I'm Like an Angry Cow

The Amazing Race - Season 13, Episode 8

Tonight, the teams jet out of India, and connect in oddly out of the way cities to get to Almaty, Kazakhstan. Though they do their best to play up the airport ticket-buying drama, along with more off-putting flirting between Dallas and Starr, all the flights get into Almaty in the middle of the night, where they'll obviously be equalized by hours of operation somewhere. So everyone's tied again going into the Roadblock, which requires the chosen team member to find a golden egg hidden somewhere in a vast sea of chickens. Nobody seems to get that they could find one in about two seconds if they just gave the hens a good scare, and treat them more politely than they generally treat taxi drivers. The second Fast Forward is also located here, and both Nick/Starr and Terence/Sarah go for it, over Sarah's objections. The task is to eat a bowl of meat and butt fat, which is nowhere near as extreme as previous Fast Forward tasks, but it manages to kick Terence's vegetarian ass. So, Terence and Sarah have to drag themselves back to the Roadblock, firmly ensconced in last place.

From the chicken coop, teams direct a crane truck to the Koktobe Arch to meet up with a Mongol warrior. Why a crane truck? I have no earthly idea. It doesn't figure into the episode at all. Once at the warrior, a hawk flies in with the next clue, which is super-cool. The Detour asks teams to decide between learning how to play local musical instruments or dressing up like a cow. You can guess which one becomes the unanimous choice with this crew. Dallas and Toni easily moo through in great spirits to come into the mat as team number two, behind the Fast Forwarded Nick and Starr. Ken and Tina lose some time because they refuse to read their clue carefully, and thus screw up the Detour. Luckily for them, the Fratties are reliably incompetent. After having the gall to indulge in a nasty bit of Ugly Americanism by being angry with people who insist on speaking their native language in their native country, the Fratties have an issue with their own native tongue. Though the clue says to make their way to the pitstop on foot, they grab a cab. Phil sends them back to walk it, and Dan -- surprise!! -- whines that he can't believe that he may get eliminated for something so stupid. I guess all the beer at those frat parties has atrophied his memory.

Despite their Detour issues, Ken and Tina manage a third-place finish, and though the Fratties continue to flail, they also continue to make it in just under the wire. The human anchor that is Terence has dragged Sarah down for the last time, and the couple is eliminated, whereupon Sarah says that the race has done wonders for their relationship. I really hope what she means by that is she's realized she can do a lot better.

Overall Grade: B-