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Characters / The Amazing Race

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Page for the eclectic cast of The Amazing Race, with teams ranging from endearing and sweet to intense and cutthroat to simply batshit crazy.

Warning: The contestants are listed according to how they placed in the race. Beware spoilers!

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Hosts and Local "Staff"

    Phil Keoghan (US Host) 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/phil_5_7655.jpg

The host of the Amazing Race US series. His main role, aside from exposition, is checking in each team at the end of each leg, with the last team to arrive possibly being Eliminated from the Race. He is normally impartial to the racers, though every so often, he engages in Witty Banter with certain teams. Popularly regarded as eye candy by the fanbase.

  • Announcer Chatter: Phil starts becoming more talkative in Season 30, when he commentates on teams doing to the Head-to-Head tasks (which were located right next to the Pit Stop).
  • Aside Glance: After Jessica & John's idiotic elimination in Season 22 (where they still held their Express Pass) and John's rather carefree Elimination Statement, a rather shocked Phil turns to the camera, shrugs, and says, "Oy vey!"
  • Author Appeal: Phil is a biking enthusiast, which helps explain why every season has at least one bicycle challenge. Most notable in the Season 20 premiere, where the teams bike to the Starting Line.
  • Bearer of Bad News: By default, Phil has to do this to anybody who comes in last on an elimination leg, and especially so if a team gets waylaid so badly they can't even make it to the finish line and Phil must go tell them it's time to withdraw.
  • Call-Back: At Season 24's Finish Line, when all the teams were gathered at the mat for the final cast shot, Phil threw Cord's hat, just as Cord had done in the Unfinished Business finale.
  • Character Development: Starting with Season 9, more of Phil's personality was shown, allowing him to be more than just the guy who explained the tasks and greeted teams at the Pit Stop.
  • Character Overlap: He was the first Celebrity Takeover in Big Brother 17 in its first week, where he introduced two additional players into the game as a twist from The Amazing Race, Jeff Wheldon and Jackie Ibara, and a special "Fast Forward" twist gave instant immunity to a houseguest for a week (fast-forwarding their game to next week).
  • Devil's Advocate: On the mats, especially if you watch the extended Mat Chats online, Phil has a tendency to prod teams with questions and possible moves that might or might not be towards the teams' best interests, but would hypothetically make for a more interesting race.
  • Dramatic Pause: Phil does this quite a lot, both in his narration and his appearances at the end of each episode telling contestants whether they're eliminated or not. Multiple teams have actually broken down in giggles in the middle of his pause and told him to just get on with it already.
  • Fanservice: His appearance in underwear to announce the Russian underpants run in Season 14 has reached memetic status.
  • Fascinating Eyebrow: His most prominent trait, to the point he used it to tell Gary & Mallory in Season 17 that they had finished 2nd. It's become so iconic, it almost could be considered his Signature Move.
  • Fun with Subtitles: Season 24, episode 2, seven teams hit the mat within minutes of each othernote . In the middle of it, Phil got messed up and told Dave & Connor they were team number five, and "Dave & Connor, 5th Place" popped up on the bottom of the screen, only to be immediately crossed out, the "4th Place" swept in from the left side of the screen, bumping it aside as the teams corrected Phil.
  • Game Show Host
  • The Glomp: Phil has had this done to him over the course of several seasons, especially in Season 21 when he was Glomped by a woman covered in fish juices.
  • Lock Down: During season 10, he got detained at customs in Ukraine for over ten hours in an impenetrable room with a bunch of guards who didn’t speak English. He gave them his New Zealand passport rather than his American one because he had been told he wouldn’t need a visa if he was using the latter. He had his American passport in his checked luggage and the misunderstanding about him traveling with a bunch of Americans spiraled from there. Luckily, a woman working at the US consulate in Kyiv was a fan of the show and printed him a new passport. He made it back in time to do the arrivals with ten minutes to spare.
  • Manly Tears: The only time Phil has broken down on the mat was during Charla's Elimination Statement.
  • Mr. Exposition: Only in the early seasons, when much of his dialogue would be spent explaining the rules of the game and the position/what was going on with the teams during the travel portions of the game.
  • One-Steve Limit: One place where the show does play it straight, as there has not been a single competitor has gone by "Phil" in 32 seasons- the only one who came close was Chip from season 5, whose real name is Phillip- but he was never addressed as such on the show.
  • Recurring Traveler
  • The Stoic: Mostly in the early seasons, though this is more of an effort to remain neutral than anything else. However, sometimes his neutrality would break and his emotions and opinions would show through, such as in Season 6, when he cautioned Jonathan to talk to his wife after he shoved her for coming in second at a Pit Stop. By the first All-Stars, his stoicism was pretty much gone (except when he is checking teams in, and deliberately uses it to freak them out), though his neutrality did remain.
  • This Is A Race: Phil will bring this up in interviews all the time. He's actually a proponent of the Yield/U-Turn, and has voiced his wonder that there are teams who don't want to use it to hinder another team.
  • Took a Shortcut: He always manages to film various promos at task locations and then still be well ahead of the Racers in order to meet them at each Pit Stop.
    • Season 25 changed this, while staying within the trope, as each episode showed him recording promos at task locations while teams were running up to the clue box.
  • Wham Line: In-Universe. No team wants to be standing on the mat and hear Phil say, "However..."
    • Unless you're the last team to arrive, since that means someone is either waiting out a penalty, it's a non-elimination leg, or a team had to bow out.
  • Witty Banter: A way to determine his personal favorite racers, as he will often spend more time discussing the race with them after announcing their positions.

    Allan Wu (Asia and China Host) 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/18MP_Allan_Wu_jpg_217196_1739.jpg

Host of The Amazing Race Asia, China Rush, and China.

    Grant Bowler (Australia Host, seasons 1-3) 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bowler-amazing-race_3966.jpg
The original host of The Amazing Race Australia. New Zealand born actor, probably best known for his roles on Australian drama Blue Heelers and the Syfy series Defiance. Formerly the host of the Australian version of The Mole.

    Beau Ryan (Australia Host, season 4 and onwards) 
Host of The Amazing Race Australia after the show made a Channel Hop from Seven to Ten. He is (probably) best-known for his rugby career, although he has also hosted The Footy Show.
  • Big Eater: One of the clues in the Celebrity Edition said to pick up bachangnote  "because Beau [was] hungry".
    Beau (after he was asked if he was hungry): I'm always hungry.
  • Butt-Monkey: Invokes this trope at times, due to his comedian experience. Well, admit it - someone needs to test those challenges first...
  • Dramatic Pause: Less fond of this than Grant or Phil, but he still does it from time to time.
  • Fanservice:
    • Showing up at the tannery challenge in season 6 in nothing but a pair of coveralls and a pair of gumboots.
    • Beau being topless in a few episodes in season 6 as he explains challenges and how the Race is going during his isolation period.
    • Goes for a brief swim in Caye Caulker while announcing the Pit Stop. In various shots while checking teams in, he's wearing his swimwear and/or a towel and/or a shirt (although the editing is not seamless and his shirt seems to disappear between two teams arriving).
    • Appears at the Bollywood dancing Intersection explanation in season 7 without a shirt.
  • Game Show Host
  • Group Hug / Man Hug: Beau's fond of "bringing it in" after a check-in. One notable example is getting the other teams to form a group hug around the shortest contestants...Viv & Joey in season 4.
  • Permastubble: About as much, if not more, than Phil and Grant.
  • Recurring Traveler
  • Sick Episode:
    • With Beau testing positive to COVID prior to the first Turkey leg of Season 6's Amazing Race, he remains isolated in a hotel at Athens for the time being. Long story short, he takes advantage of the hotel's room service during this leg.
    • In episode 7 he ends up phoning several Australian host personalities to take over for him, including Chris Brown (not that one, the one from I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!), asking Jonathan LaPaglia for his brother's number, and unwittingly calling Rove McManus by mistake, before choosing a robot of all things to replace him this episode. He does farewell the last team to arrive via Face Time on a phone. In episode 8, he decides to call Scott Tweedie to fill in for him until he's cleared to return, but he uses the Face Time tactic again. Several of the challenges during and after this time, such as the magic carpet challenge and the coconut bike Roadblock, were demonstrated by animation.
    • Episode 9 shows Beau explaining challenges while eating a large ice cream sundae, while episode 10 has him midway through sorting chocolates by colour while explaining an emerald sorting challenge from a Detour.
    • Episode 11 notably shows Beau packing his bag, indicating that he'll be ready to return the following episode.
  • Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Lampshaded in advertising for the first Turkey leg of season 6 with a sassy "mystery Beau" (read: a robot called Ada).
    Ada: I am the superior version and much better-looking. *winks*
  • Stealth Pun: Crossed with Vulgar Humor when he says in season 7 the Racers will be up "that creek"note  when explaining the Make It Stick Detour.
  • Took a Shortcut

    Scott Tweedie (Australia guest host, season 6) 
Host of the 6th season of The Amazing Race Australia after production was affected by COVID. Previously a host on various shows on children's channel ABC3 (most notably, as lampshaded by Fliss and Tottie in his debut episode, from Prank Patrol) as well as Channel 10.
  • Corpsing: Failed to shoot the polo ball while on the bike during the Spoke detour. He manages to do so after getting off the bike, and is reduced to laughter as he finishes.
  • Dramatic Pause: His downplaying of these was carried over from Beau.
  • Game Show Host: As Beau's replacement, he does a lot of hosting similar to Beau himself (such as talking to a Turkish Pit Stop greeter called Hussein - who clearly didn't understand him - in English).
  • Handshake Substitute: Possibly due to COVID precautions, Scotty does fist bumps instead of a Group Hug.
  • Permastubble: Has about as much as Beau does.
  • Recurring Traveler
  • Took a Shortcut: Averted after Ada starts to not do the job right and Beau explains Scott's taking over as host (shown by an animation of Scott's head on a plane from Sydney to Turkey), but otherwise plays it straight.

    Jon Montgomery (Canada Host) 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jonmontgomery_3812.jpg

Host of The Amazing Race Canada. He won the gold medal in the men's skeleton the the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010.

    Pit Stop Greeters 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/greeter7_5603.jpg
Welcome to...
At the end of each leg, people from the country currently visited will appear alongside the host to welcome the racers to their country. They usually sport an exaggerated wardrobe to emphasize their culture. Has included everything from local celebrities, mayors, and even Phil's own father.

  • Call-Back: During the Unfinished Business premiere, fans were welcomed to Australia by the town crier who was the Pit Stop Greeter from the show's first visit to Australia back in Season 2.
  • The Cameo:
    • Paula Taylor from Asia Season 2 appeared as the Greeter on the first leg of Asia 3.
    • Melody Chen from Asia Season 1 appeared as the Greeter when Season 25 visited Singapore for their 9th leg.
    • Zabrina & Jo Jer from Asia Season 1 appeared as greeters on the 3rd leg of Asia 5
    • Krista DeBono from US Season 27 appeared as the greeter during the HaMerotz LaMillionnote  6 in 2017 when the race visited New York City.
  • Chekhov's Gunman:
    • In Season 17, all the greeters were wearing hats. In the finale, identifying the greeters and their hats became the subject of the Final Exam Finale puzzle.
    • A similar thing happened in Season 21, when special emphasis was placed on the greeters saying "hello" and "goodbye" in their native languages (with even "hai" getting subtitles) in a way that viewers took notice and (correctly) suspected that the racers would get quizzed on it at the end. The task ended up taking two and a half hours as all three teams pretty much said that they paid attention to everything but the greeting, even though Phil told them on every leg that each phrase meant "hello" and "goodbye".
    • The first Canadian version of the race did the same thing as Season 17 except with provincial flowers they were wearing.
    • Australia v New Zealand also had a Final Exam Finale Roadblock where teams had to pick out something worn or held by all nine Greeters.
  • Chewing the Scenery: Some greeters put on quite a show, such as the Australian greeter in Season 2 with his loud bell-ringing and the Hungarian greeter in Season 6 complete with whip.
  • Costume Porn
  • Creator Cameo: Subverted with Bertram van Munster, the creator of The Amazing Race. He appeared as the greeter in the Netherlands for the 10th leg in Season 31, but he was somehow edited out in the episode proper, barely being seen at all. Post-Race recaps from contestants in that season confirmed it was indeed him.
  • Culture Equals Costume
  • Everyone Looks Sexier if French: Or Indian, or African, or... (Not all greeters qualify as Fanservice, but those that do are this.)
  • Mythology Gag: When the second leg of Australia v New Zealand visited Cambodia, the greeter, though a different woman, was dressed the same as the greeter from Season 15, leg 4note .
  • Precious Puppy: The greeter in Croatia in Season 31 carried a bunch of Dalmatian puppies with her. Justified, as Dalmatian dogs originated from that country.
  • Share Phrase: Welcome to [current city, country].
  • Real-Life Relative: Invoked in Season 13, as Phil's father was a greeter for a New Zealand leg.
  • Whole Costume Reference

    Task Judges 
Several tasks have involved a "judge", either to check the racers' answers or to subjectively judge their performance; when correct, the racers will be given their next clue. These typically are locals (to the current location) and while most do their job in stride, others relish the moment...
  • Ambiguous Gender: In Season 26, one of the task judges in Peru was a clown. After receiving his clue, Tyler said how he could not tell whether the clown was a man or a woman.
  • Beehive Hairdo: Miss Rose, the judge for the trailer setting task in the Unfinished Business finale, had a spectacular one that did not budge an inch despite wind constantly destroying the work of all the teams.
  • Chewing the Scenery: Season 21's second Moscow leg had a Roadblock where the team member had to take a test about time zones to be graded by a judge, who took great pleasure in announced repeated failures, as well as relishing the moment when they actually got it correct.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: The judge at the Buckingham Palace Detour in Season 25, who chewed out all the teams when they failed to correctly "change the guard." Even when they did the task correctly, he was still mean.
  • Figure It Out Yourself: In many cases, if a racer does not complete a task correctly the judge is not allowed to tell them what they did wrong.
  • Funny Foreigner: Many, mostly deliberate. Usually because they're Chewing the Scenery and overplaying their roles.
  • HA HA HA—No: Season 15, the judge at the Estates Theater in Prague would do this when the player doing the Roadblock handed them the wrong item.
  • Hates Being Touched: The judge at the Buckingham Palace Detour in Season 25, who looked disgusted when Kym glomped him, and denied Amy & Maya when they attempted it.
  • Nuns Are Funny: The monks during the calligraphy Roadblock in Season 24 who borrowed Jet & Cord's hats during the task, especially the monk who stood next to Jet and stared at him while Jet did his Roadblock.
  • Recurring Character: The show has done three Japanese game show tasks, Roadblocks in Seasons 15 and 20, and a Detour in Season 23, and they've had the same man host all three tasks.
  • Spanner in the Works: In the Season 15 finale, Brian & Erika had finished the poker chip counting task, however, the judge made a mistake counting that prevented them from moving on. There's no telling how this affected the final standings.
  • This Is Gonna Suck: The first Moscow leg in Season 21 involved a synchronized swimming Detour. When James & Abba arrived, the judge gave an Aside Glance and said, "I'm already afraid."

Racers by Season

    United States 

    Asia 

    Australia 

    China Rush 

    Canada 

    China 

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