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We have one leg and team done and several more legs (with a few non-eliminations thrown in) to go. I’ve done this enough now to know that there really isn't a way to predict with much accuracy because so much of a team’s fate rests in factors outside of their control but I still take a stab at it each week.

(SIDE NOTE: My son‘s a new viewer to the show and asked, "If there are only 11 teams, does that mean it will only be on for just 10 weeks?" Then I have to unsuccessfully convey to him the concept of the “non-elimination leg.” He wasn’t buying into this anymore than seasoned viewers do.)

Before we start the second leg, here's my estimated hierarchy/power rankings heading into this episode:

1. Travis & Nicole: Married ER doctors.
2. Jason & Amy: New England dating couple.
3. Tim & Marie: Exes from New Jersey.
4. Rowan & Shane: Business partners/actors.
5. (tie) Chester & Ephraim: Friends and former Houston Texans teammates, and Nicky & Kim: Baseball wives.
6. Ally & Ashley: Members of the LA Kings Ice Crew.
7. Brandon & Adam: Friends and beard enthusiasts.
8. Leo & Jamal: Cousins and self-described “Afghanimals”.
9. Tim & Danny: Childhood friends from Oklahoma.

The leg starts in the wee hours of the morning with (shudder) exes Tim & Marie leaving the mat at 2:52 a.m. They are still floating on a high from getting the two Express Passes and are happy to dangle one of them in front of the others as a carrot. Short of a maniacal laugh, Marie has happily settled nicely into the villain role for the season.

Mr. and Mrs. Dr. Travis & Nicole are next to leave ten minutes later with Team Bingo Rowan & Shane right behind them. All three are hustling to the docks and must locate the “officer of the day” on the deck of the Museo Corbeta Esmeralda. The next clue will be posted on the deck.

It's time for the season's first lead-killing, playing field-leveling “hours of operation” to rear its head to pop up. This time around the ship the teams are/or will be heading to can’t be boarded until 7:15 a.m. Yup…that means all the teams will get bunched up.

Before we get to Ex-Marie (or Pinky, as the other contestants now refer to her as) facing this reality, we get confirmation from Ally & Ashley that they have formed an alliance with Afghanimals Leo & Jamal. With the fellows much more interested in the girls for non-race reasons, the cousins have taken to calling the Ice Crew girls their “Race Wives.” Why “wives” and not “girlfriends”? Because they say they are more committed to the blondes than just girlfriends. Whoa…slow down, hot rods. I know they are cute blonde girls, but you have known them about two days at this point.

On the dock, Team Exes Time & Marie have settled into a nice cozy spot when Travis & Nicole show up. With the subtlety of the chainsaw-wielding maniac at a haunted house, Nicole asks if they have thought about who will get the other Express Pass and that it’s her 40th birthday, so that would make a great gift. Marie is basically speechless, which I appreciate, and stammers out an awkward “Oh…okay.”

Her speechlessness is short-lived as Marie now must think all the other teams are Ex-Tim because she is ordering them all around to respect the line in the order they arrived. A silly and thankfully brief argument between her and Ephraim occurs and the Race Husbands and Wives mutter to themselves, “What is this 7th grade?” While I agree Marie’s tone and approach are excessive, it really is an unspoken rule to go in the order you arrived. Let’s not make a big deal out of something bound to be inconsequential.

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