Twins Anthony and Bailey Smith, 2016 Flower Mound High School graduates, will be featured on the new season of CBS’ The Amazing Race, which premieres Wednesday night.
Host Phil Keoghan kicks off the race from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where the 13 new teams must participate in a traditional Mexican rodeo and lasso their way to the finish line, according to a CBS news release. The last team to finish each leg will be eliminated. Along the route, racers will go paragliding in Colombia, rally car racing in Argentina, and visit two new countries – swimming through waterfalls in the Dominican Republic and visiting music superstar Rihanna’s childhood home in Barbados. The first team to arrive at the final destination will win The Amazing Race and the $1 million prize.
“This season of The Amazing Race features a cast of adventurous thrill-seekers. We always want to challenge our cast and surprise our viewers, so we are excited to travel to two new countries along the route,” said executive producers Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri. “The 90-minute episodes are returning, which really allows us to delve into the countries on the route and get to know our amazing cast. We are ready for a global adventure like never before.”
Anthony and Bailey, now 26, moved to Flower Mound when they were 8 and grew up there. They attended Texas State University and now both work as recruiters in Clearwater, Florida, but they still visit family in Flower Mound often.
“Flower Mound is home for us,” Anthony said from a premiere watch party in New York City on Wednesday.
The brothers grew up competing against each other in sports, but they’ve decided to channel that energy toward competing with each other instead.
“We decided to do everything together, combine our strengths against every challenge that comes our way, rather than compete against each other,” Anthony said.
The brothers were selected for the 36th season of The Amazing Race, an experience they called an emotional roller coaster.
“We’ve never done anything remotely like this before, we hadn’t really even traveled outside the country,” Anthony said. “We had some good times and some stressed times, but in the end I think it brought us closer together, even more than we were before.”
Anthony said a few things stood out to him as unexpected obstacles while competing on the show.
“I was surprised by how much running we had to do, and how out of shape I was,” he said with a laugh. “It was also surprising how alone we were. You really are all on your own on the show.”
Other teams competing against Anthony and Bailey include a former NFL player with his wife, two firefighters who are best friends, two Air Force pilots who are also best friends, and many more.
The Amazing Race Season 36 premiere will air at 8:30 p.m. CT on CBS and will also be streaming on Paramount+.
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