Wednesday brought the announcement of the cast for the 23rd season of CBS’ The Amazing Race. Eleven new teams will set out on a race around the world, hoping they will be met at the end with $1 million. The premiere airs Sunday, 29 September, at 8pm (Eastern).
As has become a staple in past seasons, cast members span a variety of professions and levels of celebrity. Cast stats include 14 men and 8 women, 10 under thirty years old, 2 over fifty years old, 9 Californians, 2 baseball wives, 3 fitness instructors, 3 ER doctors and 2 Tims. The cast also includes two former NFL players, Chester Pitts II and Ephraim Salaam. Pitts is now a sports anchor and analyst in Texas; he previously played nine NFL seasons as a Seattle Seahawk and Houston Texan. Salaam co-hosts Fox Sports Live; he has 13 years of play in the NFL for teams that include the Houston Texans and Atlanta Falcons.
Last season’s twist, the Double Express Pass, will reappear. The Pass allows the team winning the first leg of the race to enjoy an automatic Express Pass and requires them to give a second Pass to another team.
The show is an Emmy darling, winning for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program nine of the last 10 years, and it is nominated again this year. Host and producer Phil Keoghan is also an Emmy winner and will rejoin the cast, leading them through four continents, nine countries, and 35,000 miles. Keoghan has been globetrotting since the age of two and he just finished Le Ride on 19 August where Keoghan rode a vintage bike through France on the same route as the 1928 Tour de France, over 3,500 miles and 28 days.
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Bates and Anthony Battaglia, brothers and hockey pros, were the winners of Season 22. The brothers were recently spotted at the Jimmy V Celebrity Golf Classic in North Carolina. The event raises money for cancer research.
[Video and Images via CBS and Facebook.]