooke & Robbie, I’m wondering if that should be reversed.
In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Kym & Alli (#TheCyclists) (holding steady) - The attempted Detour switch really hurt the Cyclists, although not enough to keep them out of the top three (for five out of six legs now). They’re still probably the best team over the past three or four legs, but they can’t afford a slip-up like, say, the Dentists can.
Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
Adam & Bethany (#SoulSurfers) (holding steady) - Adam & Bethany weren’t quite as fast as the Dentists, which makes me wonder if the butter-making was inherently slower than the tent-raising (assuming some minimal upper-body strength). Nonetheless, with no mistakes, they were easily ahead of the remainder of the teams
Misti & Jim (#TheDentists) (holding steady) - When Misti & Jim chose the tent option, I was wondering if they’d crash and burn like they did setting up the room decor in the mini-park. No they did not, instead burning through the Detour quickly and getting well ahead of the other teams.
All I can say is, if the final three isn’t the dentists, surfers, and cyclists, I’m going to be PISSED. Like, Beakman-level outrage.
Wow. I wouldn’t mind at all if the dentists get knocked out. The guy is a douchebag.
The wrestlers are idiots, but they’re so entertaining that I want them around as long as possible. She has about the poorest emotional coping skills I’ve ever seen.
Now that the mother and daughter team is out, there isn’t a team I dislike at the moment. I’d love to see some sort of upset where the Dentists or the Surfers screw something up big time and knock themselves out of the race. That would be hard for the Dentists with their Save, but it could happen.
Apparently there is some controversy over the Amazing Editors double entendres at some of the blogs.
While Tim and TeJay were inside the tent, one of them said “Hold on, Just Stick it Up There” and then showed a Rooster (Cock).
This was the best part of the episode. The gay guys may not know what a quarry is, but they do know how to raise a pole.
I didn’t notice the rooster, but their conversation was hilarious. I think before that, one of them even shouted, “It’s too big!”
I could see Tim and TeJay even saying all that stuff on purpose because they thought it was funny. Some people just have that kind of a sense of humor.
Why on earth did the cyclists switch tasks? They’d already done the hard part of catching and milking the goats - trading a dependable 45 minutes of making butter for a task of unknown difficulty was just a terrible decision. It’s like they both have ADHD - it’s impossible for them to just do something boring and repetitive for an hour.
While listening to Brooke’s endless- what would you call it- moaning? Noise-making? Siren impression? at nearly every task, I can’t help but imagine how annoying she must be while having sex.
As much as I dislike the dentists, I was legitimately impressed with their tent-building skills. They did it quickly and with little to no drama or fighting, and it looked damn good when they were done.
The cyclists made a huge mistake switching tasks, but fortunately it didn’t have much impact on them. Did they really think they could leave, get to the tent area, get all the supplies, figure out what it had to look like, then build it successfully, and save themselves enough significant time that they should stop the goat milk task 1/2 way through?
Surfer girl is a rock star. Nothing keeps her down.
No commentary on the Moroccan penchant for playing the banjo with a chicken on your head?
God, we’ve gotten jaded. 
The PitStop Greeters have been interesting.
In the US Virgin Islands(?): There was women in a costume that resembled a peacock
In London: Winston Churchill
In Shetland Islands: A person in a puffin costume
In Denmark: Two Great Danes
Morocco #1: Carpet Store
Morocco #2: Banjo with Rooster and Dove on the Turban?
Watching her move the carabiners on the cable bridge was awesome.
I don’t have any bladders made from goat skins hanging around to check for myself, but what end of the goat were they kissing?
She baffles me. You have to be smart to get into dental school, right? But she seems like this airhead so much of the time and the little-girl hair bows make me cringe.
Yeah, the cyclists switching for no reason other then “Man, this is going to take a while” was odd. They had everything in place, and nothing was going to take subsequent teams less time, right?
I do love how kick-ass the surfers are. I just really wish Bethany’s shoulder squicked me out less. I never say anything, because I know it’s MY problem, and my kids are getting a fantastic lesson in watching someone not just persevere but really trounce everyone with what could be perceived as a limitation, but I’m definitely more comfortable when they’re not doing close-ups.
That’s really awful. I have some physical scars, too. I should know better.
And you even left out the fact that the chicken had a dove sitting on its back!
I was wondering: Is it harder to train a dove to land on a chicken or to train a chicken to let a dove land on it?
It doesn’t bother me but it’s ok. We’re all different. The fact that I’m a better person than you is simply a roll of the dice. 
The greeters have all been so memorable that I wonder if that is a deliberate red herring? As in, there will one of those ‘recap the series’ quizzes in the final episode but they won’t ask about the greeters but in some sideways way – what color shirt they were wearing, or what their first name was, something like that.