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Back to Akbar's problems. All the other teams are already on land. The football players decide they need to try to adjust the weight distribution in the boat. Akbar had been sitting in the back by himself, which sort of makes sense since it's better for the back of the boat to sink than the front of the boat. He moves to the middle and takes over rowing. Just ahead of them, Really Limited hurries to get started on the challenge. Ike says in TH they were in a hurry because they knew how fast Akbar's Players would be once they were on land. The Moustaches and Gay Angst are going head-to-head on the shoveling challenge. For once, it really feels like it wouldn't be hard for Gay Angst to overtake Moustaches, but then that familiar gypsy luck makes an appearance. Moustaches find their second crystal stone first. They're off to trade their stones for their Arabian horses. From there, it'll be a three-and-a-half mile ride on horseback to the next checkpoint. This checkpoint is the halfway point of the stage and will serve as the cut-off for narrowing it down to three teams. If the football players don't want to be on the outside looking in, they have to make up ground here. They have just now landed at the mining challenge. Really Limited is working away at it already, and inexplicably has Erik doing the digging and tossing of rubble onto the sifter. He's completely missing and this goes on for way longer than it should when the stakes are so high and every minute counts. Ike finally relieves him and they almost immediately find a stone crystal. Team Gay Angst is stewing over the fact Really Limited is catching up when they have been there themselves since just after The Moustache got there, but that all goes away quickly when they find their second stone. The football players are hustling to try to use this challenge as an equalizer with Really Limited. Akbar says in TH they knew they had to dig fast to try and at least stay even. Meanwhile, AJ is being really anal about picking his team's horses. He asks for "nice, calm horses," of the locals. AJ insists a bad horse could be what takes them out of the competition and he doesn't want to leave it up to that. You forgive yourself for bearing witness to this when AJ gets on a horse and it instantly tries to sit on its butt and nearly throws AJ clear. Out ahead in First-World Problems Land, Gypsy Eric is complaining as he bounces up and down on his horse. He says in TH he wasn't blessed with a big butt and it wasn't too comfortable being on those horses. He had to go to his happy place, he tells us. Back at the challenge, Really Limited get their second crystal and understand immediately they need to try to put some distance between themselves and Akbar's Players as a buffer. Sure enough, when the football players complete the challenge they're in a full sprint to reach the horse corral. Blind Guy Erik has been so badass through this expedition that it really doesn't register he's about to mount a spirited Arabian horse again until he tells us in TH it's scary being blind on a horse. They take off with Akbar's Players following shortly behind.