Yay for a New Season - Amazing Race 9.27.09

The race this season is starting in downtown LA - in the LA River, which was used in Terminator 2 and Grease, including other movies.  Very cool.


Ericka & Brian - She's a former Miss America, and they've been married for two years.


Lance & Teri- They're engaged from Massachussettes.  They seem cocky.


Maria & Tiffany - They are professional poker players.

Zeb & Justin - Best friends from LA, and Zeb has Aspergers.

Mika & Canaan - newly dating from Tennessee.  The obligatory super religious couple.


Flight time & Big Easy - Harlem Globe Trotters.  Cool.

Sam & Dan - Brothers from Missouri.  Both are gay.


Gary & Matt - Father and son trying to reconnect.

Eric & Lisa - Married Yoga instructors.  They were doing some pretty awesome yoga moves, but then lost me by being so zen that they rode a motorcycle without helmets.

Garrett & Jessica - On and off dating couple.  She's fiery and Colombian. 

Marcy & Ron - Dating from San Francisco.  They are an older couple and met online.


Megan & Cheyne - Dating from San Diego.  They met each other in elementary school.

Phil greets them and tells them that their first clue is in the top of the luggage they brought.  There is a new challenge in the game that will have a devastating effect on one team - who will have a very short race.  Their first challenge is described in their clue,  and the slowest person on that task will be eliminated immediately.  Ouch.

They have to fly to Tokyo after their first task.  They have to search the wall of license plates (over 1000) to find one from the region of Tokyo they are going to.  Whoever loses doesn't get to go to Japan.  The symbol is on the top of the clue, but everyone was so frantic, it wasn't immediately clear.  Zev & Justin were the first ones to notice the clue.  Maria & Tiffany were the first team to find the plate, and then others lined up to try to get to Phil.  It was down to yoga instructors and cocky Lance and Keri for the final plate.  Cocky Lance & Keri got it first, and the yoga instructors are sent packing back to their helmetless motorcycle.

There are two flights out of LA.  The first 6 teams are leaving at 12:45 PM, and the others are leaving 30 minutes later.  The poker players decided to tell people that they work with homeless kids instead of playing poker.

Once they get to Tokyo, they have to find a taxi and get to the TV studio at the base of the Tokyo tower.  Is that where they film I Survived a Japanese Gameshow?   The first couple to get in a fight is the poker players.  The second flight made up some time and ended up landing at the same time, pretty much.

The teams will be surviving a Japanese Gameshow themselves, it looks like!  They arrived to a cheering crowd at the television station, and they have to play "Sushi Roulette." 

Roadblock

One person must play sushi roulette, and spin a wheel containing 9 sushi rolls and 2 wasabi bombs.  They have to continue playing until they get a wasabi bomb (Nori with rice and lots and lots of wasabi).  They have 2 minutes to eat the wasabi bomb.

I just have to say, I would love to play that game.  Ron and Cheyne both got wasabi bombs right off.  Ron smushed some of the wasabi down into his rice, and it was very smart.  Still, if I was playing, I would shove as much as possible into my mouth at once.  Wasabi burn is crazy, but it isn't a long lasting burn. 

Ron and Cheyne got the wasabi bombs done. 

Next, they have to gather people in the crowd with the same colored visors, and lead them through the streets to their destination, the shrine at Konahashi Magu.

Garrett and Justin were next getting wasabi bombs.   They both got them down no problem.

Marcy & Ron were like cheerleaders with their visored tourists, and Cheyne & Meghan asked for directions...  both seemed to get kind of lost.  Zev & Justin found an American to show them the way.

Maria is next with the wasabi bomb.  She didn't quite get it done in 2 minutes and had to go again.  She ended up with another wasabi bomb on the next spin.  She told Tiffany that she couldn't do another one, but then she did pick it up to go.  She was right down to the wire with the next one, but managed to get it down, and they were on their way.  Lance & Big Easy were up next for the wasabi.  Big Easy swallowed it right down, and they played some light Harlem Globetrotters music in the background.  Lance finished his up, too.  Gary and Brian finally got their bombs.  Brian had a really hard time, but Gary managed to get his down.  Brian didn't get it down in time.  Dan finally got his shot at the wasabi bomb.  He loves sushi and finished in record time.  I have to hope that I could be as good as him.

I love wasabi.  I wish I had some sushi right now.

Cheyne & Meghan were the first team to arrive at the mat, and got the coveted first position.  They won a trip for two to Aspen and Vale, with all sorts of cool things.  I wonder if Cheyne will be able to keep up the wall o' hair.  Zev & Justin are at the mat next, and Zev is proud of himself for doing ok without his daily routine.

I have to say, the Harlem Globetrotters are wonderful for leading a crowd, because you couldn't miss them.

Lance & Keri managed to get to the mat third and were proud of themselves.

Maria & Tiffany helped Sam & Dan, who bought into their homeless kid story.  Of course, Maria & Tiffany also think that Sam & Dan might be swayed by their feminine wiles, so I guess it goes both ways.

Marcy & Ron and Life Time & Big Easy came in 4th and 5th, respectively.

Brian & Ericka, after getting to the street last, found someone to help them, and off they went.  They got their 6th!  That's pretty impressive.  Good for them. Gary & Matt came in 7th.

Tiffany & Maria got lost and lost a couple of their people.  Garrett & Jessica got to the Matt 8th, despite having to stop to let one of their people go to the bathroom.

Sam & Dan got to the mat 9th.  Mika & Canaan got there 10th, but had a straggler who they couldn't find.  She came around the corner as they left to go find her, and Mika carried her to the mat.

Maria & Tiffany decided to give up on finding their people and got to the mat.  They incurred a 2 hour penalty for not completing the challenge, but it's a non-elimination leg.  There will be a Speed Bump for them, though.  I'm glad that it was a non-elimination stop.

*****

Meghan & Cheyne leave first for Vietnam.  They will go to Ho Chi Minn City, then take a 2 hour bus to their next clue.  Cheyne's hair looks like a porcupine.  Lance & Keri are already starting to have problems with each other.  Everyone went to the internet cafe to try to book flights, except Brian & Ericka, and Gary & Matt who headed to the airport immediately.

We get to know that Mika and Canaan are "sexualy pure."  How nice for them.

Everyone got on the same flight, because Brian & Ericka begged for reassignment.  Maria & Tiffany's bluff was called (ha ha ha) when they were recognized.  I think Dan and Sam were the ones to hear it.  Then, they admitted to falling a little in love with Dan & Sam.

Zev didn't want to get his feet wet, which was going to be a problem because the streets were pretty well flooded.  He took his shoes off to wade.

The first bus left at 3:30 and the second bus left at 4:45.  That's a lot of time to make up.  The teams each donated money to buy up the remaining tickets and get the bus to leave earlier.  Zev gave his jacket to a guy who looked like he needed it, and that was super sweet.

The dock is closed when the teams get there, so it doesn't matter that the bus left early.  They all spent the night, grabbed camp chairs, and ate yummy looking food.


Detour
When the dock opened, they had to travel by boat to mud pits, gather mud, and fertilize a tree by adding mud up to a line.

Speed Bump
Maria & Tiffany have to get ingredients for Pho and then make and serve the soup to dockmaster's liking.  They did well because Maria loves Pho and has served it before.

Mika is afraid of water.  Not easy in the race. 

The mud pits were really thick mud and lots of people got very very dirty.  Ericka described it as sensual, though she admitted to never having been a mud girl.

After finishing, teams must return their boat to the dock and then travel by foot to the next clue.  Zev & Justin lost their clue when Justin fell in the water.  They had to go back to get it.  Then, their boat stalled long enough to let Maria & Tiffany catch up.

Roadblock

Farmer use ducks to get rid of insects in the rice paddy.  They have to lead a flock of 150 sucks from their pen, across a bridge and back again within 10 minutes.  They have a flag to help them in the herding.

Meghan got her try first.  Jessica went next, followed by Ericka, and Matt.

After they finished (and it was no easy task), to the Pit stop with them.

Ericka forgot to shut her gate at the other end of the bridge and lost a bunch of her ducks.

Tiffany would seem to have an advantage because she had ducks growing up.  Zed did beautifully with the dugs, and Meghan (who had to try a second time) called him the Duck Whisperer.  Mika didn't know where she was going and had to try again.

Because of superior directionary skills, Gary & Matt came in first, and each of them won a kayak.  Flight Time & Big Easy and Sam & Dan came in 2nd and 3rd, and Keri & Lance came in 4th.  Zev & Justin came in 5th.  Meghan & Cheyne were 6th, followed by Maria & Tiffany. Mika & Canaan, and Mary & Ron came in 8th and 9th, respectively.

Brian & Ericka and Garrett & Jessica had lots of problems with their ducks.  Ericka vowed to eat duck for dinner after convincing her ducks to go in the pen.  Jessica and Garrett finished pretty soon afterwards.

Brian & Ericka came in 10th, which meant elimination for Garrett & Jessica.

What did you think?  I can't wait to see more next week. Any early favorites for you?