After the last leg Meghan and Cheyne had a nearly two-hour lead on the other teams, although that was quickly obliterated by a massive bunching at the airport since the first flight to their next location - Amsterdam - didn't leave for nearly 12 hours. While the teams were all waiting, Sam and Dan took the opportunity to come out to the group. They said they kept their secret thus far because they didn't feel the need to announce it at first. I get that, but why announce it at all? It seemed very forced to me. I wonder if the producers pushed them to come out?

After the teams landed, Ericka and Brian had a meltdown when he couldn't figure out how to put their provided luxury car into drive. She had said earlier that she feels herself becoming a nagging wife the longer their on the race, and she hates it. The two of them had a heated, but still kind of hilarious spat, and it oddly made me like them even more, because their mutual frustration was so relatable.

Roadblock: One team member had to climb up a huge clock tower and count the number of bells that make up the carillon on top. Meghan and one of the gay brothers (I have a hard time telling them apart, even though they look nothing alike) partnered together to do the counting -- a smart move since there were 62 bells in all. It got a lot harder when the player started playing the instrument, which made it very difficult to concentrate. Pinky (Matt) got it figured out and finished first. Sam and Meghan then got it, and I guess Sam told the poker players the answer. Ericka was WAY off, by like 20 bells, after all the other teams had finished. Yikes!

Detour: Teams had to choose between swimming a river in farmer underwear and play farmers' golf, which looked like golf with mini-soccer balls; or a task in which they had to ring a strong-man bell, then learn a dance, and then eat a salted fish and onions. The bonus: for either task the teams had to dress up in traditional Dutch outfits, and one team member had to be a boy, and one a girl. It was hilarious. Most of the teams went for the golf option, which I think was the right choice. The trick there was they only had a limited number of shots for each hole, and then they had to go back. Pinky & the Brain initially chose the dance option and seemed to have fun with it, but realized that ultimately they were ill-equipped to conquer the choreography, and worse yet, the fish dessert at the end.

Sadly, Ericka had a total meltdown back at the bell-counting challenge. She tried to keep it together, but was crumpling under the pressure. And on the golf leg, Meghan was destroying her team's chances by generally sucking. But she finally got the hang of the golf and she and Cheyne were on their way shortly after the brothers. Team Poker blew the strength challenge part of the dance option, and eventually switched to the golfing.

Team Gay Bro came in first - this seemed like a crazy short leg -- followed by Meghan and Cheyne in second. Blech. I have to wonder, if the other teams hadn't handed them that Fast Forward during the first Dubai leg, would they still be dominating the game like they are?

The Globetrotters crushed the dance option and had a ton of fun....until they got to the fish. Then Flight Time had a real hard time, but he got through it. Maria and Tiffany, having failed at golf too, decided to go back and try the strength challenge, and failed again. They were up to 50 attempts when they decided to stop and "hug it out" for a bit. That was sad to watch, honestly. They were obviously feeling defeated on both options, and what do you do then?

At the same time, Brian and Ericka were suffering in their wooden shoes on the way to the Detour. They realized WAY TOO LATE that they were supposed to get on bikes, and at that point Ericka just lost it, and lit into her poor husband. It was hard to watch. That wasn't fun fighting, that was uncomfortable fighting.

After Pinky & the Brain and the Globetrotters checked in, it was a war of attrition between the Poker players - who bailed on the strength test a SECOND time - and Team Miss America, which seemed to recover fairly quickly from its issues, and did beautifully on the dance task. And Ericka totally charmed me again, up to and including devouring the fish with aplomb.

Team Miss America got to the mat fifth, but since they didn't get to the detour via bike, they incurred a 30-minute penalty. That SUCKS. They had to wait out Team Poker's total fail on the golf course. I just hated watching Ericka cry on the bench, but thankfully they were able to squeak through since Maria and Tiffany totally fell apart on the golf course. In fact, the two of them were so frazzled, that Phil had to come out to them in the field, and accept their resignation from the race. Boy, what a pussed-out way to end the race. They started out as our "villains" and they just...gave up. Jesus. As my roommate pointed out, there's been nothing but weakness on this race. People who can't go down water slides, people who can't play golf. Pathetic.

Happily, that meant that Ericka and Brian are still in the race, leaving us with a Final 5 teams that I almost universally like. (Except for Cheyne and Meghan, who are just resoundingly boring, although inoffensive.) That said, none of these teams are particularly good racers -- the exception being Pinky & the Brain, I think -- so it's anybody's game.