An Amazing switcheroo, but the blog goes on

Amazing Race, Season 25, episode 1

New York City/Virgin Islands -- So here’s the question:

Will it be Friday night lights out for The Amazing Race?

In moving the Race from prime time to loser time is CBS signaling that the end is near for the award-winning reality show?

Or is the network simply tying to put a little pizzazz into our Fridays (or Saturdays, or Tuesdays, or whenever we turn to the VCR and actually watch men and women conquer their fear of heights, bugs and compass reading)?

Whatever. Nothing shuts down this blog, so we’ll just switch our publication date, launching it later, recapping the week that was and looking forward to the week that will be.

Off and racing:

The opening episode, as always, started with 11 teams. Things kicked off in NYC and went on to the U.S. Virgin Islands where the racers weren’t  really challenged until they encountered a liquid compass that seems to point backwards.

Why? How? I’m still not sure. Regardless, the promisingly despicable dentists,

Misti and Jim

Jim and Misti, had no orientation problems (in part because Jim had a regular compass on his wrist) and they managed to finish first and get a "Save," a pass that will allow them to skip to the finish line some time when they are in trouble.

Which is too bad, because that means the Race producers will have more opportunities to implant an annoying sparkle on their teeth, teeth that have astonished Race host Phil Keoghan. (“Have you ever seen teeth like these in your life?”)

The dentists won, the relators, sisters Lisa and Michelle, lost and were eliminated.

It didn’t help that one of them believed the sun set in the east. But mostly they lost because the firefighters, Michael and Scott, bullied by them on their way to

Sunset, Peaks Island, Me.

a cab. (Don’t get all huffy puffy, the relators had it coming because earlier they had unethically snagged a place on the plane. Karma counts on the race.)

A little worrisome was the relators’ post-elimination lament that they hadn’t been as ruthless on the race as they are in their business. Don’t buy a condo from them.

On other fronts, I liked the firefighters even though I didn’t understand much of what they said as they speak Boston. 

I also liked Te Jay, a female impersonator who used his opening time on the Race to let his mom know that his partner Tim is more than a roommate. Actually, I bet Mom knew, but it was a Race first nonetheless.

Shelley and Nici

All in all it’s a terrific cast, what with a surfer (Bethany) who lost an arm to a shark, a couple of professional wrestlers (Brooke and Robbie) one of whom refers to himself in the third person, and a mother/daughter team (Shelley and

Nici) that’s all smack and sass.

It should be a good season, though, if no one watches, will it have taken place? We’ll see.

Overheard:

Misti: We don’t compare ourselves to the average person.

Isabelle: My stupid butt hurts.

Scott: You’ve got to deal with the cods (cards) you’re dealt.

Order of finish

1) Jim and Misti

2) Te Jay and Tim

3) Alli and Kym

4) Brooke and Robbie

5) Adam and Bethany

6) Amy and Maya

7) Dennis and Isabelle

8) Shelley and Nici

9) Keith and Whitney

10) Michael and Scott

11) Michelle and Lisa