The Amazing Race, Season 16 - Episode 3 Recap

In week 3 of the Amazing Race, the teams start from last week's pit stop in Puerto Varas, Chile. They must take one of two buses for a scenic ride through the Andes Mountains into Argentina. Only the first three teams will be on the first bus.

The big shake-up at the beginning of this week's episode of the Amazing Race is that Caite and Brent both come down with a severe case of food poisoning. Ten minutes after their scheduled departure time, we see them entering the Emergency Room. They are extremely dehydrated, and they are both given IV's for three hours. They end up being the last team to depart from Puerto Varas. They are looking quite bad at this point and appear to be likely candidates for elimination from the Amazing Race this week.

Jet & Cord, Heidi & Joe, and Carol & Brandy are on the first bus. Carol and Brandy grill Jet and Cord about how they were able to complete the last leg of the Amazing Race so quickly. Jet and Cord don't like the way that Carol and Brandy treat them, commenting that it would have been nice for the women to at least say "Hi, how are you?" before launching into their interrogation.

After getting off the bus, the Amazing Race teams must drive themselves to El Boliche Viejo (the Old Joint), which was featured in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Cord and Jet know exactly where the Old Joint is because, back in Puerto Varas, they found some people who spoke English and told them exactly where to go. Not wanting to lead the other teams right to the Old Joint, Jet and Cord pull over onto the shoulder of the road pretending to look at a map. Joe & Heidi and Carol & Brandy drive right past them. These teams seem surprised when they arrive at the Old Joint to see that Jet & Cord are there too.

At the Old Joint, the teams must win a game of five-card stud. They are playing the poker game against the familiar Travelocity Roaming Gnome. The Gnomes are propped up in chairs with drinks in front of them. The Roaming Gnome keeps beating Joe and Cord, who joke about the Gnome having a serious poker face and about how he should go to Vegas.

After winning the poker game, The Amazing Race teams then must drive themselves to Pena Gaucha. They watch a demonstration of steer roping, and afterwards one member of each team must rope a target (it's a non-moving bale of hay) that is 18 feet away. This looks like a pretty long distance to me, and I wonder how many teams will get tripped up here.

Carol and Brandy immediately start complaining about how this Roadblock is too much like the cowboys' way of life. For their part, the Cowboys say that they didn't complain when they found out that Carol and Brandy speak Spanish.

Cowboy Jet is embarrassed when he cannot rope his target on the very first try. He easily completes the task on his second try, while Carol and Heidi suffer defeat time and time again. Most of the teams do quite poorly in completing this Roadblock.

Brent and Caite can barely believe it when they arrive at Pena Gaucha and moms Monique and Shawne are still there trying to completing the roping task. Brent succeeds on his second attempt, and he and Caite start to feel more hopeful about their chances of remaining in the Amazing Race.

After completing the Roadblock, the teams must drive themselves to Puente Nirihuau, which is still in Argentina. There, the Amazing Race teams face a Detour, where they must choose between Horse Sense and Horse Power.

In Horse Sense, the Amazing Race teams obtain coordinates from a gunslinger. They must then find an old-time compass and count out their steps as they move in each direction listed on their coordinates in order to find a buried bag of loot. They must then deliver the loot to the lead bandit at the train station.

Horse Power is a polo-inspired challenge. The Amazing Race teams must take turns sitting on top of a large wooden practice pony and hitting a ball down a field. They have to pick up the giant horse and move it down the field each time they hit the ball. They must score a goal in 9 strokes or less in order to get their next clue.

This Detour creates a lot of problems and breakdowns for many of the Amazing Race teams. In my opinion, it is the most entertaining part of this week's episode. Carol and Brandy fight over issues of trust and leadership. They are not communicating well at all. Big Brother alums Jeff and Jordan experience extreme frustration when they read the clue incorrectly. They keep taking their loot back to the original gunslinger instead of to the lead bandit at the train station.

Brothers Dan and Jordan become extremely frustrated when they cannot get their ball down the field in 9 strokes or less and must start the Horse Power challenge over three times. Joe tips his horse over and falls off the front of it twice.

Brent and Caite are worn out by the time they decide to choose Horse Power. They have difficulty getting the ball down the field and have to start over. Luckily for them, they are not nearly as worn out as moms Monique and Shawne, who struggle with moving the large wooden horse down the field. They eventually give up and change to the coordinates challenge.

Jet and Cord complete the polo challenge easily and head to this week's Amazing Race pit stop, which is at Estancia Fortin Chacabuco in Argentina. For coming in first for this leg of the Amazing Race, they win a 10 day trip to Patagonia.

Caite and Brent are thrilled to come in 7th after getting so far behind from the get-go. It is not a surprise when Moms Monique and Shawne are the last to arrive at the pit stop, and they are eliminated from the Amazing Race.

The order of completion this week on the Amazing Race is:

1. Jet and Cord
2. Steve and Allie
3. Carol and Brandy
4. Joe and Heidi
5. Jordan and Jeff
6. Dan and Jordan
7. Brent and Caite
8. Louie and Michael
9. Monique and Shawne

Missed last week's episode of the Amazing Race? Read my recap HERE.