by Gina Scarpa

At the start of the fifth leg of The Amazing Race, we catch a rare glimpse into one team's life back home. With Abba by his side, James makes a video call home to his wife to find out the status of his father's cancer prognosis - and it isn't a good one. She delivers the news that it's stage 4 with no hopes of remission. Instead of crumbling under the weight of that news, James feels even more motivated to continue running the race. His father never gave up, so neither will he. You know, I like those rockers more and more as each week passes!

Staying in Bangladesh, teams battle horrible traffic to get to Jatrabari Boro Bazar in order to pick up their next clue. Josh and Brent get off to a rough start after failing to find the designated place to grab a taxi and will be playing catchup for the rest of the leg. Teams get their clue and head to the Road Block, which takes place under a bridge. Literally. One member must build and balance an ancient scale using rocks and wood. In order to complete the task, it must be exact, which forces many people to have to readjust or start from scratch several times. Rocker James finishes first, followed by Nadiya, and then Abbie. While Nadiya was hard at work, Natalie screamed as usual, driving Ryan nuts. And viewers as well.

Next up is a Detour, with the choices being Straw Dogs or Bamboo Jungle. In Straw Dogs, teams must manufacture 20 coils of jute. Yeah, I didn't know what it was either. Wikipedia brought me up to speed by telling me it's a long, soft, shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. I feel smarter now! The other choice is Bamboo Jungle, where teams have to collect bamboo sticks of different lengths and deliver it to a nearby construction site. With the hot sun beating down on them, James and Abba maneuver the extremely long bamboo through the streets of Bangladesh and deliver them successfully. Abbie and Ryan opt for the jute, which was a struggle, but they were able to finish in second before the pit stop.

All other teams went for Bamboo Jungle, which seemed like the easier of the two. The twins bang their bamboo into anything and everything as they go along, and the Chippendales dancers make the mistake of dropping three bamboo sticks without realizing it. The construction worker sent them all the way back, which cost them every bit of energy they had. Jaymes admitted that, because they're trying to save money along the way in case they need it, they're not eating much. Not smart, especially in a sweltering country such as this!

In order for teams to make it to the pit stop, they need to figure out that the picture on their clue after the Detour is Lok Shilpa Jadughar, a folk art and craft museum. Usually, those clues give teams a hard time but nobody seemed to have any difficulty getting there. Teams finished in the following order:

1. James and Abba (win a trip to Malaysia)
2. Abbie and Ryan
3. Natalie and Nadiya
4. Rob and Kelley
5. Trey and Lexi
6. Jaymes and James
7. Josh and Brent

Thankfully for the goat farmers, it's a non-elimination round. I'm not sure if they want to laugh or cry when they hear the news. Not only was it an incredibly tough leg for them, they're completely exhausted for the heat. Perhaps a night of sleep and a good meal will do them some good!

The Amazing Race airs Sundays at 8/7c on CBS.

(Image courtesy of CBS)

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