The Amazing Race Premiere Recap: A Surplus Of Express Passes Turns The First Leg Upside Down

"The Amazing Race" is celebrating the start of Season 39 like never before — by gifting out a whopping 13 Express Passes all at once! 

When the Racers come face to face for the first time at the starting mat in Vancouver, Canada, host Phil Keoghan surprises the cast with the season's first major twist. They'll all be starting the Race with an Express Pass they can use in one of the game's first six legs. The one important rule: Only one pass can be used at each Roadblock or Detour — the plot thickens! 

Before the Race actually kicks off, Phil chats with the new teams (meet the new Racers here), which include former pro soccer players Ali Krieger and Joanna Lohman. These women are used to competing at a high level, and from the jump, they look ready to tear this race up. The cast is filled with strong female teams, as Phil told TVLine during our preview interview. There's a mother/daughter team in Ann-Marie and Riley, sisters and BFFs Dafina and Saran, and esthetician sisters Katie and Charlotte, to name a few. Phil also makes mention that an all-female team hasn't won the Race since Season 25, when Amy DeJong and Maya Warren won the $1 million check. Will these ladies dominate Season 39? 

Phil calls "Go!" and the teams race off to their first location, BC Place, a stadium in the heart of the city. Zach and Nate make the questionable decision to run their way to the stadium, which puts them in the back of the pack almost immediately. In the first Roadblock, teams must leap from the stadium rafters 300 feet high to try and catch a salmon with oversized bear claws. Erin and Javi, a married couple from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., arrive 12th and decide to use their Express Pass on the season's very first task. It pays off them in the long run — they finish the leg in first place. 

There are some interesting dynamics in play on these teams. Javi is racing to prove to his wife that he's a man (or something like that), while Michelle and Matthew, married parents from Rutherford, N.J., seem to have striking differences in how they approach tasks... and interviews. (Matthew, maybe don't call your wife "neurotic" on national TV, my man!) Bickering brother/sister duo Cody and Jaime are ones to watch, too; I can't wait to see the drama that unfolds between these two. 

After the season's first death-defying task, the teams hop an aqua-bus to the Vancouver Maritime Museum to retrieve their next clue which explains the premiere's Detour. In "Run It Up," teams must memorize maritime flags and then pass a test given to them by a captain. Hoist the correct flags in the correct order and earn the next clue. Or, in "Paddle It Out," they can paddle a tandem outrigger canoe out in the bay to grab their next clue off of a buoy. Many teams paddle, and many, many teams flip their canoes and get wet.  

Erin and Javi do an impressive job with the flags, hence their Leg 1 victory. But when the bottom three teams all approach the Detour, you can cut the tension with a knife. Zach and Nate, Dafina and Saran, and Daisha and Dalton find themselves at the bottom of the bunch, so Dafina and Saran pull the trigger and use their Express Pass. Not only does it let them skip the task, but it also prevents everyone else from using theirs — smart and necessary! The Chicagoans arrive to the Pit Stop and finish in ninth place, just as Ali and Joanna arrive in 10th. 

Daisha and Dalton barely survive, hitting Phil's mat in 12th place, but with their Express Pass in hand. As for brothers Zach and Nate, they're the last team to arrive and they're promptly eliminated from the race. (Guess they should've hailed a cab to the stadium, aye?) 

What did you think of this "Amazing Race" premiere? Grade the episode below, then light up the comments!