by Vin Convertito

Jet and Cord, winners of the last leg, hope to maintain a comfortable lead over the nine remaining teams as this week's episode of The Amazing Race travels from Chile to Argentina. After a six hour bus ride along the majestic Andes and across the border into Argentina, the cowboys take the reins and head towards their first destination of El Bariloche Viejo, or The Old Joint.

Here each team will play poker with the "Gnome in the Wall Gang," which is to say they will have to beat the Travelocity Gnome in an open hand of stud poker. No team is horribly slowed down by this unusual scenario even though, as Jet and Cord joke, "the Gnome has a poker face that is out of this world!" Joe and Heidi are the first team to win followed by Carol and Brandy.

The cowboys fall to third but will certainly be a favorite in this week's roadblock. In keeping with the traditions of the Gauchos, each team will have to give "steer roping" a go. The teams will be offered a quick lesson from the Gaucho on how to lasso the bale of hay adorned with an impressive set of cattle horns. As Carol struggles with the rope, the cowboys are able to reel in their clue on the second toss and will speed off to Puente Nirihuau in anticipation of this week's detour.

Meanwhile, each team will find the 18-foot-lasso-challenge to be frustrating with the exception of Brent who, in cowboy fashion, lands it on a second try. This situation greatly boosted the morale of Brent and Caite who were previously derailed from a smooth start as they were earlier hospitalized for three hours due to what seemed to be food poisoning. But while one team experiences a well-needed break, several other teams face the stress of poorly navigating their way towards the roadblock. Dan and Jordan as well as Monique and Shawne seem to be behind the others the whole way.

Jet and Cord are the first to decide whether they want "Horse Power" or "Horse Sense" for their detour. "Horse Sense" has a team searching for buried bags of money using specific coordinates while "Horse Power" involves a wooden horse and a nine-stroke game of polo. The cowboys give the wooden horse a chance and need only a few swings to complete the detour. Unfortunately the seven teams that chose to search for treasure find themselves wasting a lot of time in the middle of nowhere. Well maybe not Joe and Heidi who use Joe's watch's compass and quickly find the bags and "give the lead bandit the loot."

After several rounds of finding the wrong loot, Carol and Brandy are the first team to give up and give "Horse Power" a chance. Jeff and Jordan follow suit, so do Dan and Jordan, Michael and Louie, and Monique and Shawne. Steve and Allie choose wisely from the start and opt to play polo but the physicality of it all leaves Steve hurting. When Allie asked him what hurt, Steve laughed, "I'm 57 years old. What isn't hurting?" But a little pain is a small price as their initial decision to go with "Horse Power" definitely put them far ahead in the race.

The final destination of Estancia Fortin Chacabuco is first reached by Jet and Cord who bask in the glory of winning two legs in a row. This win also earns them a 10-day-Patagonia- vacation from Travelocity. Coming in 2nd are Allie and Steve followed closely by the double detouring team of Carol and Brandy. Arriving in the top five for the third week in a row are 4th place Joe and Heidi and 5th place Jeff and Jordan.

Overcoming the odds were Dan and Jordan who take 6th place after playing three aggravating rounds of polo. Brent and Caite also surmount their rough start by finishing in 7th and Michael and Louie stay alive for another week as they sneak into the safe haven of 8th place. So very close behind were Monique and Shawne who were ultimately eliminated. The proud "moms" held their heads up high and only hope that mothers everywhere, as well as their own children, will be inspired by their "never give up" attitude that carried them all the way to South America.

Tune in to The Amazing Race next Sunday at 8/7c on CBS!

(Image courtesy of CBS)

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