'The Amazing Race': Get the Scoop on the Premiere's Coolest Challenge

Wednesday night’s premiere of The Amazing Race sent 11 teams of two — six pre-existing couples and five pairs of blind daters, a much-discussed first in the show’s history — scurrying from the starting line in Los Angeles, Calif. to the elimination mat in Tokyo, Japan. Along the way, they faced such challenges as a mud-filled obstacle course, a sake bar filled with thirsty samurai, and finding the rarest of rare objects in an overcrowded megatropolis like Tokyo: an open parking space. But the most memorable task had to be literally following in the footsteps of the popular Japanese band, World Order, who practice their robotic choreography in viral music videos recorded in public spaces around the world. Yahoo TV reached out to TAR co-creator and executive producer Elise Doganieri to break down the Syncing Steps half of the premiere’s Detour challenge. Here’s the scoop on how they pulled it off.

The Challenge Was Both Physical and Metaphorical

Angelina Jolie once remarked — in a movie that nobody besides she and Jon Stewart remembers — “Talking about love is like dancing about architecture.” In that spirit, Doganieri and Bertram van Munster conceived Syncing Steps as a way to test the different couples’ ability to move in concert with each other. “Every challenge we do is deeper than what you see on the surface. This was a little test of who they are [as a couple]: Are you supporting your partner or do you just get really crazed and frustrated?”

And the exec producer was as surprised as anyone that the blind daters wound up trumping the long-term couples. “The partners who didn’t know anything about each other were really committed to getting it done. You’d think that the people who were already couples would have said, ‘Oh honey, I know you’re not a good dancer. You’ve got two left feet.’ But they kept trying because they got so caught up in the moment. Sometimes people just don’t know when to say, ‘We need to switch [tasks].’”

Doganieri adds that the other half of the detour — Samurai Sake — was also designed as a relationship test, one that challenged the couples’ communication skills, rather than their motor skills. “In that challenge, you’re trusting your partner to say, ‘OK you’re going to be the one who stays here and I’m going to be taking the order. You had to make that split-second decisions under extreme pressure.”

Watch a clip of the Samurai Sake challenge:

The Producers Refused to Accept any Substitutes for World Order

Originally formed in 2009 by former MMA fighter, Genki Sudo, World Order quickly became viral video sensations. As with everything on the Internet, their success instantly spawned a host of imitators. When van Munster caught their act on YouTube, he instantly reached out to TAR’s facilitator in Japan to book the actual group — not any of the knock-offs — on the show. But they were warned that the group’s popularity might put them out of reach. “Once you say that to us, we’ll say, ‘Nope, they’re the ones we want.’ We want the best of the best all the time, not the lookalikes. We really pursued them and they didn’t want anyone else stepping in. They know the value of being on The Amazing Race. And they were so excited when they saw Phil — they were taking photos with him.” Japanese pop stars… they’re just like us.

Related: 'The Amazing Race' Premiere Review: The New Dating Game?

The Steps Went Through Numerous Revisions

Doganieri estimates that the choreography went through at least eight to ten revisions over the two months before the racers took their marks at the starting line. During that time, they worked closely with the members of World Order — who wrote the music heard during the challenge — to design a routine that would be difficult, but not impossible for non-professional dancers to complete. “We tested it again and again in our office; we all looked liked fools trying to do this dance,” she says, laughing. “We test everything to make sure it can be done. It takes a lot before we get it to what you see on TV.”

The Set Wasn’t Mobbed by World Order Fans

Despite being uber-famous in their native land, the sight of World Order dancing alongside TAR teams in a Tokyo public park surprisingly didn’t set off Beatles-like displays of pandemonium. “A lot of the locals just rode by on their bicycles,” Doganieri remembers. “Some people also came up to the World Order guys when there were no teams there and talked to them. They probably signed a few autographs. When people see that The Amazing Race is filming, they usually just like to watch and laugh at us. And we encourage them to watch; we just don’t want people seeing when and in what order the teams check in on the mat, because that just ruins the fun.”

Jonathan Knight Doesn’t Like to Put on a Show When He’s Not On Stage

Considering that he was (and still is) part of a boy band renowned for their smooth, stylish dance moves, it was a little surprising that NKOTB member Jonathan Knight immediately rejected Syncing Steps out of hand. “No dancing,” he told his on and off-screen partner, Harley Rodriguez while standing at the Detour box, later adding: “Dancing to me is very challenging. Even in dance rehearsals with the group, it usually takes me a good week to learn a routine.” Doganieri says she first noticed that split between Knight’s rock star public profile and his more cautious private persona when he came in to audition for the show. “He was so nervous in the casting process, and we were like ‘You perform for thousands of people around the world!’ And he said, ‘Performing for me is natural. I get out there and I do it.’ To sit and be interviewed made him nervous. We thought he was going to get up and dance and sing for us.”

The Amazing Race returns to its regular timeslot on Fridays at 8 p.m. on CBS.