Amazing Race Season 22 Premieres Tonight!

We have a guest blogger, Cousin Vinny, who has offered to write recap blogs on the Amazing Race for us because this season one of the teams has mafia ties. Here is a preview of what to watch for in season 22. Welcome Cousin Vinny!


Tonight is the start of another race.  There is a new twist this season, for those people who are fans of the race.  One team will be able to give another team an express pass by the fourth leg of the race.

What else is happening this season – well it seems that three teams may not decide to do the challenge on the first leg of the race. There are rumors that they "give up" and will be penalized. One of these teams may face elimination.

This season includes the team known as the Battaglia Brothers. These guys are former NHL hockey players. The brothers are Bates and Anthony Battaglia.  Their strategy is to be friendly with everybody. They are used to traveling around the world and sleeping on buses. They are competitive and also physically fit. This is the kind of training that may give the former NHLers a slight edge in the race.

The Battaglia brothers have another celebrity in their Family history.  By several accounts, Sam Battaglia, the grandfather of the Battaglia brothers, started out with nothing and became a millionaire. He was the uneducated son of immigrants from Italy who wanted to make a life in the United States, in the city of Chicago. In 1924 he was associated with Al Capone. Bates Battaglia never met his grandfather. Sam (whose nickname was Teets) was released from prison when Bates was two years old because he had a terminal case of cancer and was allowed to die at home.

Sam had more than 25 arrests, which included burglary, larceny, and robbery. There were also reports that Sam allegedly committed at least seven murders. Sam was also allegedly involved in narcotics and extortion.

The parents of the Battaglia brothers divorced and its possible the boys knew very little about their grandfather, other than what their father told them. The father of the Battaglia brothers is the youngest of Sam Battaglia’s children.

Watch The Amazing Race tonight on CBS, 8/7c to see if the brothers have what it takes to kill the competition.

Written By: Cousin Vinny