Amazing Race 9 Preview
In the ninth season of The Amazing Race the show is once again going back to its International format with 11 teams traveling through 5 continents and 9 countries in 13 legs.
The previews make it look like the race begins at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre just west of Denver, Colorado. From there, we don’t yet know where the contestants race off to. While not yet verified, it looks like Denver was the only U.S. filming location so they are most likely immediately leaving the country. Other reported filming locations include: Thailand; Greece; Australia; Russia; Japan; Oman; Italy; and Brazil.
Based entirely upon the listed language skills of the participants and the countries I believe they will visit, my early bet goes with BJ and Tyler to have the best chances of winning. BJ reports to speak Spanish, German, Russian and Latin while Tyler speaks Spanish and Japanese. They are both well-traveled and young so we’ll just have to see how they fair with the stress of competition and constant rapid travel.
While we don’t yet know the total spectrum of talents for all of the participants, we do know that Wanda of the mother-daughter Wanda-Desiree team is fluent in Spanish and Jeremy of the athletically inclined Eric and Jeremy friends-team speaks Swahili. The Spanish will be useful in Brazil (although Portuguese is the official language) but it doesn’t look like there will be much of an opportunity to use Swahili as the show may not even land on the African continent.
Lake and Michelle, the married couple from Mississippi also claim a basic understanding of Spanish – but nothing else. Michelle worries about her lack of physical strength but hopes her organizational skills will prove useful. Lake is a dentist and the couple hopes to capitalize on 13 years of marriage as the foundation for the required teamwork.
Danielle and Dani are childhood friends from New York and are the token cute girls. They make no qualms about this and have every intention of leveraging the ‘flirt-factor’ to help them through the race.
Ray and Yolanda are the couple from Chicago whom have dated the past 5 years. Ray is a lawyer and Yolanda is a math and science teacher. Yolanda also claims to have some basic Spanish skills while Ray only speaks English. Ray is an amateur rapper and believes his non-verbal communication skills may help along the way.
John and Scott are the lifelong friends from Massachusettes. John is afraid of flying but is the motivated member of the team. Scott is afraid of heights and a bit more easy-going. They hope this makes them a well-balanced team and plan to embrace all of the challenges during the race.
David and Lori are another dating-couple team and are from Manhattan, Kansas. Dave is into music, is a member of more than one band, and is afraid of heights. Lori works as the Assistant Manager of a local Pizza Hut.
Eric and Jeremy, mentioned earlier, are the jock-team. Both Jeremy and Eric competed in track and field during college and currently work in service-jobs with little to no ambition for greater things at this time. Self-proclaimed slackers into having fun on a daily basis, Jeremy is a valet and Eric works as a bartender and waiter.
Fran and Barry are the ‘old-couple’ team. Unlike the older couples in previous season, they don’t intend to just make a showing but are in-it-to-win-it. Barry and Fran are both retired in the 10,000 ft. elevation town of Silverthorne, Colorado. They spend their days skiing, hiking, and biking on and around Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. Fran has, in fact, climbed all of Colorado’s 54 mountains reaching over 14,000 ft. Barry is a veteran of the Vietnam War and is the big-picture strategist of the team while Fran is the detail-person. Already they have traveled to 45 countries together in Amazing Race style. They don’t make reservations and instead go where fate leads them. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them do very well in this Amazing Race.
Lisa and Joni are sisters using the Amazing Race to help re-establish their sisterhood. They have lived apart for the past 20 years and are both wives and mothers with adult children. Lisa is from Florida and Joni lives in Texas.
Joseph and Monica are the last of the dating-couple teams. Both Monica and Joseph live in Arkansas. Joseph is the outdoor-type with hunting skills such as marksmanship and navigation. Monica is athletically inclined and does not intend to fail at any physical challenge.
Wanda and Desiree are the final team. As mentioned above Wanda is the mother and Desiree is her daughter. They now live apart with Desiree in New York and Wanda in Atlanta. They have always been a team and see this adventure of the Amazing Race as possibly one of the last times they’ll be able to do something as just the two of them.
Again, my early bets go with the self-proclaimed clowns of BJ and Tyler to have the best chances but I put Barry and Fran in at a close second. The Amazing Race is fairly strenuous and the older couples haven’t faired so well in the past, but I believe Fran and Barry have the stamina and experience to endure.
I can’t wait to see what happens in tonight’s two-hour premiere on CBS.
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