Amazing Race 17 - episode 2...

I have one complaint about the Amazing Race and it's actually something that goes on every season.

I wish they would remove the teams that have been eliminated from the intro each week. It's confusing remembering all the teams to begin with at the start of the season - that just makes it even more confusing. Big Brother puts the eliminated contestants in black & white, Survivor just removes them completely, and The Apprentice has lately just been running a short intro without the contestants. Lots of options there - hopefully one will happen for Amazing Race.

Otherwise, I absolutely love this show. When the teams all bunch up for a flight, there's no needless airport drama shown anymore. And the challenges continue to be more challenging than they've been in recent seasons.

What stuns me is at Detours, teams always tend to go for the hardest tasks. It must be in the way things are worded when they're given the info. That antenna installing seemed WAY harder than just transporting a coffin. But most teams tried the antenna installing which had way too many things that could go wrong. Crazy.

And I thought the Home Shopping Channel hosts forgot something at the Detour the way the camera focused on that piece (it was even highlighted in post production) - but nothing was mentioned when they checked in. I was kind of confused by that, but maybe they were just highlighting what they were talking about in the task info.

I'm sad about the team that was eliminated, but I'm relieved that Nick & Vicki remain. They weren't as clueless this episode, but I'm sure the entertainment with them will return. And I'm still rooting for them to win. Although it looks like moodiness hits them next week.

Next week's challenges appear even harder than normal thanks to the African sun - the Amazing Race people know how to do those previews to make them look awesome without actually giving anything away. Can't wait...