Getting the clues from the phones was the easy part for Big Easy -- after that, it was like watching a slow-motion train wreck. (CBS)

The duo of Globetrotters on The Amazing Race made a “judgment call” in the penultimate leg of the 15th season.

Unfortunately for them, it was a bad call.

In sports, you hear about teams, coaches and players making “mental mistakes”. These can easily be the difference between winning and losing.

In 2003, Boston Red Sox manager Grady Little left a tired Pedro Martinez in too long during a key playoff game – result, a Yankees win. In 1993, Michigan star Chris Webber called a timeout in the Final Four when his team didn’t have one – result, a North Carolina win.

In 2009, Big Easy of the Globetrotters’ team decided he’d be better off taking a four-hour time penalty than trying to decipher a scrambled word.

Result: Not good.

In this episode, the four remaining teams – indeed, our own final four – spent another day in Prague. The first challenge was a truly absurd trial in the spirit of Franz Kafka – answer telephones in a room full of them, ringing; get five letters; unscramble said letters on a form designed to drive you mad, give said form to a “supervisor” and get your clue.

(Quick aside: This was the first challenge for all except Brian and Ericka, who had to take on a speed bump. They had to make and down a shot of absinthe in a bar full of dancing women. As Brian said, “This is a challenge?”)

Now, in the Kafka challenge, the first three teams – Meghan and Cheyne, Dan and Sam and the Globies – weren’t exactly coasting through. Meghan used a pneumonic device – animals – to keep track of her letters, while Dan and Big Easy plodded along. It took Meghan a few tries before she finally got her clue – the five letters, unscrambled, spelled out “Franz” – but both Dan and Big Easy struggled.

And this is where Big Easy made his first mistake.

Dan suggested the two players team up to solve the clue. At this point, it has become obvious that neither Dan nor Sam are trustworthy at all. Never mind the fact that the million dollars is mere days away, and no one is trustworthy. Dan and Sam have been whiny snakes since the beginning.

But Big Easy took Dan up on his offer. Of course, Dan figures out the word first, gets his clue and says:

“It starts with ‘F’. That’s all I’m sayin’.”

And off he went, leaving Big Easy with his mouth agape, saying he wouldn’t have done Dan like that. Of course you wouldn’t, big man. You’re a gentleman. You’ve been taught sportsmanship. Dan wouldn’t know fair play if Sam was whining about it.

After Brian came through and got the answer really quickly (and even though he didn’t offer to help Big Easy, even he was giving him better hints than “starts with ‘F’”), Big Easy made his second error.

He decided he’d take the time penalty – four deadly hours – for not finishing a road block.

Two things here:
• First, I can’t say I totally blame Big Easy for this. He and teammate Flight Time have shown they’re not great at puzzles. In Dubai, for example, it took them the longest to figure out that the time on a watch they were given was the combination for a suitcase they had to unlock.

• Four hours? Big Easy, you could’ve blindly stumbled into the word before the four hours were up!

If you two don't stop whining and arguing, I'm going to pull this golem over and turn it around right now! I'm serious! (CBS)

Though the Race continued – where we see Dan and Sam whining and arguing through the streets of Prague carrying a golem (look it up), Ericka very nearly show exactly how ugly an American can be if you come at her belligerent and drunk, and, yes, once again, Cheyne and Meghan winning the leg – the final three was in place once Big Easy took the penalty.

(I mean, they were way behind. When they decide to cut your race short by directing you to the pit stop about halfway through, you’re WAY behind.)

And so, we’re left with:

• Meghan and Cheyne: The favorites to win the million. Though chided a bit for being on the dull side, you have to give it up to Meghan for being a positive, calming force for Cheyne. Cheyne, however, is straight-up boring.

• Dan and Sam: The villains. As we said last week, these guys aren’t the biggest jerks in Race history – they have a long way to go for that honor. They are, however, extremely annoying and almost cowardly in their deviousness. Can they win? It’s possible, and yet, I can’t help but think that the constant bicker-fest will get in the way somehow – the final challenge, requiring teams to remember items from all of the other legs, remains.

• Brian and Ericka: The underdogs. There were quite a few points along the way where these two should have, by all rights, been going to Elimination Station. But through Ericka’s competitive fire and Brian’s quick thinking, they’re still here, and can’t be counted out.

Elimination Station moves to Vegas this week … and one team’s thinking about taking the plunge at one of the city’s chapels: