Amazing Race finally hits its stride in Episode 3

Season 16 Episode 3

You what what amazed me most about the beginning of this Amazing Race episode?  The beauty queen chick still looks pretty hot, even when she has food poisoning and is throwing up. Oh to be a beauty queen.  Her barf is probably prettier than the rest of the racers.

The two models headed to the Emergency Room and got IV's for their dehydration.  It cost them three hours, but it didn't seem to put them too far behind because the The Undercover detectives were waiting at the bus station with them when they arrived.

The obvious favorites in this race are clear to viewers now.  The Cowboys are definitely a team you can root for.  Their "Aww Shucks" attitude and rugged good looks will take them far in this game.

The annoying Lesbian team tore into the Cowboys asking how they had gotten so far ahead in the last leg of the race.  The Cowboys just stood their in a daze under the barrage of all their questions.  

After the 6 hour bus ride, the teams got into SUV's and drove off.  The Cowboys pulled over so as not to lead the rest of the teams to the location.

Once at the location they played 5 card stud against a Travelocity gnome at the place where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid once stayed.

Once they won a hand, the teams had to lasso a bale of hay and pull it towards them.  This of course was right up the Cowboys alley.  They were even frustrated that they had missed on their first try.  The other teams looked hopeless.

The next challenge had a choice between playing polo or trying to find hidden bags of money.  

The Cowboys chose to play polo hoping to ride real horses, but instead found that they needed to hit a polo ball across a field, while sitting atop a wooden horse, in nine strokes or less.  The Cowboys again had no problem completing the task on the first try and racing to the end without any trouble.

The Lesbians decided to follow simple coordinates to find buried bags of money but they failed miserably, while bickering and fighting the entire time.  No way this relationship lasts.  They give up and try polo.

The rest of the teams struggle carrying the wooden polo horses up and down the field while having difficulty making solid contact with the polo mallet.

In the end the Lawyer Housewives, who I didn't realize were even in the race, finished last and were sent home.

Watching this episode was a relief.  Finally there was someone to root for and some interesting challenges.  Hopefully it gets better from here on out.