The Amazing Race's last season on CBS had quite a huge finish last season, and this season's premiere on February 25, 2015 was a 90-minute episode. This is what we know about The Amazing Race Season 26 Cast and some spoilers for the premiere episode and more. This year is a first for the show as it will have 10 singles who will be "blind date" couples who will compete together in the race, and we'll explain the cast along with the premiere episode.
According to Hypable, the first episode began with the teams racing a mud run for plane tickets, with the winner getting an express pass. It was a messy competition, with eight teams leaving on a first flight, and three teams leaving on the second.
The destination is Tokyo, and there is a detour with two challenges: Samurai Sake and Syncing Steps. Samurai Sake involved memorizing 10 different types of sake to serve some samurai, while Syncing Steps involved learning dance steps.
Here is what we know about the cast, provided by Heavy.com. They are put in the order of their finishing on the Season Premiere episode of Season 26.
1st place: Jelani Roy and Jenny Wu
These two are both lawyers, and they are one of the blind date couples. Jenny is from Los Angeles, while Jelani is from New York. Both of them have other jobs as Jenny is a blogger and collaborator, while Jelani is working with an Internet startup and is also a sports agent.
2nd place: Jeffrey Weldon and Jackie Ibarra
This is another blind date couple, with Jeffrey being a professional in sales while Jackie is a professional dancer from Vegas.
3rd place: Laura Pierson and Tyler Adams
This is another one of the "blind date" couples with Tyler being an app developer and Laura being a talent booker.
4th place: Aly Dudek and Steve Langton
This is a couple that have been together since the 2014 Olympics. Aly is a bronze medalist for speed skating, while Steve is on the US Bobsled team. This couple wishes to travel the world, and they want to do it together.
5th place: Harley Rodriguez and Jonathan Knight
Jonathan Knight is most famous for being in the teen heartthrob band of the early nineties, the New Kids on the Block (NKOTB). Jonathan has been in a relationship with Harley for about seven years.
6th place: Bergen Olson and Kurt Jordan Belcher
These are two single guys who have paired up for the sake of the show.
7th place: Mike Dombrowski and Rochelle Nevedal
This particular couple met at a truck stop, and they have been dating for about 8 months.
8th place: Hayley Keel and Blair Townsend
This is a blind date couple that both have medical careers. Hayley is a registered nurse in the ER of a pediatric hospital, while Blair is involved in surgery residency to serve as an active duty doctor in the Navy.
9th place: Matt Cucolo and Ashley Gordon
This is a couple who are both hairstylists in New York and have been dating for 3 years.
10th place: Lebya Simpson and CJ Harris
This couple looks like it might have an interesting twist as they have been dating for 10 years. Harris hopes that if his relationship makes it through this show, I'm pretty sure I'll pop the question.
Last place: Jeff Magee and Lydia Grawn
This couple, who had been dating for about 4 years, was eliminated from the race, but they looked pretty interesting.
Okay, spoiler alert on this next paragraph, but I have from Inquistir a list of who might be in the final four teams:Blair and Hayley, Jelani and Jenny, Rochelle and Mike, as well as Tyler and Laura. We'll be seeing more of all these couples on The Amazing Race, on CBS Fridays. Episodes can also be watched on the CBS website, and we'll how accurate our predictions are.
