The DraftKings Road Trip kicked off with teams scattered across the desert outside Palm Springs, and the day started rough for at least one contestant. Dante's cheese curds breakfast did not sit well, and Barstool Gambling was there to document the fallout in real time.
Not ideal to start your morning off by polishing off 2lbs of cheese curds before hitting the road. #DKRoadTrip
From there it only got more chaotic. Team Green spent part of the morning peeling protective wrap off a promo van's windows, while Kelly Keegs griped on X about riding around in a vehicle nobody bothered to get a perforated wrap for. Meanwhile, out at Joshua Tree, the first real physical challenge of the trip turned into a bloodbath of skinned knees. Hannah, Wonton and Mintzy strapped into rollerblades for the opener, and it went about as well as you'd expect for a crew more used to a broadcast booth than a half-pipe.
.@DonnieDoesWorld got a little too confident in his rollerblading abilities after finishing the challenge at Joshua Tree #DKRoadTrip
The Wonton Don himself admitted he "ate absolute shit 2 seconds" after posting a calm shot of the trail, and the footage backs it up. But he wasn't the only casualty. Mintzy came out of the same challenge on crutches with one leg in a walking boot -- and somehow still gutted out Team Black's opener on a single working foot.
Mintzy may only be able to use 1 foot, but he was still able to take part in Team Black’s first #DKRoadTrip challenge.
Injuries aside, the trip pushed forward. Team Black rolled into a roadside taco stand for quesabirria in the middle of nowhere, while a full van of riders lost cell service for an hour cutting through Joshua Tree in the dark -- Mintzy reportedly kept everyone entertained by floating the idea of a "Hot Boy Era" once this whole thing is over. Team Orange, for its part, ditched the physical stunts for a doppelganger challenge and a mall run, and actually came away with a win: they tracked down a dead ringer for Dana Beers himself.
TEAM ORANGE GOT THEIR GUY!!! A @danabeers twin! #DKroadtrip
Dana Beers himself hopped on X to co-sign the find, posting that "Orange is dominating" as the teams keep grinding cross-country. With Texas still the stated destination and multiple teams already banking challenge wins -- not to mention multiple crutches -- there's a long way left to go before anyone's crowned. Given how the first day went, expect more scraped elbows before this thing wraps.