"The Amazing Race" season 29 already kicked off last Thursday on its "We're Coming for You, Phil" premiere episode which started with a twist. Twenty-two complete strangers saw each other for the first time and they were given the chance to pick their partners starting from the first finisher down to the last. The exciting adventure is about to be taken to Panama and millions of fans of the vet CBS show were gathered to witness the opening episode although its ratings fell quite significantly compared to its previous season.
The new pairs of teammates were already determined last week and from the selection, fans are already rooting for three teams who have the highest chances of winning the $500,000 grand prize. Eleven pairs were then introduced to fans who will race on nine countries including India, Argentina, China, Poland, France, Brazil, and Zambia.
"The Amazing Race" commenced its challenges on Los Angeles where the 22 contenders raced to two luggage stores to find a suitcase with the Panama flag in it. The opener saw one dominating contestant and he was given the right to first pick his partner. Being the first to finish the initial race, police officer Seth picked the first lady finisher Olive to be his teammate.
Second came Matt, a professional snowboarder, and X-Gamer, who picked Navy vet Redmond whom fans see as a duo to reckon. The next threats to the rest of the contestants are Logan and London who with their looks seem to be a match made from heaven. While it is still early to predict the wittiest and strongest in "The Amazing Race" 29 edition, fans already have their eyes on these top three teams where most forecasts have them on the front of the lists.
Meanwhile, "The Amazing Race" 29 earned 4.4 million viewers and got a 0.9 demo rating on its first episode, but avid fans know that these numbers are low debut record. "TAR" previously recorded over six million viewers with 1.3/5 demo rating from season 28. It was already predicted that the show might lose some viewers when it was moved by CBS from its original schedule of 8 p.m. Fridays to 10 p.m. Thursdays.
Initial reports about "The Amazing Race" 29 claimed that its move might lose its younger audiences as its air time is a bit too late for a busy weekday. However, it was also hoped that the show will gain more adult viewers who were not able to see "The Amazing Race" on its original weekend schedule. Fans then have to wait for the show to make up for its lost as the future of the veteran series - which is not yet renewed by CBS -- was previously rumored to be at a risk.
