With just five teams left, I figured a non-elimination leg was inevitable tonight. I was right on the mark, as the adorable Hippies finished last in Oman, but lived to be wacky another day. Shockingly, Fran & Barry finished first. I have them in my office pool, and I'm stunned they're still in the Race. Wow.

Other highlights:

• Oman is gorgeous. Kudos to the producers for making sure the teams arrived at night, when the beautiful white mosques and other buildings were lit up against the black sky.
• The detour had a wacky animal option as some teams had to load up and transport a camel.
• Name another show where contestants end up lost in the desert of Oman with a camel in the back of their pickup. That's why the Amazing Race is so great.
• Eric & Jeremy got lost several times. It was nice to not see the "1st Place" graphic constantly under their name.
• There was another great needle-in-a-haystack Roadblock as teams had to dig in over a 100 sand dunes to find their dinner (and a clue). Somehow I think that Season 6's Lena has a little bit to do with tasks like this. I don't think she's over the Swedish haystack incident yet.
• Did I mention that Eric & Jeremy didn't finish first?

Next week: Western Australia! Read more about tonight's excellent leg over at the Viking Pundit.