New 'Amazing Race' Season Includes Pro Surfer Bethany Hamilton, Wrestlers, and a Game-Changing Twist
The Amazing Race earned a tenth Emmy as Outstanding Reality-Competition Program earlier this week, and producers of the CBS hit are trying to keep the show fresh with a game-changing new twist and some familiar faces for the series' upcoming 25th season.
Pro surfer Bethany Hamilton — who survived a 2003 shark attack in which she lost her left arm — and her surfer husband Adam Dirks, Survivor: South Pacific contestants (and now engaged couple) Whitney Duncan and Keith Tollefson, and TNA pro wrestling stars Brooke Adams and Robbie E. Strauss are among the 11 teams who will compete on Season 25, which premieres in its new Friday at 8 p.m. timeslot on Sept. 26.
The pro athletes and reality alums will also be among the first Amazing Race contestants to have a shot at "The Save," a new advantage for the team that finishes in first place in the premiere episode. Those team members will be able to save themselves from elimination if they come in last on a leg of a competition later in the season.
[Photos: Meet The Amazing Race Teams for Season 25]
As always, though, the real advantage for all the teams is being able to keep their cool under stress and continue to work together, which always proves extra challenging for duos who bring baggage from their relationships to the reality show road trip.
That certainly seems to be a big possibility for the couples above, as, on their Amazing Race questionnaires, they all hint at prickliness that could lead to around-the-world drama.
We're predicting meltdows ahead, for instance, for the TNA wrestlers. Adams says her biggest hope for the Race is "To trust and build more confidence in myself, to be more patient, and to trust Rob again. He has hurt me deeply in the past." Strauss's pet peeve about his girlfriend? "Her mood swings," he says. "She is like two completely different people."
As for the Survivor duo, Duncan — who also competed on the fifth season of Nashville Star — says her team's biggest challenge on the show is that, "We both can be really stubborn. We are so competitive, and when we get in game mode, kindness goes right out the window." Oh, and, "[Keith] thinks he knows everything." Says he: "I'm way too annoyed listening to long stories or explanations — I'm a guy. I need to be less mean and more of a compassionate listener."
Meanwhile, Dirks says of his wife, "We sometimes have a hard time communicating when we are frustrated with one another. I want us to be more open and talk about these frustrations before they build up into something bigger."
OK, so maybe those two kids will be alright, after all.
This season's grueling mental and physical races — which host Phil Keoghan kicked off in Times Square on May 31 — will take the contenders through eight countries, 20 cities, and across more than 26,000 miles, including several locations The Amazing Race has never before visited.
In St. Thomas, the teams will "fly high in the sky," they'll rappel 200 feet into a Blue Grotto sea cave in Malta, and they'll learn how to herd sheep in the Shetland Islands, all in hopes of being the first team to arrive at the ultimate destination and claim the $1 million grand prize.
The Amazing Race Season 25 premieres Friday, Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. on CBS.