Last year, brother/sister duo Tammy & Victor were The Amazing Race 14 winners. The Amazing Race returns for season 15 with a two hour premiere. The Amazing Race 15 cast consists of 12 teams with a preexisting relationship.
Or at least it will consist of 12 teams for the next few minutes anyway. In a thoroughly lame twist, one team will be eliminated at the starting line. The race starts off in LA, which is convenient since half the contestants are from California and half wish to get work as actors/models following the race.
Just beyond their backpacks is the first challenge. The team that is unable to complete the challenge will be eliminated right there. It’s like the Family Edition. One team won’t even get out of the US. They will need to search the wall of over 1000 license plates for one of only 11 from the Shinagawa district of Tokyo, their first destination. At the very top of the clue is the symbol for this district, but nobody’s paying attention to that. Justin realizes it eventually. In the meantime, some teams are making dumb luck guesses. Phil will be handing out tickets on a first come, first served basis.
First flight (leaving 12:45PM): Maria & Tiffany, Marcy & Ron, Meghan & Cheyne, Herbert & Nathaniel, Gary & Matt, Zev & Justin
Second flight (leaving 1:15PM): Sam & Dan, Mika & Canaan, Garrett & Jessica, Brian & Ericka, Lance & Keri
Both of the final two teams didn’t bother rereading the clue until they were the last two teams standing, and it was then that both realized what they were looking for. Unable to complete this first task, yoga instructors Eric & Lisa have been eliminated from the race.
The poker players are already bluffing. They say they work for an organization that deals with homeless kids in LA.
The first stop os a television studio at the base of the Tokyo Tower. When they land, Maria & Tiffany are already having their first argument after missing the first shuttle.
The second flight lands earlier than expected, putting the gap between flights at just 8 minutes.
When the contestants arrive, they’re in a room where there’s apparently a game show going on. I’m expecting people wearing padding and falling into stuff, but the words I see are sushi and roulette. The host will spin a wheel containing 9 sushi rolls and 2 wasabi bombs. The sushi should be fine, but wasabi is extremely spicy. Ron and Cheyne get the first wasabi bombs, which they must eat within two minutes. Both of them finish the wasabi to advance to the next task, leaving the remaining teams at the mercy of the roulette wheel. Lame. You wanna talk about dumb luck. Garrett and Justin are the next ones to get wasabi, and they do okay as well. Maria is the only one get wasabi on the next spin, but she’s unable to finish in time. So the next time it’s Maria again. This time, she finishes with 1 second to spare. Big Easy and Lance go next and complete the task. Then Canaan is next, and he does fine. Brian and Gary are next. Gary completes the task, but Brian does not. Dan finally gets his shot, and he finishes in less than half the time. That leaves Brian all alone in the studio. He must wait again for the wheel to land on him. On his second try, he just barely finishes the wasabi. I can’t imagine Ericka’s cheerleading is helping him any, though.
Teams must then get their group of studio audience members to Konno Hachimangu Shrine, the pit stop for this leg of the race. Already? Because this a searching task through chaotic streets, it does provide some degree of hope for the teams who got screwed on the road block.
Meghan & Cheyne have the strategy of asking as many people as they can. Marcy’s looking like she may be a few eggs short of a dozen. Zev & Justin are stuck in the group with the woman with a broken shoe. Maria & Tiffany are trying to hook up with Sam & Dan, brothers who are gay. Brian & Ericka run right into a guy who knows exactly where they’re going and takes them there. Sam & Dan split off from Maria & Tiffany to go follow another team and see if they know what they’re doing instead. In the meantime, Maria & Tiffany have lost two people from their audience group and need to go find them. They aren’t alone. Mika & Canaan have left one person behind, which they don’t realize until they arrive at Phil. Despite the drama this leads to, it looks like only a matter of a couple minutes that they end up losing. Maria & Tiffany, however, have decided to just check in, without enough people.
First: Meghan & Cheyne (win a trip to Aspen and Vail)
Second: Zev & Justin
Third: Lance & Keri
Fourth: Marcy & Ron
Fifth: Herbert & Nathaniel
Sixth: Brian & Ericka
Seventh: Gary & Matt
Eighth: Garrett & Jessica
Ninth: Sam & Dan
Tenth: Mika & Canaan
Non-eliminated: Maria & Tiffany
Maria & Tiffany have incurred a two hour penalty for not completing the challenge, and they will also be faced with a speed bump in the next leg, which they will be advancing to.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 15 Episode 2, which airs next on CBS.