‘The Amazing Race 28’ premiere review: A twist in Mexico City
“The Amazing Race” really attempted to try out a wide array of different things in its first episode. For one, we had a chance to visit Mexico City! Despite how many years that this show has been on the air, we actually haven’t been to the country very often … especially a place that is so central to its authentic culture, and a place that many Americans know shockingly little about. That was cool.
As for the non-elimination, we feel largely the same way. It’s not the first time that we’ve seen this happen, but it makes total sense with this season full of social-media personalities. Had Scott & Blair actually been eliminated, we would’ve already lost one of the show’s biggest draws this season in Blair Fowler. Also, the construction of this leg wasn’t the best, and they would’ve went home just because of Scott’s struggles at the Roadblock.
Ultimately, as much as we enjoyed many components of this leg, we’re still not altogether thrilled about it because of a few simple issues.
1. What was the point of the Detour if you are only going to divide teams up by ten minutes at the end of it? We’re find with equalizers at the start of a leg to compensate for flight issues; we hate it when it negates something that allowed teams a chance to get ahead.
2. Is everyone thing season going to be a little too nice? We’re down for having people to root for (right now, Zach & Rachel and Darius & Cameron are both amazing), but there needs to be villains or people to at least stir to pout. Even if you hated Justin & Diana, they made this past season so electric and entertaining. We may not get this with so many people who are all so incredibly self-aware that they are being watched / filmed.
First legs of this show are never the best, since there are so many teams and you have to spend so much time introducing people that you lose a lot in the process. For now, we’ll praise first-place finishers Dana & Matt, give a thumbs-up to runners-up Tyler & Korey, and we’ll wait to see what happens next week. Episode Grade: B.
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