Great Way to Start a Relationship

Great Way to Start a Relationship
Episode Information
Version:	United States
Season:	Season 26
Episode Number:	1/12 (295)
First Broadcast:	February 25, 2015
Viewership (in millions):	6.16
Ratings/Share (18-49):	1.5/4
CBS Summary:	Link
Episode Chronology
Previous:	"All or Nothing" (previous season)
Next:	"I Got the Smartest Dude"
Subpages

Great Way to Start a Relationship is the season premiere of The Amazing Race 26.

Story

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Route Markers

• Starting Line
• Route Info 1
• Route Info 2
• Detour
• Route Info 3
• U-Turn
• Route Info 4 and Pit Stop

The race begins at Castaic Lake in Castaic, California, United States of America.

Teams must run through an obstacle course by the lakeshore, involving predominantly filled mud and an ice tub towards the end, where they must retrieve rings that contain tickets for their first destination: Tokyo, Japan, on two available flights, both with flight connections in Taipei, Taiwan. The first flight on EVA Air can accommodate eight teams, while the second flight on China Airlines can accommodate the remaining three teams. After retrieving the rings that contain their tickets, teams must drive themselves to Los Angeles International Airport in Ford Fusion Hybrid cars.

Upon arrival at Narita International Airport, teams must travel by taxi to Kanda Shrine to find their next clue.

Choice A: Singing Steps
Teams have to travel to Shinjuku Central Park to learn a series of synchronized "robotic" dance moves performed by members of World Order. Once World Order leader Genki Sudo approves of their dance, he will deliver them their next clue.

Aly & Steve, Bergen & Kurt, Hayley & Blair, Jeff & Lyda, Jelani & Jenny, Laura & Tyler, Libby & CJ, Matt & Ashley, and Mike & Rochelle chose this task.

Choice B: Samurai Sake
Teams have to travel to Nakano Sakaue Station Tavern, and are shown ten bottles of sake: tōkō, nanbubijin, okunomatsu, kanbe, yoshinogawa, michisakari, tsukasabotan, zaou, momokawa, shōchikubai. One team member has to take one of ten bottles of sake to a table of Samurais, while the other team member finds the correct bottle from a much larger display of bottles. The teams will receive the next clue once they present the correct bottle to the Samurais, and take a toast.

Harley & Jonathan and Jeff & Jackie chose this task.

Teams must travel by taxi to Wakaba Higashi Park to find their next clue.

At Wakaba Higashi Park, teams would have the option to U-Turn a team, with two slots available, and anonymously. Mike & Rochelle used the first slot of the U-Turn on Jeff & Lyda. Jeff & Lyda attempted used the second slot of the U-Turn on Jeff & Jackie, however Jeff & Jackie already passed the U-Turn before Jeff & Lyda, thus having no effect on them. Since Jeff & Lyda completed the Singing Steps Detour, they would be forced to backtrack and complete the Samurai Sake Detour before continuing.

Teams must travel by taxi to the Akihabara UDX Building parking space to check in. For coming in first, Jelani & Jenny won the Express Pass.

Leaderboard

Legend:
     First Place •      Eliminated •      Last placer on a Non-Elimination Leg or continue racing on a No-Rest Leg •      Season winner •      Season 2nd place •      Season 3rd place • ϵ Used the Express Pass• ⊂ User of the first Double U-Turn slot • ⊃ Recipient of the first Double U-Turn slot • ⋐ User of the second Double U-Turn slot • ⋑ Recipient of the second Double U-Turn slot

Jelani & Jenny  1st place  Jelani & Jenny Blind Dating	Jeff & Jackie  2nd place  Jeff & Jackie Blind Dating	Laura & Tyler  3rd place  Laura & Tyler Blind Dating	Aly & Steve  4th place  Aly & Steve Dating Olympians	Harley & Jonathan  5th place  Harley & Jonathan Dating
Bergen & Kurt  6th place  Bergen & Kurt Blind Dating	Mike & Rochelle  7th place⊂  Mike & Rochelle Dating	Hayley & Blair  8th place  Hayley & Blair Blind Dating	Matt & Ashley  9th place  Matt & Ashley Dating	Libby & CJ  10th place  Libby & CJ Dating
Jeff & Lyda  ELIMINATED⊃⋐  Jeff & Lyda Dating

Trivia

• This 90-minute premiere aired on a special night, Wednesday at 9:30 pm, before moving to its regular timeslot of Fridays at 8 pm.
• This episode marks the first time in the original American version that the U-Turn appeared in the first leg of the race.
• This episode's title was said by Hayley.
• This marks the first time since The Amazing Race 13 that a Detour is featured on the first leg of the race, as well as the first time that a Roadblock is not featured on the first leg.
• Among those who test ran the muddy obstacle course at the Starting Line were Jordan & Jeff and Mashable reporter Sandra Gonzalez.
• The Shinjuku Central Park in Shinjuku was previously visited as the site of the Roadblock of The Amazing Race 23's penultimate leg.
• Within the original American version, Jeff & Lyda becomes the first team to get eliminated after a U-Turn on the first leg of the race.
• The song used during the Syncing Steps Detour option was World Order's titular debut single, "World Order," in which the race utilized their choral dance routine for the task.

Reception

• Ken Tucker at Yahoo! TV (02/25/2015): "Premiere Review: The New Dating Game?"

References

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