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Our first episode of The Amazing Race is in the books, and it definitely suffers some in comparison last season’s blind date twist. There’s something really interesting about putting people together who don’t know each other and seeing what they can do. Frankly, we wouldn’t mind seeing an entire cast assembled using this concept.

Alas, we’re stuck making do with what we have for Season 27. At least #TeamTMZ was eliminated, because if we had to watch them justify their cattiness and meanness by saying it’s their job, it would have been a bleak several weeks of recapping for us. We really didn’t get to know many of the teams last week other than Justin & Diana (#TheGreenTeam), so these early power rankings are really more of a combination of gut instinct and early impressions. They are extremely subject to change as we get to know the Racers better.

1. Tanner & Josh (#TeamTexas)

The main thing we remember about these guys from the premiere episode is that they mentioned that they are in this thing for the cute girls. Beyond that, the best friends managed to put together a solid first leg. While they didn’t really strike us as formidable in any quantifiable way, they made the right decisions to propel them to the Pit Stop mat in first place, claiming the Express Pass in the process. We’d be hard pressed not to put the team with the Express Pass in the top spot, because even if Leg #2 goes poorly for them in some area, they have the ability to skip any task that proves to be too challenging.

2 (Tie). Jazmine & Danielle (#TheTrackStars) and Cindy & Rick ((#ChacAttack)

Both of these teams seem very competitive, though also potentially volatile. Jazmine & Danielle clearly have carried the ambitious instincts that led them to success during their college track careers over to the show. They seem to complement each other, but they also had a few moments where you could see the possibility for future implosion. The same goes for newlyweds Cindy & Rick, who are clearly holding themselves to high standards, but had moments of unraveling during the puzzle Detour. It wasn’t enough to derail them completely, but you have to wonder if they might have won if they’d maintained a more even keel.

3. Alex & Adam (#TheCousins)

Although they finished a little lower than this ranking might indicate, Alex & Adam have terrific camaraderie. They’re also really intriguing because it seems so far that if one of them has a weakness, the other cousin is able to compensate for it. That’s rare to find in any Amazing Race team. The guys seemed to raise some eyebrows with their strong performance on the footvolley court, showing that they may be tougher on physical challenges than people would have expected. They’re probably the most likable out of the gate, which may be a bad omen. Usually, the teams we like are eliminated somewhere around the middle episodes.

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