‘The Amazing Race’: Contestants Don’t Always Shower Daily
Since 2001, fans have continued to tune in to The Amazing Race to see teams travel the world for a chance to win $1 million.
The show requires the contestants to exert themselves physically. It is common to see contestants sweat as they travel from location to location and complete strenuous challenges. However, even at the end of an exhausting day, they do not always get to shower.
‘The Amazing Race’ is filmed in 21 days
The Amazing Race has a tight filming schedule. Despite one season usually airing over two months, much of it is reportedly filmed within 21 days.
“The show happens very quickly and time is always a challenge for us,” host Phil Keoghan once wrote in a Reddit AMA. “Many people don’t realize that we shoot all 12 episodes in just 21 days.”
‘The Amazing Race’ contestants don’t always shower daily
With the time constraint, there is not always time for contestants to shower and properly groom themselves.
For example, YouTuber Tyler Oakley, who competed on the 28th and 31st seasons, told Men’s Health (via Yahoo) about the shower situation: “It’s sometimes a little bit few and far in between, sometimes you’re doing the classic airport shower where you sneak away for one second from your camera crew and say ‘I’ll be right back, I’m going to go to the bathroom’ and rinse wherever you can.”
Additionally, Brent Ridge, who was on the winning team during the 21st season, revealed to Men’s Health that contestants would resort to sharing hygiene products with each other.
“I know this is gross, but there were times where people had to share deodorant,” Ridge said. “Whenever somebody had something in their bag and you were on a train and you had time, you just shared with the others.”
‘The Amazing Race’ contestants are not always told what to pack
The Amazing Race contestants can travel with only a backpack, meaning they must pack lightly. According to E! News, producers reportedly give them a list of what they can’t bring (usually money, phones, maps, etc), but they are not told what they should pack.
“We definitely overpacked the first time and after the very first leg our first season we threw away half of the things we brought,” Oakley shared. “So packing the second time around, we knew we were definitely going to need layers and options but we didn’t overpack or double anything up, because while you think you might need multiple pairs of shirts and shorts, you have a sink that you can wash things in and we definitely did that the first time around. The less you can carry the more advantage you have.”
Both Oakley and Ridge noted the importance of packing sunscreen. Ridge said, “You don’t know where you’re going and what the conditions are going to be like, but you can be guaranteed that you’re going to be out in the sun, sometimes on certain tasks for hours and hours.”
Ridge’s partner, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, also shared that moisturizing bar soap can be very useful in different ways.
“Not only are you going to use it to do your laundry and you’re probably going to bathe with it, but for guys who have to shave, you don’t want to have to bring another extra thing of shaving gel,” he told Men’s Health. “If you have a really moisturizing bar soap, you can use that to shave as well.”
