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The Horse challenge isn’t that tricky. Yes, teams make mistakes, but nobody has an especially difficult time on it. #TeamTexas maintains their lead by finishing first. #TheGreenTeam isn’t far behind, but we expect a change at the top during this episode. Meanwhile, last place is a foregone conclusion. #TheDancers finally reach Gaucho Grill, and there’s nobody there. Given how long this challenge takes, they are multiple hours behind everyone else. Their best hope is that the equally incompetent cheerleaders make a critical mistake, maybe even two. Realistically, there isn’t any hope.

Most of the other competitors finish the race without incident. #TeamTexas wins, albeit only by a few moments over #TheGreenTeam. The southern men then tell Phil they’re angling to get someone to use a U-Turn against Justin and his girlfriend. The New Jersey native counters that his knowledge of the show allows him to appreciate that U-Turn aggression frequently goes awry, and he’s absolutely right. #TeamTexas seems to think that the moment #TheGreenTeam gets eliminated, they win. It’s as conceited as it is foolish. The producers of the show are playing up this rivalry, but there are nine teams left, eight if you want to go ahead and rule out #TheDancers. Everyone has the same chance of winning right now…except #TheDancers.

Why do we rule them out? Well, if this is an elimination leg, their odds are slim and none, and slim swears it’s an athlete. Odds go down when #TheReporters and #TheTrackStars reach the finish line in third and fourth place. They get a bit better when #TeamAlabama arrives.

First, there’s some true madness demonstrated by MamaBama as they guide the fake horse to its destination. She’s a control freak who orders her son around so much that we’re starting to think of them as Agnes and Seymour Skinner. She emasculates her boy so much that if he kills her in her sleep one day, it’ll be justifiable homicide. This woman is a psychopath. She’s also a cheater.

Phil informs them that he can’t check them in due to her aforementioned cheating. They must serve a 30-minute penalty first. We’re surprised the punishment is so brief. There are times during The Amazing Race when half an hour is a small price to pay when a teammate is stuck. It might even save time. We wonder if she’s not receiving a harsher timeout because they want her on television all season. It’s something to track as the season progresses, especially if they finish last but get saved by a non-elimination round.

Among the more competent, saner players, #ChacAttack and #TheCheerleaders have the worst problems. After dominating the Gaucho Grill challenge, the former team forgot a buggy whip that cost them over an hour. Now, DoctorDentist gets lost on the way to final check-in to the point that can see the building but can’t deduce a way to reach it. As they struggle, #TheCheerleaders suffer a similar mistake when they forget their buggy whip and are forced to return to retrieve.

While both these mistakes signal that each team is flawed and unlikely to win this season, there still isn’t much intrigue. #TheDancers get to have fun while performing both tasks, but it’s readily apparent that they’re way behind. They probably closed 80 percent of the gap between the teams in front of them, but missing the second bus undid them. When they reach the end, Phil informs them that they are eliminated from The Amazing Race. There are several bad teams this season, and they were definitely one of those, but they were also fun. That differentiates them from of the other participants thus far, many of whom we barely even know after three episodes. It’s been a strange start to The Amazing Race 27.

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