The Race goes on

MANILA, Philippines - After 12 years and 22 seasons, The Amazing Race remains the adventure-reality TV show to watch. In its 23rd and latest season, the show kicked off in an Old, Wild West movie setting in Santa Clarita, California. Eleven teams lost no time in flying to South America, with only their allowance for the first leg and the envelope that contains their route information for the next clue.

In every leg, teams need to watch out for their Detour (where they choose between two tasks), Roadblock (a task that only one team member may perform), Fast Forward (which allows a team to skip all remaining tasks and proceed to the Pit Stop).

Throughout the race, teams also need to face obstacles that can slow them down. Yield forces a team to stop racing and turns the hourglass upside down before they could race again. U-turn requires a team after the Detour to complete another task. Intersection needs one team to pair up with another and complete the task. Speed Bump is an additional task for a team that checks in last in a non-elimination leg of the race.

The teams this season are childhood friends Brandon and Adam from Chico, California; baseball wives Kim (from Chicago, Illinois) and Nicky (who shuttles between Kansas City and Troy, Michigan), dating couple “Boston strong” Jason (from Massachusetts) and Amy (from Rhode Island); married emergency room doctors Travis and Nicole from Atlanta, Georgia; best friends and oil field operators Tim and Danny from Oklahoma;

Father and daughter Hoskote and Naina from Laguna Niguel, California; hockey ice crew girls Ally and Ashley from Los Angeles, California; theater actors Rowan and Shane from Charlotte, North Carolina; cousins Leo and Jamal from Los Angeles, California; ex-lovers Tim and Marie from New Jersey; former National Football League teammates Chester (from Texas) and Ephraim (California).

This season brings back the Double Express Pass. An Express Pass allows a team to skip a challenge and proceed to the next one. First team to check-in at the Pit Stop will get two Express Passes, but they have to give one to another team before the end of the fifth leg.

Last season, the Double Express Pass won by couple John and Jessica proved futile when they were eliminated even while holding on to their pass in the fourth leg in Bali, Indonesia.

The other Express Pass was given to father and son team Dave and Connor, who initially proved to be a strong team. They finished first in the third and fourth legs. However, they had to quit the race pre-maturely when Dave injured his tendon.

In The Amazing Race 23, doctors Travis and Nicole were the first to arrive at the Pit Stop – the municipal theater in Iquique, Chile (where teams were faced with two Roadblocks, to paraglide and row which both had to be done by only one team member).

However, before the couple could rejoice, host Phil Keoghan immediately pointed out to them that they took a cab instead of merely going by foot, which was what was stated in the instructions.

For that, Travis and Nicole had to face a 30-minute penalty and during that time, exes Tim and Marie checked in. Hence, the latter were officially declared the first team to arrive and they won the Double Express Pass. First to be eliminated in the race were father-daughter team Hoskote and Naina.

The second leg still took place in Iquique, Chile, where 10 teams started with the Detour, a choice of mining and brining. Then they took a four-hour bus ride to the capital in Santiago, where they had to do a Roadblock of shining shoes the Chilean way.

Cousins Leo and Jamal were the first to arrive at the Pit Stop, but they were told to settle their taxi fare first before they could check in. While doing that, Chester and Ephraim showed up, so they were officially pronounced as the first team to arrive. The pair won a trip for two to Turks and Caicos Islands. Rowan and Shane were the second team eliminated.

After 23 seasons, Amazing Race still doesn’t “run out of things to say.” Find out who will get to take home the $1M prize for the winning pair. The show airs Monday nights on AXN.