TAR 10 Premiere

The premiere of The Amazing Race 10 featured one of the most ethnically diverse casts in the shows' history. But by the end of the episode, that diversity had been reduced significantly.

CBS featured two teams in most of the ads leading up to the season premiere: Muslim friends Bilal & Sa'eed, and disabled triathlete Sarah & her boyfriend, Peter. Though those two teams may have been the most interesting to look at, they weren't necessarily the most interesting people.

For example, there's Mary, a wife and mother whose self-esteem is low enough that she thinks her husband, David, is "too cute" for her. David is a coal miner from Kentucky, who looks like...a coal miner from Kentucky.

Tyler & James were introduced as "recovering drug addicts and models," though I'm not sure how one recovers from modelling. As they introduced themselves, we saw an old photo of one of the guys, glossy-eyed and clutching a tank of nitrous.

And my favorite unintentional comedy team is Kellie & Jamie, a pair of cheerleaders who wondered aloud if Muslims worship Buddha.

The teams started the race in Seattle, Washington. Host Phil Keoghan promised that, in addition to eight elimination legs, there were new surprises afoot this season. Maybe teams that lose non-elimination legs will spend a night on Exile Island.

After Phil's sendoff, teams drove to the airport en route to Beijing, China. Korean-American brothers Erwin & Godwin were eager to "get back to the homeland. Even though we're not Chinese."

At the airport, teams jockeyed to get on the first of two planes heading to China. The first, a United flight, left an hour before the second, on Korean Air. However, only six teams would be allowed on the United flight.

As they waited in the gate for the first plane, Alabama single moms Lyn & Karlyn were annoyed that Sarah, who has a prosthetic leg, took advantage of the early boarding privileges for passengers with disabilities. It seemed there was little strategic reason to take advantage of the early boarding privilege, and such moves could undercut Sarah's desires to be viewed like everybody else.

Because of a delay for the United flight, the two planes arrived within a half-hour of one another. Beauty Queens Dustin & Kandice lost the meager lead they had when they became the season's first victims of a bad cab driver. He took them to multiple restaurants before they were able to find the one featured on their clue: the Gold House Restaurant.

In The Amazing Race, a restaurant is usually a harbinger of disgusting things to come. The Gold House was no exception. A Road Block instructed one team member to dig into a bowl of fish head stew (Eww!), pluck out the fishes' eyeballs (Eww! Eww!), and eat them (Eww! x 1000).

Father/Daughter team Duke & Lauren arrived at the restaurant first. Their relationship has been on thin ice since Lauren came out as a lesbian. Fortunately, as everyone knows, the first step in mending a troubled family relationship is for the elder member to eat fish eyes in the presence of the the younger member.

Dustin & Kandice recovered from their bad cabbie to wind up in the middle of the pack, thanks to a local boy who led them to the restaurant on foot.

Erwin & Godwin weren't so lucky. Their driver was equally bad, but they'd been on the second flight, so they had no room for error. By the time the brothers arrived at the Gold House, only Bilal & Sa'eed and Indian-American couple Vipul and Arti were left. But those teams were already finishing up their eyeballs.

From the restaurant, teams traveled by taxi to the Meridian Gate within the Forbidden City. Teams chose one of three departure times for the next morning from tickets on a pillar. Four tickets read "7:00," four read "7:15," three read "7:30," and one read, "Last Team." This ticket signified one of the surprises Phil had mentioned earlier.

Erwin & Godwin lucked into a fast cabbie after the restaurant, and they arrived at the gate at the same time as Bilal & Sa'eed. The brothers won a footrace to the tickets, and Bilal and Sa'eed drew the final ticket.

The ticket instructed the final team to head to the traditional Pit Stop mat, where Phil waited for them. Phil informed Bilal and Sa'eed that, even though this was not a Pit Stop, they had been eliminated from the race.

After an initial moment of shock, Bilal said that the surprise elimination proved that "you have no control over anything. The Creator does." He's right. It's Jerry Bruckheimer's show, and that guy does whatever he wants.

With the fear of God, or at least the producers, put into them, teams departed the next morning in the following order:
7 :00 - Peter & Sarah, Lyn & Karlyn, Tyler & James, and Duke & Lauren
7:15 - Kellie & Jamie, Mary & David, Dustin & Kandice, and boyfriends Tom & Terry
7:30 - Erwin & Godwin, Vipul & Arti, and dating couple Rob & Kimberly

Teams rode on WWII motorcycles with sidecars, instructing their drivers to a particular intersection. There, they hopped in a pedicab and rode to a Detour: "Labor or Leisure."

In Labor, teams rode to a market and paved a section of sidewalk, using bricks to create a specific pattern. It was the more labor-intensive of the two tasks, but it could be completed quickly if teams figured out the pattern and avoided bickering with each other.

In Leisure, teams traveled to a park to learn a Tai Chi-like routine that involved balancing a ball on a paddle. The task required balance, patience, and rhythm

Most of the teams chose Labor, including Vipul & Arti, who'd gotten lost on their motor bikes and arrived at the Detour in last place. The Labor Detour brought out the worst in some teams, and Mary & David and Rob & Kimberly seem the teams most likely to bicker this season.

Peter's nitpicky criticism of Sarah as they worked on their brick pattern grated on Karlyn's nerves. "He tries to micromanage so much," Karlyn muttered. "They can kiss my behind."

Kellie & Jamie and Tom & Terry, the only teams to choose the Leisure Detour, got stuck in traffic on their way to the park. Kellie & Jamie started a cheer, which Tom & Terry repeated, to the cheerleaders' delight.

At the park, both teams spent a good amount of time twirling and launching balls all over the place before finally getting the hang of it. Task completed, both teams made their way to the Pit Stop -- Juyongguan, part of the Great Wall.

In order to reach the Pit Stop, teams needed to scale a wall using a rope with loops spaced every few feet. The technique was difficult to master, putting one foot in a loop while pulling up with the arms in order to put the second foot in a higher loop.

The task was especially difficult for Sarah. She had to rely almost completely on her upper body strength as she hopped from one loop to the next. Thanks to her triathlon training, Sarah already had a strong upper body, and she actually finished the task in what appeared to be less time than some of the other women.

Peter bagged his nitpicking while she climbed, but his efforts at encouragement took on a hyperbolic, patronizing air. "You are a world-class athlete," he shouted. "No one else could do this... I'm going to cry when you make it." (He didn't.) Sarah and Peter met because he designs prosthetic legs, and it seems as if he might have co-opted Sarah's personal struggles as his own.

Models Tyler & James scaled the wall with relative ease and reached the finish mat in first place, winning a $20,000 prize. An emotional Lauren, who cried because she was so happy to be spending time with her dad again, finished in second place alongside daddy Duke. Sarah & Peter came in third, followed by Dustin & Kandice.

Rob & Kimberly, who'd given her cabbie instructions to head to "the Great Wall...the Great Wall of China," finished in fifth. They were followed by Kellie & Jamie, Erwin & Godwin, and Tom & Terry. Karlyn, Lyn, and Mary all struggled to hoist themselves up the wall, but the Alabama moms edged out the Kentucky couple for ninth.

David told Mary they were in last place, and she apologized to him as she climbed the final stretch of wall. They didn't know that Vipul and Arti had yet to even arrive at the wall. At the mat, Phil informed Dave & Mary that they were actually in tenth place. Overjoyed at still being in the race, and angry with her husband for making her feel bad, Mary hugged Phil and the Chinese greeter at the Pit Stop before hugging her spouse.

Vipul & Arti, eventually showed up and were eliminated. They were happy to have had the chance to race, however brief it was. Their elimination, along with Bilal's & Sa'eed's elimination earlier in the leg, brought the total number of non-white teams competing from four to two. Hopes for an ethnically diverse season may be short-lived if this keeps up.

Next week, Rob & Kimberly have what should be the first of many fights. And temperamental horses and oxen give the teams trouble -- and me a reason to live. There's nothing I love more than a troublesome ox.