Amazing Race 7 kicked off it's new season last night from L.A., as the 11 teams sped off to Lima, Peru for the first leg of the around the world race, with Debbie and Biana (photo) winning the lst leg. The first thing that slapped me awake were the accents - we had Rob from BAW-stun, sounding worse than Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting, Miss South Carolina will her lilting southern drawl, and the loveable Hillybillies from the state of Deliverance.

Unfortunately, one of my favorite teams was the first to be eliminated as the the Copperhead Road boys, Ryan & Chuck, were eliminated due to a slow cab driver. Dag gum it! And I loved the subtitles that were used when they were speaking English.

The ditsy Barbies, Megan and Heidi, had their first blonde moment minutes into the race when they almost rear-ended a car on the freeway on their way to LAX. They needed to pull over and switch drivers -- a wierd start consider they still have about 72,000 miles to go.

Team Geritol got in a few digs right off: "Old age and treachery can outperform youth and inexperience," Merideth said. Ha! He hasn't dealt with Rob and Amber yet.

Speaking of treachery, Team Survivor are the race celebrities and they know it. Rob and Amber have porked up since their Survivor days two years ago, too. No longer lean and chiseled, the flabby Rob did some grunting up the mountain in Peru. But otherwise, they grinned and mucked up for the camera at every opportunity. God, they are obnoxious. I hope they last six or seven rounds.

, The pack was bunched up flying to Cusco, Peru, because of the flight delay but that kind of thing makes the show more interesting since no one gets way out ahead. Teams had no problems riding the Zip Line across the Gorge for 1400 feet, no sissy screams for Mama like we heard from HellBoy in AR6.

All the teams were thrilled to do it. One of the gay guys from Team Bird Cage squealed "Oh! It's like Splash Mountain!"

Patrick is the youngest but he's not intimidated by anyone, and he had this to say about Boston Rob, "I watched Survivor, he's as dumb as a rock." He has no future as a llama herder though. The funniest part was that llama spitting, and spitting, and spittin' some more, in Patrick's pretty face. Take that! You silly little gay American! I snot in your hair!

Rob and Amber knew better than to deal with large animals. They chose to haul the 32 pounds of Alfalfa up the hill for 2/3 of a mile. "Ah, when in Incaville, do as the Incas do." No problemo.

Not much bitching and whining on the first leg since the teams are still excited and for the most part, still getting along, although Team Action Figure, Ray and Deana, got into it a couple of times. Susan is pretty frantic and needs to chill a bit, or she'll blow it for her and Patrick.

One of the two brothers looks like Zach Braff or whatever his name is from Scrubs. Brian and Greg finished safely in the middle of the pack and should be around for awhile. They were pretty funny carrying those baskets and waving to the local kids: "How's it goin'? Eat your Wheaties. Don't do drugs."

Debbie and Bianca reached the finish line first and won a cool $10,000. EACH. That's a nice change from the usual vacation the leg winners have won previously. When Susan hears about the money, she's really gonna have a crying jag.

Like I said, I'm already gonna miss Ryan and Chuck, since they would have added a lot of fun to the race. How often do you get to see a Portuguese-speaking redneck on TV? They're so rare in the United States.

Can't wait for next week when the 10 teams get into a cat fight at the fish market.