While eight teams were taking advantage of their mandatory rest period in Amsterdam, one team was seeking medical attention.  As a result of the last grueling bike ride, Ronald suffered a painful hernia.  (It was unclear whether he blamed his heavy daughter at any point for the predicament.)  Fortunately, a doctor was able at least offer a temporary solution for the cranky father.

The next morning, Lorena and Jason kicked off the departures to the airport.  Next stop: Ouagadougou.  While it took a little bit of work to figure out exactly which country they were actually heading to (answer: Burkina Faso), all of the teams managed to pinpoint their destination.  Unfortunately, flights to the West African country were few and far between, so it was important to secure seats asap.  Despite a very close call for Christina and the hernia patient, eight of the nine teams were able to snag an 8am departure.

The only team not on the group flight was Nathan/Jennifer.  The couple scored standby tickets on a flight heading into Paris (the layover stop) 40 minutes earlier.  Although the ‘sneaky’ move was kind off a moot point – both flights had the same connection into Burkina Faso – it almost proved to be hugely advantageous.  The eight teams on the 2nd flight came dangerously close to missing their connection due to mechanical problems on their Air France flight; this would have put them all another 24 hours behind Nathan and Jennifer (since flights to the African country only happened once a day).  But in true Amazing Race fashion, all of the competitors made it to their connecting flight just under the wire – putting them back on equal footing.

Upon arriving in Africa, the teams scrambled for taxis to the train station.  Again, this proved to be more energy wasted; the ticket offices were closed until the next morning.  The duos were once again even steven.  After another night’s rest (and a few creepy remarks by Donald about the ‘feisty’ and ‘hot’ sisters), the competitors all jumped aboard the same train toward Bingo (a.k.a ‘in the middle of nowhere’).  Once they had reached their destination, the teams headed straight toward their next Road Block.  One person from each group had the honor of milking a testy camel; once they had filled enough milk into their bowl, the contestant would then had to drink it.  Before the task began, each duo was given some words of advice: “Be mindful that the camels are sensitive to fast movements and loud noises.”

While some teams figured out that being calm and patient was the way to go, others agitated the situation by becoming easily frustrated.  TK’s mellow nature and Donald’s ‘older wisdom’ helped them finish their task with relative ease.  Conversely, Lorena’s shrieking was probably the reason her camel kept bucking her barely-filled bowl.  As teams slowly starting leaving for their next leg of the race, those still left behind encountered a new problem: dry camels.  Fortunately since the other couples were already finished with their animals, the milk-challenged competitors were able to borrow the more lactose-friendly camels.

To get to the upcoming Detour, the teams had to lead four camels from the milking challenge to a group of waiting nomads who were waiting with the next clue.  Before reaching the final pit stop, the couples had to choose between ‘Teach It’ or ‘Learn It’.  The basic goal was to work with a local child on 10 different vocabulary words.  In ‘Teach It’, the teams had to use flashcards to teach the student words in English; in ‘Learn It’, the duos had the responsibility of learning words in the native language.

Despite Azaria’s earlier difficulties with a dry camel, the brother/sister duo was able to make up a lot of time in this educational portion of the race.  Using their smarts, the brainiacs strategically divided up their list of vocabulary words; they were now each responsible for learning only 5 cards.  This division of work saved them a lot of time and moved them to the front of the pack.  Although they were in 6th place heading into the final task, the siblings walked away with another win.  A very close finish put the next four teams (TK/Rachel, Nathan/Jennifer, Kynt/Vyxin, Christina/Ronald) within seconds of each other.

Back at the milking challenge, Julia realized that a soothing approach was the best way to go with her four-legged friend.  After a few good belly rubs, her camel finally churned out enough milk for her to drink.  Hating to hear/see Lorena crying all alone, the friendly sister suggested that the wailing woman find a camel with a baby nearby; chances are, it would produce more milk.  After taking her advice, Lorena and Jason quickly got on the road and hauled butt toward the Detour.  Because the sisters chose to slowly walk their camels to the next task (they didn’t want to scare the animals), Marianna and Julia suddenly found themselves tied with Lorena and Jason.  (Apparently the girls forgot they were in a race).

In the end, we learned that no good deed goes unpunished.  Although she thought she was doing a nice thing, Julia’s helpful hint came back to bite her in the end.  Lorena/Jason proved to be just smart enough to outdo the flash card-challenged sisters.  LOSER: Marianna/Julia.

LESSON OF THE DAY:  Never, ever, ever help anyone else out – especially when you are running in second to last place.

(You can review last week’s episode here.)
(You can read next week’s episode here.)