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OC Teams
Leo and Annie, Siblings
Siblings from Ohio, raised by their grandparents. Annie is always on the positive side while Leo is more cynical and real.
- Berserk Button: Annie doesn't take lightly to people who think she just coasts on challenges and doesn't put any real effort into racing.
- Big Brother Instinct: Leo exemplifies this throughout most of the race but the premiere example has to be tackling Josee and delivering a "Reason You Suck" Speech to her after she kicks Annie back into the snake pit in Greece.
- Big Eater: Annie managed to polish off most of the beans in Alberta and both of them showed almost no disgust to the feast in Iceland.
- Born Lucky: Annie. She doesn't get stung by the ants in Brazil, gets her ring on the narwhal relatively quickly and gets a Bowery fish on her first jump while her brother jumped several times.
- Freudian Excuse: Both of their parents wound up committing adultery and eventually local cops got involved and the young Leo and Annie bore witness to it. It's why Leo was so apprehensive about pursuing a relationship with June.
- Friend to All Living Things: Annie gets along almost supernaturally well with animals. Several people have even described her as a Disney character come to life.
- Good Is Not Dumb: Even Annie has come recognize that the Ice Dancers aren't nice people.
- Hair of Gold: Annie.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Befalls upon Leo when he confesses his love to June
- Not So Above It All: As the story goes on we see Leo isn't as uptight as he initially wants us to believe.
- "Reason You Suck" Speech: In addition to the above mentioned tongue lashing Leo gives to Josee in Greece, Annie delivers another one to her London for saying she hasn't put any effort into the competition.
- Leo also delivers one to Chris Mclean in the finale, repeatedly calling out his atrocities over the series.
- Spirited Competitor: On the flight to Russia, most of the other teams bemoan the fact that they lost a time advantage when the bottom 4 teams arrive on their flight but Annie congratulates them for making it.
- Suddenly Bilingual: Downplayed but Annie admitted she learned how to say “please, hello, thank you, yes, no, and goodbye“ in over 27 different languages. Something she uses to her advantage in Iceland.
- Unaffected by Spice: Annie doesn't notice when she eats a wasabi roll in Japan, with the chef having to point it out. And like Crimson she tolerates the ghost chile like it was nothing. (At most she rubs her cheek with mild annoyance, like one might do if they accidentally prick their finger)
Syd and Dani, Mother and Son
A mother and son team from Northern California.
- Ambiguously Brown: Artwork depicts them both as such.
- Disappeared Dad: Syd's father walked out on them when he was 5.
- Former Teen Rebel: Dani.
- Heroic BSoD: Syd goes through one in New Zealand following Aaryn and Yves' elimination.
- Plot Allergy: Wasn't actually a problem but Syd is mentioned to be allergic to tomatoes.
- Shamu Fu: Dani slaps Syd with a Bowery fish to snap him out of his funk in New Zealand. Also doubles as a case of Get A Hold Of Yourself Man.
June and Quince, Julliard Students
A ballet dancer and musician who are currently attending Julliard school for music.
- The Ace: Quince says in the first episode that he can play nearly any instrument.
- Awesome by Analysis: How Quince completes the air guitar challenge in Finland.
- Chekhov's Skill:
- Their dance training unsurprisingly allows them to breeze right through the Haka dance challenge in New Zealand. Allowing them to win 2nd place that leg and be the only other team, aside from Jacques and Josee, to accomplish the challenge in one go.
- It comes in handy again when they do the robot arcade dance challenge in Japan.
- Zigzagged in regards to the air guitar challenge in Finland. Quince is the musician of the 2 but he's not trained in rock and roll, yet after watching Dani's performance once he's able to copy it and advance himself and June to the next round.
- Fatal Flaw: For June it's Pride, which gets them eliminated when she doesn't drag Quince alongside herself during the final sprint to the chill zone in the Galapagos like Leo did with Annie.
- My Beloved Smother: June's mother.
- Nephewism: Quince's biography mentions that he was raised by an aunt after his parents went on the run for jewel forging.
- Platonic Life-Partners
- The Runaway: June is revealed to have been this.
- Stereotype Flip: Quince is happy to admit that he's a terrible athlete.
Sam and May, Anime Nerds
A previously long distance dating couple who met at an anime convention.
- Amicable Exes: May dated Fabian at one point, but they realized they were happy with how things between them were.
- But Not Too Bi: Sam is bisexual, but he has a girlfriend (May) and never once shows interest in any male characters. Subverted in the OC additional info, which reveals he has a celebrity crush on Steve Blum.
- Chekhov's Hobby: They unsurprisingly take 1st place in the Japanese leg, helped in part by May's ability to read/speak Japanese.
- The Gadfly: Sam. In Romania he faked twisting his leg just to see how everyone else would react.
- Hidden Depths: Sam mentions to Junior how he used to feel so invisible as a child, but all that changed after a meeting with a rock star named Sabah Sabre.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: May has mismatching socks and shoes.
- Freaky Fashion, Mild Mind: Though Sam dresses like a punk and has several tattoos he's a rather nice person.
- Identical Stranger: Sam apparently looked a lot like Junior when he was younger.
- In Touch with His Feminine Side: Sam wears make up and wore the dress for the magic show in Las Vegas.
- Long Hair Is Feminine: May's hair is said to reach her calves. Even after Jacques cuts it in Rome, it still goes down to her waist.
- Named After Someone Famous: Sam's full name is "Samuel Vincent Matthew Hill".
- Suddenly Bilingual: To complete the vaquero challenge in Argentina Sam gives the horse several commands in Spanish, with no prior indication he knew anything beyond simple greetings.
Jordan and Fabian, Animaniacs
Another formerly long distance dating couple who are the sister of Sam and a longtime friend of May. Both have aspirations of making animated films.
- Amicable Exes: Fabian had dated May in the past but preferred their platonic friendship.
- Anti-Hero: Fabian constantly struggles with self-confidence.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Fabian mentions that he pretended to be a fox for a week as an art project and still believes in the Tooth Fairy.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: There are times where Jordan ends up pantsless, revealing her gray boxer briefs.
- Determinator: Fabian powers through a concussion to complete the "Storm the Castle" challenge in London
- Friend to All Living Things: Not to the degree of Annie, but Fabian has great fondness for foxes and even befriends a wolf in Rome.
- Inspirationally Disadvantaged: Fabian has High-Functioning Autism.
- Iron Butt Monkey: In Mexico, Fabian suffers a vasovagal syncope (fainting spell), and in London he both dislocates an arm and takes a cannonball to the face!
- Luck-Based Search Technique: How Fabian finds the trap door in Geelong.
- Messy Hair: Fabian has this in artwork.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: Encounter one as they sail down the Barwon River in Australia.
- Post-Victory Collapse: Fabian does this after completing the "Storm the Castle" challenge in London, though keep in mind he did also take a cannonball to the face a few moments earlier.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: Though she didn't get physical, when Jacques and Josee rejoiced over Fabian falling down a flight of stairs just inches from the chill zone in London, Jordan tells them to "stick it up their Latvian Country Matters".
Aaryn and Yves, Models
2 friends from Southern California who are models.
- Crazy-Prepared: Yves brought along a perfume that was quite helpful during the bullet ants challenge in Brazil.
- Ethical Slut: His first time withstanding, Aaryn never has sex without protection and never forces himself on a girl who doesn't want to go past 1st base.
- Famed In-Story: Their biographies mention that both of them competed on a show called Model Behavior prior to being on this show.
- Hidden Depths: Aaryn's biography mentions that he wants to be a psychologist, specifically a sexual psychologist
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Aaryn, who also Really Gets Around.
- Ms. Fanservice: Yves.
- Noodle Incident: They've talked several times about modeling shoots they've had to do, one of which involved posing with animals, another involved posing in a coffin and another involved explosives.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Their biographies mention that Aaryn considers Yves more of a sister than anything.
- Pretty Boy: Aaryn, in addition to being Mr. Fanservice.
- Two First Names: Yves Lauren, which also serves as a Shout-Out to Yves St Laurent.
Gabriella and Nekota, Gym Rats
A couple who likes hanging out at the gym, have Olympic hopeful dreams.
- Badass Bystander: They find MacArthur's passport in DC, get it back to her and even offer to drive the Cadets around. Unfortunately this isn't enough to eliminate the Ice Dancers.
- Berserk Button: Nekota doesn't like being called "buckskin" and Gabriella doesn't like being double crossed.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: Happens to Nekota during the air guitar challenge in Finland.
- Death by Pragmatism: Well not exactly "death" but although Nekota knew that trying to pick a fight with a baby kangaroo would end badly, he and Gabriella still wind up being chased around the Outback farm by a kangaroo even after he tried to ignore it.
- Handicapped Badass: Downplayed, but Nekota mentions that the pepper he ate in Mexico cleared up the stuffy nose he got in the North Pole.
- Gender-Blender Name: Nekota is traditionally a Japanese female name.
- Le Parkour: Their introduction.
- Spanner in the Works: Jacques and Josee's plan in DC would've worked perfectly had Gabriella and Nekota not found MacArthur's passport. While the Ice Dancers still stayed in the competition Gabriella and Nekota spill the beans to all the remaining teams about the previously unknown atrocities they've done on the show, including inadvertently causing June and Quince to be eliminated.
- Statuesque Stunner: Gabriella is 5'10" (taller than her boyfriend) and, again, gymnast.
- Tomboyish Ponytail: Both of them have this.
