Characters / The Amazing Race 36

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

Season 36 of The Amazing Race was initially believed by fans to not even be going to air - due to it being filmed in late 2022 and yet not released, due to the writers' strikes and the subsequent new 90 minute episode length, they thought it was going to be sent straight to Paramount Plus with zero fanfare. However, it did eventually go to air in March 2024.

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Rod & Leticia Gardner

Married Couple

Tropes associated with them:

• The Big Guy: Rod is 6'2" and still has his NFL physique, which is impressive for a man in his mid 40s. At the Argentinian bubble soccer task, Rod even pokes out of the bubble due to being too tall.

Ricky Rotandi & Cesar Aldrete

Dating Boyfriends

Tropes associated with them:

• Ascended Fanboy: Cesar is a fan of the race.
• Chekhov's Skill:
  • Cesar grew up in Mexico and was able to speak fluent Spanish, meaning the first several legs, which take place in Spanish speaking countries, far easier for him and Ricky.
  • Cesar is a cook by profession, letting him and Ricky blast through the cooking detour of the 3rd leg, allowing them to take first place. However, Work Place Acquired Abilities was averted with both that task and a subsequent meat-identifying half of a Detour, because, as revealed in a confessional, Cesar's specialty isn't meat, but pastry.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Played with. Ostensibly, Ricky and Cesar's assigned color was "mint". However, the boyfriends commonly wear Hawaiian shirts with a bluish hue that could possibly pass as mint green.
• Honor Before Reason: At the 4th Roadblock, Ricky could've looked at Amber's station due to her not covering it before she looked at the statues again, but he decided against it and continued with the challenge.
• Renaissance Men: They seem to have a little knowledge in just about everything, which Juan lampshades after discovering that Cesar knows how to weld at a Roadblock requiring welding.
• Too Qualified to Apply: While most teams have a good enough understanding of Spanish, Ricky and Cesar take it to the next level and use their fluency in Spanish to navigate well and to stay on top. This skill came in handy in Leg 5 in Santiago, Chile with the Perform For Pesos Detour in which Ricky and Cesar were able to persuade people to give them enough pesos when they were doing a Chinchinero routine.

Juan Villa & Shane Bilek

Best Friends/Military Pilots

Tropes associated with them:

• Home Field Advantage: Juan revealed that he was born in Colombia and was happy to be exploring his birth country. Juan and Shane proceeded to do well in both Colombian legs.

Yvonne Chavez & Melissa Main

Dating Girlfriends

Tropes associated with them:

• Affectionate Nickname: They tend to call each other "Bubba".
• The Generic Girl: Compared to the colorful personalities of the other teams, as well as the fact they don't really fight, they don't stand out much.
• Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: In the sprint to the pitstop at the end of leg 7, Yvonne loses one of her shoes.

Danny & Angie Butler

Mother & Son

Tropes associated with them:

• Ascended Fanboy: Danny has been a fan since he was 13, and has been hosting mini-races in his hometown for years.
• Both Sides Have a Point: During leg 3, Angie and Danny briefly debate about helping the cousins find the way to the cooking detour, with Angie pointing out that the cousin could beat them in a footrace. Danny, however, counters by pointing out that working together is important as it helps build a bond with the other teams, making them reluctant to U-Turn or Yield them in the future.
• Chekhov's Hobby: Danny does a lot of puzzles at home, which helped him and his mom a lot in the 4th Leg when one side of the detour is a rebus puzzle, going from 9th to 3rd place.
• Crazy-Prepared: Before being cast, Danny rewatched past seasons, listened to podcasts, watched You Tube videos and thoroughly studied the race.
• Loophole Abuse: At the 2nd Roadblock of the race, Angie had to lay on the ground after nearly suffering from heat exhaustion; however, Danny was able to perform the Roadblock due to the clue not specifically stating how to paint his mom’s face.
• Parent-Child Team: Danny apparently tried to apply with his sister at one point, but only got cast when he tried with his mother.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Danny has been afraid of horses when he fell off a pony at a pony fair when he was little.

Amber Craven & Vinny Cagungun

Dating Nurses

• Chekhov's Skill: Vinny used to cherry pick, which gave him a faster time in the coffee picking challenge.

Sunny Pulver & Elizabeth "Bizzy" Smith

Best Friends/Firefighters. Throughout the race, Sunny and Bizzy have struggled poorly with navigation and directions which led them to finishing in the bottom of the pack. Even when they arrived at a challenge in last place, they were able to perform a comeback and find a way to survive. However, their luck ran out in Uruguay when they struggled to find a plaza in one part of Montevideo to the point where they misread the name of the plaza and ended up at a port. Their long time weakness of failing to navigate well resulted in them becoming the 7th team to be eliminated.

Tropes associated with them:

• Chekhov's Skill: Being firefighters, the climbing wall side of the detour in leg five is a cake walk for them, allowing them to make up some time.
• Cool Shades: Both of them commonly wear a trademark pair of sunglasses - Sunny's are tinted avaitor glasses, while Bizzy's are white-rimmed visor sunglasses.
• Epic Fail: They utterly botch the fairly simple Rebus puzzle detour in leg four, giving it over 30 tries before they finally switch. For comparison, the other teams that did that side got it in under five tries.
• Fatal Flaw: Like many teams before them, No Sense of Direction. The duo are a strong team and can easily make up the time spent lost at roadblocks and detours, but all that time spent lost keeps them at the back of the pack constantly.
• Would Rather Suffer: Played with, but after finishing the leg in the second episode, they admit that they think putting fires out is easier than what they just did.

Derek & Shelisa Williams

Married/Retired Law Enforcement Officers. Like other eliminated teams, Derek and Shelisa began their final leg at the bottom of the pack. The Williams struggled early on with the Boleadora Detour at the beginning of the Argentina Mega Leg, to the point where they switched. However, they were also outnumbered as five teams formed two separate alliances with the goal of surviving. The alliances worked well with each other and finished ahead of Derek and Shelisa thus resulting in them becoming the 6th team to be eliminated.

Tropes associated with them:

• Cool Old Couple: They're much older than most of the other teams, old enough to be grandparents, and yet they can keep up with the others teams with no problems, spending the first several legs near the front.
• Enraged by Idiocy: In the Argentina Mega Leg, Shelisa was annoyed by Derek's poor performance at throwing a lasso in the Boleadora Detour to the point where they switched Detours. Later on, when Derek completed the Rally Car Track Roadblock, Shelisa was annoyed by how long it took Derek to complete the puzzle.
• Happily Married: They've been together for 34 years.
• Like an Old Married Couple: Considering they literally are an old married couple, they fittingly bicker quite a bit, but it's clearly meant in jest and they clearly love each other.
• Non-Gameplay Elimination: Of the Mercy Kill variety. By the time they got to the second Detour of the Mega Leg, all of the other teams had checked in, forcing them to skip it and go straight to the Pit Stop to be eliminated.

Kishori Turner & Karishma Cordero

Cousins. Kishori and Karishma mainly stayed with the bottom of the pack and began Leg 5 in Santiago, Chile in the bottom 4. Upon arriving at the skate park for the Skateboard Building Roadblock, Kishori was hoping it would involve her riding the skateboard since she did so as a kid. However, much to her dismay, it was a building challenge which was her least favorite type of challenge. Kishori finished building the skateboard last as she and Karishma couldn't catch up to the other teams which resulted in them becoming the 5th team to be eliminated.

Tropes associated with them:

• "Eureka!" Moment: Karishma, after taking several tries during the roadblock in Leg 4, finally realizes she's been looking at the board wrong and screams when she realizes she got it.
• Oh, Crap!: They, along with Michelle and Sean, both had this reaction in the 2nd Leg, when Juan and Shane told them that they were supposed to do the Detour first, before coming to the Roadblock.
• Read the Freaking Clue: Karishma rushed into the first roadblock so quickly that she didn't read the clue that instructed her to wear both the provided hat and necktie.

Michelle & Sean Clark

Married Aerobics Instructors. Despite their skills as jump rope instructors, Michelle and Sean did not perform well throughout the 1st 4 legs, often falling into the back of the pack. The couple arrived at the Bronze Statue Roadblock in Medellín, Colombia along with the majority of the teams, giving them a decent lead over Sunny and Bizzy (who at that time were struggling with the Rebus Puzzle Detour). However, Michelle poorly read the map at the Roadblock, thus allowing the Firefighters to arrive and overtake them, along with Kishori and Karishma. After many hours passed, Michelle and Sean completed the Roadblock and became the 4th team to be eliminated.

Tropes associated with them:

• Happily Married
• Oh, Crap!: They along with Kishori & Karishma both had this reaction in the 2nd Leg, when Juan and Shane told them that they were suppose to do the Detour first, before coming to the Roadblock.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: In Guatape, Colombia, Sean had a fear of heights that almost cost him and Michelle the race. Fortunately, in the next leg he temporarily got over it while paragliding to next starting point in Medellin.

Anthony & Bailey Smith

Twin Brothers. After finishing the Mexico Mega Leg in the middle of the pack, the Smith brothers got off to a rough start when they couldn't find their water taxi in Guatapé, Colombia after the 1st task. Upon arriving at the Yipao Detour which involved stacking items on top of a Willys Jeep, the twins chose to switch to the Bandeja Paisa Detour which involved cooking three dishes. However, the brothers chose to switch back to the Yipao Detour, then quickly gave up, made a 3rd switch to the Bandeja Paisa Detour, and eventually performed the cooking. This indecisiveness was what led Anthony and Bailey to become the 3rd team to be eliminated.

Tropes associated with them:

• Dumb Blond: Have bleach blond hair and are shown to be not that bright, with them admitting would rather get physical tasks over mental ones. Making the stupid choice of switching detours four times is what gets them sent home.
• Sibling Team
• The Ditherer: They switched detours 4 times before settling on the cooking detour, which, ultimately, got them eliminated.
• The Generation Gap: As millennials who are only 26, Anthony and Bailey had no idea who Elizabeth Taylor was when they were tasked to find her home for the Pit Stop. This is probably due to Taylor being more associated and popular with older generations since her career was at its height in the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

Chris Foster & Mary Cardona-Foster

Father & Daughter. The team took part in the race in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico but fell to the bottom of the 1st half of the Mega Leg due to poor navigation and being too late to do the Pick 'Em Up Detour since all the rocking horses were taken. Chris and Mary began the 2nd half of the Mega Leg in last and got easily lost looking for the Iguana Bridge. Chris did not have enough stamina and needed to rest to the point where he and Mary couldn't catch up to anyone thus becoming the 2nd team to be eliminated.

Tropes associated with them:

• The Load: Downplayed. Due to Chris' old age, as well as having to race 2 legs back to back, in the withering heat of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Mary had to do both Roadblocks. Also, this was all in the course of just one day.
• Parent-Child Team

Maya & Rohan Mody

Brother & Sister. The siblings came onto the race and were inspired by other sibling teams who won the race a while ago. Unfortunately, they got stuck in a narrow alley and had to make a long three-point turn to leave. By the time they got through their car troubles, it was already too late to catch up and were the 1st team eliminated despite the Pit Stop being a Keep On Racing Leg.

Tropes associated with them:

• Ascended Fanboy/Ascended Fangirl: Both siblings have been superfans since they watched Nick & Starr & Tammy & Victor win their races.
• Brother–Sister Team
• History Repeats: A team of Gen Z siblings who went home first after spending hours going in the wrong direction.
• No Sense of Direction: This is what led to their downfall.