Spoiler alert: Here's how Dayton's 'Amazing Race' competitors did on week one

Contributed Photo by Timothy Kuratek/CBS / In the premiere episode, "One Million Miles," Nathan Worthington, left, and Cody Buell of Dayton, Tenn., race goats in the Buccoo Integrated Facility in Tobago as their final challenge in the 32nd season of "The Amazing Race."
Contributed Photo by Timothy Kuratek/CBS / In the premiere episode, "One Million Miles," Nathan Worthington, left, and Cody Buell of Dayton, Tenn., race goats in the Buccoo Integrated Facility in Tobago as their final challenge in the 32nd season of "The Amazing Race."

Editor's Note: Contains spoilers.

The journey around the world went only as far as Trinidad and Tobago for two Dayton, Tennessee, men on "The Amazing Race."

After modest success in the episode's first challenges, best friends Nathan Worthington and Cody Buell arrived in last place in the final heat and were sent home.

The 32nd season of the Emmy-winning series premiered Wednesday night on CBS with 11 two-person teams vying for a $1 million cash prize. The competition began at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles with a welcome from host Phil Keoghan.

"You are about to embark on 33,000-mile adventure that will change your lives," Keoghan told the 22 competitors before sending them racing to find their first clue.

"Not just a lifetime, but a thousand lifetimes," Buell said in a cutaway.

Worthington and Buell dressed in "Tennessee orange" for their first appearance on national television, they noted earlier this week.

Both employed by La-Z-Boy, Worthington and Buell grabbed the attention of producers after casting agents saw their social-media sites about their favorite pastime: catfish noodling, which involves catching catfish with their bare hands.

That affinity for water proved beneficial in an early challenge in which they had to search through the shallow tides of Nylon Pool off the coast of Tobago. They were tasked with finding a color- and number-coded plastic fish out of 125 possibilities to unlock their next clue.

They were in seventh place arriving at their next stop, but that's where their momentum stalled. One person from each team had to learn to play a few notes on a steelpan, on key and in time, to accompany a band of pannists on "The Banana Boat Song (Day O)." Buell made the effort, but would eventually fall to the back of the pack as each team's novice pannist mastered the notes and moved on to goat racing at the Buccoo Integrated Facility.

There was some hope that they could make up their time there. Some of the earlier arrivals had trouble handling their goats and made multiple attempts before crossing the finish line without dropping the reins. But the two teams in front of Worthington and Buell were professional athletes. Former NFL players DeAngelo Williams and Gary Barnidge are this season's strongmen. And the former Olympic hurdlers, Kellie Wells-Brinkley and LaVonne Idlette, outran the goats.

This season's episodes were filmed in late 2018. Worthington and Buell also will appear in the season finale, which gathers all of the teams again. The men said they have stayed in touch with all of the other competitors over the past two years.

Husband and wife Chee Lee and Hung Nguyen of Houston finished first in this week's episode. Lee credited his childhood piano lessons for his success on the steelpan.

"Tough day," Keoghan said to Worthington and Buell at the end of the episode.

"We got off to a good start, but it went south from there," said Worthington.

"I'll take the responsibility," said Buell.

"You don't have to worry about nothing," Worthington said. "I got to have the adventure of a lifetime with my best friend."

Email Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com.

photo Contributed Photo by Timothy Kuratek/CBS / Learning to play a few notes of "Day O" on steelpan proved problematic for Cody Buell of Dayton, Tenn., in the season opener of "The Amazing Race."

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