The Amazing Race: Kazakhstan

Why is it that teams become likable just before they are eliminated?

In Kazakhstan, Terence and Sarah stop whining and become supportive of each other. Prior to this episode, I was certain they would break up at or before the end of the race. I thought they were just too different from each other to move to the next stage after Newly Dating.

I notice the change in Terence and Sarah right off, as they rip open their clue that begins the race. They must have gotten a good rest, I think.

Three teams get on the early flight to Almaty that changes planes in Frankfort. One team goes through Moscow and the last team, through Dubai. None of these routes are as the crow flies. From the map, it looks like Frankfort is thousands of miles out of the way.

Fortunately for Teams 4 and 5, Terence and Sarah and the Frat Boys, all teams bunch up at their destination, a local chicken factory. They all must wait for the factory to open at 7:30 am. The Frat Boys catch a big break here, since their flight arrived far behind the other two.

The gates to the chicken factory open, and all players dash together to the clue box. Nick tears a clue out of a Frat Boy's hand.

In this Roadblock, one team member must search among 30,000 chickens for one of seven golden eggs. Or they can choose the Fast Forward. Nick and Starr, and Terence and Sarah taxi to the Fast Forward toward the unknown task. Turns out, they have to eat a traditional Kazakhstani meal made out of sheep butt. Fast Forwards are not supposed to be easy.

Terence and Sarah foreshadow their fate with this exchange:

Sarah: "Baby, I don't think this is a good idea. Terence disagrees: "I do."

As a vegetarian for fifteen years, Terence should have scrambled out of that restaurant the moment the sheep butt is placed in front of him. His fatal mistake is giving it a try, the first time he has been sporting in the whole race. Life is not fair, Terence.

"Chew the minimum amount to swallow, " Nick advises Starr. This is not your mother's advice, nor the time to chew forty times. Starr bests Nick and finishes her meal first, though she gags a few times.

Nick and Starr fast forward to their fifth first-place finish and when Phil says, "you are team number one," Nick says, "you sound like a broken record, Phil." Foreshadowing bad luck next leg perhaps?

Back at the chicken factory, Dan shouts to his teammate: "Doesn't matter if you step on their feet!" Kinda does, Dan. There will be a job waiting for Dan in the poultry industry when he returns to the States.

Toni finds the first egg, Andrew, the second. Past history tells us Tina is slow in finding things. She is last, but no damage done.

Mongol Warriors

The teams jump into waiting giant orange crane trucks to take them to Koktube Arch at the foothills of the Tienshan Mountains. How is it that the Frat Boy's truck driver gets lost? Aren't these drivers are hired by the show? They are not random taxis. Again, not fair.

The most impressive visual moments of the show are when the teams reach the mongol warriors on horseback and receive their next clue from a huge eagle sweeping in with a clue in its talon.

The remaining teams, including a backtracking Terence and Sarah, choose the "Act Like a Fool" Detour option. All teams must don a two-man cow costume, one racer in front and one in back. Deciding who is in front and who takes the rear is a classic power struggle.

Tina's logic in taking the front: "I can see things better." In costume, the teams must walk the streets to a milk stand. Once they down a waiting glass of milk, they find their clue on the bottom of the glass. Tina and Ken drink the milk and can't figure out where to get their clue. They return their costume to the costume shop before they complete the task thinking the costume is no longer necessary. They must return for the costume. These mistakes don't turn out to be costly and they finish third behind Dallas and Toni.

Dallas is the best cow, mooing it up and having fun.