TARUS15 - Part One: Eric/Lisa eliminated at Starting Line

TAR Premiered in an iconic Los Angeles film area where we meet the twelve teams who will embark on a journey around the world for $1,000,000. This is where Phil Keoghan dropped a bombshell on them: One team was to be eliminated at the starting line. After Phil said “Go!” the teams’ first clue was to search for a license plate with a Japanese symbol, regarding their first destination: A television studio. The professional female poker players found the license plate, where at the near very end of the task, it was left with Lance/Keri & Eric/Lisa left. Lance/Keri found the correct plate, and became the eleventh team to receive a ticket to the first destination, Tokyo, Japan. Eric/Lisa were left without the correct license plate, and were the first team eliminated, and the first team ever eliminated at the starting line.

The race continued to LAX airport where the first six teams to get the correct license plate were on the first flight to Japan, and the next five were to be on a flight 30 minutes behind. Before arriving to Tokyo, Maria/Tiffany executed their plan to lie, saying they work to counsel homeless children in Los Angeles, bluffing the teams, hiding their true poker face. Once in Tokyo, the team behind ended up catching up to various teams. Once they saw the TV studio, they were confronted by a Japanese Game show where called Wasabi Roulette where in this roadblock, teams had one person play roulette where if they were lucky to have the Wasabi bomb in front of them, they had two minutes to eat it.

The ultimate participators in this roadblock were Gary, Dan, Flight Time?, Lance, Zev, Cheyne, Maria, Canaan, Ron, Brian, and Garrett. The first four teams who completed the roadblock and moved on were Meghan/Cheyne, Marcy/Ron, Zev/Justin, and Lance/Keri, I believe. In the next task, teams had to recruit a color coded group of tourists to the first pit stop, They had to keep all 20 with the group in order to check in completely. So, those four teams ended up taking the lead of the pack. Next, it was Maria who had to eat the Wasabi bomb, and after failing the first time, she managed to pull through the second time, moving along. Finally, I don’t exactly remember the correct order they completed the roadblock accurately enough to guess, so before the roadblock was completed it was Meghan/Cheyne who arrived to the pit stop first, wining a trip to Aspen, Colorado as a prize.

Zev/Justin arrived as team number two, Lance/Keri were team number three, and Marcy/Ron were team number four. It was Brian/Ericka who were the last team at the roadblock, and at the very last possible second, Brian completed eating the Wasabi bomb, and moved on currently in last place where they were lucky enough to find an English speaking local to guide them to the pit stop. The Harlem Globetrotters, nicknamed Flight Time & Big Easy arrived in a respective fifth place. Brian/Ericka, who left the roadblock in last place, climbed all the way to the very middle of the pack, earning title of team number six Gary/Matt arrived only to find themselves in a decent seventh place.

Maria/Tiffany, who have built a bond with the gay brothers Dan/Sam, wind up flirting with them. They end up attempting work on the route info together, only to not get very far. Garrett/Jessica arrive to the pit stop to discover they are team number eight, and as soon as Maria/Tiffany discover they have lost two tourists, they end up searching for them all around Tokyo. Dan/Sam arrive at the pit stop next, only to receive ninth place. Mika/Canaan, who figured out that one tourist was left behind, checked into the pit stop, only to find out they needed their twentieth tourist. On the way down the stairs of the shrine, the very short older woman is spotted, and Canaan carries her to the end, only to hear Mika/Canaan are team number ten.

Maria/Tiffany arrive to the pit stop last, and without two of their tourists. They were informed they were the last team to arrive, but were spared from elimination, only given a two hour penalty for not completing the task and would receive a speed bump at the next leg. I personally wish TAR did without the elimination of the starting line, simple because they game them a lame task. Maybe if they game them a really hardcore epic physically demanding task that required more skill, it would’ve been a better twist. I really didn’t care about the first leg ending in a non-elimination leg, only because, it’s the very first time that’s happened. I really hope the teams who make it far are Mika/Canaan or Brian/Ericka, especially them. I love their own personal message about how an interracial marriage couple can be just as happy. Therre are,at this present time, no teams worth disliking.

The very first LLNMD scale for the first half of the episode:
Love: Mika/Canaan, Brian/Ericka
Like: Zev/Justin, Marcy/Ron, Meghan/Cheyne,
Neutral: Sam/Dan, Flight Time/Big Easy, Lance/Keri, Garrett/Jessica.
Meh: Gary/Matt, Maria/Tiffany, Eric/Lisa
Dislike: