TAR23, Recap Leg 0, 9/23/13

Welcome back to the Emmy Award Winning Amazing Race!  Wait, we lost this year?  Oh well, I’m sure we lost to a fantastic show.  What, we lost to The Voice?  Well, THAT will have to be fixed.  Miss me?  I thought so.  First off, we have some excellent countries on the list, including visits to Chile, Norway and the United Arab Emirates!  We’re at eleven teams, so no monkey business from the producers.  Also, no twists that I have heard through the grapevine.  And Toyouke is nearby to throw in her two cents. (Toyouke: “It's in whatever order I feel like. . . because I don’t care about half these teams.”)  The eleven teams are:

Ally and Ashley, are LA Kings Ice Crew girls from Los Angeles.  I can only assume that those are hockey cheerleaders.  Because this show needs more blonds from LA like I need a hole in the head.  (Toyouke: “Clearly I hate them. That's about all I got from that.”)  They are, however, driven and community minded, so I’ll give them that.  But I don’t know how long I can handle them.  Prediction: Ninth Place.

Brandon and Adam, are beard lovers and friends from Chico, California.  I will say that they do have quite the incredible beards, but they look less cute as a result.  Then again, they are my age and in contracting and farming, so beards are fairly associated with that.  (Toyouke: “Are they hippies? I can't tell. But they do seem like real hippies if so. I can't tell if they'll be horribly annoying like the last set of hippies or if they'll be cool. “)  Agreed.  Prediction: Fifth Place.

Chester and Ephraim, are former Houston Texan teammates, and both finished in the NFL in 2010.  Again, why do I need another team of pro sports whatevers?  (Toyouke: “The first thing that sticks out to me is that they both think they are most like Shaq. Their video is actually pretty funny. They like to give each other crap. Another Globetrotters? I like them too.”)  And that’s why.  If they are Globetrotters II, this will be a lot of fun.  Prediction: Fourth Place.

Hoskote and Naina, are a father-daughter team from Laguna Niguel, California.  And they are Indian-American.  Dad is a doctor, and daughter is a fitness instructor.  I think this is going to be like Ronald and Christina from TAR12.  And family teams have been really strong recently, as have teams made up of Indian-Americans (GO TWINNIES!).  I think they should be good.  Prediction: Second Place.

Jason and Amy, are the YDC from New England.  (Toyouke: “They seem kind of cocky, but I am kind of bored with them. I do know her bio hints that she has a short fuse so maybe they'll start fighting. “)  That could lead to something interesting, but I’m not particularly interested in seeing a YDC all season.  Prediction: Seventh Place.

Leo and Jamal, are cousins from Los Angeles.  They seem pretty driven, as Jamal is already CEO of a company.  They are originally from Afghanistan, so they have already nicknamed themselves “The Afghanimals”.  (Toyouke: “OK, first of all, you are not allowed to pick your own nickname. Other than that they seem pretty cocky. And out to find wives. Lovely.”)  Well, they could be the team to watch.  I think I’ll be yelling at my TV screen.  Prediction: Winners, TAR 23.

Nicky and Kim, are wives of Professional Baseball Players from the Midwest.  Really, TAR?  Cheerleaders, Pro Sports Players, AND Pro Wives?  I deal with enough testosterone on this show as it is.  (Toyouke: “I dislike them. Why do sports stars' wives always get on this show? Kim does show some promising snark in her bio by saying "Maybe this will shock people, but it is possible we will have trouble with physical tasks." But then they list their occupations as "baseball wife" and Kim is a Cubs fan so now I'm back to disliking them.”)  I agree.  Stop casting sports people!  Prediction: Tenth Place.

Rowan and Shane, are best friends and drag queens from Charlotte, North Carolina.  More specifically, they are the stars of The Queen of Bingo, one of the longest running non-musical plays in the country.  I immediately like them.  (Toyouke: “Clearly I am going to root for the bingo drag queens. I do think poker players don't have a defined "look" although I'm not sure why you feel you need to lie about your job. What team is going to hear that you dress up like old women playing bingo and suddenly worry about your skills?”)  Sadly, I feel that they aren’t going to be around long.  Prediction: Eleventh Place.

Tim and Danny, are best friends from Cordell, Oklahoma.  They are oil field operators.  And, as a result, cute, young, buff and adorable.  (Toyouke: “These two are kind of cute. Although they seem to be claiming they're unique because they're oil field operators, and I think in reality they fall under the category of "hicks". Which is not unique. This is the "we've never been out of the country team". “)  Oh, and we saw how well that team did last time.  But these boys are cuter and buffer.  Prediction: Third Place. 

Tim and Marie, are ex-boyfriend and girlfriend from Morristown, New Jersey.  Ugh.  (Toyouke: “Oh, one of the Tims is with Pinkhair. I'm sure he'll be an idiot. Fans of the show, but not in the "Wow, that would be so cool to do" way, but the "We could totally win because these people are all idiots" way. And they have always had trouble making decisions together. GREAT. Cocky and argumentative. “)  We’re going to be stuck with them for a bit.  Prediction: Sixth Place.

Travis and Nicole, are married ER physicians from Atlanta, Georgia.  I’m sure they can do better than the ER doctors from LAST season.  (Toyouke: “Of all the people that have claimed their job will help them on the race, I think these two are right about it. ER doctors work long hours, running around, making intelligent decisions. They could go really far.”)  That is, if they can swim.  Prediction: Eighth 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, September 29 at 7:00 pm CDT for the hour premiere.  See you with the first recap soon!