How did Raleigh’s Holderness pair do on ‘The Amazing Race’ premiere? Find out here
Kim and Penn Holderness, part of the Raleigh family known for “Christmas Jammies” and other viral videos, are competing on this season of CBS’s “The Amazing Race.”
The show, now in its 33rd season, features 11 teams of two that race around the world searching for clues, solving puzzles and competing for $1 million.
Besides the Holderness team, other teams this season include married educators, singing police officers and flight attendants. Connie and Sam Greiner, a married couple from Charlotte, are also competing.
While Season 33 premiered Wednesday night, it was actually filmed beginning in February 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down production for more than a year. Production resumed in Switzerland this past fall, with other filming locations including France, Greece, Portugal and Los Angeles.
On Wednesday’s premiere, we see all 11 teams leaving their homes and traveling to London for the first leg of the race.
So, what else happened on this week’s episode?
The News & Observer is following along with the Holderness duo’s journey on the show this season, and we plan to bring you a weekly recap of their performance, along with other highlights from each episode.
Here’s what happened on the Season 33 premiere. (Warning: Spoilers ahead.)
How did the Holderness duo place?
Kim and Penn finished at the first London pit stop of the race in 4th place. They finished at the second pit stop in 5th place.
What challenges did teams complete this week?
The episode opened with all 11 teams packing their bags saying their goodbyes to their friends and families at their homes throughout the U.S.
The contestants received a video message on their phones from “Amazing Race” host Phil Keoghan, who officially starts the race with his signature “the world is waiting for you.”
From there, the teams traveled to their nearest airport and caught flights to London, where they were tasked with looking for their first clue in red phone booths in Trafalgar Square.
“I’m excited and a little terrified,” Kim Holderness said on the way to the airport.
After finding their clues in the phone booths, the teams raced on foot to Buckingham Palace. There, they found another clue, then chose between a detour to the “artist’s den,” where they had to put together a puzzle to create a piece of artwork, or one finding a series of “bens” throughout the city.
The Holderness duo took on the puzzle, which Kim said was the “worst puzzle ever.” But Penn used his hyperfocus “superpower” to piece it together quickly, allowing the team to leave the den in 4th place.
Both detours ended with a clue to find “the Queen” and “Boris Johnson” impersonators dining together.
The first part of the London leg concluded with a night pit stop at the Natural History Museum, where one team was eliminated.
Back in the daylight, the teams started racing through London again, finding clues at Mail Rail, an underground mail service. Teams then found another detour at Leicester Square, choosing between a darts challenge and a cake decorating one.
Penn and Kim chose the cake decorating challenge, where they made two attempts. The pair left the detour in 5th place.
A pit stop on an iconic red double decker bus at Russell Square Metro Station concluded the episode.
What struggles did the Holderness duo run into?
While the Holdernesses were successful in completing the puzzle detour, they had to rearrange pieces twice — once when they realized on their own that they had a piece out of place, then again when the puzzle checker asked them to fix the seams on the puzzle.
That didn’t hold them back too much, though, as they finished at the first pit stop in 4th place.
After the first pit stop, and as Kim was describing the duo’s middle age, Penn tripped and fell on the sidewalk. Thankfully, he seemed to walk it off quickly.
At Mail Rail, Penn found the clue quickly, but second-guessed himself, thinking the task had been “too easy.” He and another competitor, Ray Gantt, continued to rifle through the mail after finding the clue, slowing both teams down.
At the cake decorating detour, Kim and Penn had to completely redo one of their cakes and clean up some blackberry “drippage” on the other.
Funny moments from the Holderness duo
Since they’re known for their funny viral videos, it makes sense that Kim and Penn made us laugh throughout the episode.
One moment sticks out in our minds: Upon finding “the Queen” in a London pub, Penn offered a kiss to the royal, saying “I’ve always wanted to kiss the Queen.”
We’ll assume Kim wasn’t fazed.
How did the other teams do this week?
▪ Anthony and Spencer, childhood friends from Sacramento, finished at the London pit stop in 1st place, followed by Ryan and Dusty, another pair of friends.
▪ Ryan and Dusty had an impressive showing in the second leg, finishing at the double decker pit stop in 1st place, while Anthony and Spencer fell slightly behind.
▪ Twin sisters and radio hosts Lulu and Lala finished in last place at the double decker pit stop, but will continue the race in next week’s expisode.
Which team was eliminated?
Michael Norwood and Moe Badger, the singing police officers from Buffalo, New York, finished at the first London pit stop in last place and were eliminated.
Luckily, they didn’t leave without giving us a taste of their singing abilities.
Which teams should you keep an eye on?
▪ Ryan and Dusty, who finished in 2nd and 1st place at the London pit stops, had an impressive showing this week.
▪ Despite beginning the London leg in last place, Connie and Sam, from Charlotte, finished at the first pit stop in a respectable 7th place. They finished at the double decker pit stop in 2nd place, showing the duo can work their way up the rankings quickly.
We’re inclined to root for all North Carolinians on the show, so we’ll keep an eye on them going forward.
▪ Similarly, Arun and Natalia, who finished at the back of the pack at the first pit stop, pulled ahead in the second part of the London leg, finishing in 3rd place. We’ll watch out for them next week.
Looking forward to next week
Next week’s promo shows that the teams will travel to Scotland, where Keoghan announces to the contestants that production will be shutting down for the COVID-19 pandemic (remember, that was filmed back in 2020).
While this week’s show was two hours and aired at 8 p.m., the rest of the episodes this season will be only an hour and will air at 9 p.m.
We’ll see you next week.
This story was originally published January 5, 2022 at 10:11 PM with the headline "How did Raleigh’s Holderness pair do on ‘The Amazing Race’ premiere? Find out here."
