The Amazing Race 13 premiere — from the L.A. Coliseum to Salvador, Brazil

Superstition says the number 13 is unlucky. But that certainly wasn’t the case for the premiere last night of the 13th season of CBS’ “The Amazing Race.” For an arm-chair traveler like me, the premiere last night was one of the show’s strongest.

A week after the series received its sixth consecutive Emmy for best competition reality series — did any fan sincerely believe that “American Idol” would finally win the award? — “Amazing Race” began with a bang from the Los Angeles Coliseum with host Phil Keoghan (why didn’t he receive an Emmy nomination for best host?) starting the 33,000-mile, around-the-world race, extolling the 11 teams to use their “brains, brawn and teamwork” to win the race and ultimately a cool $1 million.

Yet again the producers have lined up a group of eclectic teams including a mother and son, married couples, dating couples, siblings and friends. My candidate for the most obnoxious cast member is the pushy, brittle Tina, a business owner and chief executive, who is hoping that racing with her estranged husband, Ken, a former pro football player, will reconnect the couple after a nine-month separation. Ken, it seems, had cheated on Tina. But after watching her bark orders at her estranged husband and whine at the top of her lungs … Ken may want to stay separated.

Last night, the teams flew from LAX to Salvador, Brazil, where the contestants had to push a small cart of food through the narrow streets of the city to a man in a park. The detour found the teams choosing to climb up some 53 steps on their hands and knees to answer a mystery question, or climb down over 240 feet via netting. The challenge was called “Hard Way Up, Soft Way Down.”

One of the sweetest couples were the sixtysomething hippy couple Anita and Arthur Jones who, with their wild gray hair and tie-dyed shirts, look like they stepped out of “Alice’s Restaurant.” Unfortunately, the Oregon beekeepers came in last and were eliminated.

This morning, they both were hoping they had stayed on “Race” longer. “We kept hoping last night would be a different ending,” said Anita, adding that once they learned they were part of the series they went to the local gym. “If anybody thinks they want to be on it, they should start to work out,” she said.

The two came in in eighth place with their cart. “We got so excited,” said Arthur. “I said, ‘We don’t need to worry, we’re OK,’ ” added Anita. “We can do this.”

“I think the one thing we didn’t realize is how important transportation is,” said Arthur. “The taxi out of the jungle we got slowed us down in traffic. And we had trouble getting one. That is what did it for us.”

The winners of the first leg were the uber-beautiful brother-and-sister team of Nick and Starr. And by coming in first they also earned a trip to Belize after the race is completed.

‘The Amazing Race’ 13 premiere — from the L.A. Coliseum to Salvador, Brazil – Travel – LATimes.com