11 new teams are competing for $1 million, with the most well known members of The Amazing Race 19 cast being Ethan and Jenna from Survivor.
Andy & Tommy think they’ll be underestimated as being slackers, but you don’t make the Olympics by accident. Ethan & Jenna have been dating for 7 years after their wins in Survivor. Zac gets his adventurous spirit from his father and was the first person under 18 to sail around the world. Ernie & Cindy are recently engaged, and she says she’s a control freak. Justin & Jennifer are prepared to yell at each other, and she admits to being out of hand. Bill & Cathi have lived on a farm for 40 years. Unlike some of the teams on this race, Liz & Marie aren’t going to be breaking up or losing each other, since they have been together since birth. Jeremy & Sandy view this race as an exploration of whether they want to take their relationship further, a concept that always ends badly. Ron & Bill hope their experience as flight attendants will pay off. Ex-NFL player Marcus has dragged his wife Amani along for the ride. Kaylani & Lisa want us to believe they’re smart showgirls/cocktail waitresses.
The starting line is Hsi Lai Temple in California. Their first challenge is at the starting line, a word puzzle involving umbrellas. Using the letters on the umbrella twice and combining them with the letters that appear above the umbrellas will lead them to discover their first destination, Taipei Taiwan. The last team to complete the challenge will receive a new penalty called a hazard, to be completed at some point during this leg. Most of these people aren’t even trying to figure out the puzzle. They’re just running up to Phil with the first umbrella they grab. Eventually they seem to realize that’s not a strategy that will work very well. As the last team to finish, Kaylani & Lisa aren’t off to a great start at showing us they’re smarter than we might expect at first glance.
The first flight, carrying the first eight teams, departs 20 minutes before the second flight carrying the final three teams. With flights that long, 20 minutes is nothing.
LAX seems simple enough to find for those teams willing to stop and ask for directions. But there’s a problem. Hold on to your passports. No passport, no international travel, and no prayer of staying in the race. When Lisa & Kaylani stop to ask for directions, Kaylani drops her passport. They realize it before long and figure it must have fallen at the only place they stopped, but when they get back to the gas station, it’s not there. They just drive to the airport and pray for a miracle, as arguing and swearing ensues. The guy who found Kaylani’s passport was also the same guy who gave directions to the snowboarders. He posted on Twitter how he was just on The Amazing Race and found a passport, and he was asked to get it to LAX. So their adventure continues, with no consequences but hopefully a lesson learned.
Ethan & Jenna plan to pretend they weren’t on Survivor. Good luck with that. It may have been several years ago, but reality show fans still recognize one or both of you. Marcus Pollard, however, has a better chance of pretending he wasn’t a football player.
First flight: Ron & Bill, Ethan & Jenna, Ernie & Cindy, Amani & Marcus, Laurence & Zac, Justin & Jennifer, Andy & Tommy, Jeremy & Sandy
Second flight: Bill & Cathi, Liz & Marie, Kaylani & Lisa
The eight teams on the first flight get the first bus, the female teams on the last flight get the second bus, and the older team is bringing up the rear.
The first stop once they arrive in Taiwan is the Ximending Commercial District. Rather than searching for a clue box, they have to look up and find a billboard with their next destination (in Chinese). As clues on The Amazing Race go, this is unexpectedly good, eliminating some of the hand holding we usually see.
The road block is to call Confucius. After dialing 1-800-CONFUCIUS at the Confucius temple, they will hear and must memorize and repeat a proverb. Sounds simpler than it appears to actually be.
Road block (in order of arrival): Sandy, Cindy, Amani, Jennifer, Ron, Ethan, Andy, Zac, Lisa, Liz, Cathi
Dajia Riverside Park is their next destination, where they will join a dragon boat race team. One team member paddles while the other keeps the rhythm of the drum. Pretty straightforward task.
Having received the hazard penalty, Kaylani & Lisa are left having to head to the Core City Pacific Mall to search the 11th floor for their next clue. The task: one team member must do an indoor bungee jump. It doesn’t seem to matter, though, as Bill & Cathi just got done telling us they’ve been looking for the billboard clue for 4 hours. Meanwhile, the twins are still trying to get past the road block guy’s accent.
The pit stop for this leg of the race is Martyrs’ Shrine. What, no detour?
First: Ernie & Cindy (win an express pass)
Second: Jeremy & Sandy
Third: Justin & Jennifer
Fourth: Ethan & Jenna
Fifth: Amani & Marcus
Sixth: Laurence & Zac
Seventh: Andy & Tommy
Eighth: Ron & Bill
Ninth: Kaylani & Lisa
Tenth: Liz & Marie
Non-eliminated: Bill & Cathi
Bill & Cathi have been non-eliminated. This is a first in the US edition, but it’s something I like to see because the first episode’s always such a blur. Sandy & Francesca (TAR Asia 1) were non-eliminated in the first leg before finishing the season in second place. That said, 3 of the 4 other teams who suffered this fate ended up being eliminated in episode 2, and I think we’re ultimately just looking at a delay of the inevitable here. There’s a catch. Two teams will be eliminated next week. No borrowing twists from Big Brother please.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 19 Episode 2, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.