I didn't watch the episode live, and I caught up later, with my usual rewinding of random moments.
Maybe that's why I had a bit of a different experience, but I don't really get all the criticism for the editing?
The only thing I completely agree on is that Goat Yoga didn't need THAT much airtime, even though I found their inner drama entertaining. We could've had a minute or two to focus on the Ring Girls being unable to find parking for over an hour.
The thing is, premiere episodes are always clusterfs in terms of editing, because a good deal of time is spent at the starting line and introducing teams. So maybe that's why I don't expect everyone to have a fair share of airtime in the first episode, because that's just impossible given just 42 minutes of show.
The roadblock is one of my favourite tasks in a long time! Let alone, to have it on leg 1, when most first legs tend to be pretty straightforward, was amazing.
I loved how a few teams couldn't figure out that the Os were different. And seeing how long it took them to realize, it must really have been hard to see the letters in ice clearly. I wonder if ice was chosen on purpose then?
I don't mind that the other 2 ARIs were simple tasks, as self-driving was involved this leg, and upped the difficulty for the teams tremendously. We seriously had so many placement shifts, I was impressed while watching! Plus, the first ARI was a heights task, some of which are always needed on the race, and the other one required local interaction, which was a nice touch as well.
In terms of the teams... nobody seems unlikeable? It's pretty strange, because I always find someone to root against, even if those feelings change later on, but this season everyone seems like really nice, entertaining people. Maybe the comp eaters are a bit bizarre.
I'm really sad that the Ring Girls were eliminated, but I would honestly say the same thing if they won that tight footrace against Goat Yoga. The moms seem like a typical out-of-their-element underdog team, which everyone always roots for, but it seemed that Dessie & Kayla would've been strong racers had they just not made this 1 mistake on the first leg. And that makes me sad to see them go.
I like them as a team, and their soundbites are great, but I really wish NBA was eliminated this leg. They just had a bad, bad leg and had that penalty sunk them to last, I imagine we would all be saying what a disastrous, pathetic way to go out that was (ala Kelly & Shevonne, just to a smaller extent
). Anyway, maybe they'll continue to be a fun trainwreck to watch!