"The Amazing Race" season 16 premiered Sunday with a rocky start for the teams. Two teams received substantial penalties setting them pretty far behind, and another team, Adrian and Dana, were eliminated after not being able to finish the first challenge. They were considered last to finish, even though they never did make it to the pit stop.
It wasn't all bad, though. Jeff and Jordan had an amazing start and ended up reaching the pit stop first and winning a trip to Vanouver.
And so it begins
This season, the race began with the teams having to figure out how to get to the Los Angeles International Airport by way of transportation and common sense. The thought of taking public transportation had some teams shaking in their boots. Carol and Brandy pointed out that no one takes public transportation in LA, so even if you knew the city, you may not know how to get around the city on public transportation.
Most of the teams were smart enough to ask someone where to go, but there were two options. Some of the teams took the bus, while other teams took the underground Metro. Time was absolutely of the essence at this point because the two flights to their first destination were departing one hour apart.
First flight bust
Monique and Shawne, Jeff and Jordan and Dana and Adrian were on the first flight. At first, this seemed like the greatest thing that could have happened to these three teams, but, as we all know, a flight time isn't always guarenteed. Apparently, the trios' plane was having some issues and became delayed.
Adrian and Dana decided their best bet would be to switch to the second flight. Jordan and Jeff and Monique and Shawne followed right behind the pair, putting all of the teams on the same flight.
Welcome to Chile
The first stop for the teams was Chile. After landing, the teams had to scramble to find a bus that would take them 60 miles to the location of their first clue, which was located at the top of an ascender.
Monique and Shawne, Jeff and Jordan, Brente and Caite and Adrian and Dana found spots on a bus that departed at 12:15. Carol and Brandy were the only teams to make it on to the bus leaving at 12:20. Jet and Cord were supposed to be on that bus, but when they tried to pay the driver they learned that they had the wrong currency. They had Brazilian money instead of Chilean, so they ran to switch it inside. Jet and Cord, Louie and Michael and Jody and Shannon were on the bus leaving at 12:30. The other teams were not shown getting on a bus but ended up somewhere around fifth/sixth and ninth/tenth/eleventh.
Adrian and Dana drop
The first road block of the season was terrifying. One member of each team had to cable walk 120 feet above the ground the length of a football field.
Caite and Brente were the first team to arrive, and Caite decided to complete the challenge. She absolutely loved it. She couldn't get enough of being on the wire. Jordan, Allie, Dan, Joe, Brandy, Shawne, Adrian, Louie, Shannon and Cord were the other participants. The rest of the participants weren't quite as calm as Caite. In fact, Brandy and Dan were shaking so much you could see they were going to fall from a mile away. Dan stepped off his bottom wire and was left hanging without knowing how to fix himself, and Brandy had to stop to sit on her bottom wire once or twice.
Adrian seemed to take the longest time. Most of the teams were finished before he had even made it half way. He actually took a hard spill at one point, and the safety specialist had to go out and bring him back to the beginning. Everyone had left the challenge before Adrian decided to try again. Half way through the second time around, Adrian fell again. He didn't try again.
Jeff and Jordan take the lead
The next step of the race was to travel down the side of the town on one of the ascenders. Brente and Caite were the first to find this clue, but they did not follow the directions, which will probably result in a penalty later. Jeff and Jordan and Dan and Jordan were in second and third place and were the first to ride the ascendor to their next clue.
At the bottom of the ascendor, the teams found a clue telling them to pick up a few cans of paint and find the house that matches the color of their paint. Their job was to finish painting a small section of the house. They would then recieve the clue to the first pit stop.
Brente and Caite said they were walking around in circles forever but couldn't find the house they needed. Jeff and Jordan showed up and found their house near immediately. This is what gave them the advantage that led to their first place position.
There were a few hiccups with the painting task. Steve and Allie walked in to a random house and started painting. The actual painters of the house were laughing hysterically the entire time Steve and Allie were working, but they didn't catch on until the painters had no clue to give them. Dan and Jordan dropped a paint brush somewhere, which left them with a fifteen minute penalty.
Next episode (Sunday, Feb. 21, 2010): The teams begin to form alliances
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