Characters / The Amazing Race 33

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 | 36
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

The 33rd installment of The Amazing Race.

While fans knew that COVID halted the season, prospects were high coming in, with a cast that did seem genuinely promising. The first few episodes, despite weak tasks were still considered to be decent and had a lot of potential. The COVID halt is where you saw the opinion of the season get very divided between casual fans and superfans. Casual fans loved the season for having friendly teams, the stronger teams making it deep into the race, and a lack of arguing, which they felt was needed after the devastating impact of the pandemic.

Superfans, however, ranked it among the worst seasons the show has ever seen. First of all, they made no effort to improve the tasks that were derided over the first few legs. Next, they took a stunning lack of chances and took a very safe approach to compensate for the COVID halt, making for a lackluster pace and uninvigorating legs. Third, there was a glaringly obvious issue of teams playing up inspirational stories and the editors just embraced it, expecting fans to prioritize that over the actual competition. Fourth, the decision to put the flights, then departures made it extremely easy for two teams to run off the lack of an equalizer to the finale. Fifth, the editors gave a winners' edit that rivals The Amazing Race 15 and The Amazing Race Canada 7 for the most obvious winners' edit in the show's history. Last, superfans tend to prefer competitive seasons over easygoing ones so what casual fans enjoyed from that lack of presence actually alienated them.

There is also a third camp that believes the final product, while not perfect, was as good as could have been expected given the circumstances and made the best out of a bad situation.

Kim and Penn Holderness

Married internet personalities from Raleigh, NC.

• Achilles' Heel: While not enough to stop them from winning the race, their weaker eyesight compared to the younger contestants gets brought up multiple times toward the end, and seems to be their only real weakness. It’s most apparent when Penn can’t see all of the columns that he needs to count and fails the task several times because of it.
• Ascended Fanboy: They are both huge fans of the race.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Most notably during the Stones Roadblock in Leg 9, where Kim pointed out that the coin was nearby, but wasn't finding it, with pointing out the music the editors liked to play.
• Chekhov's Skill:
  • Their skills with singing and dancing allowed them to easily finish the Kilt Detour in Scotland, giving them first place on that leg of the race.
  • Their experience lip-syncing while making music videos helped them time the sound effects during the foley artist task. (So did their familiarity with classic scenes from past seasons.)
• Cool Old Guy / Cool Old Lady: They’re the oldest team this season when accounting for both of their ages, but they won 4 legs (3 of them back to back) and eventually the entire race.
• Crazy-Prepared: They were both huge superfans of the race and studied it intensively. In fact, Kim during the race took very meticulous notes, which helped them get through the final puzzle. Not that this hasn't been common strategy for over a decade, the editors just played it up as such.
• Disability Superpower: Penn has ADHD but is able to use it to his advantage to focus on difficult puzzles and ace then with ease. ^note  This is actually scientifically inaccurate. While people with ADHD can hyperfocus, it's not done voluntarily, nor can it be controlled so this statement comes off as glorifying ADHD.
• Failed a Spot Check:
  • At the Mail Rail roadblock in Leg 2, Penn spent 30 minutes looking for his clue with Ray as they overthought the clue being somewhere else despite them finding the clue early on and even holding on to the clue at several times.
  • Again at the Souvlaki task in Leg 8 when they threw away their wrapper with the clue after eating their souvlaki. In their defense, they quickly realized the mistake.
• Invincible Heroes: The editors certainly liked portraying them this way as they effortlessly coasted along a season with easy tasks and no equalizers, all while preaching messages of positivity in their confessionals.

Raquel Moore and Cayla Platt

Flight attendants from Chicago, Ill. and Gulf Breeze, Fla., respectively.

• Failed a Spot Check: At the Souvlaki task in Leg 8, they threw away their wrapper which contained the clue away before they realized their mistake.
• Genki Girl: They’re both very positive and upbeat.
• Global Ignorance: In Leg 2, they had trouble at the Decorate detour due to them not realizing that England was no longer part of the European Union. (The race started only three weeks after Brexit, so this may have been a deliberate attempt to trip up the teams.)
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: While they are willing to flirt and use their girl charm, they are both very athletic and were hoping the flag tossing detour would be physical.
• Ms. Fanservice / Male Gaze: They are both very attractive and the camera angles like to emphasize this.
• No Sense of Direction: Subverted. While they have had minor mishaps, they've proven themselves to be very strong at navigation, going from last after Leg 8's roadblock to 2nd on the leg's self-driving segments.
• Oblivious to Hatred: After they form a girls’ alliance with Lulu and Lala, and Lulu helps Raquel, Raquel runs off without Lulu, which clearly upsets her. Raquel seems completely unaware that she upset Lulu though, despite Lulu and Lala seeming much less enthusiastic to see her and Cayla the next time they catch up to them.
• Tempting Fate: In Leg 5, they brag about their navigation skills on the way to the Versazca Dam and mention that they believe they're in first. They ended up being the last team to reach the dam.
• Took a Level in Badass: At the beginning of the race, they were near the back of the pack for the most part. In the latter half of the race, they find their footing and quickly become mainstays near the front of the group, complete with two leg victories. This culminated in their second place finish.

Ryan Ferguson and Dusty Harris

Best friends from Columbia, Mo.

• The Ace: They’re usually in the lead and so good at almost every challenge that the other teams are happy to see them finally struggle on something in the sixth episode, when the cheese-making challenge is the first one that they don’t complete easily. Subverted when they start struggling with later challenges which leads to them finishing last on the final non-elimination leg and then getting third place in the finale.
• Failed a Spot Check: They struggle on the painting challenge in Leg 10 when they failed to paint their doorknob, which led to them needing the most checks.
• Innocently Insensitive: On their worst days they can be this, with them calling Kim and Penn the oldest couple to win The Amazing Race.
• It's All My Fault: Dusty blames himself for Ryan and him finishing last in Leg 9 on a challenge that was complete luck.
• Keet: Energetic and affable fellows, who seem to get along with everyone.
• Large Ham: Mostly Dusty, but he is definitely enough of a ham for the both of them. Especially when checking in at the Pit Stop on Leg 6 after their recovery, and completing the first roadblock on Leg 8 where it even gets lampshaded.

Dusty: Half of Greece knew I was ecstatic when I finished this roadblock.

Lala: [sarcastically] He’s so quiet!

• Miscarriage of Justice: Ryan was found guilty of a murder and wrongfully jailed for ten years. They ran the race to help give justice to the wrongfully imprisoned.
• Nice Guy: Both of them are very excitable and friendly.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Dusty's very loud and energetic, while Ryan's calmer and more level-headed. This is most apparent in Leg 9's Roadblock where Ryan remains calm the entire time, helping calm Dusty down when the latter is getting frustrated with the challenge.
• The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Despite Dusty's experience with cheese making, they both struggled the most during the cheese-making detour in Leg 6.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Upon seeing the staircase in the Bartender Race detour in Leg 5.
• True Companions: Dusty stood by Ryan's side for 10 whole years even when many of his friends didn't believe in his innocence.
  • Additionally, during the Roadblock in Leg 9, Ryan was able to help him calm down, telling him that in the long run, it didn't matter.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Take their shirts off often.

Arun and Natalia Kumar

Father and daughter from Detroit, Mich. They had a strong start in the beginning, even placing in the top three in the second leg. However, due to Arun's struggles with the Kilt Detour in Scotland, they fell behind and were cut in 10th place. However, they were brought back after the pandemic delay to replace the teams who couldn’t return. In fact, they were considered one of the luckiest teams to run the race, being saved from elimination an unprecedented three times.^noteThey were officially eliminated in Leg 3, but got to return to the race. Along with this, they were able to squeak by on elimination legs through other teams struggling. All this luck came to an end in Leg 10, when they had a lead on Ryan & Dusty, but were equalized at the Portuguese Explorers Roadblock. Arun struggled with rowing the boat, and despite catching his mistake with the Portuguese explorer, his struggles with the boat allowed Ryan to take the boat that Arun wanted. They were both not able to catch up, even with Ryan & Dusty missing a spot at the painting task, and finished in 4th place.

• Achilles' Heel: No Sense of Direction. They aren’t bad at the challenges, but they keep getting lost between each leg of the race, which keeps them at the back of the pack in every episode after the first two.
• Ascended Fanboy: Both of them, with Natalia having been watching the race with her dad since she was eight years old.
• Back from the Dead: In unprecedented race history Michael and Moe along with them were brought back for the third leg. One team would survive the leg, the other... not so much.
• Born Lucky: Manage to evade elimination for finishing last three times! The first time, they were officially eliminated pre-Covid, but then got brought back to replace teams who couldn’t return after the Covid break. The second and third times, they happened to finish last on non-elimination rounds. Phil lampshades this the third time by saying that a team evading elimination three times by sheer luck is unprecedented. Arun exclaims that they must have nine lives.
• The Cutie: Both of them are this in their own way. Natalia is a cute young woman whose kindness actually got them eliminated the first time, due to her wasting too much time helping another team, requiring her to learn to not be so helpful to their competition. And Arun is a laidback Nice Guy and supportive dad who clearly loves his daughter a lot.
• Deus ex Machina: Eliminated in tenth, only to be brought back to replace teams that couldn't return after the nineteen-month pit stop.
• Elimination Houdini: They've made it to the final four, despite finishing last three times. They were saved by a restart due to the pandemic and survived finishing last in two non-elimination legs.
• Manipulative Editing: In their return episode, the editing made it appear as if they had No Sense of Direction and were overtaken by Akbar and Sheridan. In actuality, there was an unaired Speed Bump that gave them enough time to be passed.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: In the third episode, they took the time to stop and help another team, only to end up losing the race partly due to the time they lost from that act of kindness. When they return in the fourth episode (because of the Deus ex Machina listed above), they end up in the exact same situation and this time choose to not repeat that mistake, leading to them not getting eliminated in that episode.
• No Sense of Direction: Seem to get lost every time they have to drive somewhere.
• Parent-Child Team: They’re both adults, but Natalia being Arun’s daughter still gives them this type of team dynamic.
• So Proud of You: Natalia to Arun once she realizes that he managed to get ahead of Akbar.
• Taught by Experience: Due to losing the first time because of being too helpful, they decide to focus on their own race when they return.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: After getting repeatedly screwed over by the self-driving segments in episodes 3-5, which they clearly struggle with, episode 6 finally gives them a break from it and they do much better as a result.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Natalia says this to her dad when he flops the challenge and comes in last.

Marianela “Lulu” and Marissa “Lala” Gonzalez

Twins and radio hosts from North Bergen, N.J. In Leg 8, despite pulling ahead of both Arun & Natalia and Raquel & Cayla after the Dolmades Roadblock, they got horribly lost while looking for the Souvlaki task location and found the Pitstop. While they were able to find the location, they struggled with the souvlaki tasks, and ate two before finding the clue. The time they lost caused them to finish in 5th place.

• Badass Adorable: Their second-place finish in the fifth episode, where they surprise themselves with how well they did and are absolutely ecstatic. They’re also like this in general whenever they manage to pull ahead in the race.
• The Cutie: Both of them are quite adorable between their cute faces, cutesy hairdos and matching outfits, and sweet personalities.
• Failed a Spot Check: At the Souvlaki task in Leg 8, they threw their wrapper away (which had their next clue). In the process, they got confused and ended up having to spell souvlaki again and eat a second one before finding their clue.
• Fetishized Abuser: Lala had a kid with a guy who turned out to be a total creep and with Lulu's help she dumped him but is still trying to get over him. At least before the pandemic hit.
• Genki Girl: They’re very energetic and upbeat.
• Graceful Loser / Nice Girl: Upon losing the race, they emphatically praise the show and the production, expressing sincere gratitude that they were given the opportunity to have so many cool experiences.
• In Memoriam: After their return, they declare that they are now racing for their grandmother, who died from COVID.
• Ms. Fanservice: Both of them are very attractive.
• No Sense of Direction: Which ended up being their undoing in Leg 8. They got so lost that they stumbled across the Pitstop before completing the souvlaki task and the Saints Roadblock. Lampshaded by Phil when he told them. "At least you know where the Pitstop is!"
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Only known by Lulu and Lala.
• Sibling Team: And they work together as well.
• The Tease: They enjoy flirting with some of the people they meet at the roadblocks.
• Took a Level in Badass: Temporarily, although sadly it didn’t last. They did poorly in the first episode and then did even worse in the second episode, where they finished last and were only spared because it was a non-elimination episode. However, after that they became front-runners in the race and one of the strongest teams for a bit, even getting second place in the fifth episode. However, they began struggling again starting in the sixth episode until their elimination in the eighth episode.

Akbar Sr. and Sheridan Cook

Married educators from Martinsville, N.J. From the start they tended to hang near the back of the pack, frequently falling victim to their lack of ability to take on physical tasks efficiently. For much of the first part of their run Sheri especially fell victim to unfortunate luck in being stuck with tasks that forced her to face her fear of heights, and in the return episode they only got spared because of the two returning teams having to perform unaired Speed Bumps ^note Manipulative Editing made it appear that they had No Sense of Direction, however. Ultimately, their undoing would come in Leg 6, when Akbar couldn't complete the canyoning Road Block quickly enough and was overtaken by an otherwise trailing Ryan, ensuring their elimination for the episode.

• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Whenever Akbar yells at Sheri to pick up the pace, it seems to only discourage her, making it seem that she sees him as this.
• Fatal Flaw: Being out of shape. They struggled with this even pre-delay but doing poorly on physical tasks always seemed to put them in a hole. On the leg they got eliminated, they were doing okay but the very fit and athletic Ryan was able to blow past Akbar on the canyoning roadblock and they could never catch back up.
• Glory Days: Akbar keeps bringing up how good they were as athletes back when they were in school, and seems to be trying to recreate that success in the race despite them being much older and out-of-shape at this point in their lives.
• It's All My Fault: Akbar blames himself for them falling behind in Switzerland because he didn't speak up when Sheri wanted to do a height-based Roadblock in spite of being afraid of them.
• Jerkass: Akbar repeatedly puts all the hard tasks on Sheri then continually criticizes her performance in them. He might be the most loathed player since Travis.
• Karmic Death: Akbar spent a lot of the season upset with Sheri not being able to keep up with him. However, the reason they were eliminated was a result of him getting winded himself during the Canyoning Roadblock in Leg 6, which allowed a trailing Ryan to pass him.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After a whole season of yelling at his wife for giving her the hard tasks, it's immensely satisfying to see Akbar being the cause for their elimination.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: Although Akbar comes across as a major Jerkass to his wife on the show, outside of the show he is an educator who is really passionate about giving the kids in his community a good, stable environment where they can thrive. While his behavior on the show was still pretty bad, the other contestants seemed to think highly of him and Sheri.
• No Sense of Direction: Nearly cost them the race in Scotland.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Heights for Sheri, which makes her all the more annoyed when she ends up having to do two height-based Roadblocks in a row.^noteAlthough a big part of Sheri doing the Bungee Jump roadblock was a production decision, as Akbar was too big/tall to complete the task.

Michael Norwood and Armonde “Moe” Badger

Singing police officers from Buffalo, N.Y. They managed to do decently well on the first leg, until they screwed up the street art detour by not realizing that it was actually a puzzle they needed to put together correctly. This put them into a hole and while other teams struggled, it was not enough to save them from being eliminated in 11th place. They returned post-pandemic-delay due to four teams not returning....only to be promptly eliminated again for the exact same reason—putting something together incorrectly at a detour. This time they put the symbols on a belt in the wrong order.

• Deus ex Machina: Eliminated first, only to be brought back to replace teams that couldn't return after the nineteen-month pit stop. It didn't help them.
• Failed a Spot Check: What cost them the race. They didn't realize that the art they needed to put together was actually a puzzle and wasted time just gluing them in random places.
• History Repeats: Both times they were eliminated, it was because they incorrectly performed a detour, putting a puzzle and a belt together improperly.
• Irony: Cops who got eliminated twice because they didn’t pay attention to details.
• Manipulative Editing: In their return episode, the editing made it appear as if they had No Sense of Direction and were overtaken by Akbar and Sheridan. In actuality, there was an unaired Speed Bump that gave them enough time to be passed.
• Reality Show Genre Blindness: At this point, teams should know that any sort of art task is a puzzle that needs to be put together correctly. Then when they got the chance to come back, they made the same mistake.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: What did you expect? Soon double subverted as they returned to the race due to four teams not returning from the post pandemic delay...only to end up repeated when they got eliminated once again on the first leg of the post-pandemic return.

Caro Viehweg and Ray Gantt

Long distance daters from Los Angeles and Toms River, N.J., respectively. They had broken up and Caro had moved to Sweden by the time the show resumed so they didn’t return.

• Failed a Spot Check: At the Mail Rail roadblock in Leg 2, Ray spent 30 minutes looking for his clue with Penn as they overthought the clue being somewhere else despite them finding the clue early on and even holding on to it at several times. Lampshaded by Caro when she told him, "If it says Amazing Race, it's probably a clue."
• Genre Savvy: At the street art detour, Caro realized that the race would not just have them put the posters on the wall, but arrange the posters in a certain way to complete the task. They actually did have a task like that in Season 12 where the challenge was that they had to make all 6 posters line up perfectly to get the clue.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Caro tends to come across as sweet and relaxed most of the time, making her the Blue Oni, while Ray gets more obviously frustrated and snappy whenever things don’t go his way, making him the Red Oni.

Taylor and Isaiah Green-Jones

Married YouTube sensations from Portland, OR. They were set to return after the delay but had to back out at the last minute due to a family death.

• Back for the Finale: Despite failing to return to the race properly, Taylor and Isaiah were present at the finish line during the finale.
• Camp Gay: Seemed to invoke this trope, given their mannerisms though not to an extreme.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: They were barely shown on camera.

Connie and Sam Greiner

Married couple from Charlotte, NC. They didn’t return after the pandemic delay because Connie was pregnant.

• Babies Ever After: Instead of returning to the Race, Connie and Sam chose to have a baby.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: They were barely shown on camera.

Anthony Sadler and Spencer Stone

Childhood friends from Sacramento, Calif. who had previously achieved international fame due to their actions in stopping an attempted terrorist on a train and then playing themselves in the film based on the events, The 15:17 to Paris. They weren’t able to return post-delay because Anthony had just started a new job and couldn’t get the time off.

• Cassandra Truth: At the Mail Rail Roadblock in Leg 2, Ray and Penn asked Anthony if the roadblock was that simple. While there was some hesitation in his voice, he did tell the truth. However, Ray and Penn still weren't sure because of the hesitation and stayed for an additional 30 minutes despite having the clue.
• Childhood Friends
• Global Ignorance: Thought Norway was part of the European Union though to be fair they figured out the answer faster than most of the other teams.

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