The Amazing Race – “We Are No Longer in the Bible Belt” Recap

Welcome Back Racers! Time for another recap of The Amazing Race! Last week we left our racers in Argentina and saw the Cowboys continue to pull ahead of the other racers for their second consecutive win, and Monique and Shawne found themselves in last place at the mat and were eliminated. Well, hold on to your cowboy hats because we’re in for a bumpy ride this week!!

In this leg, teams travel from Argentina to Hamburg, Germany! Finally, we’re out of South America! The Cowboys (Jet & Cord) kick off the leg and the Cops (Louie & Michael) are tired of coming in at the bottom of the pack. The Princesses (Carol & Brandy) realize they had a lot of problems communicating in the last leg, so this time around they’re going to try to be more respectful to each other — we’ll see how long that lasts. Brother Dan confesses he hates to travel and is only doing this out of love for his brother Jordan because it is Jordan’s dream to run The Amazing Race.

The Cowboys, Cops, Brothers, and Princesses arrive in Frankfurt, Germany first and are all racing to meet a train to Hamburg. The Cops and Cowboys make it, the Brothers and Princesses do not. They catch the next train with Team JJ, Team Teen USA/Models (Caite & Brent), The Married team (Joe & Heidi), and Father/Daughter team (Steve & Allison). Now it’s a foot-race in Hamburg to the next clue.

The Cowboys make it there first and discover it’s an Intersection Clue where teams must join forces with another team to complete the Roadblock Challenge — nighttime bungee jumping! The Cowboys wait for the Cops and they join together for the Roadblock. Jet (Black Hat) and Michael (Tall Cop) will pair up for the bungee jump. They must leave their partners behind and make their way to the Hamburg Harbor where the jumping will take place. They work well together and make it to the harbor easily. The next two at the clue-box are the Married and Father/Daughter teams, so they partner up and get the help of a local to get to the harbor. I love it when they get locals involved! They’re always so shell-shocked looking at the cameras. The next two are the Princesses and the Brothers — a match made in heaven! Dan says about Brandy: ‘She’s like the lesbian aunt I never had!’The Princesses decided that Brandy would handle the heights challenges and she even went bungee jumping before the race in preparation for it; but what she learned by doing it was that she never, ever, ever wanted to do it again! LOL — Neither would I! They also get help from a local to the harbor.

Team Models (Brent & Caite) and Team JJ (Jeff & Jordan) make it to the box next and pair up, but Jordan relies on Caite to get to the harbor, thinking she can get around using a metro since she used to live in New York — evidently not as they get on the wrong train going in the wrong direction!

At the bungee jump, Jet & Michael waste no time getting up there and getting it done. And Oh My Gravy, Jet’s hat must be stapled to his head because it stayed on through the whole jump! They each get a clue but it says to not open until they are reunited with their teammates. Once they do, they discover their next clue will be at the statue of Germany’s first Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm and they begin to make their way there.

Joe (Husband) & Allie (Daughter) team up for the next jump. Joe complains of a bad knee but did the jump saying afterward it felt like his knee came out of it’s socket ‘but it should be ok’. Brandy is freaking out watching them do the jump. Brandy and Dan make the jump and I swear the look of sheer terror on Brandy’s face as she’s falling down is an exact duplicate of what mine would be and I actually begin to feel sorry for her. Dan was very kind and supportive, but Brandy didn’t give him reason not to be as she never threatened to back down — I gotta give her props for that! Caite & Jordan find the harbor and are next and have no problems with the jump.

The Cops make it to the statue first where they discover the Detour for this leg. Teams must choose between Soccer or Sauerkraut. In Soccer, teams must hit five targets by kicking soccer balls. In Sauerkraut, teams must eat a large plate of it while a polka plays in the background, and must finish before the song ends — if not, they must start over again. The (Italian) Cops choose sauerkraut and woof it down like it was pasta! Then they have to make it to a bar and drink a HUGE glass boot full of beer. They are seriously pulling ahead and at this point.

The Cowboys took another metro instead of a cab and lost some time making it to the statue next. They were very quickly followed the Father/Daughter team (Steve & Ali) and the Married team (Joe & Heidi). The Princesses (Carol & Brandy), The Brothers (Dan & Jordan), Team JJ (Jeff & Jordan), and the Models (Caite & Brent) start on their way to the statue.

The Cops work on their boot of beer while the Married team are at the Detour and choose Soccer, but it’s harder than they think — especially on Dan’s bad knee. The Father/Daughter team have also chosen Soccer and complete the challenge. The Models choose soccer while Team JJ choose sauerkraut, even though Jordan isn’t even sure what sauerkraut is (uh-oh). The Cowboys arrive at the soccer stadium just as Joe & Heidi have finished up. They waste no time getting the first few marks while Team JJ are getting lost in the cab trying to find the sauerkraut place.

The Cops finish off their beer boot and worked very well together as Michael worked the sauerkraut and Louie worked the beer. They now have to find Beatles-Platz, a monument to the Beatles who began their career playing American pop songs in Hamburg. Then they’ll race thru Hamburg’s Red-Light District looking for the Indra Club, which was the first place The Beatles ever played in Hamburg, where they will finish this leg of the race with Phil at the mat!

The Brothers and Princesses get to the Detour and choose Soccer and Sauerkraut respectively. The Models and Team JJ are both getting very lost. Jeff is getting frustrated in his cab and asks the driver ‘Is this the hamburger place?’LOL — but poor JJ, their cabbie is getting them all kinds of lost, and as Jeff is noticing they are ‘in the middle of nowhere’despite the cabbies use of a GPS, Jordan says ‘We are done!’Noooo! (I will now ignore all the JJ haters rolling their eyes at me! lol)

And now we come to just one of the many reasons why I love The Amazing Race so much! The Cops make it to the mat in First Place after finishing the last leg next to LAST! I love a great reversal of fortune! These guys ran a great leg, worked great together and deserve this win! Even Phil cannot contain his excitement for the team! They have each won a $5,000 Discover Gift Card too! Hey, at least they won’t be selling THAT on Ebay! Now if Louie would just shave that ugly facial hair, I may really start liking these guys!

Back at the bar — Steve and Ali (Father/Daughter) arrive and Steve is very happy to down that boot of beer. Finally we get to see some interviewing of these two and I notice that Ali is really a very pretty lady. The Cowboys finish up the Soccer Detour, but with the Cops having checked in already at the mat, they have lost their lead. They make their way to the bar for the boot of beer.

Jeff and Jordan are still hopelessly lost, and things are definitely not looking good for Team JJ. Dan & Heidi (Married team) arrive at the Sauerkraut Detour and waste no time. The Princesses arrive as well where Brandy shovels it in while Carol just nitpicks at the heaping plate of Sauerkraut. However, they finish it on time and head to the bar. I gotta hand it to Brandy — she is the only one getting them through this leg of the race! The Brothers hit the soccer field and although it proves challenging, they get through it and head to the bar as well.

The Cowboys make it to the bar, quickly followed by Joe & Heidi, but the Married Team finishes the beer first and make their way to the mat. Steve & Ali meet up with Phil as Team #2, but we get very little time with them at the mat and I’m beginning to wonder why the editors are shying away from these two so much!

Jeff and Jordan FINALLY make it to the Sauerkraut Detour, but don’t count them back in the race just yet! They are having a lot of trouble eating it and when they don’t even come close to finishing the plate on time, they decide to switch to Soccer. In the cab ride there, they’re hoping someone got a penalty or ‘fell off a bridge with cement shoes’- they’re really that far back no matter how hard the editors are trying to make it look like they’re in a race for last with the Models. Caite & Brent finally find their way to the Soccer Detour, where Caite says she’s been playing soccer since she was five years old and is ‘really good at it’. Despite her ‘expertise’she’s not doing well at this challenge and moans and groans and complains of pain in her thighs. Brent suggests they switch to Sauerkraut, but Caite insists she can do this.

Back at the bar, the Cowboys are still trying to chug their beer as the Carol & Brandy arrive for their boot of beer. The boys finally finish and head to the mat, but Joe & Heidi make it there first as team #3. Carol & Brandy finish their beer and head to the mat as well.

Brent & Caite finally finish the Soccer Detour, after which Caite notes that even with all that pain, she still made 3 of the shots while Brent made 2, making my eyes roll. The Brothers make to to the bar while the Cowboys make it to the Red-Light District where Jet looks around at all the ‘adult’shops and give us the title line of the episode saying, ‘Cord, We are no longer in the Bible Belt!’After finding the finishing mat, they also find out they’ve dropped from Team #1 last week to Team #4 this week. However, being the good guys they are, they take it all in stride and enjoy the moment.

Jeff & Jordan make it to the Soocer Detour and although Jordan doesn’t do too well, Jeff picks up the slack. The Brothers finish their beer and head to the mat, but Carol & Brandy have beat them to it and are Team #5. The Brothers finish as Team #6.

So now it’s down to the Models and Team JJ. Caite and Brent make it to the bar, but Caite can’t stand beer and Brent must drink almost all of it himself. After drinking most of it, poor Brent has to excuse himself to go throw up. Jeff & Jordan finally finish the Soccer Detour and head to the bar themselves. In the cab, Jeff notes that being athletic guy he is, he should have never picked sauerkraut and just gone with the Soccer Detour from the beginning — well, duh!

Brent and Caite finish their beer and head to the mat — and here is when we can really tell that these two teams were never in a race for last because they are long gone before Team JJ even arrives. But when they do finally arrive at the bar, Jeff takes one look at the beer and exclaims ‘Oh Hell Yeah!’LOL — after everything they’ve been through, I bet that beer looks pretty good too! Jeff finishes it pretty quick and they head off to the mat while Jordan says ‘If we get eliminated, we’re heading back to that bar!’To which Jeff responds ‘Yeah, fer sher!’LOL, sorry, these two make me laugh like no other!

Ok, one more Team JJ doozy — they get to the Red-Light District and they’re looking for the Indra Bar, Jeff says ‘Oh this is a Beatles thing’so logically Jordan says ‘Come on, let’s ask older people!’OMG and LOL!

But as we all know by now, Caite & Brent make it to the mat first, and they are about the only ones shocked to learn they are Team #7 and still in the race. We then see Jeff & Jordan stroll in to greet a very solemn looking Phil, who proceeds to tell them that they are the last team to arrive. BUT WAIT! Doesn’t Phil usually immediately follow that up with ‘and have been eliminated from the race?’YES! IT’S A NON-ELIMINATION LEG! Oh, the JJ haters must be steaming! (coughmyfriendcoopcough). They’ll have to face a speed-bump next week, but they have a positive outlook on it and others that have faced this before have gone on, so good luck Jeff & Jordan! I’ll be rooting for you, and the Cowboys, and surprisingly a few others as well next week too!

So what did you guys think of this week’s leg? Are you bummed out that Team JJ came in last? Are you thrilled Team JJ came in last? What about those Cops?! How do you feel about Carol & Brandy this week? Did any other teams emerge this week that you’re taking notice of (maybe Steve & Ali)? Head on down to the comments below and let’s discuss!