Terence Gerchberg and Sarah Leshner cut from 'The Amazing Race'

An unlucky twist after a risky decision to attempt a Fast Forward challenge proved to be too much for "Newly Dating Couple" Terence Gerchberg and Sarah Leshner to overcome during last night's broadcast of The Amazing Race 13, resulting in the couple becoming the seventh team to be eliminated from the CBS reality competition.


Following their elimination, both Sarah and Terrence spoke of how the competition had helped them grow as a couple.

"It was his decision to go for the Fast Forward and I think he's gonna beat himself up for that. But I hope that with some time he can see that we got out of this with great things for our relationship," Sarah said. "Hopefully in the long run that'll be just as valuable as whether we were able to win it or not."

"I've never known where life would take me, I never knew where this race would take me. One thing I hope is that wherever my life does take me that Sarah is a part of my life," Terrence added.

The Amazing Race 13's eighth episode began with the five remaining teams leaving from Humayun's Tomb, a 16th century mausoleum in Delhi, India that had served as the site of the competition's seventh Pit Stop.


Following the mandatory rest period, the "Brother and Sister" team of Nick and Starr Spangler were the first team to depart at 10:14PM.

After opening their departure clue, Nick and Starr were instructed to make their way to the local airport and travel 1,000 miles to Almaty, Kazakhstan. Once there, they were instructed to make their way to a chicken factory and search its grounds for their next clue.

Nick and Starr were followed by "Mother and Son" Toni and Dallas Imbimbo at 10:24 PM, Terrence and Sarah at 10:43PM, "Separated Couple" Ken and Tina Greene at 11:48PM, and "Fraternity Brothers" Andrew Lappitt and Dan Honig last at 12:00AM

Prior to leaving for the airport, the teams of Nick and Starr and Dallas and Toni both found a local hotel and were able to secure reservations for the earliest possible flight to Almaty. Although both teams believed no other team would be able to get to the airport and secure tickets for the early flight, they were wrong as Ken and Tina were able to get onto the flight as well.

Terrence and Sarah were also able to get to the airport in time for the early flight, however there were no tickets left available and they were forced to take a later flight.


Andrew and Dan arrived to the airport last and were not able to secure tickets for the second flight. They had to wait for a third, and even later, flight to Almaty.

After arriving in Kazakhstan in the middle of the night, Ken and Tina and Nick and Starr both found cabs and headed to the chicken factory where they discovered it was closed and they would have to wait for it to open at 7:30AM.

Because of the wait, all five teams eventually reconvened outside of the chicken factory before it opened, with Andrew and Dan arriving just before the chicken factory's gates were about to open.

At 7:30AM, the gates opened as the teams sprinted to the clue box learned it was time for the leg's Roadblock task which required one member of each team to go into giant bird shack and search among 30,000 chickens for one of seven golden eggs.

However, in addition to the Roadblock, the cluebox also contained a second clue that presented the racers with the option to attempt to complete the race's second and final Fast Forward task which would allow the first team to complete it to skip the rest of the leg's tasks and proceed directly to the Pit Stop.


The Fast Forward task instructed teams to travel to a restaurant and eat a classic Kazakhstan meal that -- upon their arrival at the restaurant -- they would learn was made from the fat from the rear end of a sheep.

While Andrew and Dan, Toni and Dallas, and Ken and Tina decided to stick to the Roadblock challenge, Terrence and Sarah and Nick and Starr both ran back to their cabs to try and become the first team to complete the Fast Forward.

Andrew, Toni, and Tina each decided to take part in the Roadblock challenge for their teams, with Toni eventually finding the egg first.

After returning with the egg, Toni and Dallas received their next clue instructing them to search the factory grounds for a waiting giant crane truck. They were then told to travel in the trucks to Koktobe Arch at the foothills of a local mountain range.  Once there, they would have to follow a marked path until they come upon a Mongol warrior and wait for their next clue to arrive.

Both Andrew and Tina found their golden eggs shortly after Toni, found their trucks and left for the arch at the same time.


Nick and Starr were the first team to arrive at the restaurant for the Fast Forward challenge, and were followed closely by Terrence and Sarah. However, upon learning that they would be eating sheep for the challenge, Terrence -- a vegetarian for the last 15 years --  immediately saw cause for concern.

"We sat down in that restaurant and everything they served me made me absolutely ill," Terrence said later. "But the only way to win the million was to go for it."

Both teams struggled as they ate their food, with both Starr and Terrence gagging numerous times and coming close to getting sick. However, while Starr was able to tough it out and keep eating, Terrence eventually relented after seeing how far behind he and Sarah were from Nick and Starr.

"I knew they'd give up, there was no way he was finishing that," said Nick as Terrence and Sarah left the restaurant to head back to the chicken factory.

As they fell into last place, Terrence blamed himself for the delay caused by losing the Fast Forward.


"I messed up. It was my idea to go for the Fast Forward," he told Sarah.

Toni and Dallas were the first team to arrive at the Koktobe Arch and meet with the Mongol warrior, who had a messenger eagle fly in and deliver a clue that informed the teams that it was time for the leg's two Detour options: "Play Like Mad" or "Act Like Fools."

"Play Like Mad" required the teams to travel to the Museum of Folk Musical Instruments and learn to play a song on a guitar and mouth harp. After an instructor deemed that the team had learned the song, the team would then have to go to a local park to play the song for tips. After earning the equivalent of $1.50, they would receive their next clue.

"Act Like Fools" required the teams had to travel to a children's puppet theater, find its costumes department, put on two-person cow costume, and then walk through the town's streets until they reached a milk stand and drank one glass of milk. After drinking the milk, the bottom of the milk glass would reveal their next destination -- a meat market at a local bazaar. After walking to the bazaar in their cow costume and "delivering themselves" to the butcher, they would receive their next clue.

Toni and Dallas chose "Act Like Fools," as did Ken and Tina when they met with the warriors soon after.

While Andrew and Dan had left the chicken factory at the same time as Ken and Tina, they lost a significant amount of time after their crane driver got lost and they got little help when asking pedestrians for directions.


After finishing their meal and winning the Fast Forward, Nick and Starr were allowed to skip all the remaining tasks in the leg and proceed straight to Old Square, a public plaza in the oldest part of Almaty.

After her team traveled back to the chicken factory after their failed attempt at the Fast Forward, Sarah went into the chicken shack and found the golden egg. Terence and Sarah left the factory in their truck for the Koktobe Arch as Dan and Andrew still remained lost and asking for directions.

Because of the Fast Forward, Nick  and Starr arrived at Old Square far ahead of the other teams and were told that they had finished in first for their fifth leg of the race by The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan.

"You sound like a broken record Phil," Nick laughing boasted after hearing that his team had finished first in another leg.

Nick and Starr were also informed that they had won 180-horse-power Wave Runners as prizes for finishing in first.

After eventually receiving correct directions, Andrew and Dan finally arrived at the Koktobe Arch and chose to do "Act Like Fools." Terrence and Sarah also chose "Act Like Fools" after arriving  at the arch soon thereafter.


Toni and Dallas were the first team to arrive at the theatre and put on their cow costume, with Ken and Tina following close behind them. As both teams got into the streets in their costumes, Ken and Tina appeared to jump into the lead after Toni and Dallas walked by the milk stand and continued down the street.

However, Ken and Tina promptly relinquished their slight advantage after getting to the milk stand and drinking the milk but then thinking that they had gone to the wrong milk stand after forgetting to check the bottom of the glass and receiving no clue from the attendant. By the time they returned to the stand after Tina reread the clue and realized that they had to check under the glass, Toni and Dallas had already drank their milk and made their way to the butcher.

Ken and Tina returned to the milk stand and checked the glass, but then made a second error when they misunderstood the directions again and returned to the theatre to drop off their cow costume.

Toni and Dallas arrived at the butcher in their cow costume and were the first to receive their next clue instructing them to make their way on foot to Old Square. As they left the bazaar, they ran into Ken and Tina sans their cow costume and told them that they had made a mistake. After going to the butcher and trying to get their clue anyway, a frustrated Ken and Tina realized they needed to go back and retrieve their cow costume in order to get their clue.

Upon arriving at Old Square, Toni and Dallas were informed that they had finished the leg in second place.

After running back to the theatre and putting on their costume to get their next clue, Ken and Tina managed to head to Old Square and finish the leg in third place despite their two gaffes.


With Terrence and Sarah comfortably behind them, Andrew and Dan looked to have fourth place wrapped up as they got their cow costume, drank their milk, and went to the butcher ahead of Terrence and Sarah. However, they made what almost became a fatal mistake when they also misinterpreted the clue and took a cab from the butcher to the Pit Stop even though the directions specifically told them to walk.

After arriving at the Pit Stop, Phil told Andrew and Dan that, as a penalty for not following the clue correctly, they would have to return to the butcher and walk back as originally instructed.

While Terrence and Sarah were able to close the gap between them and Andrew and Dan, they were not able to fully take advantage of Andrew and Dan's mistake and still finished in last place after the "Fraternity Brothers" team were able to get to the butcher and walk back to the Pit Stop before them.

After being told that they had been eliminated by Phil, Terrence immediately mentioned his reaction to the meat he had to eat at the Fast Forward as the reason for their downfall.

"I can run marathons, I can do triathlons, but I could not swallow that food to save my life," he told Phil.

The Amazing Race's next episode will air on Sunday, November 23 at 8PM ET/PT on CBS.






About The Author: John Bracchitta