(S16E01) It's always hard to keep the teams straight during the first few episodes of any reality show. 'The Amazing Race' is no exception to the rule. True, as a 'Big Brother' fan, I'm all too familiar with Jordan and Jeff from last season. But that leaves ten teams to confuse me! At least the teams are diverse enough so that my main dilemma is figuring out who is whom on the same sex teams. I mean, really, which one is Jordan and which one is Dan? At least I can tell the male and female Jordans from different teams apart! And I also know Chile isn't China.

Yes, leave it to Jordan to confuse Chile with China. Wow. The only thing that's similar with the countries is the "Ch" and the five-letter word. And I thought the ex-Miss Teen USA racer Caite would be the most geographically challenged person on the show. Well, maybe she found herself some maps somewhere.

The start of this season's race was so much better than last season. If you recall, one of the teams got the boot before the race really got started at all. This year had a much more enjoyable hitch -- the teams had to take public transportation to LAX. That doesn't sound like it's too hard, but when you're not familiar with either the mass transit system or the area, it's a challenge.

I'm still feeling out the teams a bit and probably will be for the next few episodes. Brothers Jet and Cord, as long as they lose those cowboy hats, might be strong even though they made the first mistake in the season -- exchanging their money for Brazilian money when they're going to Chile. Jordan and Dan, the other brothers, seem like they're gearing up to bicker a lot. I was surprised that the one brother recognized Caite as the dense Miss Teen USA. I saw the clips of her and wouldn't recognize her if I asked her for directions. I'm not getting a real impression of any team as the outright alpha team for the season yet.

At an hour for the premiere, the show wasn't as satisfying for me as the 'Survivor' premiere the other night. The teams only went to Chile and completed one roadblock, no detour. The roadblock looked way cool to me, but gave some of them severe problems. Okay, so you had to walk a cable, 120 feet high, and the length of a football field ... in the wind. Looking at them, it was clear to me that the shorter and lighter people had an advantage. The higher guide cable was a bit too low for the taller men to cope with and their weight was an obstacle as well. The shaky legs award goes to Brandy. I thought she'd be out instead of Adrian.

From there, it was onto painting a small patch on houses. It was interesting to learn the government actually paints those homes ruined by sea salt regularly. You don't see them doing that on the Jersey Shore! Of course, we had the standard "let's get lost" issues with some of the teams. But there were mistakes all about us.

• Jet and Cord's Brazilian money not accepted in Chile.
• Caite and Brent didn't use the right transport.
• Dan and Jordan lost a paintbrush.
• Steve and Allie painted the interior of the wrong house.

Oh, I guess it's not so horrible of a start. But it made for the most confusing pit stop order ever on the show. Two penalties were handed out. Caite and Brent made it second to the pit stop, but then had to wait out a 30-minute penalty. Dan and Jordan got fifteen minutes for the paintbrush.

So here's the finish order:

1. Jeff and Jordan (winning a trip to Vancouver)
2. Caite and Brent Monique and Shawne
3. Jet and Cord
4. Dan and Jordan Steve and Allie
5. Joe and Heidi
6. Carol and Brandy
7. Caite and Brent
8. Dan and Jordan
9. Louie and Michael
10. Jody and Shannon

Adrian never made it through the roadblock even after a second attempt. He tried his best and they seemed like nice folks, but they were Philiminated nonetheless. I really think it was his size which did him in. It's always rough to see a team go in the first leg -- we haven't had the time to dislike any teams yet! Although, I'm not all that keen on Caite saying, "Technically we were second place." Um. No. Technically you screwed up and didn't follow direction. You're in 7th place. Do you need a map?



[Watch episodes and clips of The Amazing Race over at SlashControl.]