The First Leg

Goodbye to the Black Family!

Yay, Amazing Race has started up again!!!! I'm glad there's no 'celebrity' families on this time, like a Rob & Amber type, as this way there are no preconceived notions of people just yet. Everyone can start at a level playing field and learn about each other in a more fair manner. But anyways, here we are with the eighth series of the Amazing Race - and this time, there's a family affair, as now it's teams of 4 competing against each other. No thanks - I would end up killing the people I was with, almost assuredly. But more power to these guys. As you can surmise from the headline above, the first family that was eliminated were the Black family. I didn't want this family to go as they were cool, although the little kids seem a tad intense. I really wanted the Paolos to go, but damn, they made 6th place. How unfortunate.

New York City, NY to Lancaster, PA

As was evident from this first episode, the contestants aren't going grand distances right off the bat. In fact, from what I've read so far, the teams will only be going to North and South America, which I think is unfortunate. I love to see people get immersed in crazy cultures such as in Africa and Asia, in which people just live so differently than what we are used to. You'll still find these differences throughout the Americas, but I love to see Europe and Asia and Africa. But maybe there'll be surprises.

So, in this episode, we went from crazy NYNY to oh-so-crazy Amish Country locale Lancaster, Pennsylvania. You know, it was pretty cool to see those areas. And because they had to drive to these isolated areas, you could see how easy it was for these families to get lost on the way. It was dramatic how the rankings wildly swayed just because of getting lost, or the detour a family chose.

The Detour: Build It or Buggy It

You really got to see the way that a challenge could definitely favor one type of family over another. Case in point: the Linzs and Aiellos versus the Gaghans. It made perfect sense for the Gaghans to do the buggy, as they could throw their little kids in the buggy and push away. It was hard work still, but they are trained marathoners (all of them.... crazy) and it showed when they passed the Aiellos who were all big men. I think that none of the families realized that the Buggy choice would have you go over some crazy hills and that a mile and a half is quite a ways to push something. The most ironic/awful moment was when the Weavers were doing that challenge and then experienced a runaway buggy, which ran over their mom. Which is what happened to kill their father. If that's not mental trauma, I don't know what is. Amazingly, they pushed that buggy back and went straight to the Build It challenge, and made up some serious time. As the other teams streamed in and saw them building, none of them even considered the Buggy option. A smart move if your cargo isn't light with kids. I suppose the Balck Family could have tried it, but if the adults weren't in shape, then it would have been a bad move. But I liked the design of the challenges - you had to evaluate the challenge, consider your strengths and team members, and then make a smart choice. Not everyone made the smart choice (the Linzs and Aiellos), but some certainly did.

My thoughts on the Teams, Episode 1:

Godlewskis: A tad chatty, but they have the enthusiasm and determination to carry through. We'll se how long it is before a catfight breaks out.
Gaghans: I'm still blown away that the little girl can run a 7-minute mile. But they did an awesome job on the detour, and will probably do well for a while. But eventually, having two little kids will become a liability. Hopefully they can overcome it.
Weavers: As I mentioned before, their traumatic running over of Mom didn't stop them. But enough with the God thing - God doesn't care about the Amazing Race, so please don't invoke him to help you out. Do you think he'll jack with the others for you too? </end rant>
Rogers: Really no opinion yet - not enough screen time or activities to make me think much of anything about them. Good racers?
Schroeders: This dad guy freaks me out. He's kinda creepy, and sort of an asshole. Don't know how long this family will go before imploding.
Paolos: Ugh, this team is nauseating. I was so counting on them being eliminated this episode. Why weren't they penalized for losing their clue?
Bransens: I don't know if the father will be able to deal with 3 girls the entire race. Good luck to him.
Aiellos: I think it's cool that the 3 son-in-laws are racing with their father-in-law. Hopefully his age won't be a hindrance later on, as they're a pretty cool team.
Linzs: I like this team, but man did they mess up this race, especially when they dropped all the way to last place from being a frontrunner. They need to get over the bickering and work together.
Blacks: This team had a great attitude, but their 2 little kids just were more of a hindrance than a help in the challenges. When their boat started getting carried downstream at the Washington Crossing challenge, I began to realize this team was going to have problems. Sad to see them go though, as they were cool.

Others' Thoughts:

Links:

Amazing Race, Episode 1 (CBS Official Site Summary)

Episode 1: A New Yorker Lost in Manhattan (RNO) - Episode Summary

Thinking Smart in Episode 1 (RNO) - A breakdown on who was good and who was bad