CBS Unveils The Amazing Race Season 39 Cast: Record Express Passes, Five Continents, and a Football Champion in the Pack
CBS has revealed the cast and premiere plan for The Amazing Race Season 39, and the new season is breaking one of the show's oldest rules. Every single team will carry an Express Pass — a skip-it card that lets a pair bypass one challenge — and with 13 teams racing, that puts 13 Express Passes into play, a first in the programme's history. Each pair must play their pass by the end of leg six, meaning nobody can hoard it for the final sprint. (Deadline)
The season launches with a two-night premiere on Wednesday, September 30 and Thursday, October 1, both at 9:30 p.m. ET, before settling into its regular Wednesday slot at 9:30 p.m. ET from October 7. Phil Keoghan returns as host. The race kicks off in Vancouver, Canada — where one early challenge involves jumping 200 feet off the catwalk at BC Stadium. (Deadline)
From Vancouver, the route covers five continents, nine countries, 13 cities, and more than 25,000 miles. Challenges along the way include walking with camels in Morocco and flying a paramotor through the skies of Laos. Albania appears on the itinerary for the first time in the show's run. (Deadline)
Thirteen teams will compete for a $1 million prize. The cast spans family pairings and competitive résumés. (Deadline)
Among the headline names: Ali Krieger and Joanna Lohman, both professional footballers and mothers from Montclair, New Jersey, and Silver Spring, Maryland. Krieger is a two-time World Cup champion with the United States women's national team (2015 and 2019), a 2016 Rio Olympian, a Champions League winner with 1. FFC Frankfurt in 2008, and an NWSL champion with Gotham FC in 2023. Lohman played for the US women's national team as well as the Washington Freedom, Philadelphia Independence, Boston Breakers, and the Washington Spirit. (Deadline)
The rest of the field brings its own variety. Ann-Marie Tejcek and Riley Tejcek race as a mother-daughter duo. Doug Matter and Dylan Matter compete as grandfather and grandson. Jody Rebhun and Jenn Naso enter as Ivy League graduates. Anuar Tager, a 58-year-old developer, teams up with his daughter Andrea Tager Ballesca, a 25-year-old medical student, both from Houston, Texas. (Deadline)
What makes this season stand out is the sheer volume of advantages in play. An Express Pass has always been a scarce commodity — typically one or two circulate among the field. Thirteen of them, all on a deadline, changes how teams will approach the early legs. Risk a challenge early, or bank the pass for later? Every pair faces the same clock.
For fans of the format, the new route and the Albania stop add fresh ground to a show that has visited well over a hundred countries across 38 previous seasons. The two-night premiere gives CBS a chance to hook viewers before handing the slot over to its regular Wednesday rhythm. (Deadline)
