Amazing Race, Season 32, Episode 1
By Jim Memmott
They hugged, they shook hands, they talked with strangers. Good grief, they even flew on planes, road in taxis, attended a dance party. What was going on? Where, oh where was Dr. Fauci?
Thus, as host Phil Keoghan made clear at the outset, we were seeing a pre-pandemic world of unfettered travel. At a time when we can’t even go to Canada (Oh Canada!), we could vicariously fly to Trinidad and Tobago, enjoy the music, the ocean, the good-hearted locals. It was worth the trip.
For sure, it was simply good to see The Amazing Race back on the air.
The show has always seemed to be an afterthought for CBS, something held back to be used as a replacement for efforts that bomb.
The program last aired in the spring of 2019 with Season 31 ending in June, in Detroit.
Life-partners Christie Woods and Colin Guinn finished first and pocketed $1 million dollars, the season featuring alumni of different reality shows going against each other.
This season doesn’t have a controlling theme, but it has some of the usual suspects. (Link to cast pictures.)
There are two teams featuring sisters. There’s a father/son, a husband/wife, some nerds, some athletes, some dating couples and some good-ole boys. (Actually, they’re already gone, having been eliminated.)
All of this is overseen, as always, by Phil, who pops and out and stands at the episode’s finish line, upbeat or consoling, depending on the situation.
He seems to be using some of his airtime to sell the Race not just to the audience but perhaps also to the suits at CBS.
He stresses the program’s endurance – over the years the Race has racked up 1 million miles.
And he throws in highlights from other seasons including the
watermelon in Claire Champlin's face. Good times.
As before, the season will feature teams in different locales facing different tests, some hard, some silly, some strange, one team usually getting eliminated at each episode until the finale, which usually has three teams going against each other.
Chee Lee and Hung Nguyen, married parents, won the episode, in part because Chee mastered the steel drum. Pulled by a goat (you had to be there), Hung lost her balance and slid over the mat at a finish line that Phil suggested wasn't really a finish line. Not sure what that was all about.
On the basis of the first episode, it would seem that the two former NFL players, Gary Barnidge and DeAngelo Williams, will get the most of the air time, as they, especially DeAngelo, are quick with a quip.
We always need a villain, or at least someone who is continually annoying (Rachel Reilly last season), and I think that it may be one or both of the Newland sisters, Victoria and Michelle.
We’ll figure out the rest of the contestants as we go along. Suffice to say now, I’m glad the race is back. We needed it.
Overheard:
Aparna (brainiac sibling): Honestly, we’re really (expletive deleted) smart.
Alana (another brainiac): People that see us, are like that's the nerdy team. Cause we both have Master’s degrees, and we have, like, glasses.
Kaylynn (sister act I): So Haley are I from the school of hard knocks.
DeAngelo (former NFLer): I found out that he's not that much different than I am. Other than the fact that he's a 6-foot-6 white guy, 260 pounds and he plays tight end. That was the only difference.
James (dating, reality show devotee): I've applied for this show nine times. ... Never did I imagine in a million years that I would be running this race with my best friend.
Cody (catfisher): We've become friends from noodling.
Victoria (sister act II): He's Asian; he probably played piano.
Chee (married parent): I want to thank my parents for all those years of piano lessons.
Order of finish
Hung and Chee
Michelle and Victoria
Riley and Maddison
Will and James
Jerry and Frank
Alana and Leo
Eswar and Aparma
Kaylynn and Hayley
Kellie and Lavonne
Gary and DeAngelo
Nathan and Cody
