Ropin' and Ridin' Argentina Style!

What an episode!

I'm not afraid to admit that I underestimated the cowboys. Now, however, I am firmly aboard the "cowboy train." They may not be the sharpest tools in the shed but they are resourceful, and that might be the best characteristic going into a game like this. I will also say they are lucky!

Little Bit of Luck Goes a Long Way!
The first part of this leg is to travel by tour bus to Argentina and find the hideout of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The cowboys are the first team to leave and they find a bar and ask a pair of Americans in the bar if they know where their destination happens to be. By chance, one of the Americans has lived there and gives them the exact location. How lucky can you get?

Under the "how unlucky can get you" heading, Brent and Caite get sick in the middle of the night from either dehydration or food poisoning. They end up in the hospital on IVs and miss their start time. As far as I remember, this is a first in race history to miss because of medical emergency. One thing this team has is determination to stay in the game!

At the bus station, Carol and Brandy demonstrate again why I'm not overly fond of them as they grill the cowboys about which bus they were on the previous day. Not even a "Hey, how ya doin'." What difference did it make at that point? None. That leg of the race was over and very little chance they would do it again.

Poker Face
On the way to their destination, Jet and Cord are in the lead car with others following close behind. While Carol and Brandy discuss how slow the cowboys are driving, Jet and Cord decide to pull to the side of the road and let the other teams pass as they pretend to look at their map. It would have been a smart move if the others did not already know their way.

However, Carol and Brandy, and Joe and Heidi, arrive at the destination first and face off against the Travelocity gnome in a game of poker. The cowboys arrive shortly after but both of the other teams manage to win during the first hand against the gnome.

The cowboys won on the third hand remarking that the gnome had a great "poker face." :) They have a great sense of humor about the entire situation which makes them a fun team to watch. In fact, it seems like a lot of one-liners are coming straight from the cowboys, including the title of this episode: "Run like scalded dogs."

At this point, I need to point out that the men have a real lack of car expertise. Not all of them, but some of them to be sure. Jordan and Daniel stall out on a hill and Jordan jumps out to push the car and I find some comfort in hearing Jordan mention neutral. Brent also lacks experience with a manual transmission leaving Caite to do the driving and Brent seemingly unaware of where they are at any given moment. I can't help but wonder who would take on TAR without some knowledge of how a manual transmission works.

Frustration = Mental Roadblock
At the roadblock, the teams discover a roping challenge. They must rope a steer head attached to a bale of hay and drag it back across a line. This task seems to favor the cowboys but personally, if I were the other teams, I would just be glad that I did not have to sheer those sheep running around!

As Carol and Heidi find their ropes becoming more and more tangled with each attempt, Jet picks up a lasso and ropes the steer on his second attempt. That's right, second attempt. I mean really! You would think a "real" cowboy would have made it on the first attempt. Joking!

Jeff and Jordan arrive for their round of poker and, for the second time during the show, Jeff utters the phrase, "let's dance." Either Jeff has run out of cute one-liners, or the editors are just not picking them up like the "Big Brother" editors did! Around back at the roping, Jeff tried several times and conceded that he was a city boy and had to think like a cowboys.

At this point, it's important to point out that frustration is like a third player in the game. Once frustration sets in, the task becomes more difficult. Frustration played a role in the game for several teams, including Monique and Shawne at the roadblock, and numerous teams during the Detour.

Quickest way between two points...
The Detour is a task which both members of the team participate in. The two tasks were "Horse Sense" and "Horse Power." In Horse Sense, the team was given coordinates which they must follow to find a bag buried in the dirt. After finding it, they had to deliver the bag to the lead bandit. If the coordinates on the bag matched those on their clue, they received the clue to the next destination.

In Horse Power, the team went to a polo field and put on the appropriate polo equipment. Alternating turns, the team used a practice pony to maneuver the ball through the goal in nine or fewer strokes.

The cowboys chose Horse Power and expected to use a real horse, as did most of the teams. Instead, they found a wooden horse which they carried from one position to the next. Still, they made the task look like a cinch and crossed to the goal quickly, and under the nine stroke limit.

Meanwhile, Carol and Brandy have begun to show the strain of the race as they bickered quite a bit both during the drive to the Detour and even during the challenge itself. They chose Horse Sense or well, at least one of them chose Horse Sense. A word of advice: stick to the clue! The team discovered a shovel along their path to their bag and rushed toward it abandoning the coordinates. This led to even more bickering. I vicariously enjoyed seeing them dragging a shovel that was not even part of their challenge around the field.

Jeff and Jordan arrived next, and chose Horse Sense. As Jeff read the clue, he immediately mistook the man who handed him his coordinates as the lead bandit. He and Jordan worked together well, found their bag quickly and then took it to the wrong person. Stymied, they headed back out to return the bag.

Joe and Heidi, who left the Roadblock in second place, found themselves in fourth place because of poor navigational skills. They should have taken that piece of information to heart when they chose their challenge, Horse Sense. Declaring that he had a compass on his watch, Joe said he did not need to count the paces as they were for the people without a compass. (I originally gave this team credit for smarts. Not so sure anymore!) Okay, the compass does not tell whether or not to stop. So, they wondered around until they found a rope sticking out of the ground and pulled a bag out. Must be it!

Calling over his shoulder to Jeff about the train station, Joe and Heidi disappear in search of the lead bandit. Jeff wonders what Joe is talking about as he and Jordan continue to look for their bag. It was a costly error because they found their bag quickly and would have been in second place.

Horse Power, meantime, provided a few laughs. Father/daughter team Steve and Allie finished the task but Steve barely managed to mount his horse; however, grace was not a factor in this task and therefore they finished the leg in a surprising second place.

After A LOT OF DEBATE, Carol and Brandy abandoned the Horse Sense task, as did Joe and Heidi, and moved to the Horse Power. More complaining, but both teams managed to finish and ended up in third and fourth places.

Jeff and Jordan finally figured out that the lead bandit was not the gun slinger and headed off to the train station where they delivered the bag they had found earlier. They received a gold coin with the name of the pit stop on it.

Dan and Jordan's attempt at Horse Power was hilarious with the horse bucking one of them off. The only team to require two turns to make it through the challenge they finished in sixth place.

And then there were eight!
Rounding out the finishing teams were Brent and Caite, Louie and Michael and finally, Monique and Shawne, who were eliminated.

After watching 15 previous seasons of TAR, it's obvious that keeping emotions in check is probably a key element in doing well. Once the team descends to bickering or frustration it's hard to get back on track.

The teams head to Germany next week and even though Louie and Michael have been at the bottom lately, I think they will make it through this leg. Steve and Allie were a complete surprise to come in second this time and may do well in the coming weeks if Steve can hold up physically. As to who will be eliminated? Anyone's guess, Brent and Caite could be eliminated if they are not physically strong. Jordan and Daniel could be eliminated if they have to drive another stick shift.