The Amazing Race: Not Off To A Good Start

I don't know what it was about the first episode of Edition 16 of The Amazing Race that seemed off. But it seemed off.

I thought taking public transportation to get to LAX might be fun to watch. It wasn't. But I did get to see LA's light rail trail for the first time.

There seems to be a high level of dumb in this group. The pair of Rhode Island detectives, Louie and Michael. What could that pair detect? Thinking that painting over graffiti was the right thing to do?

And that Father/Daughter team, Steve and Allie, walking into someone's house and starting to paint. That was at least amusing, as the homeowners, speaking Spanish, had no idea why these people were doing this.

The first leg of the race had them flying to Santiago, Chile. A plane malfunction had all teams on the same flight. Landing in Chile they had to make their way to another town, the name of which I don't know, but it's known as the San Fransisco of South America.

I hated the Roadblock, walking a high wire. It was not entertaining to watch. The Brandy half of the Carol/Brandy Lesbian team had a few humorous remarks, all of which I've forgotten. I think some of them were said during her laboriously long crossing of the high wire. Adrian, married to Dana, could not make it across. Phil had to come Philiminate the team after all the others had arrived at the Pitstop, with Adrian still at the start of the high wire.

After crossing the high wire the next clue told them to take one of 2 funiculars down the hill. I don't think a single team knew what a funicular is. Several of the teams seem to have trouble reading. Like the model Brent and the beauty queen, Caite. They walked to the bottom of the hill, got to the Pitstop in 2nd place, but incurred a 30 minute penalty due to not taking a funicular.

There was no Detour on this episode. Just the Roadblock and then this task, which seemed very simple. Carry 4 cans of paint, a ladder and 2 brushes to paint a small swatch of the outside wall of a house. The clue told them what street to walk on to find the houses to paint. There were several street signs with the name.

Several teams wandered all over, up and down hills, carrying the paint and ladders. I can't remember who made what mistake. I do remember being shocked that the cowboy brothers, Jet and Cord McCoy got to the Pitstop in 3rd place. The boys got to the high wire late, but somehow moved ahead. The cowboys seem like nice guys, but, well, they were heading to Chile, but had their money changed to Brazilian currency. Stuff like that.

I liked the Grandma/Granddaughter team of Jody and Shannon. Grandma's a spunky gal who runs marathons. I found her amusing. The non-cowboy brothers, Dan and Jordan, they are likable and somewhat funny. Jordan is the gay brother, but he is not the Jordon who won Big Brother, that'd be the Jordan paired with Jeff. I think it was they who got to the Pitstop in 1st place.

I wonder if the producers purposefully cast for a lot of not so bright types this time? Hoping hilarity would ensue. Is this why the tasks seemed rather simple, thinking department wise?

Time will tell. I don't know if I'll be watching.