totally random and off topic but, i was just thinking:
what if this season doesn't have an NEL?
there is a slight chance of it happening but, only if all of these were the case:
a. There are in fact 12 teams
b. Two teams ARE NOT eliminated on the first leg
c. There are only 11 legs on this race
d. One pit stop ends up being the midpoint for a double length leg
it could look something like this:
Tokyo, Japan: 12th place
Leg 2: 11th place
HCMC, Vietnam: 10th place
Phnom Penh, Cambodia: 9th
Dubai, U.A.E.: 8th
Leg 6: 7th
Groningen, Netherlands: 6th
Stockholm, Sweden: TBC?
Tallinn, Estonia: 5th
Prague, Czech Republic: 4th
Final City, U.S.A.
NOTE: TBC could be anywhere, but i just stuck it on the sweden leg
this also works in favor of last team to complete starting line task not getting eliminated, but Speed Bumped, because there would be no other opportunity for that with no NEL's, and it would be a lovely twist, as opposed to the alternative.