by Gina Scarpa

 

Eleven teams have met up at Pasadena City Hall in California to kick off the 21st season of The Amazing Race and the stakes have been raised! If the same team that comes in first on the first leg of the race wins the entire thing, they'll get $2 million to split. With the biggest prize in the show's history on the line, I can't imagine this will be as much of a friendly season as we've been seeing in recent years.

 

The show wastes no time in introducing these players to the types of challenges they'll need to overcome in order to win. Their first task is a ten story rappel off of a bridge and they need to basically swing off of it in order to get going. Jaymes and James, the Chippendales dancers, get off to a great start, followed by young couple Trey and Lexi, and goat farmers Brent and Josh.

 

From there's it's straight to the airport to fly 17 hours to China. If that doesn't make you feel jet lag, I don't know what will. On the first fight are Jaymes and James, friends Caitlin and Brittany, rocker and lawyer James & Abba, on again/off again couple Amy and Daniel, dating divorcees Abbie and Ryan, twins Natalie & Nadiya, and married monster truckers Rob and Kelley.  On the second flight are Josh and Brent, Trey and Lexi, both of whom lost their early lead, engaged couple Rob and Sheila, and substitute teachers Gary and Will.

 

Upon arriving in China, teams face their first Road Block of the season at Yuanshen Sports Center Stadium. One team member must defeat a Chinese junior champion at ping pong but for each round they lose, the champion will downgrade their paddle to a clipboard, and even a frying pan! If you can't beat a kid playing with a frying pan and it doesn't make you feel like a failure at life, I don't know what will. Rob and Kelley get lost on their way and wander around looking for the complex, while Abbie, James the rocker, James the Chippendale, and Caitlin get it done quickly. Bringing up the rear is Josh and it's starting to look like he and Brent may be headed back to the farm sooner than expected.

 

Next up, it's ANOTHER Road Block at Cui Ping Jiu Jia Restaurant. So much for a Detour! Whoever did not play ping pong now has the task of eating a traditional Chinese dessert. That doesn't sound so bad right? Oh wait, did I mention it's frog fallopian tubes? Excuse me while I try not to get sick. Abba wolfs it down first, followed by Ryan, Jaymes, Amy, and Brittany. When it's Rob the trucker's turn, he breaks the rules by picking up the dish off of the table and has to eat an entire second bowl before he and Kelley can move on. Josh and Brent find themselves in last yet again going into the final task of the night.

 

Teams must run around an area called The Bund searching for a woman with an abacus... or as Caitlin and Brittany called it, "a backus". James and Abba run right by her while Amy and Daniel find her first. They tip off Abbie and Ryan as to where to find her and end up getting beaten by them in a foot race to the pit stop. As Amy whines, "We told you where to go!" Ryan declares to the cameras that this is for $2 million dollars. Heck yeah it is!! Everyone needs to stop playing so nice. Rob and Sheila go to the Bank of China instead of The Bund, mistakenly thinking they'd find the woman there. Jaymes and James are lost as well and all of these teams screwing up leaves some windows of opportunity for teams that need a little help.

 

The final order at the pit stop is:
1. Abbie and Ryan
2. Amy and Daniel
3. Caitlin and Brittany
4. Natalie and Nadiya
5. Rob and Kelley
6. James and Abba
7. Josh and Brent
8. Gary and Will
9. Trey and Lexi
10. Jaymes and James
11. Rob and Sheila

 

Phil delivers the unfortunate news to Rob and Sheila that they have been eliminated from the race. It had to have been the closest finish in any leg in the history of the show. The bottom four teams all arrived at the mat within 30 seconds or so of one another! In the race though, every second counts.

 

The Amazing Race airs Sundays at 8/7c on CBS.

 

(Image courtesy of CBS)

 

Follow Gina @ginascarpa