TVSquad

(S10E01) This season the race takes off from Seattle. The casting seems to offer a more diverse group than usual (although of course the usual supply of eye candy is present too). Blogging the beginning of the Race is always a bit of a mess after all, so many teams, so much running around but let's get to know the players before they start to get Philiminated. Phil promises a few twists this season which worries me. The race works best (in my opinion) when they don't mess with the basic formula.

The Teams:

Peter and Sarah: dating triathletes, she has one leg
This is the team that was most publicized in the commercials. She's very tough, he's quite competitive. They have been friends for years but recently started dating.

Bilaal and Sa'eed: best friends, Muslim
An interesting mixture of both comic and devout, they are spirited and fun to watch.

Rob and Kimberley: dating, the early pick for this season's yelling couple
This is an easy call for the most annoying team of the group. Unfortunately teams like this usually make it at least halfway through the season.

Dustin and Kandice: beauty queens, very proud of being Miss California and Miss New York
They are a little bit too peppy but at least they don't seem to be trading on their looks too much yet.

David and Mary: married, coal miner and wife
They seem to be a little bit fighty but not too much. She's so thrilled to be on her first big adventure and using this as a chance to spread her wings but I suspect this team will get eliminated fast.

Erwin and Godwin: smart, love to workout
They should be a cinch to do well but they seem to have a kind of goofiness that slows them down. They are perhaps most similar to last season's winners in terms of game style.

Duke and Lauren: father and daughter, she's gay, he's not okay with it
Every season has to have a New England team and they are it for this season. Definitely a strong and likable team.

Vipul and Arti: husband and wife, Indian
Very calm and sweet and loving but they don't seem to be very competitive.

Kellie and Jamie: best friends, cheerleaders
Oh yes, there will be cheers. These two are bouncy but so far not real standouts.

Tyler and James: models and recovering drug addicts
Each season has to have a pair of ab-flaunting athletic white boys. This year's version comes with a mildly interesting addiction backstory.

Lyn and Karlyn: single moms from Alabama
Fiesty, competitive and funny, unlike other "mom" teams in the past these two seem to be pretty good at the game so far.

Tom and Terry: boyfriends
This season's gay male team is not much more competitive than last season's thus far.

The teams head off to China where they race to a restaurant to eat fish eyes and then off to the Forbidden City to jockey for rising times in the morning. The first challenge is returning their rental cars which seems to flummox a few teams and the navigation fighting begins before the first plane flight.

Part of the main story for this season has to be Peter and Sarah. From the other teams, reactions are mixed. Most seem to be veering toward being respectful and hyper-correct, which is why it is refreshing to see Lyn and Karlyn become annoyed with the special treatment that Sarah gets at the airport.

The first challenge is eating fish eyes from a bowl of fish heads. Lyn and Karlyn, Peter and Sarah and Duke and Lauren are early leaders. Tyler and James seem to take a lot of delight in the suffering of other teams. The teams then race to the Forbidden City for the night and Bilaal and Sa'eed get eliminated from the race at the Forbidden City even though it is not a pit stop. In the morning. the teams are then off onto motorcycles where they navigate drivers through the city.

The Detour involves either paving a sidewalk or traveling to a park to learn a Chinese relaxation exercise. Most teams opt for the labor option. The trick is that each pattern has a border of gray bricks before the red ones. It's one of those tasks that creates a squabble between teams. Only Tom and Terry and Kellie and Jamie go for the coordination option.

To gain access to the pit stop the teams have to climb a rope. This is particularly problematic for Sarah who panics when she can't get a foothold. And behold, my first cry of the season and the Race has barely begun. Sarah makes it up the wall but the rope challenge is tough for many of the two-footed contestants too.

Tyler and James are team #1. Vipul and Arti, who had major trouble at the Detour, are eliminated.

I am worried, if Tyler and James dominate this season is going to be no fun (even worse if they start chatting up the ladies, like last season's ambiguously gay duo). My one problem with the Race is always that the athletic (and usually male) teams dominate.