The poker world watched in unison on Sunday night as Maria Ho and Ultimate Bet pro Tiffany Michelle were nearly eliminated on the first episode of the 15th installment of the CBS reality series Amazing Race. The Emmy Award-winning franchise kicked off from Los Angeles with 12 teams in a race around the world. At stake is a $1 million first place prize. Michelle and Ho represent the last women standing in the 2008 and 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Events, respectively. Let’s recap the action in case you missed it.As soon as the race began, one team faced elimination. Contestants had to grab one of 11 license plates from Shinagawa, Tokyo off of a wall of 1,000. The poker duo was the first to complete the task and headed to LAX to board a flight to Tokyo, the Amazing Race’s first destination. However, Eric and Lisa, married yoga teachers, were unable to complete the challenge and were booted from the show before ever setting foot in a foreign country. The remaining 11 teams boarded one of two flights to Tokyo that landed 10 minutes apart.
Before arriving in the bustling Japanese city, one fellow racer asked Michelle what she did for a living. Her response: “We work with an organization that deals with homeless kids in Los Angeles.” Ho and Michelle attempted to hide the fact that they are wealthy poker players from their cast mates. Their identities were largely unknown until a person who recognized Michelle asked her if she got “into the Top 15” later on in the episode. In Tokyo, teams had to make their way to the Tokyo Tower Television Studio, where a rowdy crowd awaited them.
A game of Sushi Roulette (pictured at left, image courtesy of CBS) unfolded, which played on the popularity of Japanese game shows. The host spun a wheel with nine pieces of sushi and two spicy wasabi bombs spaced around it. Contestants had to eat whatever was in front of them when the wheel stopped, although in order to receive their next clue, they had to consume a wasabi bomb in less than two minutes. The Roadblock, which is a task that only one team member can perform, featured Ho unsuccessfully down a wasabi bomb after the third spin of the wheel. However, the wasabi landed on her once again on the subsequent spin and she ate it in 1:58.Then, teams were presented with a colored flag that matched the visor colors of 20 audience members. They had to walk the group to the Konno Hachimangu Shrine. Dating couple Meghan and Cheyne arrived at the Shrine, the Pit Stop for the Tokyo leg of Amazing Race, in first place. Ho and Michelle quickly lost two of their group members amid the crowded streets of Tokyo, with the former commenting, “We went through so many different places and I don’t know where they could be, but we have to think positively, but it’s really hard.” The pair was ultimately unable to locate their two lost members and checked into the Pit Stop in last place. However, it miraculously was a non-elimination leg (one of only several on the race) and they were able to continue. They were assessed a two-hour time penalty for not completing the task.
As a result of coming in last place in a non-elimination leg, Michelle and Ho had to complete a Speed Bump during the next leg (a Speed Bump is a task only they had to perform). The two-hour penalty was negated when the Amazing Race cast set out to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. All 11 teams traveled on the same flight, causing anger from Lance Layne, a lawyer. Layne barked, “Bastards should have been sent home,” referring to the poker players. At the airport, Michelle and Ho’s cover was blown when a passenger recognized Michelle.
Teams arrived at the Cai Be, Vietnam boat docks in the early evening hours, but were met with the news that the facility did not open until 7:00 the next morning. Once again, the 11 Amazing Race teams were bunched together. Michelle and Ho completed their Speed Bump in the morning, serving soup to the local dock master, and then continued to the nearby mud pits to fertilize a tree, the regular task for this leg of the race. Michelle noted, “Girls in mud is so sexy.”
Due to the time spent completing the Speed Bump, Michelle and Ho were the last team to arrive to the Roadblock, which involved herding 150 ducks from one side of an enclosure to another across a bridge and back within 10 minutes (pictured at right, image courtesy of CBS). Michelle completed the Roadblock effortlessly, while other teams struggled, and the duo was the seventh team to check in at the Pit Stop. Garrett and Jessica, who have been dating on and off, were sent packing after arriving in last place.Amazing Race airs every Sunday at 8:00pm ET on CBS.
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