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Although we’ve only met a handful of teams, the starting line reveals 11 duos. CBS had advertised an abbreviated season, which we thought meant fewer teams. Instead, it seems they’re just going to run 11 or 12 episodes between now and February. We’re going to be cranky by the end.

Anyway, Phil greets them all and forces Joey Chestnut to eat a hot dog. Then, he reveals to the contestants that their first clue is in the fountain behind them. So, they splash into the water to learn their destination, which is Reykjavik, Iceland.

We then meet the other teams, some of whom we’re going to consider fodder. That’s not necessarily true of Lucas & Brittany. They’re lifeguards, and she is the reigning champion of the USLA National Lifeguard Championships. We quickly learn that they’ve been dating nine years, and Lucas hasn’t proposed yet. Clearly, Lucas needs to propose. He knows this because he brought a ring along with him. We can’t wait for that awkward, manufactured TV moment.

April & Sarah are #TeamGoatYoga. The name speaks for itself. They interact with goats while they do yoga. Willingly. The over/under on them is two episodes.

#TeamYale is up next. Henry & Evan are master debaters, although Evan sounds pretty shaky vocally. We’re not sure she’s comfortable yet. She’s the reigning top speaker in the world for the World Universities Debating Championship. We can’t imagine anything worse on The Amazing Race than having a champion debater for a partner, but the two of them have been dating for 18 months and really like each other. They also seem like the team most likely to overthink a challenge, costing them elimination.

Then, there are the firefighters. Daniel & Eric are Louisiana firefighting twins. Yes, that also sounds like a description of a new show on the CW. They’re not even the oddest male duo this year. That honor belongs to Trevor & Chris, #TeamWellStrung. As far as we can tell, they’re bodybuilding violinists, which may or may not be weirder than Goat Yoga.

Upon their flight arriving in Iceland, the teams must proceed to Geitargljufur, and we have never been more thankful to have the copy/paste function on the computer.

Most of the teams happily celebrate their morning drive in Iceland. Then there’s April & Sarah, who almost immediately start backbiting one another. April makes sure to point out that her partner was sleeping while she was looking for directions on the flight. Sarah’s face indicates that she’s not going to let that go the rest of the trip. (Spoiler: She doesn’t.)

The first challenge today is High Wire Act, wherein they scare the bejesus out of the contestants. One of them is strapped to a high wire that is hundreds of feet over a rushing river. The other contestant is able to help control their return.

The first team to arrive is #TeamYale followed by the pair from Big Brother, with the debaters first to complete the relatively easy albeit nerve-wracking challenge. They receive the next clue, which tells them to proceed to Esjumelur. We are really looking forward to them changing countries to someplace like England (not Ireland).

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