Emmy award winning reality competition show, The Amazing Race, is playing cupid on its season 26. CBS confirms casts comprised of eleven couples, either dating or meeting for the first time, to race around the world to bag the $1 million prize.
The revealed teams include New Kids on the Blocks' Jonathan Knight joining the competition with his boyfriend of three years, Harley Rodriguez.
"This is probably going to be the most time that we've been together continually," Knight said in his reported interview talking about the three weeks of traveling with his partner on The Amazing Race season 26. "I don't know if I am looking forward to that much time together with him. It's going to be interesting."
Rodriguez expressed confidence that he and Knight have the set of skills to finish the race first and win.
"We have a good understanding of each other. We try to avoid conflict," he said. "If there's a situation, we're not going to yell at each other. We're going to help each other through it."
Meanwhile, here is the list of the other ten couples including five pairs of single racers that are put in a blind date by the show.
Dating Teams
1. Aly Dudek, 24 and Steven Langton, 31 dating for 7 months
Dudek is an Olympic athlete from Wisconsin who won bronze medal in short track speed skating at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics while Langton is an Olympic athlete from Boston who won two bronze medals for bobsledding at 2014 Sochi Olympics.
2. Jeff Magee, 57 and Lyda Grawn, 49 dating for 4 years, known each other for 20 years
Magee is an airline pilot from Idaho and Grawn is a flight attendant from Arizona
3. Lebya Simpson, 25 and CJ Harris, 26 dating for 10 years
Simpson is a medical support assistant from Alabama and Harris is an IT technician from Alabama
4. Matt Cucolo, 30 and Ashley Gordon, 28 dating for 3 years
Cucolo is a hairstylist from New York and Gordon is also a hairstylist from New York
5. Rochelle Nevedal, 29 and Michael Dombrowski, 26 dating for 2 years
Nevedal is a contract engineer from Michigan and Dombrowski is a truck stop manager and pro wrestling promoter from Michigan
Blind Date Teams
1. Hayley Keel, 28 and Blair Townsend, 31
Keel is a registered nurse from Florida and Townsend is a navy physician from Florida
2. Jackie Ibarra, 27 and Jeffrey Weldon, 26
Ibarra is a professional dancer from Las Vegas and Weldon is an account executive from Florida
3. Laura Pierson, 29, and Tyler Adams, 26
Adams is a mobile app developer from California and Pierson is a talent booker from LA
4. Jenny Wu, 32 and Jelani Roy, 32
Wu is a blogger and lawyer from LA and Roy is a lawyer from New York City
5. Bergen Olsen, 23 and Kurt Jordan Belcher, 24
Olsen is a human resources project manager from California and Belcher is a pageant consultant from Kentucky
The Amazing Race season 26 premiere is set on Wednesday, February 25 at 9:30pm ET on CBS and moves to its regular time slot, Fridays at 8pm ET on February 27.
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