TAR22, Recap Leg 0, 2/10/13

Welcome back to the Amazing Race!  Miss me?  I thought so.  First off, we have some excellent countries on the list, including visits to French Polynesia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Botswana and Switzerland!  We’re at eleven teams, so no monkey business from the producers.  The Two million dollar twist is out of the mix, and there's a new twist with the Express Pass. . . or should I say TWO Express Passes?  And Toyouke is nearby to throw in her two cents. (Toyouke: “Do I have to?  These teams so ineffectual.  Meh.”)  The eleven teams are: (click for more)

Bates and Anthony, are hockey playing brothers from Raleigh, North Carolina.  Bates actually played in the NHL for a while, but is not playing hockey right now.  Anthony is playing for the Huntsville Havoc.  (Toyouke: " Bates needs a haircut but they seem cute."  Kmanpat: "I know, right?  I could go for some Prince William doppelganger right about now."  Toyouke: "Of course you could.")  Otherwise, they seem fairly standard sporty male, who haven't done that well in recent seasons.  (Toyouke: " Yeah, they seem generic and I don't have any strong opinions.")  Prediction: Fourth Place.

Caroline and Jennifer, are friends and country singers from the south.  They are both blonde, and are direct descendants of famous people; Caroline is in Daniel Boone's lineage, and Jennifer is the granddaughter of John Wayne.  (Toyouke: " Let me make this clear right now, I do not care that either of them have famous relatives or ancestors or whatever. When you take that away, what do you have? Blonde girls. They might as well be beauty queens. Whatevs.")  Point taken.  Prediction: Eleventh Place.

Chuck and Wynona, are a married couple from Daphne, Alabama.  (Toyouke: " You know I love hicks.")  Chuck is also a taxidermist, which precludes the need to watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbUVtfUWwF8.  They are both fans of the show, and Chuck's mullet should be enough wind resistance to keep them ahead of all the other teams a good part of the time.  Prediction: Eighth Place.

David and Connor, are a father-son team from Salt Lake City, Utah, and are oddly enough both cancer survivors.  Hello!  Connor also is a professional cyclist.  (Toyouke: " I...have no idea. They seem fairly fit, and they have a hook, and they seem to get along. But I don't have any strong feelings either way."  Kmanpat: "That's ok, Connor can ring my doorbell any time he wants.")  I think this should be our best family team in a long while.  Prediction: Second Place.

Idries and Jamil, are twin brothers and OB/GYNs from Chicago, Illinois.  (Toyouke: " I'm entertained that when asked what they do, they both gave a definition of "OB/GYN".)  I feel some Cliff Huxtable jokes coming your way.  (Toyouke: " It is very interesting that Jamil (I assume, because he is on the right) thinks they're at a disadvantage because they have the same strengths. ")  That's a very interesting point, even though twins seem to have done fairly well in the past for that very reason, except of course the LAST time we had African-American male twins on the show (Shola and Doyin, TAR 2).  Prediction: Sixth Place.

Jessica and John, are the YDC from Huntington Beach, California.  John seems pretty.  And tall.  Apparently he resembles the musician Macklemore.  (Toyouke: " I should not have to look up the "famous" person you said you resemble, JOHN. Only to find out he's some random white rapper from Seattle.")  They also seem athletic but ridiculously confident about how awesome they are.  (Toyouke: "They're very earnest about how hard core they are and they've climbed Half Dome and run marathons and go scuba diving and are all about adrenaline. ")  I'm not thinking they are in for the long haul.  Prediction: Seventh Place.

Joey and Meghan, are YouTube Hosts from Los Angeles.  You can check out Joey's channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/JoeyGraceffa and Meghan's here: http://www.youtube.com/user/strawburry17.  I'm kinda excited about them because Joey seems flame-tastic and Meghan seems nerd-tastic, and we haven't had a good nerd team in a while.  (Toyouke: " I will state for the record that if she reminds everyone of Zooey Deschanel, I find Zooey Deschanel obnoxiously twee.")  If they can focus long enough, they could be REALLY fun to watch.  Prediction: Third Place.

Matthew and Daniel, are friends and firefighters from Gaffney, South Carolina.  They have a very Southern down home vibe to them.  (Toyouke: " They seem like hicks too. There are a lot of best friends this time around. And they are confirmed travel virgins, so to speak.")  Teams that have never traveled before actually seem to have a good track record, as they don't try to switch to better flights and then realize they can't and end up getting frustrated in the process after yelling at the ticket agent for two hours.  (Toyouke: "Heh.")  I think they'll be fine.  Also, it's been a while since we've had firefighters, so they've got to do better than that.  Prediction: Fifth Place.

Max and Katie, are newlyweds from Buffalo, New York.  Really?  Max looks like a rainbow threw up on him.  I hope he tries to jump Connor, Joey or John by the time is all over.  (Toyouke: " No one will underestimate you because you look pretty. They can probably smell the dysfunction. This is a terrible idea. They seem irritating.")  I only want them to stick around for the potential of ensuing drama, which is not a reason for them to need to stick around.  Prediction: Ninth Place. 

Mona and Beth, are moms, friends and roller derby competitors from Colorado.  Roller Derby?  Really?  Well, then, here comes another all female team for the win.  (Toyouke: " I know that the roller derby will be a big advantage for them. But other than that, I'm not getting a strong vibe either way from these two. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe they'll be quietly competent and go far.")  Prediction: Winners, TAR 22.

Pamela and Winnie, are best friends and Asians from Los Angeles.  (Toyouke: " I will give them credit for not talking endlessly about how they hope to play dumb useless girls so everyone underestimates them.")  And yet, that's all I get from them.  I do hope they are more interesting than that.  Prediction: Tenth Place.

And there it is.  It's so nice for the producers to branch out a little bit and choose people not from LA all the time.  Don’t forget to tune in Sunday, February 17 at 7:00 pm CDT for the hour premiere.  See you with the first recap soon!