The Amazing Race 23
Episode 2: Power Rankings
By Daron Aldridge
October 6, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
As expected, it was a brisk and fun hour that gave enough of a glimpse at each team, but no one seemed to get too much screen time. Still, a couple of teams (which I have a tie in the rankings) didn't do much on the good or bad side to stand out.
Overall, it was a "business as usual" start to the season and that's okay by me. Sharpen your pitchforks and round up the villagers to storm my castle because here are my rankings:
1. Travis & Nicole: Married ER doctors. All right…I admit that they may just be the team with the earliest assigned time penalty in Amazing Race history and I pray for the sake of their trauma patients a similar misreading doesn’t happen on their watch. But given how close the teams were bunched together from the first flight, we can see how quickly Mr. & Mrs. Dr. completed the tasks. The 30-minute penalty only resulted in one team getting in front of them. Plus, despite the slip-up (and subsequent admonishment from Phil), they kept their heads about them and didn’t play the blame game. I still believe they are the team to beat.
2. Jason & Amy: New England dating couple. The misfortune of just missing out on the first flight to Chile put them immediately in the back of the pack. But like Travis & Nicole, they stayed positive and worked well together. Add in the fact that they completely smoked the other three teams on their flight in the tasks; these daters are too strong to ignore. It also helps that Amy’s Spanish fluency will be quite handy as long as they stick around South America. I am keeping them ranked high (whether foolishly or not).
3. Tim & Marie: Exes from New Jersey. Oh sweet annoyance from Amazing Race teams, how I didn’t miss you. Whether I’m right about who wins the season or not, I can take pride in that I pegged this team as the one that I will dislike the most (at least for now). Ex-Tim, which is what I shall call him from now on to distinguish from the other Tim…OK-Tim, doesn’t seem to be too bad but Marie has quickly shown why they are likely exes. She’s just abrasive, loud and frequently in his face. While I optimistically picked them to flounder more, the fact that they performed well and earned an Express Pass, thanks to Travis & Nicole, means they will likely be hanging around a while. Oh well, I guess we have to have someone to root against. Right?
4. Rowan & Shane: Business partners/actors. This is the team that I clearly underestimated if their third place first leg is any indication. They had a very smooth leg and didn’t seem to be in as "over-their-head" as I thought. I thought the silliness they conveyed in their intro interview would be a hindrance, but they performed nicely as a team and didn’t get overwhelmed by the competition. Will that carry on through the next legs? Who knows, but I am willing to give them credit for defying my expectations and bump them from the bottom to just outside of the top three ranking.
5. (tie) Chester & Ephraim: Friends and former Houston Texans teammates, and Nicky & Kim: Baseball wives. I figured both of the teams would do well, given their familiarity with competitive sports and they still might, but the first leg didn’t offer much to debunk or verify that notion. They both did well, didn’t mess up and basically were "middle-of-the-pack" teams. Kim displayed some weakness with the fear of paragliding creeping in but it was all for naught as she did the task with no issue. I suspect that either team might be able to break out or flame out but I will give them the benefit of the doubt and a tie for fifth ranking.
6. Ally & Ashley: Members of the LA Kings Ice Crew, the blondes had a better than predicted leg and do seem more mentally ready for the Race than I expected. Also to their credit, Ashley was the one that pointed out Leo & Jamal’s second Roadblock clue-reading error. This shows that they are aware of what is going on but that observation actually benefited another team. If she had kept it to herself, then the Afghanimals would likely still be in the Iquique Harbor. It’s nice to be nice but on the Race but it may cost them.
7. Brandon & Adam: Friends and beard enthusiasts. These fun-loving friends seem to have set the bar low for themselves to just be faster than one team and they lived up to these sub-par standards on the first leg. I hate to put a team so low since they seem to be a pair to truly enjoy the Race experience, yet nothing was shown to exude anything more than just a "don’t get eliminated" mentality. But thanks to my lack of confidence in the other remaining teams’ abilities, I have them ahead of two teams.
8. Leo & Jamal: Cousins and self-described “Afghanimals”. All bluster and little aptitude. That’s my assessment of the cousins after one leg. They have the enthusiasm of a five-year-old hyped up on sugar the night before the first day of Kindergarten, but that exuberance and their adolescent preoccupation with Ally & Ashley doesn’t exactly make them a formidable Amazing Race team. In the first leg, they foolishly let their cab leave the first Roadblock, fell for the tricky wording on the paragliding task and, as the most costly slip-up, wasted time with Jamal rowing instead of Leo. While I feel Mr. & Mrs. Dr. learned from their mistake, these guys…not so much. I don’t feel they are in this for the long haul, but should be around a bit longer than…
9. Tim & Danny: Childhood friends from Oklahoma. As is the case with Ally & Ashley, likable doesn’t always translate to Race success. Sadly, nice guys rarely ever finish first on this show. If you add in that these guys are this season’s "Aw Shucks" yokels, they take another hit on Race longevity. Previous season’s Jet & Cord also hailed from Oklahoma and were a particularly strong team and STILL couldn’t win on TWO different seasons. OK Tim & Danny aren’t the cowboys and will likely be the next eliminated team.
We are only a few hours from finding out if the teams live up to my rankings or if I just completely embarrassed myself.