Babe, Episode 2, Babe

I'm writing the recap because Laura is boycotting the blog right now. She doesn't like ANY of the teams and was completely unenthused about posting. So the show better smarten up eh?! -------------------------------------

The teams started out on the second leg of the race and proceeded to Mongolia by bus. Tyler and James were the first to depart in the morning as they were the first to the mat the night before. Once off the bus all teams raced to a temple where a nice little man in a mask handed them their next clue (and if the Hippies were on this season they would have said "Thanks Santa!" Ahh!) .

Now, the amazing part of the entire episode, featuring ancient Jeep-type Russian vehicles from decades of yore, was that everyone knew how to drive stick. Unlike other seasons where teams would get all flustered and weepy. Oh, except for Rob who said the grinding noise wasn't him ... it was the car.

The teams piled into their little Jeep-y Rover-y type trucks and took off for the town of Terelj. Several teams had car troubles including the models, Tyler and James who had a flat (and a busted jack). Coalminer and his wife managed to get their car stuck so far in the mud you could barely see the tops of the tires. By this point, the teams were rather staggered.

Once at their destination, everyone had to saddle up and go by horse to the site of the next challenges. "Do horses smell fear?" asked Kimberly who ended up getting a face full of tree branch when her horse bolted off (with her on it). After the horsey rides the teams ran into a detour: take it down or fill it up.

Take it down involved disassembling a nomad hut, packing everything up and securing it for transport. For Fill it up, teams had to lead indegenous bison-ox-type animals pulling carts over to the river to fill up cans with water. They then had to cart them back and pour the cans they filled into a huge drum. Teams had troubles controlling the beasts and overall I think the Take it down would have been much easier (and less frustrating).

When the tasks were complete, they headed to their final challenges of the leg. They had to shoot a flaming arrow over a wall and several hundred feet away into a dish - that would then light up in big fire-ball fashion. Everyone seemed to have problems with this as well and the single moms & cheerleaders lagged way behind as they ran into car trouble and couldn't figure out directions.

Able to send their arrow soaring spot on to victory, Peter and Sarah arrived first at the mat, winning a trip for two to Mexico. Not far behind were the models, Tyler and James - who came from way behind after the blown-tire incident. Next came Duke and Lauren, then after a bit of a struggle with the bow n' arrow, Tom and Terry. The beauty queens and the happy couple followed suit but not until after they hand another quarrel and 'babe' war. David & Mary, Erwin & Godwin (the brothers who fell in the rankings due to car trouble) and finally Lyn & Karlyn arrived at the pit stop. The cheerleaders arrived at dusk and struggled in vain to get their arrow to hit the target, after what seemed like a long time (since it turned pitch black outside), they finally gave up - they had no more energy to keep attempting the stunt. Quitters.

It was fairly uneventful. The blonds were ditsy, the old cars broke down, the couple that bitches at each other finished in a respectible position and giggled and kissed once it was over.

Next week some of the comraderie between the teams goes out the window and Laura still searches for a favourite.

Item of note: On the official site, there's a section called "Return of the Racers" where some of the past winners and participants have some blogs posted.

What are your thoughts so far?

(All images property of the official site on CBS.com)