CDY and CDY's Friend Last through Episode 1 of the Amazing Race, Mazel Tov!

By Youngjoo Park '13

11 pairs. 1 million dollars. With season premiere of CBS's The Amazing Race, Princetonians cheered on their former student body president, Connor Diemand-Yauman, and his bff and fellow Nassoon Jonathan Schwartz, as they traipsed through Boston and London to successfully complete one leg of the race around the world for 1 milllllllllllion dollars.

CDY and friend navigated through Boston to Logan airport and took off to London. Upon touchdown, the contestants found their way to Stonehenge and then Eastnor Castle. Tasks involved:

-- scaling the castle wall while under the fire of bucketfuls of water
-- retrieving a medieval flag
-- traveling across the moat to find the knight corresponding to the flag
-- engaging in a jousting match
-- firing watermelons at suits of armor, and then locating the juggling jester with the final clue

And, to address the emotional aspect of this riveting piece of television, in the midst of the driving nightmares, ricocheting watermelons, and knights in shining armor, the true sides of the contestants emerged. While others hysterically screamed "Go, go, go!" and couples peevishly bickered, CDY and friend lightheartedly bounced from destination to destination, maintaining lighthearted humor and boyish enthusiasm.

Managing to maintain Nassoons tunes despite their bad luck in losing their way, getting stuck behind a competing team's stalled car, then further delayed by another team's flat tire, they nevertheless pulled ahead to land themselves in third place, bless their hearts.