The Amazing Race All-Stars -- Episode 3

Tonight's episode of The Amazing Race: All-Stars proved what many of us had long suspected: David & Mary are nothing without their buddies from last season, the Cho Brothers.

Teams started the leg in Calama, Chile, and they headed to the airport in the middle of the night to book flights to Puerto Montt, Chile. Race leaders Rob & Amber found an all-night travel agency and booked seats on a flight that arrived at 12:55 the following afternoon.

At the airport, Uchenna & Joyce announced to the other teams present -- Ozzy & Danny, Eric & Danielle, and the Guidos, Joe & Bill -- that they were going to find a hotel with an Internet connection. They offered to book seats online for the other teams, who then wrote their credit card information on slips of paper.

Unfortunately, the Guidos were the only team to write down their credit card's security code, so they were the only other team Uchenna & Joyce could buy tickets for.

Eric & Danielle were first in line when the airport ticket counters opened and were still able to get tickets on the early flight. Everyone else wound up on a flight that arrived one hour later.

In Puerto Montt, teams drove to a fish farm for this leg's Roadblock. One team member needed to use a basket to transport 80 live flounder from a small breeding tank to a large holding tank approximately 50 meters downhill.

Danielle regretted her choice to do the Roadblock as soon as she got near her tank. She didn't like fish to begin with, and being forced to catch them with her bare hands didn't help. She could barely hear Eric calling her a "baby" over the sound of her own screaming.

Only a few of the floppy fish would fit in the basket at once, so the fish wranglers had to climb out of the tank frequently to lug their cargo to the holding tank. Rob could only chuckle as Eric, with the utmost sensitivity, encouraged Danielle to "use your boobs" to pin the fish down as she carried them. She did.

Bill remained calm as he lugged his cargo, bragging, "I'm the fish whisperer." Ozzy urged his partner to follow Bill's lead, telling Danny in a serene voice, "Be the fish. Become the fish."

Once all of the fish were transported, a clue written on the bottom of the tank became visible. The team member who did the Roadblock had to get back in the tank to copy it down.

The clue told teams to head toward the town of Petrohue, where they would find a popular tourist spot along the way called La Maquina.

Bill scanned the bottom of his tank too quickly and missed the part about Petrohue. He and Joe drove around aimlessly, asking people where La Maquina was (Nobody knew, as it was an hour away). Luckily for the Guidos, they chanced upon Charla & Mirna -- the last team to complete the Roadblock -- at a gas station.

When teams arrived at La Maquina, they were given their choice of Detour tasks. Team members could walk 200 yards to a rock face and each climb 40 feet, or drive over two miles farther and raft through level-4 rapids.

All of the teams chose the river rafting. Teri was the only racer to fall in the water. Afterward, she said, "It was exciting to fall out of the boat!"

Beauty Queens Dustin & Kandice, who've had some trouble navigating this season, made a potentially disastrous blunder. They found the river rafting Detour before they found the La Maquina clue that actually told them to do the Detour. Instead of realizing they'd skipped a step, they jumped right into a raft.

When they came ashore, the clue they found directed them to the Pit Stop at a camp three miles up the road.

Rob & Amber had already finished in first place (for the third consecutive time), followed by Uchenna & Joyce and Eric & Danielle. Host Phil Keoghan told the Beauty Queens that they couldn't check in until they retrieved the clue they'd missed.

Fortunately for them, the girls figured out their mistake and returned with their clue before any other teams had checked in. The were followed by Ozzy & Danny and Teri & Ian.

Charla & Mirna and the Guidos caught a break when Dave & Mary made a wrong turn, although the cousins managed to squander almost all of the meager lead they had.

Charla & Mirna were first into their raft, but the Guidos chased them down the river. Then, Mirna realized she'd left their car keys in a tent where they'd changed into their rafting gear. By the time she found the keys, the Guidos had checked in, and David & Mary had almost caught up. Almost.

The Kentucky coal miner and his wife were the latest victims in a very satisfying trend this season. Thus far, only the weakest teams have been eliminated. Even when the stronger teams have made mistakes, they haven't been too costly -- yet

Assuming that the trend continues, Charla & Mirna could be the next team to go. As entertaining as their manic overreactions and mangled attempts at Spanish are, they're just not racing as well as they did during Season 5.