A wrong turn in “The Amazing Race” has proven disastrous for some teams so far this season, but it was just a minor hindrance for the cowboys on the show.
After winning the second and third legs of the race, Jet and Cord McCoy have fallen behind the leaders in the CBS reality TV show that started with 11 teams racing all across the world. On Sunday, March 21, the Oklahoma cowboys who have made their livings raising livestock and riding bucking beasts finished fourth, remaining in the race for $1 million.
In Episode 6, the teams raced through France, getting to the city of Reims to receive their first clue. Starting third and half an hour behind fifth-leg winners Louie and Michael Naylor, the McCoys scanned the countryside and maps trying to get to the a statue of Joan of Arc in city in the northeastern part of the country.
“I have no idea where Reims is,” said Cord, the tandem’s backseat navigator.
“I’ll find us a 7-Eleven,” Jet said jokingly.
But after getting the clue, the wheels came off for the McCoys. The clue was to send the teams to a champagne dealer, but the brothers took the road not raveled by any other team, to Chalons-en-Champagne, a community southeast of Reims.
“We lost about 60 kilometers,” Cord said.
The McCoys dropped to fifth place before getting to the distributor, where one team member had to repel 100 feet into the caverns that held the wine.
“I don’t have the faintest idea about repelling, but I’m fixing to find out,” said Cord, one of the fan favorites on the Professional Bull Riders tour.
The teams then had to remove the cork from the champagne with a sword to get their next clue, which was hidden inside the bottles. Like most of the teams, the McCoys went back to Reims to where they thought the next stop was, only to find out they were to go to the winery’s chateau. There the teams had to choose between towering 680 champagne glasses or searching trough a square kilometer of the vineyard for a tiny cluster of grapes.
“If I can find crack in someone’s hind end, I can find anything,” said Michael Naylor from the team of detective brothers.
With smiles that have kept them not only in the race but making more fans with every episode, the McCoys reflected on their misfortunes with strong attitudes. While the show said goodbye to “The Big Brother” team of Jeff Schroeder and Jordan Lloyd, the cowboys are one of the six remaining teams.
“People pay thousands of dollars to get the tour we had today,” said Cord, who recently went to Arizona to be part of spring training with the Cleveland Indians.
Cord was invited by Steve Smith, who is in the race with his daughter, Allie, and who is the third base coach for the Indians. Racing brings the world together. How else can a World Series coach and a professional bull rider share a day together during Major League Baseball’s spring training? It was big enough news that the Associated Press produced a piece on Smith and included Cord’s trip. That story was picked up by Sports Illustrated’s Web site.
