Ultimate Cowboy Showdown: All-Stars Recap Episode 3: Sabotage and Soul Searching
Judges: Trace Adkins, Buddy Schnaufer, and Cash Myers
GOLD TEAM: Ethan, Tyler, J Storme, Jackson, Fatty, and Diamond Jim.
GREEN TEAM: Buck, Sarah, Cuatro, Jared, Cody, JP, and Brianna
It was the morning after the near disastrous horse-herding challenge in which the Green Team jeopardized themselves and their horses in the dangerous Arizona terrain, and JP went missing for hours. Trace assured the cowboys he was moving on, but he wasn’t forgetting what happened. Two cowboys would be eliminated at the end of this episode.
Immunity Buckle Challenge: Downhill Chase
Steer roping is not easy to begin with. Try getting a loop on a fully grown, 700-pound steer running flat-out—downhill!
Round 1: Cowboys rope individually. The fastest 6 move on to Round 2.
Round 2: Head-to-head competition. Riders wait 100 feet above the chute. After the steer is released, the first to rope it moves on to the final round.
Round 3: The last 3 cowboys face off, and the first to catch the steer wins the Outlaw Spirit Immunity Buckle.
JP, Buck, and Cuatro made it to the final round. Buck was determined to win against his arch-rival, JP. After Buck accused JP of causing the Green Team to lose the Episode 2 Elimination Challenge the night before, there was no way JP and his good friend Cuatro were going to let Buck walk away with that Immunity Buckle.
The race was on, and Buck had the lead. Cuatro managed to catch up and box him out, allowing him and JP to make a run for the steer. They were neck and neck, but JP got a rope on first and won immunity for the second time. Buck was furious. Jared told Buck he didn’t stand a chance against JP and Cuatro. They had each other’s backs.
Elimination Challenge: Cattle Crossing Sabotage
In this cow herding, sorting, and bull roping challenge, the cowboys were given a choice —to play dirty, or not.
Objective 1: Round up scattered cattle in an open field, and drive them to the pens.
Objective 2: Sort the Gold Tag cows from the Blue Tag cows.
Objective 3: Rope two bulls in the open field and load them onto a trailer.
Ten minutes after the start of the challenge, the opposite team can choose to help their competitors or sabotage their efforts for 2 minutes. The team that completes the challenge in the fastest time is safe from elimination.
The Gold Team went first, and though the cattle were spread out all over the pasture, they were so close to the pens at the 10-minute mark when The Green Team—who voted to sabotage The Gold Team—were let loose. Jared immediately dispersed most of the herd cracking his bullwhip! Ethan was spitting mad. When The Green Team’s two minutes of mayhem were up, The Gold Team set about picking up the pieces and completing the challenge, but they had lost a significant amount of time.
After the cows were penned, J Storme and Jackson had the sorting under control. The others headed out to rope the bulls. Tyler made quick work of a tan and white Hereford, but Diamond Jim and Ethan threw miss after miss at the black bull—even at the trot. Ethan finally got him practically at a walk!
The Gold Team’s blunders continued at the trailer. They loaded the black bull easily, but no one closed the trailer gate! Goodbye, bull! They got the black bull back, but both bulls ended up at the trailer at the same time and they managed to get tangled up in each other’s ropes. The cowboys sorted out the situation, but not without a lot of effort and a lot of yelling. With the bulls loaded, and the cows sorted, they called time. It wasn’t pretty, but they got it done.
The Green Team played a clever strategy. They assumed The Gold Team would retaliate and sabotage them, so they rounded up and drove part of the herd to the pens, and held the rest far away, biding their time, trying to run out the 2-minute sabotage window. But The Gold Team chose not to sabotage. They hung out with Trace, Buddy, and Cash, and watched their opponents work. Unfortunately for The Gold Team, The Green Team didn’t take a wrong step.
They got all the cows in the pens sorted. JP roped the black bull. Brianna got the Hereford and waited until the black bull was loaded and locked in before bringing her bull to the trailer.
The Arena
Trace started with the Episode 2 Elimination. It was between JP and Cuatro, and since JP had immunity, Cuatro hit the trail. Buck was thrilled to see Cuatro leave, thinking JP would be vulnerable without his friend. Let the scheming begin!
On to the Episode 3 Elimination. The Green Team was the clear winner. Once again, JP had immunity so he was also safe.
Time for The Gold Team to face the music. Trace called Ethan and Diamond Jim out for running the bull away from the trailer. Jackson and Ethan got into it, and soon it was a yelling match. Trace ended it—by telling Ethan his vacation was over.
Ethan was sent to pack his personals.
Enjoy a digital encore of Ultimate Cowboy Showdown season 4 episode 3 on INSP YouTube.