The Amazing Race (TAR) is back and if the season premiere is an indicator of what is to come, we are in for a pretty crazy show this year. The 12 teams that started the race include Harlem Globetrotters, an ex Miss America, professional poker players and  a player with Asperger’s Syndrome (a mild form of autism). Learn more about this year’s teams on my season 15 cast preview.

The two hour season premiere of TAR started the race in downtown L.A.  The Teams arrived and learned that one team would not even get to start the race. This was devastating. The challenge was to find one of 11 license plates for the area of Tokyo they would visit next. Once they found the plate, Phil would give them tickets to a flight to Tokyo.

Unfortunately, Eric and Lisa Paskel were the first eliminated. They where so nice. It was a sad moment.

In Tokyo, the teams where sent to a studio for Japanese game show.  Why have they not thought of this before? They played Sushi Roulette, where winners had to eat a “wasabi bomb” within a two-minute time period. Winners were then assigned a color using a flag and were given a group of 20 tourists to lead through the city. Finding your way through Tokyo is hard enough, but doing it with 20 people that don’t speak your language is almost impossible.  Meghan Rickey and Cheyne Whitney came in 1st and won a trip for two to Aspen and Vail.

The next day the teams had to fly to Vietnam. Once they regroup at a boat dock, they are then sent on a challenge to fertilize trees with a special mud compound.  After finishing the fertilizing challenge, the teams had to go to a local festival, as a road block.  Each team had to pick one person to heard 150 ducks from one pen across a bridge and back to another pen. If this was not completed in 10 minutes the team had to stop and wait of a course to open and try again. Allot of teams where having difficulty, except for the father son team (Gary and Matt), the globetrotters and Zev and Justin. Justin said,”It turns out Zev is a duck whisperer.”

Next the teams had to run through town and find a riverboat for the pit stop. Gary and Matt came in first and won a pair of kayaks. Garrett Paul and Jessica Stout came in last and were the second team eliminated. We are already seeing some teams breaking down, yelling and fighting with each other. Herbert and Nathaniel( Flight Time and The Big Easy), The Globetrotters team, are gonna be great fun to watch. I also have a weak spot the older couple, Marcy Malloy and Ronald Shalita, and the father and son team, Gary and Matt. I am really rooting for Zev and Justin, they are so much fun.

Here’s a preview clip of what’s coming up next week on TAR: