The Amazing(ly confusing situation with the) Race 36: Episodes 1-4

Wondering where's 35? Well, the new TAR season began over here with the first 3 episodes being aired on consecutive days, and I initially dismissed this as the broadcaster airing the new season months behind the states as a weekday strip like they did last season, also initially thinking they didn't even get the season number right, billing it as season 36, since I was expecting 35... Until I noticed that after ep 3, they weren't airing the next episode the following week until Thursday :-/ Turns out that for the first time in years, there are two cycles of TAR being aired this season, and this is the 2nd of them, though ironically it was the first to be filmed... Confused yet? Given that local broadcaster didn't even promote TAR36 in any of their monthly promos initially and I only knew about it because I happened to notice it on the EPG, it reeks of them deciding rather suddenly to revert to airing TAR on a same-week-as-US basis :-\ Anyways, this season (as well as the unseen-around-here previous) is nothing but 90 minute episodes thanks to the writers and actors' strikes that consumed much of last year (and also on an unrelated note, nothing but elimination legs like the last two seasons), resulting in the show being aired in a later time slot than normal, which at least allows me to see how these legs end first go-round (though not begin)

( Of wrestlers, balloons, coffee, and statues )