Characters / The Amazing Race 7

The Amazing Race character index
United States original: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8: Family Edition | 9 | 10 | 11: All-Stars | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18: Unfinished Business | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24: All-Stars | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31: Reality Showdown | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35
Asia: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
China Rush and China: China Rush 1 | 2 | 3 | China 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Australia: 1 | 2 | 3: Australia v New Zealand | 4 | 5 | 6: Around the World | 7: Celebrity Edition
Canada: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6: Heroes Edition | 7 | 8 | 9

Premiering just three weeks after the Season 6 finale, the seventh season of the Race marked the only time in the show's history that they aired three seasons within a single year. Building off the momentum of increased ratings, the show finally living up to the massive critical praise heaped upon it, garnering the show's highest ratings. A portion of this increased popularity was due to the Stunt Casting of Survivor Super Couple Rob & Amber, who were at the height of their popularity fresh off of winning Survivor: All-Stars. With them, they brought a lot of Survivor fans who were exposed to the show for the first time, many of whom stuck with the Race afterwards. Along with Rob & Amber, the season featured a number of large, outgoing characters, who produced a whole slew of memorable moments. There were many close finishes, including a whopping three footraces to avoid elimination, with two of them coming in the first two legs. To top it all of, the season had an ending so unbelievable, you might just believe it was scripted that way^note And many did, despite even Rob saying it was all legit.. All in all a great season, it would mark the last true high point of the show's early seasons.

Uchenna Agu & Joyce Agu

Married couple whose relationship was rocky due to lost jobs and not being able to conceive children. They were relegated to the background for most of the season before finally emerging when Joyce shaved her head to win the Fast Forward in leg 8. After making their way into the Final 3, they looked like they were going to win the penultimate leg in Jamaica, only to suffer a flat tire and drop to last place, and were forced to run the final leg with no money. After falling behind early, they would pull a miraculous comeback, begging their way onto flight after the doors had already been closed to keep from falling behind Rob & Amber, and then being forced to beg for money at the Finish Line to pay their taxi. Described by Phil prior to them reappearing on All-Stars as "the most popular team to win the Race so far" (yes, even over B.J. & Tyler), Uchenna & Joyce made quite a splash with so little airtime.

• Big Eater: Uchenna scarfed down the infamous four pounds of meat like it was just an everyday meal.
• Call-Back: On their way to the Fast Forward, Joyce started fretting that it was a head shaving task, having seen it previously used on Season 5.
• Darkest Hour: In the penultimate leg, a flat tire pushed them from first to last, and they went into the final leg with no money or possessions, which caused them to fall way behind the other teams for the first half of the leg.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Their victory over Rob & Amber was played this way. Save for Rob's "early flight" gaffe in leg 9, the couple had spent the entirety of Survivor: All-Stars and Season 7 dominating the other contestants. It was the first real defeat Rob had suffered since Survivor: Marquesas.
• Determinator: Joyce when she found out the Fast Forward involved shaving her hair. She clearly didn't want to and Uchnenna insisted she didn't have to, but she still tearfully went through with it, determined to get that Fast Forward.
• Divorce Is Temporary: Though they never divorced, Uchenna talked about how they were seriously considering separating from each other before coming on the Race. They are the rare instance of a couple whose rocky relationship was actually improved by coming on the show, albeit only temporarily (See Happily Ever After).
• Gentle Giant: Uchenna, who was the biggest contestant, and one of the nicest.
• The Good Guys Always Win: Their victory over Rob & Amber is the most Hollywood-style ending in the show's history, almost to the point of unbelievability.
• Good Is Not Dumb: As Rob found out when his "early flight" joke backfired. He thought Uchenna & Joyce were clueless, and lost without Lynn & Alex there to help them, but they managed to find a flight two hours faster than what the other teams had.
• Happily Ever After: Subverted. Though their speech and confessionals at the Finish Line gave them a Happily Ever After ending, when they came back for All-Stars, we learned that not only did the in vitro fertilization they had been looking forward to fail, nor had they gone through with adopting a kid, but their relationship had become rocky again as a result. (They eventually did end up getting divorced.)
• History Repeats: A black married couple beats the egotistical villain after a miraculous turn of events at the final airport. This is just one of the many comparisons between Uchenna & Joyce and Chip & Kim.
  • In the DVD Commentaries, they say that this was their third time visiting Jamaica, and on both of their previous visits they also got a flat tire.
• Honor Before Reason: In London, Uchenna made an effort to help Gretchen & Meredith move their boats at the Detour despite them both racing to avoid last.
• Important Haircut: Joyce shaving her head for the Fast Forward in leg 8, which was the point at which Uchenna & Joyce stepped out of the background and became serious contenders.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Gretchen & Meredith.
• Lightning Bruiser: Uchenna was not only the biggest and strongest racer, but, as Phil would say multiple times on All-Stars, he was once the fifth fastest man in the world. He was the most acrobatic too, apparently, as while begging for money, he would do back flips, and in Botswana he zoomed through the head balancing Detour at a walking pace while everyone else was either inching along or stumbling at the beginning. In the DVD commentaries, Lynn & Alex discussed how they picked Uchenna to win the Race after seeing how good he was at everything, not that we got to see everything they did, as Uchenna & Joyce were kept in the background a lot early on, and subsequently played as underdogs later.
• The Load: Rob & Amber and Ron & Kelly accused them of being information leaches while sitting around the Dubai airport, waiting for their flight. Uchenna & Joyce were busy getting a two-hour lead on them.
• Manipulative Editing: They actually won the finale by 45 minutes, not the few minutes it looked like in the episode.
• Miracle Rally: Their comeback in the finale, which they did despite not having any money to start the leg (and where the rules required traveling by taxi, which requires money), having to beg their way onto a closed flight, then beg for money to pay their cab at the Finish Line.
• Nice Couple: Their stiffest competition with Meredith & Gretchen was over which team was the nicest.
• No Sense of Direction: They got lost several times in South Africa, only finishing in front of Meredith & Gretchen on the leg where Gretchen fell and split her head open.
• Out of Focus: They didn't get any major airtime until the ninth episode, when Joyce shaved her head to win the Fast Forward.
• Read The Freaking Clue: Uchenna did not complete the driving Roadblock in leg 7 correctly, not taking a post he was supposed to, when Joyce read him the clue wrong while he was driving, and therefore was sent back to finish it after reaching the Pit Stop. Luckily, it didn't cost them any spots.
• Tears of Joy: At the Finish Line. It started with them and spread to the other teams during their speech.

"Boston" Rob Mariano & Amber Brkich (Romber)

Rob: I didn't think I could do it, but I found a way to plot and scheme in The Amazing Race.

Survivor Super Couple who went through connections to get a spot on the Race. Though their presence upset some fans, there is no denying the effect they had on the show. Not only did they bring fans over from Survivor, but they also helped compile the modern Metagame by studying the tactics of former teams and copying the ones they found most effective. They dominated the season, using techniques and tactics that upset the other teams and the fans, while making some some truly entertaining television in the process.

They would jump out to a huge lead in the finale, and even though equalizers would negate this lead, they still managed to talk their way onto the first flight to Miami. Though the season looked over and their win assured, Uchenna & Joyce also talked their way onto the flight, and they fell behind when they didn't think to speak Spanish in Little Havana, and they took forever to find the "King of the Havanas". After creating such a huge splash, they would naturally be invited back for All-Stars.

• Accidental Truth: At the beginning of leg 9, Rob was feeling so overconfident with Lynn & Alex gone that he asked Gretchen & Meredith if they had gotten on the earlier flight to Istanbul, just to mess with them. Gretchen & Meredith freaked out and went running to Uchenna & Joyce. The two couples borrowed someone's phone, and actually found a flight that would get them in two hours earlier. Rob, after "confirming" there were no faster flights to Istanbul, sat around mocking the "idiot" teams that were already in the air, getting a two-hour jump on him.
• Always Second Best: Rob finished second on Survivor All-Stars, then second on the Race. It took him another loss at the Race and Survivor before finally winning Survivor on his sixth try at a reality show.
• Batman Gambit: Used by Rob during the four pounds of meat Roadblock. After deciding that eating four pounds of meat was impossible, he quit the task and took the four-hour penalty. Since the penalty did not start until the next team showed up, he used that to his advantage, waiting for his own penalty to start before convincing two other teams to also quit the task, counting on their squeamishness to cause them to follow his lead. Cue Evil Gloating about how he could not get eliminated that leg.
• Born Lucky: What about their life doesn't scream this?
  Rob: Luck has always been on my side. It's like I was born with a horseshoe right up my ass.
• Catchphrase: Rob's "Holy Cannoli!"
• Deadpan Snarker: Rob's interactions with his fellow teams almost entirely consisted of making snide remarks to the camera about how the other teams were beneath him. Naturally, he and Amber were widely disliked by the other teams.
• Death by Irony: In leg 4, they managed to talk their way onto a closed flight, angering all the teams already on board, all of whom had eaten the four pounds of meat in the last leg while he quit. In the finale, as they were sitting on the first flight to Miami alone, Uchenna & Joyce managed to talk their way onto the already closed flight. Then, in Miami, neither them nor their cab driver thought to ask for "The King of the Havanas" in Spanish while in Little Havana (while Uchenna & Joyce's did), meaning they had language problems in the U.S. when they had been relying on locals to guide and translate for them all season.
• Driving Stick: Amber, which is why she made Rob do the Double Decker Bus Roadblock.
• Evil Gloating: Rob, in every episode. In particular after convincing the other teams to quit the four pounds of meat Roadblock.
• Evil Is Petty: Some of the nastier things Rob did (bribing the guy at the bus terminal not to tell the others about the better bus, bribing a bus driver to keep the back doors closed, stealing Debbie & Bianca's cab) either backfired or accomplished little beyond getting people to hate him.
• Evil Laugh Rob had one in many of his confessionals.
• Gameplay Derailment: In-Universe. Rob did this by convincing Meredith and Deana to quit the four pounds of meat Roadblock. Prior to this, Eat That challenges were popular as Roadblocks (Chip & Kim even won two legs solely due to them). After that incident, Eat That challenges have been relegated to Detours and Fast Forwards, or otherwise being small amounts of Foreign Queasine.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: Asking Meredith & Gretchen about the "earlier flight" just to mess with them. Which led M&G and Uchenna & Joyce to discover there was an earlier flight.
• Hometown Nickname: "Boston" Rob.
• Hypocrite:
  • Rob got upset in leg 2 when Bianca called him a liar, even though he had just lied to their faces minutes before.
  • Then, in leg 6, he got upset when Lynn & Alex did not want to share a cab to the Gaborone train station with them. This is the same man who would scheme to get whatever advantage he could get over the other teams, even if it amounted to only a few minutes.
• I'm Not Here to Make Friends
• Iconic Item: Rob's Red Sox hat. During the "fake flight" leg, Meredith is on the lookout for the cap to see if Rob & Amber had gotten the same flight.
• Implausible Deniability: In leg 2, Rob found out about an earlier bus, then paid the guy he talked to not to say anything to anyone else, and then lied about the bus. The other teams naturally found out when they talked to the same guy, who told them about what Rob had said to him. Cue Debbie & Bianca confronting Rob, calling him a liar, and Rob getting upset that someone called him a liar right after he lied to their faces.
• Informed Ability: Rob had been in construction for ten years (a skill he put to use on Survivor building shelters), and they had built a raft on Survivor before, but they still got beaten by Uchenna & Joyce in the raft building Detour, despite a fifteen minute head start (this was mostly due to Uchenna & Joyce working together, while Amber sat around talking to the camera).
• Jerkass: Rob was dismissive of all the other teams and was not shy about telling this to the cameras.
• Kick the Dog: Being an egotistical Jerkass is one thing, but when Brian & Greg flipped their car in Botswana, Rob did not even slow down to check if everyone was okay (something every other team did), and he immediately snarked to the camera about how This Is a Competition. When Phil brought it up at the Pit Stop, not only did he once again bring up This Is a Competition, but he started laughing about it too. He could be forgiven for continuing to play the game, even when someone was hurt, but that he was proud of what he did is what pushed it over the edge. Though he looked visibly uncomfortable when laughing so it's possible he was laughing of the awkwardness of the situation.
• Large Ham: Rob might as well be a cartoonish villain with the way he acts most of the time. He does everything short of growing a mustache to twirl.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Inexplicably, what happened to them in the finale. After dominating most of the season, the two of them were sitting alone on the plane to the Final Destination City, the race pretty much in hand... until Uchenna & Joyce begged their way onto the plane, despite the gate already being closed and the pilot already having pulled away. Uchenna & Joyce ended up winning despite running out of money and having to beg to pay their cab driver at the Finish Line, as Rob & Amber got lost looking for the final clue in Little Havana. The comeback was so improbable (especially with Uchenna & Joyce getting all their money and possessions taken away for losing the previous leg) that it had some fans claiming the whole thing was staged.
• Law of Chromatic Superiority: Their Color Motif was red, and they were the most dominant team of the season. During leg 4, Rob gave his traditional blue Red Sox cap that he wore on Survivor to their boat driver. In the next leg, and from there on out, he sported a red Red Sox cap instead.
• The Load: Amber used the same strategy on the Race that she did on Survivor, essentially riding Rob's coattails to the end. In South Africa, when they got to the Fast Forward after Ray & Deana, Rob asked her to make the decision on whether they should wait to see if Ray & Deana completed it, or if they should leave right away, and she vacillated until Ray & Deana finished. She then refused to give a definitive opinion on which Detour they should do.
• Loophole Abuse: They were one of the worst offenders ever at the "get a local to guide you through the leg" tactic, doing it in four legs (Peru, South Africa, India, and England). Plus, they protected themselves at the four pounds of meat Roadblock by getting two other teams to quit after them.
• Near-Villain Victory: When the finale cut to its final commercial, with Rob & Amber on the plane and Uchenna & Joyce still at the gate, the season looked to be all but over.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Rob messing with Gretchen & Meredith about a fake faster flight, inspiring them to find an actual faster flight.
• Oh, Crap!: You can see Rob's face change when he finds out that Uchenna & Joyce and Gretchen & Meredith found that faster flight, and were two hours ahead.
• Popularity Power: They got recognized a lot thanks to Survivor. A woman helped Amber complete the leg 5 Roadblock, and people deliberately blocked Uchenna & Joyce from getting off the plane in Miami at their request.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Rob was very aware that he was competing on a game show, and the point was to create good television. A lot of his actions were just him playing up to the camera.
• Satellite Character: Amber, the team might as well have been Rob running by himself with as much attention as she got.
• The Scrappy: In-Universe. Most of the other teams despised Rob & Amber immediately for invading their show after already winning a million on Survivor.
• Self-Proclaimed Liar: Subverted with Rob. Just like in Survivor All-Stars he made it no secret that he was lying to and manipulating the other teams, yet everyone knew he was lying and rarely bought into his lies. Upon being accused of a lie he did not confess to by Debbie & Bianca, he got upset and targeted them for revenge (by stealing their cab in the next leg), yet gained a huge amount of respect for them at the same time (they were the only team he complimented during Season 7).
• The Smart Guy: When it came to the travel portions or intelligence based tasks, Rob naturally thrived, but not so much on the physically based tasks.
• Smug Smiler: To go along with his Evil Laugh.
• Smug Snake: Between his arrogance, his dismissive attitude towards all the other teams, and his ultimate downfall, Rob is one of the show's best examples.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: From the beginning, the season was clearly about, "How do we beat Rob & Amber?"
• Strategy Versus Tactics: Yielding Ron & Kelly in order to win leg 10. Sure it guaranteed them the leg win, but Ron & Kelly were comfortably in second place, there was no way the Yield was going to do anything but cause them to waste some time, which Rob should have known because they were on the first flight together, two hours ahead of the other teams. Uchenna & Joyce were on the second flight however, and there was a chance the Yield could have knocked them behind the much weaker Gretchen & Meredith.
• Tempting Fate: Rob managed to do this from the very first leg, declaring them the winners before they had even left LA.
• This Is A Race: Rob, of course, who took particular glee in the "race" aspect, as it meant he couldn't get voted out.
• Too Clever by Half: Rob definitely had a talent for racing, but when he decided to screw with other players by making them think there was an earlier flight... Well, you already know what happened.
• Trash Talk: Rob, naturally.
• Villain Ball: Rob carried this throughout the season. Was there any reason for him to pass up Brian & Greg's flipped over car without even slowing down? Or how about taunting Gretchen & Meredith with (what he thought was) a non-existent earlier flight? No, but he did it anyway, and it earned him enough hatred and distrust from the other teams that it carried over into All-Stars.
• Wolverine Publicity: They used their status as Survivor's Super Couple to leverage a spot on the Race. However, their performance did warrant them a spot on All-Stars.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: To Ron & Kelly, several times over the course of their alliance, but punctuated by the Yield in leg 10.

Ronald "Ron" Young, Jr. & Kelly McCorkle

Kelly: Your patterns in life show that you don't make commitments.

Ron: You're right, I was only committed to the military.

Kelly: And you got out of that one.

Ron: How'd I get out of that one?

Kelly: By being a POW, you left your commitment early.

Former POW and Miss South Carolina 2002 who met when he escorted her for an event. Good racers in their own right, they teamed up with Rob & Amber, and were unfortunately seen as Rob's lackeys from that point out, never able to step out of his shadow. Their relationship dissolved over the course of the season, culminating with them all but breaking up at the London Heathrow Airport in the penultimate leg. They would make it to the Final 3, where they missed the turn to the San Juan airport, putting them on a later flight to Miami than the other two teams, guaranteeing them a 3rd place finish.

• Commitment Issues: A complaint Kelly had against Ron, which led to her infamous quote above.
• Failed a Spot Check: Ron didn't see the signs leading them to the San Juan airport in the finale, effectively costing them the Race.
• Long-Distance Relationship: Their status prior to the season.
• The Masochism Tango: They fought a lot, and their relationship fell apart over the course of the season. Phil said on the DVD that Kelly got probably one of the most unfair portrayals ever, and that she was just a young woman upset at having her relationship fall apart on national television.
• Masochist's Meal: Ron said the four pounds of meat Roadblock was the worst eating experience of his life, even worse that when he was in an Iraqi prison.
• Out of Focus: Like Brandon & Nicole before them, they were shoved into the background in favor of the Uchenna & Joyce vs. Rob & Amber storyline late in the season.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: With their alliance with Rob & Amber and way the season ended, the fact that they were pretty good racers was forgotten.
• Shirtless Scene: Ron during the corn pounding Detour in leg 6.
• That Came Out Wrong: In leg 9, Kelly essentially accused Rob of deliberately getting captured by the enemy so he wouldn't have to complete his commitment to the Army. It's safe to say she didn't actually intend that meaning.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: After finishing last on a non-elimination leg and losing all their money and possessions, it turned out their Travelocity gnome was the one with the grand prize.
• Universal Driver's License: Ron said that he could have completed the Double Decker Bus Roadblock in leg 10 faster than Kelly because he used to fly helicopters in the Army. When Kelly mocked him for saying he could drive anything, he said he would turn around and go back to the Detour and do the course to show her.
• Women Drivers: Mentioned during the Double Decker Bus Roadblock (leading to the Universal Driver's License moment above). It was one of several sexist comments he made near the end of the season.

Meredith Smith & Gretchen Smith

Elderly married couple, who are collectively the oldest team to compete on the Race^note tying the record set by Don & Mary Jean the previous season, making them the oldest team to make it to the final four. They cruised along at the back of the pack for most of the race, proving to be surprisingly resilient despite both suffering severe injuries over the course of the season. Despite never looking like a real threat, they managed to make it to the final four, where Meredith was beaten on the Double Decker Bus Roadblock by Joyce, causing them to finish 4th.

• All There in the Manual: They were mobbed by locals in Lucknow, India, got an ovation on the street, and Meredith was repeatedly asked for autographs. It was never stated in the show, but Meredith later commented that the locals mistook him for Larry David.
• Backseat Driver: Gretchen spent much of leg 7 leaning over Meredith's shoulder and telling him to slow down and drive safe.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: When Meredith & Gretchen finished last on the non-elimination leg 5 and lost all their money, most of the remaining teams (guess the two exceptions^note  Rob & Amber and Ray & Deana), including Ron & Kelly, gave them money. When Ron & Kelly finished last in the non-elimination leg 9 and lost all their money, Meredith & Gretchen gave them money (and judging by Ron's reaction, it was a generous amount).
• Born Lucky: They might not seem like it with their injuries and nearly always finishing near the bottom, but there was usually at least one other team each leg that did worse than them and were eliminated. They even Lampshaded that most of their success was due to the mistakes of other teams. Even their best showing, finishing second in leg 9, was largely due to Rob & Amber getting Hoist by Their Own Petard.
• Chewing the Scenery: Gretchen did this a lot. One example was while riding on top of the fake elephant at the Trunk Detour in leg 8:
  "We've got a bad elephant!"
• Cool Old Guy and Cool Old Lady: Before them, no team with an average age over 50 had lasted longer than five legs or finished higher than 8th^note Both Joe & Bill and Teri & Ian's although highly competent older teams, their age averages was was 48.5 and 49.5 respectively. Sure they weren't as impressive as some later oldster teams, but at the time what they did was damn impressive, especially when you consider the serious injuries both suffered along the course.
• Failed a Spot Check: They did this repeatedly in leg 9, even ascending to the top of the Galata Kulesi twice because they missed the clue box out front.
• Determinator: During leg 5 Gretchen fell and cut her head open while spelunking, then they finished in last, but instead of getting eliminated, they were the first team to ever get their possessions taken away as a non-elimination penalty. Despite being left injured, broke, and with no possessions, they kept going for six more legs.
  • After their elimination, it was revealed that Meredith had actually been competing for several legs of the race with a broken foot.
• Gender-Blender Name: Early on, teams would refer to them and "Meredith and her husband."
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Uchenna & Joyce.
• The Load: Rob, after "tricking" them with the faster flight, accused them of being this, laughing as they went running to Uchenna & Joyce for help. It is then subverted. By asking Uchenna & Joyce about this "faster flight" both teams were able to learn there really was one.

• Major Injury Underreaction: Gretchen's reaction to falling down a cave and her face badly bleeding was "I've been wanting a face-lift for a long time."
• No Indoor Voice: Gretchen, the other teams would joke about hearing, "Meredith!" come floating in from the distance.
• Read the Freaking Manual: They actually got out of the cave in leg 5 fine the first time, but then had to go back in and retrieve the clue that they didn't retrieve the first time, resulting in Gretchen falling and busting her head open.
• Running Gag: If another team stats trash talking Meredith & Gretchen ("They're stupid," is said by more than one team), that's often Foreshadowing that this team is about to lose to Meredith & Gretchen.
• Say My Name: Gretchen did this: "Meredith!"
• Sequence Breaking: They completely missed the clue at the end of the leg 7 Roadblock and had to go back and get it after reaching the Pit Stop. Brian & Greg were so far behind though that they were not in danger of elimination.

• Stubborn Mule: Or in Gretchen's words, "an obstinate camel."
• Team Dad: To Uchenna & Joyce and Lynn & Alex.
• Team Mom: Along with Team Dad. Gretchen mentions in their introduction that she would be naturally a motherly sort.
• Tempting Fate: Gretchen, on the way to the cave Detour in leg 5, said that, "rappelling is going to be easy compared to getting there." During the task she would fall and hurt herself.

Lynn Warren & Alex Ali

Boyfriends, they were the most vocal team of the anti-"Rob & Amber" sentiment that permeated the season. Though they were mostly a middle of the pack team, finishing above 4th only once, the other teams, including Rob, saw them as a big threat. They were going strong in leg 8, and should have survived the leg, but their cab driver took them to the wrong temple while looking for the Pit Stop, allowing Gretchen & Meredith to pass them, and resulting in their elimination in 5th place.

• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Lynn, to his cab driver in the first leg:
  Lynn: Muy, muy, muy... What am I saying, "Very, very, very"?
• Call It Karma: They often said that karma would eventually catch up to Rob for his behavior.
• Camp Gay: The opening title has Alex in a purple cowboy shirt.
• Driving Stick: Alex, which only mattered when he chose to do the driving Roadblock in leg 7.
• False Protagonist: They took over the role of Rob & Amber's main opposition after Debbie & Bianca's elimination in leg 3.
• Honor Before Reason: They stopped to help Brian & Greg after they flipped their car in leg 6. Now, stopping when someone is lying by the side of the road, injured, is excusable, as some things are more important than a game, but they continued to stick around even when Brian & Greg were practicality pushing them back into their car to continue the race.
• Keet: Lynn.
• Loophole Abuse: They were the first team to think of putting on as many clothes as possible in case they got non-eliminated and hit with the mugging penalty. Though they were eliminated, this would become a handy strategy in Family Edition.
• Odd Friendship: With Brian & Greg.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Despite their portrayal as heroes crusading against Rob & Amber, they often made racist remarks about the countries they were visiting.
• Stubborn Mule: They switched out of the llama Detour in leg 1 after their llamas refused to move and kept spitting on them.
  Lynn: I swear to god we got the gay llama, it was very bitchy.

Brian Smith & Greg Smith

Brothers, they ran the Race well enough, even climbing to 2nd at one point, but they flipped their car in Botswana, injuring their cameraman and pushing themselves to the back of the pack. Even though they managed to survive the leg thanks to beating a disintegrating Ray & Deanna in a footrace to the Pit Stop, the next leg did not have an equalizer, and their ten minute deficit behind Gretchen & Meredith was apparently enough that they never saw another team after that, eliminating them in 6th place. Brian has since appeared on The Big Bang Theory, and in several dozen commercials, some of which have aired during subsequent seasons of the Race.

• Down to the Last Play: They are the only team in Race history to win not one, but two footraces to avoid elimination, beating Megan & Heidi in leg 2 and Ray & Deanna in leg 6.
• Foregone Conclusion: Their final leg started with them only 10 minutes behind Gretchen & Meredith, but they had such trouble navigating themselves through Botswana that they never saw another team.
• Miracle Rally: They looked done for after their jeep overturned and left them stranded and their cameraman injured, but Ray & Deana spent so long on the corn pounding Detour that they were still there when the brothers finally arrived. Brian & Greg wisely went with the Detour choice Ray & Deana weren't bogged down in, filling ostrich eggs with water, completed it quickly enough to leave right on Ray & Deana's tail, and beat them in a footrace to the mat.
• Nice Guy: Both of them.
• No Sense of Direction: They quoted the trope name in their final leg before proceeding to turn a 10 minute deficit to Gretchen & Meredith into a gap they could never make up.
• Odd Friendship: With Lynn & Alex.
• Read the Freaking Clue: They wasted a lot of time looking for a clue at the wrong water tower in their final leg, as they did not read that they had to drive through Maun before finding the clue.
• Rummage Sale Reject: Invoked when they ran into their final Pit Stop wearing bathing suits, knit caps, and scarves hoping that Phil would non-eliminate them so that they would have to run the rest of the race in their ridiculous getups.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Much of their airtime was spent with them goofing around.
• Shirtless Scene: They were eliminated in their swimming suits.

• Sibling Team: They were brothers.
• Token Romance: With Megan & Heidi, though it only lasted two legs.

Ray Hosteau & Deana Shane

Dating couple, they came in with high expectations for themselves, but spent most their time in the back of the pack. They would finally jump to 1st place when they won the Fast Forward in leg 5, but would ultimately get eliminated on the following leg when they fell apart at the corn pounding Detour (mostly because they couldn't get into a good rhythm), putting them into a position to lose a footrace to the long trailing Brian & Greg, finishing in 7th place.

• Call-Back: Ray references Colin's famous line (in response to his inability to control an ox in Season 5) by telling Deana that the horse she is struggling on is not broken.
• Competition Freak: Ray came in expecting to win every single leg. Deana called him such in their introduction.
• Death by Irony: Ray spent a lot of time talking about how Gretchen & Meredith didn't belong on the Race, and how he wanted to "put them out of their misery." In their final leg, they would get passed by Gretchen & Meredith on the mostly strength based corn pounding Detour.
• Down to the Last Play: They lost a footrace to the Pit Stop to Brian & Greg and were eliminated.

• Hair-Trigger Temper: It did not take much to set Ray off.
• Jerkass: Ray had some not so nice things to say about his competition, specifically Meredith & Gretchen. Not to mention he got into frequent spats with Deana.
• The Masochism Tango: Especially apparent during the corn pounding Detour, when they could not get into a good rhythm with each other, resulting in the more in sync Gretchen & Meredith passing them.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: They were actually the first team to come up with the "Move up to first class for no additional cost" strategy to get off the plane first. That move would later become more famous 9 seasons later when Dan & Jordan won using that strategy.
• Paper Tiger: Despite all of Ray's muscles and big words, they mostly spent their time at the back of the pack.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Ray came into the race expecting to win every leg, and when he was on the second flight during leg 4 (due to Deana quitting the four pounds of meat Roadblock in the previous leg), he constantly talked about how he didn't belong in the back of the pack, and Gretchen & Meredith were old and didn't belong in the same race as him.
• Sore Loser: Ray, not at being eliminated, but at spending much of the race at the bottom, near Meredith & Gretchen, fueling his resentment towards them.
• Tempting Fate: Ray had a lot of opinions on why Gretchen & Meredith were not in the same league as him. Guess which team made it much further.
• Trash Talk: Of Meredith & Gretchen. We know how well that turned out.

Susan Vaughn & Patrick Vaughn

Mother and her gay son. They teamed up with Debbie & Bianca early on, the girls' fluent Spanish allowing them to finish 2nd on the first leg. Patrick would later end up having to battle Debbie during the four pounds of meat Roadblock just to stay in the Race. Though he would win, they would only last one more leg, as their boat broke down during the leg 4 Detour, causing Patrick to give up, and they finished 8th.

• Camp Gay: Patrick, though not as much as Lynn and Alex.
• Jerkass: Patrick. See Rage Quit.
• The Load: Patrick spent most of the race whining, quitting tasks, and being negative.
• Rage Quit: Patrick was almost ready to do this during the meat Roadblock until Debbie & Bianca showed up, and after their boat breakdown in the next leg, he constantly insisted they should just give up against his mother's wishes to keep going. It led to one of the more unpleasant exit interviews where he chided his crying mother for being overly optimistic while insisting he was being realistic about their eventual elimination.
• Team Mom: Susan to Debbie & Bianca.
• Unknown Rival: To Rob & Amber, as Patrick planned on getting close to them then stabbing them in the back later, only Rob & Amber did not remember who they were upon reading their nasty letter during their final Roadblock in All-Stars.

Debbie Cloyed & Bianca Smith

Lifelong friends. They became early favorites when they used Bianca's fluent Spanish to win the first leg, becoming the first all-female team to win a leg without a Fast Forward since Mary & Peach in Season 2. However, their Race would be cut short in the third leg when they drove two hours in the wrong direction, and were never able to quite make up the time lost, even with Debbie's magnificent performance at the meat Roadblock, and they finished in 9th. Post-race, Debbie wrote and published a novel, The Summer We Came To Life, partially based on her experience on the Race.

• Action Girl: Both of them, and they were presented as Rob & Amber's biggest competition early on as a result.
• Big Eater: Debbie scarfed down that four pounds of meat, and was the only woman to complete it.
• False Protagonist: For the first three legs they were the only team to stand up to Rob & Amber, and it looked like they were building a rivalry that would last the entire season.
• Girl on Girl Is Hot: Greg got a bit overexcited over the apparent "closeness" they exhibited at LAX during the premiere.
• Miracle Rally: They came close, but ultimately failed, in leg 3. They got lost early in the leg, drove two hours in the wrong direction, and then had to drive two more to get back on course. Still, when they got to the four pounds of meat Roadblock there were still four teams sitting there (three having already quit the challenge, while the fourth was contemplating it). Debbie scarfed down her four pounds of meat, yet they were ultimately eliminated by a matter of minutes.
• No Sense of Direction: Driving two hours the wrong way got them eliminated.
• Stubborn Mule: Debbie's inability to get her llama moving in the first leg Detour caused them to switch tasks and fall from 1st to 3rd (the other eight teams were an hour and a half behind them).
• That Liar Lies: They openly accused Rob of lying to them at the bus station in Peru, which Rob took offense to for some reason.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Self-Described in their introduction.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Debbie almost died in a white water rafting accident a few months before the race, so of course there was a rafting Detour.
• Worthy Opponent: The only compliment Rob gave out the entire season was to Debbie during the four pounds of meat Roadblock. He said that if anyone could pull that comeback, she could, because she was tough enough to stand up to him. In the next leg, Ray even said he was happy to see them go because they were so strong.

Megan Baker & Heidi Heidel

Friends and roommates, much of their time on screen was spent flirting with Brian & Greg. They fell behind early in the second leg, ultimately losing a footrace to the Pit Stop to Brian & Greg, finishing 10th.

• Down to the Last Play: They were eliminated after losing a footrace to Brian & Greg.
• Dumb Blonde: Discussed in their introduction. They believed that the others would view them as a weak team because of being blonde and attractive.
• Ms. Fanservice: Their portion of the opening credits showed them in bikinis. They also noted that most would be believe them to be a weak team because of this in their introduction.
• Token Romance: With Brian & Greg.

Ryan Phillips & Chuck Horton

Good Old Boys and lifelong friends from South Carolina, they are one of the most popular first outs. When doing the Rope a Llama Detour in the first leg, they made the decision to only guide one llama at a time, and struggled with their second one, dropping them into a three-way tie for last place. They subsequently lost a footrace to Ron & Kelly, eliminating them in 11th place.

• Big Fun: They were big guys, and though they were only around a short time, they brought a lot of laughs.
• Down to the Last Play: They lost a footrace to Ron & Kelly.
• Good Ol' Boy: They were from rural South Carolina, though they had a lot of Hidden Depths.
• Hidden Depths: Chuck's Portuguese for one, but apparently they were the smartest team judging by the pre-Race tests, and the early pick to win for a lot of the production crew.
• Leitmotif: They had a banjo theme.
• Manly Tears: Ryan, upon their elimination.
• Self-Deprecation: During the zip-line task, Ryan said that they were going to be the first people to load test the rig.

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