13 Outrageous 'Amazing Race' Moments in GIFs
The cast for Season 23 of "The Amazing Race" has just been announced, so we're taking a look back at some of the most memorable moments of the past 22 races.
1. Here comes the cheese!
Hauling four 50-pound wheels of cheese up a hill is tough, but one slip and it becomes nearly impossible.
2. Who's got beef?
Hauling a 55-pound slab of beef is tough, unless you're 4 feet tall. Charla and her partner Mirna didn't win, but they got the next best thing: beating Rob and Amber in "The Amazing Race: All-Stars."
3. Never, ever trust Boston Rob.
Rob and Amber met on "Survivor," so strategizing (read: backstabbing and lying) is second nature to them. In this challenge, rather than eating 4 pounds of intestines, kidneys, and brains, they took the four-hour penalty, then convinced another team (who didn't realize it would eliminate them) to do the same.
4. Most. Intense. Footrace. Ever.
Dirty tricks sometimes backfire. The finale of Season 2 had one team pulling off into a dead end, hoping to lure their opponents just behind them. It didn't work, and so it came down to a footrace, in which the other team won by a matter of yards.
5. Whoa, that's a lot of blood!
Sometimes the show is just about grit. Retired couple Gretchen and Meredith were almost derailed when Gretchen fell inside a cave. While she was tended to by the medics (it took only one stitch to get her back on her feet), she shouted encouragement to her husband as he continued the search for the next clue.
6. Flo has a breakdown (again!) on a bike.
What's the opposite of grit? Because that's what Flo from Season 3 was made of. After whining her way across a river, then bawling through the bicycling leg of the challenge (while her eternally patient partner, Zach, offered support), they ended the day by having locals paddle them back to the opposite shore.
7. "My ox is broken!"
Probably the best four words ever uttered on network television: "My ox is broken!" Someone even wrote a book with that title.
8. Mika vs. the Water Slide
Could you face your phobia for a million dollars? Put your hand into a box full of spiders? Be locked in a closet? How about combining two fears — say, heights and water? Could you do it? Or would you scream and squirm like a cat being dunked in a bathtub full of cold water? You will probably never get the chance to find out, so don't judge Season 15's Mika Combs.
9. That's definitely gonna hurt tomorrow!
Could you continue on after getting hit in the face by a watermelon, at speeds nature never intended? In Season 17, we found out the answer is yes. That is, if you're Home Shopping Network host Claire Champlin. Probably the most GIFted "Amazing Race" image ever — and for good reason.
10. That flippin' car!
Things can get dangerous — after all, it is reality. Brothers Brian and Greg flip their vehicle and watch helplessly as their opponents pass them by while they wait for medical assistance. It probably won't surprise you to learn that Rob and Amber are the only team to blow by them without slowing or stopping to check on them.
11. There goes her hair!
Sometimes all it takes is a little humility, as Uchenna and Joyce Agu learned in Season 7. Or at least Joyce learned — Uchenna already sported a bald pate.
12. Did this guy really just do that?!
The race can sometimes bring out the worst in couples. In Season 6, a screaming Jonathan ditched his backpack in order to make up time; his wife, Victoria, picked it up so it wouldn't be stolen. Exhausted, she caught up to him, sobbing with effort. He shoved her as they approached the finish, almost knocking her off her feet.
13. A win for underdogs (and goat farmers) everywhere!
The race can also bring out the best in couples. At the end of Season 21, goat farmers Josh and Brent faced a coalition of the remaining three teams. Against all odds, they triumphed, and the hug (and later, the kiss) they share at the finish is as sincere as anything you will ever see in your life.
"The Amazing Race 23" premieres Sunday, 9/29 at 8 PM on CBS.
