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Previously on The Amazing Race, 22 strangers became 11 teams. While CBS trumpets the notion that it’s an original concept, the truth is that they did something similar with a blind date season a few years ago. Still, it’s a great idea that’s already led to some fascinating reactions.

Some duos have become fast friends. The impossibly upbeat Team Fun certainly qualifies. Oddly, two women who instantly hated each other also decided that they were buddies. It was a surprising turn of events that exemplifies how much a great attitude matters during the competition.

A couple of other teams didn’t do quite as well in this regard, especially Brooke & Scott and Vanck & Ashton. The former tandem has two narcissists hating one another for being too selfish.

The other duo is Beauty and the Geek. Ashton thought she was on the blind date season, and maybe Vanck did, too. When he picked the attractive woman, she acted crushed. Then, he went out of his way to make her feel stupid during the first leg.

None of these four came across well on television, and we’re not expecting any of them to make a deep run unless they have a change in attitude. To a larger point, we expect blow-ups from most of the teams this year. The Amazing Race is stressful enough when you do it with someone you love. Imagine how it’s going to be when someone is facing their biggest fear, and a stranger that they don’t have a crush on is yelling at them to suck it up and finish.

Tonight’s episode begins with an attack on Syria. So, our DVR originally misses the first five minutes. Like good Millennials (and not at all Gen Xers since we’re so young at heart), we wait until the next day and stream the episode on CBS.com. We receive four car commercials in order to watch the first five minutes of the episode. CBS just doesn’t understand anyone under 60, do they?

Tonight’s episode begins with Team Fun rapping a made-up song about the first leg of the race. They claim that their goal is to have the most fun of any team in the history of the show. We don’t expect them to win, but we’re still 100% ready to give them a reality series of their very own.

After a bit of discussion about which teammates already loathe one another, Seth & Olive are ready to start the episode. At 11:16 PM, they open the clue that lets them know the next challenge is in Sau Paulo, Brazil. Somewhere, everyone in the writers’ room for The Simpsons just perked up.

The process of getting a flight isn’t that simple, though. Everyone has to book through the same travel agency. That small room gets very crowded as the players all try to arrive in Sao Paulo the fastest. Shamir has a natural advantage here, as he speaks the same language as the travel agents. He clearly lets his person know that they need the earliest arrival date, and she seems to get it for him.

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