Zach and Nate Eliminated on Leg 1

Thirteen pairs of contestants hit the ground running in the Season 39 premiere of The Amazing Race. The first leg began in Vancouver, Canada, and for the first time ever, each team started the show with an Express Pass that they can use up until Leg 6.

The teams headed to BC Place for their first stop, where they were met with a “fly fishing” Roadblock that required one team member to leap from the rafters (300 feet above the ground) and try to catch a salmon while wearing bear claws. Erin Taylor and Javi Vintimilla arrived at the Roadblock 12th and chose to use their Express Pass to skip the task.

This put Erin and Javi in first place as they set off on the next route, which required them to take a water taxi to the Vancouver Maritime Museum. There, the teams were met with a Detour: Run It Up (memorizing the meaning of 25 maritime flags and then hoisting the correct ones in the correct order in two minutes) or Paddle It Out (navigating a tandem outrigger canoe to retrieve a clue from a buoy in the water).

Erin and Javi finished Run It Up on their second attempt and were first to head to the Pit Stop at Vandussen Botanical Garden.

Sara Kempner/CBS

Meanwhile, back at the Roadblock, Daisha Wilks struggled to complete the task so she and partner Dalton Hamby could move on. She was the only one who took three attempts to do it. However, Zach Johnson and Nate Johnson quickly fell behind the dating couple when they got lost on their way to the water taxi. The brothers were last to arrive at the Detour.

Doug Matter and Dylan Matter were in ninth place by the time they got to the Detour and decided to use their Express Pass to skip the Paddle It Out task. Meanwhile, Dafina Dunmore and Saran Dunmore told Daisha and Dalton they would work with them on Run It Up, but when the sisters realized Zach and Nate could potentially use an Express Pass to get ahead, they chose to use theirs, too.

Since no Express Pass had been used on Run It Up yet, Dafina and Saran were in the clear to head to the Pit Stop. The same wasn’t the case for Zach and Nate, who were denied when they tried to use the Express Pass at Paddle It Out, since Dylan and Doug had already done so.

When Daisha and Dalton realized they wouldn’t have the help of Dafina and Saran, they switched gears to Paddle It Out.

Erin and Javi finished the leg in first place, followed by Conner Wilson and Garrett McGuire in second, then Michelle Rozalski Patterson and Matthew Patterson in third. Doug and Dylan came in fourth, while sisters Katie Schultz and Charlotte Schultz finished fifth. In sixth place for the first leg was Anuar Tager and Andrea Tager Ballesca, followed by Ann-Marie Tejcek and Riley Tejcek in seventh, then Jody Rebhun and Jenn Naso in eighth. Dafina and Saran came in ninth, with Ali Krieger and Joanna Lohman in 10th.

Cody Langlois and Jaime Tribo came in 11th, leaving Nate/Zach and Daisha/Dalton paddling it out and vying for the final spot. Ultimately, Daisha and Dalton got there first, which meant that Nate and Zach were eliminated.

The Amazing Race, Season 39, Episode 2, Thursday, October 1, 9:30/8:30c, CBS

The Amazing Race, Season 39, Wednesdays, 9:30/8:30c, CBS