Last night’s Amazing Race ep marked that pivotal turning point each season where teams become whiny and lazy, and we become privy to their downfall. Good stuff!

It seems though that Nick and Starr were once again impervious to such challenges and came in first again. And their victory had a great deal to do with their ability to consume what might have been “sheep’s butt.” But more on that in a sec.

The teams flew from Delhi to Almaty, Kazahkstan — unavoidably known now as Borat country — and were asked to travel to a local egg farm. After waiting hours for the damn farm to open up at 7:30 am, they recovered their clues and found they had two options: Take a Fast Forward or stick around the farm and search for one of seven golden eggs hidden among thousands of chickens in the hen house.

Terrence and Sarah, and Nick and Starr opted for the Fast Forward, which asked them to travel to a local temple and consume a typical Kazakh meal. Sounded easy enough until said meal tuned out to be meat. And that meat turned out to be, well, they didn’t know. “Oh no, it’s frickin’ meat,” said 15-year vegetarian Terrence.

While those teams dry-heaved their way through the meal, the others traveled to the Koktobe Arch at the foothills of the Tienshan Mountains where they encountered a pretty sweet-looking Mongol warrior. A hawk delivered their next clue (yes, a hawk) which offered them two options for their next detour: Play Like Mad or Act Like Fools.

In Play Like Mad, teams had to travel by taxi to the Museum of Folk Musical Instruments where they would learn to play a simple Kazakh tune using two traditional instruments, the Dombra and the Shan Koby’s. In Act Like Fools, teams had to travel by taxi to a puppet theater and put on a two-person cow costume. Then, dressed as the cow, they had to walk the streets of Almaty to a marked stall where they had to drink a glass of milk, on the bottom of which was listed the name of Zelyoniy Bazaar, where they would receive their next clue.

All of the remaining teams — Andrew/Dan, Toni/Dallas, Ken/Tina – opted for Act Like a Fool. (Hmmm, interesting.) Andrew and Dan had a beast of a time reaching the theater after hitching a ride with a trucker who hadn’t a clue where he was going. “What’s wrong with people here? They’re like zombies!” said Andrew after people who clearly didn’t speak English offered no help in providing directions. I know, go figure.

Meanwhile, Nick and Starr were nearly finished with their, um, meal (turns out it was indeed meat from a sheep’s behind) when Terrence threw in the towel. “I can’t do it. I can’t do it,” he told Sarah. The two dropped their forks and run out of the restaurant while Nick and Starr were left to gloat and avoid vomiting.

The cow-costume routine proved a tad more challenging than folks realized, but that’s ‘cuz they’re getting tired and not reading their clues. The best example of this being that Andrew and Dan arrived at the Pit Stop by taxi — they were mandated to walk on foot — and had to go back into town and walk back again. Nick and Starr easily arrived first (the Fast Forward was a wise move for them) with Toni and Dallas close behind. I’m still thinking these guys are the dark horse in this game. Solid and steady and refreshingly not annoying, except I’m worried about Dallas making goo-goo eyes at Starr.

Andrew and Dan somehow made it back under the wire, leaving Terrence and Sarah, who left the Fast Forward to complete the cow-costume task, to arrive last. They were eliminated and for first time since the show started, I wasn’t shouting obscenities at the screen. These guys, like most of the teams, totally grew on me this season, and I’m going to kind of miss them. Just a little.

Tags: amazing race, cbs, recap