Only a scarce non-elimination leg of “The Amazing Race” kept the cowboys on the show for another week.
Jet and Cord McCoy finished last on Sunday, March 28, during the seventh episode of the CBS reality TV show in which teams race around the world in hopes of finishing first and collecting $1 million first-place prize.
“I’m not giving up ’til Phil tells us to leave,” Cord said, referring to the host Phil Keoghan.
But that almost happened. The McCoys started out the seventh leg in fourth place, where the teams left France and traveled to the Island of Mahe, Sheychelles, off the eastern coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. In order of arrival, the teams took a helicopter flight to the Island of La Digue, where they came across the episode’s detour: either luring a large tortuous across a line, then hauling a bunch of bananas to the next stop; or loading a cart with coconuts, then attaching an ox to the cart and hauling it to the delivery point.
By the time the cowboys reached La Digue, they were in last place. They took the Ox Trot, but like two other teams, they left a single coconut behind.
“It’s sort of like being at home, except we’re usually loading feed,” Jet said.
Upon delivery, they had to return to the loading point and find their missing cargo. Fortunately, the lesbian couple team of Brandy Snow and Carol Rosenfeld also left a coconut behind, so the McCoys moved up to fifth place out of the six remaining teams.
“I can’t believe we missed a coconut,” Cord said. “We’re cut right between a rock and a hard place.”
They then took a boat to the waters of St. Pierre Island, where they had ditched their jeans and boots for shorts.
“I wasn’t going to go for Speedos, so this is a happy medium,” Cord said.
Jet dove into the water to locate a submerged case of bottles, then return with a single bottle that contained tools to build a small map that was to lead them to the final destination of the leg. They boated near the island, then swam the remaining portion of the trip to the island where they were to put the map together. But the McCoys left the bottle on the boat and found their way to the finish line anyway.
Nonetheless, Keoghan informed the cowboys that they had to return with the pieces of the puzzle in order to make the finish official
“There really wasn’t any other option than to swim to that boat,” said Jet, who burst into the water alongside his brother for a 600-yard round trip to the boat. When they returned, Keoghan told the brothers they were still alive in the race, but that they had cut it close
“Cut it close?” Jet asked Keoghan. “I thought we were going to drown.”
The McCoys will face a special challenge – a “speed bump” – on the eighth episode, serving a penalty for being last but still being part of the show.
“We have only one way to go, and that’s up,” Jet said.
“You should write a country song,” Cord told his brother, jokingly.And the chorus would include a piece about swimming the Indian Ocean and staying alive in “The Amazing Race.”
