The Amazing Race - 5 ª Season

Eleven teams leave Santa Monica Pier and make their way to Montevideo, Uruguay, where they must locate a statue known as the "hand in the sand." In Uruguay, teams must carry a side of beef one-half mile, and then face the detour of "zips or chips" (zip lining from a hotel roof or playing roulette) before arriving at the pit stop.

The teams head to Montevideo in Uruguay, where they visit a foam discoteque and pop rubber balls to find clues. They all end up in the same ferry and feel the pressure of being bunched together after having been in various positions. They travel to Buenos Aires, where they take part in a Detour, Perro or Tango, in which you have to choose between walking eight dogs for about a mile, or instead first travel about a mile and a half for the Tango. In the Tango, the teams receive a photo and then try to identify one man from a group of people dancing the tango. The Tango turns out to be the better choice, because the dog-walking takes a long time and the dogs are difficult to control. After completing one of those two, the teams participate in a Roadblock in which they have to remove a scarf from a calf. Fortunes change for the teams, as many who were behind end up advancing, while Alison and Donny are eliminated.

The teams travel from the La Portena pit stop to San Carlos de Bariloche by plane. There, after finding the mayor, they participate in a Roadblock that involves finding one of twenty chocolates with white filling from a group of 11,000. Marshall and Lance struggle with the challenge, while Jim and Marsha fall behind after catching a late flight. After completing the Roadblock, the teams head to a scenic mountain for the Detour. Though given a choice between Smooth Sailing (paragliding) and Rough Riding (mountain biking six miles), all teams choose the much faster paragliding option. They then make their way to the pit stop at an unnamed island on Bahia Lopez. Jim and Marsha fight hard to remain in the race, but arrive too late and are eliminated.

The eight teams receive a clue telling them to get from the Pit Stop to the Battleship Aurora--its guns signaled the start of the Russian Revolution. The trip is long, with a 20-hour bus ride followed by an 8,000 mile flight to Russia. The jockeying and bickering immediately begin at the bus station, but some patient planning pays off for a few teams who take a later bus that makes less stops and then visit a travel agent. Some unfortunate airport luck leaves Bob and Joyce catching a later flight and striving to remain in the race. In St. Petersburg, Russia, the teams get a Detour clue to choose either a hockey challenge: Block Five Shots, or a drinking challenge: drink one shot. The choices are about evenly split and no team has a particularly tough time at the Detour. What many do have a very tough time with is the Roadblock, which involves eating two pounds of caviar. Christie struggles and her and Colin's lead evaporates, along with Brandon and Nicole, when Nicole passes out. Teams such as Chip and Kim and Charla and Mirna are able to power through it and gain ground, but it's not enough for Bob and Joyce, who are eliminated from the race

The teams start at the Pit Stop, Catherine's Palace, where they're then directed to head to St. Petersburg and find a painting in an art museum: Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son. The teams are then instructed to fly 2,000 miles to Cairo, Egypt. The teams consider their flight options and Colin and Christie score big by doing their research. They score a flight that arrives many hours before the others and Fast Forward into the lead with a task that involves transporting a sarcophagus. They check in to a nice lead at the Great Sphinx. The other teams arrive in Egypt where they take part in a Roadblock: Who's up for going down? They must carry up a bag of artifacts from a deep hole. They then take part in the Detour: Rock and Roll or Hump and Ride.