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Team YouTube estimates they only have a five minute lead on Cape Fear following the Road Block and that MIGHT be enough time because Max & Katie don’t seem to excel under pressure. If they choose Brawn and their donkeys are uncooperative, then the newlyweds will likely melt down...or at least Katie will.

The Sock ‘er Moms are the first ones to complete the Detour and are now on foot to find Phil, which they do. With the moms in second and the singers in third a minute behind them, I have to say I am impressed. Both of these teams struggled significantly at some point on this leg (navigating the canoe for Beth and the speeding ticket delays for Caroline & Jen), yet ended up at the front of the pack. Not to discount their accomplishment here but it’s likely indicative of the lackluster skills of the remaining teams.

Chuck & Wynona work through a tricky last tile that showed a hippo with a bird on its head, yet there was no hippo tile. If they pick wrong, they have to do the entire course again. They correctly choose the one with just a bird and race off to Phil. The Mullets have survived another day and are team number four.

Still on Brains, Pam & Winnie are too busy admiring their horses and overlook the “ostrich” but convince themselves that the bird and hippo are two separate ones. We know how this is going to turn out for them – at least one more trip on horseback.

The last two teams are at the Detour and both go with Brawn. Hopefully one of them doesn’t choose the donkeys that Pam & Winnie ditched. Speaking of them, the girls receive the bad news that they are wrong. I do find it humorous that once again, a team that proclaims its intelligence as its major strength doesn’t know the difference between the silhouette of a rhino and a hippo. I suspect your average kindergartener could tell the difference.

While neck-and-neck loading up the wood, Max & Katie put some distance between them and YouTube as they get their donkeys to move quicker. Without the false sense of drama from editing, this leg could legitimately come down to any of these three teams being eliminated. The distance that was there is now gone with both teams being virtually tied and with a sense of urgency because they don’t know that Pam & Winnie are still on Brains.

Underperforming again on Brains, Pam & Winnie are denied the clue because they left out ostrich and kept the rhino tile. Oblivious to their standing, the one-time second place team is now facing elimination because they are going back to Brawn, the task that YouTube and Cape Fear have now finished.

With Joey & Meghan hitting the mat just ahead of Max & Katie, Phil delivers the news they are both still in the Race as numbers five and six. This revelation causes Katie to smile for the second time this leg.

And the team I picked to go out in the first leg of the season, Pam & Winnie, are finally eliminated. Like good sports, they choose to focus on the positive experiences they had and not the horrendous last leg.

In two weeks, the Amazing Race returns after the conclusion of March Madness with the teams exchanging sunny Africa for snowy Switzerland. Once again, Wynona struggles on a task. Basically, it's "Same ol’ stuff...different continent."

See you in two weeks.

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