Topic: Best First Leg

[Wadsy]

I don't know if this one has been covered, but fire away!
We are looking only at a first leg of each season, and which you think is best and why?

I will give a top five for mine:

1. TAR 6 (Reykjavík, Iceland) - Still the best premiere episode I have ever seen. The season opens up to a cast of colorful characters and right off the bat they are going to beautiful Iceland. The suspense is here, the race is competitive, the sights are nice and the task design is top notch. I was sad to see Avi & Joe go first though, and after watching Phil Keoghan's video with Rob & Brennan recently - Phil said he found Avi & Joe to be great racers. He further mentioned that it would be cool to have them come back in a first eliminated team season.

2. TAR 7 (Cusco, Peru) - I remember calling this episode a borefest when I was a teenager, but now I definitely hold it as one of the best premiere legs. It opens up to a great cast of players and they have some awesome tasks in Peru including Llamas, digging through sand and ziplining. There is not much else to say other than that it was a great episode.

3. TAR 5 (Montevideo, Uruguay) - I loved this 90 minute premiere. I think what the teams go through was more enjoyable than the actual tasks such as Charla & Mirna carrying the meat and searching Gorriti Island for departure times and hearing Charla speak of other teams not wanting to work with them. There were other stand out moments too such as Dennis & Erika falling to the back of the pack for simply being nice and teams not following the Detour clue properly.

4. TAR 18 (Sydney, Australia) - One of the best opening legs of the more modern seasons. It was fun, great locations, nice tasks and just seeing all the returning players (minus a few too many from one particular season ehem). Sydney added to the greatness of it.

5. TAR 1 (Songwe, Zambia) - The first episode of the show and I love it. It is pretty slow moving throughout thanks to the editing but it was such a breath of fresh air and that one moment where teams are running through Knife's Edge in Victoria Falls is unforgettable. I loved how we would see teams cheering and celebrating at the pit stop during season 1 and this leg was no exception. However, the elimination of Matt & Ana is outright depressing, and still one of the saddest in my books to this day.

Honourable Mentions:

TAR 22

Dishonorable Mentions:

TAR 8, TAR 10, TAR 24

[Johnie_Bravo]

For me :


* TAR 5 - For me, the best first leg to date. From drama to entertainment value to personality clashed and competitive vibes, what can you ask for in this episode. The task design is very interesting and fun to watched most esp. that beef meat task....

* TAR 12 - I loved the first leg of this season, very refreshing and fun to watched, the high-wire bicycle tandem task is very awesome to watched, the donkey task is entertainment gold and most of all, the most satisying outcome or eliminations ever in TAR...

* TAR 17 - Very endearing first leg, from that awesome Stonehenge, funniest sequence in row boat to that iconic watermelon catapult, for me one of the high quality first leg...

[TheRabbi]

TAR 14 with the cheese wheels has to be near the top. It was also a breath of fresh air with the new editing style and new title music. Felt like a much fresher show.

TAR 5 has a really great one with the beef hauling, the zips/chips detour, and teams accidentally going to the pit stop first. Probably my favorite.

TAR 24's is kind of lousy when it gets to China, but the opening segment with the UCLA marching band gives me goosebumps.

TAR 17's is fantastic as they finally started outside LA, had some great tasks, the OMG moment with the watermelon, and the depressing elimination of the guys in orange whose names escape me.

TAR 30's is great. A public start that I was able to attend in person, gorgeous Iceland with good tasks, and the memorable photo finish.

[cbacbacba1]

32 has one of the best leg 1 to me, cultural relevant task, room for placement shuffle and nice editing.

The second best comes to mind is 25, which the roadblock is a hard enough task to give skillful teams a lead, also caused an intense 3-way finish.

The 3rd best leg 1 would be 22's, a 3-way race to the pit-stop, and the breathtaking scenery of Bora Bora, though the luck-based sandcastle roadblock isn't something good to determine a first-boot, luckily the 3-team penalty provide enough drama to save the episode.

However all of my loved ones all happen in tropical beach location 

[BourkieBoy]

My top two best ever premiere leg would either have to be TAR22 (French Polynesia) or TAR25 (US Virgin Islands). Both legs provided us viewers with fantastic scenery, great dramas (three teams quitting Roadblocks) , fantastic tasks and they are my top two favourite legs of all time in the history of the franchise for a reason!

[Nuku]

32 has one of the best leg 1 to me, cultural relevant task, room for placement shuffle and nice editing.

The second best comes to mind is 25, which the roadblock is a hard enough task to give skillful teams a lead, also caused an intense 3-way finish.

The 3rd best leg 1 would be 22's, a 3-way race to the pit-stop, and the breathtaking scenery of Bora Bora, though the luck-based sandcastle roadblock isn't something good to determine a first-boot, luckily the 3-team penalty provide enough drama to save the episode.

However all of my loved ones all happen in tropical beach location 

these are probably my top 3 as well!! TAR30 in Iceland also sticks out for me behind these!! 25 would probably be my favourite!!

i absolutely love adventurous, tropical starts!! it really sets the tone for how incredible a season will be IMO!!

[guacamole300]

Definitely TAR17 for me.

TAR5, TAR6, TAR18, TAR30, TAR32 were also very good.

Least favorites
TAR24 wtf was that.
TAR15 Even though I didn't like Eric & Lisa much, it was very cruel to have an elimination right at the start only to have a NEL that same leg.
TAR28 I understand the concept they were going for, but I missed having all teams together at the start with Phil. And I'm from Mexico, I was glad to see it again on the race.