'The Amazing Race' recap: Vintage Fun

Meanwhile, back at the detour, Sam and Dan capsized three glorious times before changing to the ropes course — all the while yelling ''Bitch!'' And ''Shut up dude!'' at each other. Clearly, somebody and his brother didn't learn too much from last week's teary realization that it wasn't worth yelling at each other. And their short-term memory didn't stop there. The team obsessed with pointing out other teams' ethical shortcomings decided they would steal Brian and Ericka's taxi. Classy, boys, classy.

I usually laugh when bad things happen to Ericka because she's such an easy target — miscounting bells, etc. — but tonight I felt bad for her. ''Use two hands!'' Brian was gently encouraging her. ''I am!'' she screamed back. She's one the last women left in the race and that ropes course looked like it was a brutal upper body workout for professional athletes, so it couldn't have been easy for a former Miss America.

All the teams eventually ended up at the Estates Theater, where Mozart premiered Don Giovanni. Everyone had to find a teeny little mandolin among the 600 seats. Cheyne and Big Easy put on their head-flashlights and threw open doors, lifted up seats, and did their best to abuse this beautiful building to find their clue. Flight Time was nothing short of hilarious when he got annoyed at Malibu Skipper's constant screeching ''Cheyne! Cheyne!'' I even loved when Flight Time worked his totally unimpressive yet totally awesome ballet moves on the stage. That guy should win the race for having the best personality.

When the brothers arrived they were all joyous at the Don Giovanni challenge reference. Sam even started belting out a few lines. (Wait. Let me get this straight...you know opera but you don't know that Prague is not a country? Someone's college education was seriously lopsided!) No doubt Big Easy was annoyed that Dan found the mandolin first. But not half as annoyed as Brian and Ericka were when they saw the brothers leaving just as they were arriving. ''I definitely avoided eye contact,'' Sam said. Probably a smart move. Ericka's got quite the death stare. Just ask Brian. Self-awareness hit an all-time low when the brothers couldn't find a taxi outside the Theatre. ''How hard is it to find a taxi?'' Um, it's called karma. And no, they don't speak Spanish there.

In the end, Meghan and Cheyne came in first (with a trip to Hawaii!), Sam and Dan second, Flight Time and Big Easy third, and Brian and Ericka last. Much as the brothers would have loved for Brian and Ericka to get kicked off the race in the country of Prague, they were out of luck. Phil, who always painfully telegraphs when it's a non-elimination leg, painfully telegraphed that it was a non-elimination leg. I don't think Brian and Ericka have run the best race so I'm not entirely happy that they will now compete to run among the top three. But boy am I looking forward to next week when Ericka takes out her wrath on those brothers. Hell hath no fury like a Miss America scorned. ''I'm going for the jugular,'' she said when that taxi drove away with the brothers. The jugular? Could last week's elbow jab been a mere appetizer? Will blood be spilled next week? Did you think the brothers played too dirty? Should taxi stealing get you punished at the finish mat?

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