Brendon and Rachel are an emotionally volatile couple, and they've already scored a reality TV victory when Rachel won the most recent interation of "Big Brother." So it's no big surprise that they're the target of some negativity from the other teams on "The Amazing Race" (Sun., 8 p.m. EST on CBS).

Rachel has proven she can get emotionally rattled, which affects her focus and her gameplay. But when Rachel is focused, she's a true force to be reckoned with.

Vanessa succeeded in rattling Rachel and Brendon so much during the pumpkin stacking competition on "The Race" that they switched to the other task. But in the cool and air-conditioned room where the harp stringing competition was held, Rachel was able to relax and really get into the groove. She and Brendon tore through that challenge on their way to a solid second place finish in the leg.

They got a little help in that regard from Dave dropping all of his bottles in the second challenge, incurring a two-hour penalty. Meanwhile, Vanessa and her partner Ralph struggled so much with the pumpkin stacking challenge that they were there late into the night. Lucky for them, the twins Elliot and Andrew were fumbling with the harp strings.

The two teams came together at the bottle balancing challenge, and it was a race to the finish to avoid elimination. For all her Rachel taunting in the competition, Vanessa barely stayed alive, coming in just ahead of the twins, who found themselves eliminated. As for Rachel and bottle-dropping Dave? They had to watch four teams come in before them, including two who only seconds to spare. So they came in sixth, but mere moments behind the fourth and fifth place team going into the next leg.