TAR7/EP1: Baaaaaa!

EPISODE 1
The Amazing Race is back after a brief break from season 6 (which I must say what mighty disappointing). I am hoping for a much better race this turn around. In a TV Guide interview with host Phil Keoghan, he said that this was his favorite season so far (previously it was season 5). He said that there are new twists during the end of non-elimination legs and that there are a lot more neck-to-neck endings much like we saw during this first episode. After the team introductions, I dicovered a few teams that I already do not like. First off Ray & Deana. At first glance I am frightened because this team looks just like Jonathan & Victoria from season 6. The resemblence is so scary! They way they act was just like this horrible team from TAR6. Deana talks of Ray being demanding and forceful, and he agreed with her. Both of them don't ever look happy either. Another team I don't like is the first-ever mother/son team, Susan & Patrick. This team sounds horrible! They are extremely competitive. They said that they will "cut down whoever they have to." Wow, that sounds like a loving family! One team that I fell in love with from the start was Ron & Kelly. This sounds like a fairy-tale relationship. Ron is a former Iraq POW and Kelly is former Miss South Carolina. The racers started out in Long Beach, California. frightened Here the racers darted across the start line nearly knocking down Phil in the process. Here the teams were given instructions to go to the nearby airport and depart for Lima, Peru. Driving to the airport, the teams were forceful. One team almost wrecked while on the Interstate. They all eventually got there safely, though. Rob & Amber, however, were so far behind! They didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that there dragging up the rear end of the teams. They were just laughing and having a good time. This showed me that they were somewhat cocky and were too confident, which is not a good trait for the race. The teams were split up at the airport. Some took the American Airlines flight, which arrived sooner, while the other teams took the United flight that arrived one and a half hours later. When the teams arrived in Peru, all of them grabbed this drink that looked like some brownish, disgusting liquid. I thought it was odd that all the teams were grabbing this horrible looking drink. My friend Brittany had learned in Spanish that all Americans have to get this drink because it helps deter extreme sickness caused by being at such high elevations. What surprised me, though, was the main ingredient of the the drink: cocaine. Yes, you heard me right; the drink is basically water and cocaine mixed together. No wonder all the teams seemed so happy! I can't believe that cocaine is so freely distributed to American tourists. Seems like to me that would be a huge red flad to the US government. Well, they never did get sick, though. The teams made their way through Lima and, at the end of the day, they went to the beach to do a little digging. When each team arrived, they had to start digging in huge piles of sand. In each different pile there were different airplane departure times. If the team had got a ticket and saw that another had a sooner departure time, they could not change. Ron & Kelly got into trouble here with another team. Debbie & Bianca told the lovely team that the tickets that the 7:40 was the sooner flight because they had already gone through the process. Ron & Kelly trusted them and got their ticket for the 7:40 flight. Big mistake! One of the strategies that teams need to remember in the race is be careful with who you trust. A lot of people are willing to lie and cheat to victory, and the lifelong friends didn't mind doing this. Ron & Kelly certainly learned a lesson here. The next morning, teams got up to go get on their flights. There were three different flight times: 6:00, 7:00, and 7:40. The 6 o'clock team left at the scheduled time, but the 7am flight was not so lucky. Their flight was delayed by 40 minutes, which virtually eliminated their huge lead over the last group of teams. The teams then had to go to the top of this beautiful gorge in Cuzco, Peru. When the teams arrived here, they had to zip line across the gorge and then down a second zip line to the bottom. I thought it was crazy having the teams do this after being high on cocaine water, but they were no accidents. The most hiliarious moment is when the prouducers started playing hillbilly music when proud Southerners and best friends Ryan & Chuck try their turn at the zip line. One of the two said, "we will be the first to load test it." How funny! As the went down the line, their feet would scrape against the group when they were pushed off and people had to yell at them to "watch out for the cactuses" as they arrived at the end of the line. After this, the teams moved on to the detour, Rope a Llama or Rope a Basket. In Llama, the teams had to pull two llamas up a hill and put them in the their cages. This may sound easy but it sure isn't. Susan & Patrick picked this task (wrong choice!). You could tell that these two had never been on a farm before. The kept trying to pull and pull the llamas, but the animals didn't ever want to go. Recalling my sheep showing days, I kept yelling at them to go for the butts to get them going. They never listened to me, though. They finally got to the top with the llamas and got them in their cages after being covered with llama spit. In Basket, the teams just had to rope a basket filled with 35 pounds of alfalfa. Although this was physically demanding, it was the quickest option. This is where the Jonathan character jumped out of Ray. Deana was having a lot of trouble trying to carry the basket. She had the rope around her throat and was extremely uncomfortable. It looked like she was going to break down in tears. Jonathan, my mistake I mean Ray, just kept telling her to "shut up" and "suck it up." Very encouraging, isn't it? If this doesn't sound like another Jonathan, I don't know what does. I just hope this one does result in last season's horrible incident that took place in Berlin. After this the teams had to ride in the back of a delivery truck filled with Peruvians, chickens, and sheep. This gave us the most hilarious moment of this leg of the race. One member of the boyfriends team, Lynn & Alex, had a bandana wrapped around his forhead with his sunglasses on and in a random scene had a sheep up to his face and he kept making "baaaaa" sounds. It was so funny! When Susan & Patrick and Rob & Amber were in the truck, the mother/son team proved that they truly are horrible. Susan & Patrick made a deal to work together with the former survivors. Patrick then said in an aside to the audience, "We have every intention of aligning with Rob & Amber only to set the trap, because we would love to be personally responsible for their disposal in this Race." How awful! When the teams arrived at their destination, a local market, they had to find the clue. After finding this, the teams were to go to the first pit stop of the race, La Merced, a 325-year old church. The race to the finish line was dramatic and great for the first leg. The first placing was surprisingly dramatic. It was a race between lifelong friends Debbie & Bianca, mother/son Susan & Patrick, and former Survivors Rob & Amber. Eventually, the friends made it to the finish line first. I was surprised that Rob & Amber made it the top considering their obvious cockyness at the beginning of the leg. The last three teams were in the delivery truck and realized that one of them were going to be eliminated. These teams were roommates Megan & Heidi, best friends Ryan & Chuck, and dating couple Ron & Kelly. It was neck-to-neck the entire way to the pit stop. All of them convinced their cab drivers to pass the others, which turned into a constant game of passing one another. Megan & Heidi somehow arrived first. Then, the foot race was on between the couple and best friends. Ultimately, Ron & Kelly arrived just seconds before the best friends did. Ryan & Chuck, a team that added some great humor to the race, was eliminated. Chuck broke down in tears saying that he cherishes his friendship with Ryan so much and nothing will split them up.

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