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At the U-Turn spot, David & Connor regretfully can’t punish another team, so they are reliant upon the Afghanimals to come through with Big Brother revenge. The Pitstop waits for them at Plaza de Espana.

As a newly lame Jamal slowly makes his way to the U-Turn sign, they begin to actually strategize. They haven’t seen the others in Spain so they don’t know the order. The one thing they do know – Jet & Cord are much more physical threats on the Race than Brendon & Rachel. And with Jamal hurt and not knowing if the pain will be lasting, they opt for U-Turning the brothers and hope they can then U-Turn Team Fetch. That, my friends, is playing the game with the head and not your heart. I hate that this spells elimination for my favorite team (let’s be honest about this…because it would take an epic collapse of Team Fetch for them to actually be U-Turned) but I applaud the cousins for making the right decision. The Afghanimals actually seem remorseful for U-Turning a team they like but know it’s the best call for their chances to win the whole thing.

Speaking of the cowpokes, they made it through the first bull gauntlet without finding the first part of the phrase. Fortunately, Jet recognizes that they missed something on the first section because “never thinks about” is an incomplete sentence. They backtrack.

Miraculously, Rachel has survived the Running of the Ballz and Team Fetch is hoofing it to the U-Turn spot.

With confidence that Brendon & Rachel will be eliminated, David & Connor hit the mat and are greeted by Phil and a local woman on horseback as the first team. Their alliance mates Jennifer & Caroline haven’t exactly been struggling in the dancing department and seem to be enjoying the task exponentially more than they would have with Ballz. They successfully getting passing marks from their dance teacher, who will never have a future spot on Dancing with the Stars with such lax dance standards.

The Afghanimals have limped their way to second and are far less enthusiastic than usual, which Phil notes. The guys explain that they didn’t like using the U-Turn that way but need to eliminate the strongest team in light of Jamal’s injury.

Back to the Ballz, Jet & Cord have survived their beatings and got their next clue. Now all three non-checked in teams are heading to the U-Turn spot.

(Side note: I am aware of the many, many, many double entendres with all the ball/bull references. It really wasn’t avoidable this leg. I’m sorry/You’re welcome.)

Brendon & Rachel get there first, fully expecting to be U-Turned. That dread morphs into elation upon seeing what really went down. Brendon notes that he thinks that was the smart call by Leo & Jamal because it bumps off the cowboys and improves their chances also. The newlyweds book it to Phil and are checked in as number three.

In the opposite of reactions, mean girls Jennifer & Caroline are aghast that the Afghanimals would deviate from the plan. They are clueless of Jamal’s injury and the location of the other teams period, so they waste a U-Turn by putting Brendon & Rachel’s name up on the board. Caroline even pathetically says, “Nothing personal.” No one believes that and you look like a fake and foolish person for even uttering those words when you have spent the last three legs targeting them. That is pretty much the definition of “personal.”

The writing is on the wall for us that Jet & Cord are going home and the guys see it too as they arrive at the U-Turn. Jet describes it as “disappointing but not surprising” because he knew from the beginning they shouldn’t trust Leo & Jamal. He also points out that they know that Team Fetch isn’t getting hit by the U-Turn because they are probably already at the Pitstop. They trot off to do Spanish Steps.

The girls have now met up with Phil and are in the top four for the second time. Full of misplaced confidence and an overestimation of their skills, the singers say that this shows that they are a strong team or else why would they have made it to top four twice. Well, you raced the same way as before and gotten the same result. Basically, for me, a first place victory for Jennifer & Caroline would rank as the least deserving winners of any season and given how poor some have been, that’s saying something. At least the other less deserving teams had one person that demonstrated some Race ability at some point. Neither of the girls has.

We get footage of Jet & Cord completing the Steps and the teacher basically just gives them the clue because they were not nearly as crisp as they probably needed to be when the elimination was still avoidable.

Phil regretfully tells them of their elimination and the guys continue to keep their positive attitude but are disappointed. Fittingly, Cord asks the local woman if he can ride her horse and she obliges. They will be missed.

Looking ahead, the teams invade England and we are only two legs and episodes from crowning a new Amazing Race winner.

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