Another 11 teams form The Amazing Race 22 cast competing for $1 million.
The Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, CA is the starting line for the race.
Chuck loves putting dead animals on his walls. Bates (like his brother) is a former pro hockey player, and he’s got the missing teeth to prove it. Max and Katie have been married for three whole weeks. Dave and Connor are father and son who have shared everything, including cancer. Idries and Jamil are twins, as if I don’t have a hard enough time telling the contestants apart, but hopefully they’re a lot less annoying than last season’s twins. Joey and Meghan acknowledge they’re the cute/sweet Youtube team. Matt and Danielle work on the same fire truck together, saying they have already been a team for six years. Caroline and Jennifer are country singers of a band called Stealing Angels, which I assume nobody has ever heard of, and they’re looking for love (wrong show, but they’ll probably have better luck than The Bachelor).
The twist for the first leg is that the winner will receive an express pass for themselves plus a second express pass to award to another team before the end of the fourth leg. I see the unnecessary and not overly compelling $2 million twist is done.
Their first destination is Bora Bora. The 5 teams on the first flight will have a 1 hour advantage.
Knowing that there’s another express pass to be given out, Winnie & Pam set out to make friends. Katie will pretend to be nice, but Max says she’s not very likeable, with her chiming in to say she’s not at all likeable.
First flight: Chuck & Wynona, Idries & Jamil, Pam & Winnie, David & Connor, Jessica & John
Second flight: Max & Katie,
The twins suggest to the group that whoever comes in second should get the second express pass, forming an alliance with the teams on the first flight for no other reason than they are the teams on the first flight.
The road block is to skydive from a helicopter. Normally they save these kinds of tasks for much later in the race. Each helicopter can carry one member from each of two teams. Everybody seems to understand the rules, except for Mona, who skips a line on the signup sheet and puts herself last, which Katie quickly takes advantage of.
Road block (in order of arrival): Winnie, Jamil, John, Connor, Chuck, Bates, Caroline, Mona, Max, Matt, Meghan
From here, teams will travel by water taxi to Eden Beach, where they will immediately face another road block. Less scary, but it’s going to be a huge pain. Their task is to search for a clue in hundreds of sand castles, and whatever they destroy, they must rebuild. This could take hours, which is confirmed by only one team being finished by the time teams from the next flight start showing up. The dumb luck nature of the task further shows when the sixth team to arrive quickly passes the others.
Road block (in order of arrival): Jessica, Idries, Dave, Pam, Wynona, Anthony, Jennifer, Katie, Joey, Beth
With three teams still left in the sun after three hours, the teams come together and decide to all take the penalty, turning the results from blind luck to performance in the final task. Someone’s making a big mistake here.
Continuing their work in the sun, they must attach a float to a canoe, then paddle over a mile to the pit stop for this leg of the race, Motu Cafe.
First: Jessica & John (win two express passes)
Second: Bates & Anthony
Third: Dave & Connor
Fourth: Pam & Winnie
Fifth: Mona & Beth
Sixth: Joey & Meghan
Seventh: Chuck & Wynona
Eighth: Idries & Jamil
Ninth: Max & Katie
Tenth: Caroline & Jennifer
Eliminated: Matt & Daniel
They built their canoe the quickest, but Matt & Daniel were unable to stay afloat and have been eliminated. As for the other two teams, the four hour penalty will be assessed at the start of the next leg, putting them both in a continuing struggle for last.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 22 Episode 2, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.