If having racers rappel up the Great Wall of China on the first leg is any indication, the Amazing Race is on an upswing. The lame events, purposeless pitstops, and music-video editing might be a thing of the past – much like the awful Family Edition.

Despite my continual confusion between the cheerleaders and the beauty queens (half way through Return of the King I asked, “Are two sets of hobbits in the Lord of the Rings?”) the character and distinction between the rest of the teams was nicely accomplished.

I thought the introduction of Peter and Sarah did a great job of laying out both their strength (experienced tri-atheletes) and their weakness (3 legs between them). With Tyler and James a second – ex-addicts turned male models. The rest of the introductions felt like cheap match-making reads;

Likes: travel, a million dollars
Dislikes: the other teams

How un-Amazing.

The introductions not-withstanding, this feels like the most diverse groups of racers yet, devout Muslim team, Indian-American married team, black single moms, and rural Kentuckians! . That said, the stereotypes are still there; a gay couple, white chicks, brothers, a dating couple where he’s probably gay, parent and child, moms. Again, hopefully, the show will transcend the stereotypes.

Oh, and Lindsey – I’d eat the eyeballs.

Garrick’s Favorites:
• Peter and Sarah
• Tyler and James
• Duke and Lauren

To make it interesting, I say Rob and Kimberly are Philiminated in the 4th show.