I'm surprised I haven't blogged about it until now, but this season of "Amazing Race" has been awesome. We've had three episodes and each one has been better than the last.

Last night's episode took our racers from Brazil to Bolivia, where they encountered all kinds of fun challenges, like buying a signature Bolivian hat (Bolivia is apparently all about hats - who knew?), searching the streets to create an impromptu marching band, riding down a bumpy, hilly course on some kind of wooden rooster bike contraption, and lastly wrestling with "cholitas," full-figured ladies who do WWE-style wrestling in front of hundreds of cheering, tie-wearing men. Hee! Honestly, Bolivia looks kind of awesome.

A good season of "Race" depends on interesting, exciting tasks like these, but more importantly, it depends on good casting probably more than any other reality show. Too often the show over-casts models and dysfunctional couples, and in the worst seasons there can be such a sense of sameness among the racers that it's impossible to know who to root for.

That's not the case here. We have a nicely diverse bunch - personality-wise, not racially, unfortunately - running the race, and I definitely have my early favorites (and, equally as important, my whipping posts). Here's who is still in the running:

Ken & Tina, a couple trying to repair their fractured marriage. Ken is a former pro football player who cheated on his wife. I know this is mean, but after watching Tina for three episodes, I think his infidelity was completely justified. Tina is the definition of harpy - hypercritical, bossy, defensive, impatient, and just generally unpleasant. It also needs to be said that time has not been kind to her, while Ken has seemingly held up remarkably well. In any event, they're currently dominating the race, winning two out of three legs so far.

Nick & Starr are my favorites. A rare brother/sister team, they are smart, upbeat, physically capable, and kind of bitchy. That earns them points in my book. The two have been rubbing people the wrong way - unintentionally, I think - since practically the beginning of the race, and it got worst last night as a full-blown feud erupted between them and Team Divorcee. I'm eager to see where that goes, and for Nick to show more of his sarcastic side.

Christy & Kelly are Team Divorcee, two Texan women moving on after what they call disaster marriages. Again, based only on what we've seen, I suspect they may have had it coming. These two are stupid, repeatedly failing to understand even basic clue instructions (notably twice in one episode, the second just minutes after they promised to read the clues more carefully in the future), as well as petty and vindictive. The feud between them and Nick & Starr erupted over a perceived slight, as one of the divorcees discovered that someone pushed her sports bra off of the ledge it was drying on, and they automatically assumed it was Starr. Unless they have additional proof the producers aren't showing us, I'm dubious. Even after Nick tried to smooth things over and assure them they hadn't done anything, Christy & Kelly refused to let up. In turn, I laughed out loud when one of them took a major header while on the rooster bike. Ladies, let me introduce you to my friend, Karma.

Dallas & Toni are a son and mother team - also rare - and they haven't had a lot of screen time thus far, but I like them. Toni seems like one of those kick-ass middle-class moms, and Dallas is your average, garden variety bohunk (he has naked pics online, because Dallas is that guy). I worry about how Toni will hold up during the race, but so far they seem to be doing well.

Aja & Ty are the requisite long-distance couple, and they also have had barely any screen time. That looks like it changes next week, since the teasers suggest a massive morale implosion. I didn't appreciate Aja trying to stir up shit between the divorcees and Nick & Starr. It is true that, as they were all doing the bike detour, Nick asked Aja & Ty to U-Turn Kelly & Christy (a U-Turn requires another team to go back and do the other option in a detour), but I read that as self-preservation, since Nick & Starr would be finishing the task right after Aja & Ty. Aja made it sound like N&S were just gunning for K&C when she tattled to the Texans. And of course they got hyper offended by it - even though they were intending to U-Turn Nick & Starr the entire time if they got there first. Hey girls, you know what my friend Karma loves? Hypocrites.

Andrew & Dan are frat boys; my friends refer to them as Team Apatow, since they aren't your typical Greeks, they're actually geeks. Instead of being all preppy and vaguely date rape-y, they're...doofuses, I guess would be the best description. Every time I look at the redheaded one, I can't help but think he resembles a shaven Fozzie Bear. Andrew and Dan are wildly inconsistent racers, and are in pretty crappy shape. I don't see them hanging on that much longer.

Marisa & Brooke are this year's Team Pink. I think there's an "Amazing Race" bylaw that requires every season to feature two blonde, over-tanned ditzes who wear matching pink track suits and yammer on endlessly about how people underestimate them. Granted, these Pinkies acquitted themselves well last night, but I ascribe that more to the completely confusing taxi jockeying in the last 15 minutes than actual competent racing. (The normally superb editing on this show completely fell apart here, as teams that finished the wrestling Roadblock third or fourth were somehow passed by teams that finished second-to-last before they reached the Pit Stop, with no explanation.)

Terence & Sarah are Team Spaz. The newly dating couple is a complete disaster, and they seem like pretty horrible human beings to boot. Terence is emotionally manipulative, hyperactive, and creepily possessive. Sarah is passive-aggressive, clueless, and takes offense to just about everything. In truth, they kind of deserve each other. These two make boneheaded mistakes with alarming frequency - I think they've screwed up nearly every challenge so far - but I'll actually be sad if/when they're eliminated. They're my villains for this season, kind of a less offensive version of Jonathan and Victoria from Season 4 (I think). I just know there's a lot more insanity to be squeezed from Terence's crazy mind grapes before this race is over.