The Amazing Race got a little poignant last night, in the wake of the huge earthquake in Chile over the weekend. Our racers were there during much happier times. It’s not the first time an episode of the Race aired in the wake of a terrible disaster, as we remember the tsunami from a few years back as well.

The teams left Chile in the opening of the episode and bused it to Argentina (so much time on a bus so far this season!) and in and around all of that (no jockeying, as there were preassigned buses) we watched Brent and Caite, the "models," vomit and dehydrate and then take themselves to the Chilean ER for some IV treatments. Even sick as dogs they look better than I do, but I do admire their stick-to-it-iveness.

The Cowbros start out in the lead and  finish in the lead but in between something strange happened. They completely won me over. These two are hysterical. And smart. Funny and smart. And the fact that the entire Argentinian episode was cowboy-centric made it only that much better.

They had to lasso a hay bale (took two tries for Black Hat, same as for Brent the Dehydrated Model), play poker against the Travelocity Gnome (please tell me you noticed that Brown Hat had his hat on the gnome when they were driving in the car) and then ride a Trojan horse whilst smacking a polo ball, all before finding Phil on the ranch. They made me laugh out loud several times with their interview sound bites, and they did the entire leg with such good humor that I thoroughly enjoyed the entire episode.

Of course, not everyone had such smooth sailing. In addition to Brent and Caite’s stomach issues, Jeff and Jordan had to battle Can’t-read-the-clue-itis. The Lesbians spent the whole time ripping each other’s emotional scabs off, and the Lawyer Moms just had plain bad luck all the way. By the time Monique and Shawne got to the Compass challenge after bagging the polo challenge they were so physically spent that they had no chance to make it up.

Let’s pause for a moment to think about Phil in a zip-neck sweater, asking the cowboys to show him their belt buckles.

Let’s also pause for a moment to consider filing a Freedom of Information request with the Providence police department, asking to see Louie and Mike’s crime-solving statistics. Because holy cannoli are they dumb.

Steve and Allie, the father-daughter team who apparently cannot even pay someone to get air time, came in second behind the Cowbros, and Heidi and Joe, who are supposed to bicker but don’t, came in third. I’m not sure why the producers are making the editing decisions they are, but I’d like lots more Steve-Allie and lots less Lesbians, please.

What did you think?