Storming the Battlements: Quick Thoughts on Season Seventeen of The Amazing Race

By now, we've all seen the watermelon-to-the-face viral video making the rounds the last few weeks, but the season opener of CBS' The Amazing Race is far more than just than cringe-inducing moment of pain.

In fact, the opener to the seventeenth (!!!) season of The Amazing Race ("They Don't Call It the Amazing Race for Nothin'!") might just go down as one of the series' all-time bests, sending the contestants across the pond to England, where they're forced to contend with scaling the walls of a castle, learning the definition of "battlements," discovering what Stonehenge is, and performing a rather difficult balancing act. That is, when they're not getting hopelessly lost driving on the left side of the road, as happens to more than just one hopeful team.

As with all great seasons, the success or failure of an individual reality competition cycle rests pretty squarely on the casting and I have to say that they've more than come through with the cast of this cycle of TAR. Ivy League a cappela singers, home shopping network mavens, beach volleyball partners, doctors, a biological mother and the daughter she gave up for adoption, plus the usual assortment of best friends, romantic couples, and family members.

Plus, what might just be the dumbest team ever to race for a million dollars. I'll let you discover just which team this might be as they deliver some absolutely hysterical corkers in this first episode alone. And a new twist that's mentioned at the start that could have some real consequences on the race ahead, as well as a major advantage for whichever team manages to snag this first-time game-changer.

But, ultimately, it's another season of fun challenges, tense team members, beautiful sights and sounds, and a heart-pumping race to the finish line. Not to mention a swiftly raised eyebrow from host Phil Keoghan.

Season Seventeen of The Amazing Race launches Sunday with a 90-minute episode at 8:30 pm ET/PT on CBS.