12 Teams Announced Today

Thanks to the spoiler from Gus earlier this month, we know that the new race is starting in Seattle, WA this year. Today CBS announced the participants:

1. Vipul & Arti - a married team from Windermere, Florida. The first Indian-American team to run the race; he's in sales & she's a nutritional educator.

2. Erwin & Godwin - brothers team from San Francisco, California. Erwin, the insurance company manager, is older than than Godwin, the financial analyst, who is tired of living in his older brother's shadow.

3. Tom & Terry - dating team from New York City, who have been together for two years. Tom is a college admissions director & Terry is a special events director. They're hoping the race will prove they have what it takes to stay together. (every time I see their names, I say in my head "Tom & Jerry" and then picture a cute brown mouse & a grey/blue cat chasing him)

4. Kellie & Jamie - best friends team from Columbia, South Carolina, where they were co-captains for the USC cheerleading squad. (Can you see me rolling my eyes?). Kelly is currently a broadcast journalism student, while Jamie is a recent college grad.

5. Lyn & Karlyn - best friends team from Alabama. This is the "moms" team. Every race has one. These ladies have known each other since 9th grade. Lyn is a 4th grade teacher & Karlyn is a program analyst.

6. David & Mary - married parents team from Stone, Kentucky. He's a coal miner & she's a stay at home mom; they met while working at McDonald's 10 years ago (Oh, Geesh!)

7. Bilal & Sa'eed - best friends team from Cleveland, Ohio. Bilal is a medical supply technician & Sa'eed is a power lineman.

8. Peter & Sarah - friends team from California. Sarah, a motivational speaker, was the first woman with an artifical leg to complete the Iron Man Triathalon in Hawaii; Peter is a clinical prosthetist.

9. Rob & Kimberly - dating team from Los Angeles,California, who have been together for the last two years after meeting while bartending (eyes are rolling, again). They just moved in together and they are going on the race to "test" their relationship. He is a bartender/Real Estate Student and she's in Public Relations.

10. Tyler & James - best friends team from Los Angeles. This is our "model" team this season. Did they have one in Season 9? Maybe they decided to lay off after having that one season with two pairs of models in it. After losing track of each other a few years ago, the boys reconnected after going through rehab together.... this is almost as bad as the beauty queens and the bartenders.... rolling my eyes again.

11. Dustin & Kandice - best friends team, who met while rooming together at the Miss USA Pageant..... what the frick is with all the Miss USA teams on reality TV this season?! Dustin from Riverside, CA is the reigning Miss California, now a marketing director; Kandice from New York, NY is the reigning Miss New York, now a rockette (there's a big leap!).

12. Duke & Lauren - father/daughter team from Rhode Island. Until recently, the pair were estranged after Lauren told her family she's gay. They are hoping the race will help them recapture their previously close relationship. He owns a tour company and she's a speech & language pathologist.

I don't have any picks as of yet. I'll wait until I see the official bios on CBS' site for that. But I do have one question for everyone: Why do people think the Amazing Race is a good place to test out fragile/new relationships? Have these people never seen an episode before?!

NOTE: some edits made 8/26/06 are noted in bold from information on the offical AR10 site

information care of comingsoon.net