Characters / The Amazing Race 36

Season 36 of The Amazing Race was initially believed by fans to not even be going to air - due to it being filmed in late 2022 and yet not released, due to the writers' strikes and the subsequent new 90 minute episode length, they thought it was going to be sent straight to Paramount Plus with zero fanfare. However, it did eventually go to air in March 2024.

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Ricky Rotandi & Cesar Aldrete

Dating Boyfriends. Ricky and Cesar dominated their way through the race by winning 7 legs including the finale (1 short of tying Dave and Rachel's record) and finished in the Top 2 with the exception of Leg 10 in the Dominican Republic (where they finished 3rd). Ricky and Cesar had an advantage of speaking fluent Spanish considering the route was in Latin America and in the finale, Ricky got to race in his childhood hometown of Philadelphia. The boyfriends were near unbeatable and were able to cruise in the finale to become the Official Winners of The Amazing Race as well as set the highest race average of 1.45.

Tropes associated with them:

• The Ace/Curb-Stomp Battle: Their Spanish-speaking advantages not withstanding, they were utterly dominant the entire Race, beasting through every task, winning seven out of eleven legs, and only finishing below the top 2 once^note This being their 3rd place finish out of 4th in Leg 11, also their only time in the bottom. In the US version, they beat winning team Rachel & Dave's average of 1.83, as well as highest-averaging in total Eric & Jeremy's 1.75 with their own 1.45, and franchise-wide, they're just behind Asia 2's Marc & Rovilson's all-time record of 1.42.
• Acrofatic: They're bigger than the other teams, but that doesn't stop them from being the strongest team in the season. It's also notable for Ricky, who had a musical theater background.
• All Gays Love Theater: Ricky, which helped him in the Murga Detour in Leg 7.
• Alliterative Name: Ricky Rotandi.
• Ascended Fanboy: Cesar is a fan of the race and introduced Ricky to it.
• Chekhov's Skill:
  • Cesar grew up in Mexico and was able to speak fluent Spanish, meaning the first several legs, which take place in Spanish speaking countries, were far easier for him and Ricky.
  • Cesar is a cook by profession, letting him and Ricky blast through the cooking detour of the 3rd leg, allowing them to take first place. However, Work Place Acquired Abilities was averted with both that task and a subsequent meat-identifying half of a Detour, because, as revealed in a confessional, Cesar's specialty isn't meat, but pastry.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Played with. Ostensibly, Ricky and Cesar's assigned color was "mint". However, the boyfriends commonly wear Hawaiian shirts with a bluish hue that could possibly pass as mint green.
• Home Field Advantage: Ricky racing in Philadelphia.
• Honor Before Reason: At the 4th Roadblock, Ricky could've looked at Amber's station due to her not covering it before she looked at the statues again, but he decided against it and continued with the challenge.
• Renaissance Men: They seem to have a little knowledge in just about everything, which Juan lampshades after discovering that Cesar knows how to weld at a Roadblock requiring welding.
• Too Qualified to Apply: While most teams have a good enough understanding of Spanish, Ricky and Cesar take it to the next level and use their fluency in Spanish to navigate well and to stay on top. This skill came in handy in Leg 5 in Santiago, Chile with the Perform For Pesos Detour in which Ricky and Cesar were able to persuade people to give them enough pesos when they were doing a Chinchinero routine.

Juan Villa & Shane Bilek

Best Friends/Military Pilots. Juan and Shane were one of the strongest teams on the race and had a rivalry with favorites, Ricky and Cesar. In the finale in Philadelphia, Juan and Shane was off to a rough start and had difficulties with navigation when they accidentally crossed into New Jersey due to a local misguiding them to a pizza shop instead of a cheesesteak shop. However, the pilots made a decent comeback with the U.S. History challenges and ended up becoming the Runner Ups on The Amazing Race.

Tropes associated with them:

• Chekhov's Skill: Being in the US military, they're able to clear the U.S history themed challenges much faster than Rod and Leticia, allowing them to make up time after getting lost.
• Home Field Advantage: Juan revealed that he was born in Colombia and was happy to be exploring his birth country. Juan and Shane proceeded to do well in both Colombian legs.

Rod & Leticia Gardner

Married Couple. Rod and Leticia were one of the top teams in the race that kept pace with Ricky and Cesar and went on to win 3 legs on the race. In the finale in Philadelphia, the Gardners were neck-and-neck with Ricky and Cesar until Rod struggled with reciting the Declaration of Independence Preamble. However, Rod and Leticia were then passed by Juan and Shane when Leticia struggled with the U.S. Flag Making Roadblock which led them to a 3rd place finish on The Amazing Race.

Tropes associated with them:

• The Big Guy: Rod is 6'2" and still has his NFL physique, which is impressive for a man in his mid 40s. At the Argentinian bubble soccer task, Rod even pokes out of the bubble due to being too tall.
• The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Despite both being in good shape, they frequently ignore physical Detours in favor of less physical ones like dancing for money over rock climbing or building a fish trap over hauling seaweed. This was explained in an interview as Rod playing towards Leticia's strengths, rather than his.
• Verbal Tic: Rod has a tendency to say "baby" a lot.

Amber Craven & Vincent "Vinny" Cagungun

Dating Nurses who got engaged at their elimination. Throughout the race, Amber & Vinny were seen arguing and racing under pressure while remaining consistent and near the top of the pack. In the 2nd Dominican Republic leg, Amber and Vinny remained close with the other teams but arrived last at each destination. Their only chance to pass a team was when Ricky struggled with the Wind Surfing Roadblock, but Ricky and Cesar ended up beating the nurses to the Pit Stop by minutes which resulted in Amber and Vinny becoming eliminated in 4th place.

• Bittersweet Ending: They lose just shy of the finale, but they get engaged.
• Chekhov's Skill: Vinny used to cherry pick, which gave him a faster time in the coffee picking challenge.
  • He also used to climb trees as a kid, which helped him and Amber collect cacao beans.
• Cutting the Knot: The cacao task in Leg 9 required them to use a certain tool to gather cacao beans from the surrounding trees. Vinny, on the other hand, decided to climb up the trees and gather the cacao beans himself without using the tool.
• The Masochism Tango: They started getting into arguments at the last half of their race, but that ended with an engagement after being eliminated at the penultimate leg.
• Relationship Upgrade: At the penultimate Pit Stop, Vinny proposed to Amber after their elimination.

Yvonne Chavez & Melissa Main

Dating Girlfriends. Yvonne & Melissa spent the majority of the race in the middle of the pack and started on near-equal footing with the other teams in the Dominican Republic at the 1st Roadblock. However, Melissa struggled early on the Waterfall Carvings Roadblock and didn't completely follow Cesar's answers when he helped her. The girls were roughly ten minutes behind the other teams and caught up to them at the cacao farm, but by the time they were in the midst of the Cacao Grinding Route Info, the other teams were able to finish well ahead of them. Yvonne & Melissa then lost a close foot race to the Pit Stop to Amber & Vinny, thus becoming eliminated in 5th place.

Tropes associated with them:

• Affectionate Nickname: They tend to call each other "Bubba".
• Babies Ever After: After their elimination was shown, The Amazing Race showed off an after credits montage revealing that Yvonne and Melissa got married after filming was done and had a daughter.
• Bittersweet Ending: They were eliminated in 5th, but managed to strengthen their relationship enough to move in together and start a family during the time between filming and airing.
• Epic Fail: In a Natalie & Pailin level error, Melissa managed to fall hopelessly behind on the Roadblock even though the answer was given to her.
• The Generic Girl: Compared to the colorful personalities of the other teams, as well as the fact they don't really fight, they don't stand out much.
• Hidden Depths: Going off her comments about having defended Joe Biden in the Dominican Republic, Melissa is heavily implied to have been in the Secret Service.
• Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: In the sprint to the pitstop at the end of leg 7, Yvonne loses one of her shoes.

Angela "Angie" & Daniel "Danny" Butler

Mother & Son. Danny and Angie were able to climb to the top of the pack with a 2nd place finish in Leg 7 in Uruguay and started ahead of most teams in Leg 8 in Barbados. While driving to a beach for the Detour, Angie & Danny's production crew got separated from them at a roundabout. Upon arriving at the beach, a producer told them that they could not enter the beach until the crew caught up, thus putting them at the bottom of the pack. This controversial delay is what led to them becoming eliminated in 6th place.

Tropes associated with them:

• Ascended Fanboy: Danny has been a fan since he was 13, and has been hosting mini-races in his hometown for years.
• Both Sides Have a Point: During leg 3, Angie and Danny briefly debate about helping the cousins find the way to the cooking detour, with Angie pointing out that the cousins could beat them in a footrace. Danny, however, counters by pointing out that working together is important as it helps build a bond with the other teams, making them reluctant to U-Turn or Yield them in the future.
• Chekhov's Hobby: Danny does a lot of puzzles at home, which helped him and his mom a lot in the 4th Leg when one side of the detour is a rebus puzzle, going from 9th to 3rd place.
• Chekhov's Skill: Angie was a tennis coach, which allowed her to quickly finish the road tennis Roadblock in Leg 8.
• Crack Defeat: Their race came to an end on a very sour note as they suffered a penalty due to their crew separating from them in Barbados which was enough to eliminate them from the race which was production's fault over their own.
• Crazy-Prepared: Before being cast, Danny rewatched past seasons, listened to podcasts, watched YouTube videos and thoroughly studied the race.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: In the middle of their final leg, Danny talks about the importance of the camera crew in their post-leg interview. We're shown why a minute later, as they lose their camera crew while driving a roundabout in Barbados, playing a part in their elimination.
• In-Series Nickname: Team Walla-Walla.
• Loophole Abuse: At the 2nd Roadblock of the race, Angie had to lay on the ground after nearly suffering from heat exhaustion; however, Danny was able to perform the Roadblock due to the clue not specifically stating how to paint his mom’s face.
• Parent-Child Team: Danny apparently tried to apply with his sister at one point, but only got cast when he tried with his mother.
• The Generation Gap / Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: As the oldest racer in the Final 6, Angie did not know who Rihanna was when she and Danny travelled to her childhood home in Barbados, since her songs are more known with younger generations. Danny tried to explain who Rihanna was, but couldn't name a single song of hers.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Danny has been afraid of horses when he fell off a pony at a pony fair when he was little.

Sunny Pulver & Elizabeth "Bizzy" Smith

Best Friends/Firefighters. Throughout the race, Sunny & Bizzy struggled poorly with navigation and directions which led them to finishing in the bottom of the pack. Even when they arrived at a challenge in last place, they were able to perform a comeback and find a way to survive. However, their luck ran out in Uruguay when they struggled to find a plaza in one part of Montevideo to the point where they misread the name of the plaza and ended up at a port. Their long time weakness of failing to navigate well resulted in them becoming eliminated in 7th place.

Tropes associated with them:

• Chekhov's Skill: Being firefighters, the climbing wall side of the detour in leg five is a cake walk for them, allowing them to make up some time.
• Cool Shades: Both of them commonly wear a trademark pair of sunglasses - Sunny's are tinted aviator glasses, while Bizzy's are white-rimmed visor sunglasses.
• Epic Fail: They utterly botch the fairly simple Rebus puzzle detour in leg four, giving it over 30 tries before they finally switch. For comparison, the other teams that did that side got it in under five tries. This is explained in an interview as them trying to attempt it as a memory challenge, rather than a Rebus puzzle.
• Fatal Flaw: Like many teams before them, No Sense of Direction. The duo are a strong team and can easily make up the time spent lost at roadblocks and detours, but all that time spent lost keeps them at the back of the pack constantly and ends up being directly responsible for their elimination.
• Would Rather Suffer: Played with, but after finishing the leg in the second episode, they admit that they think putting fires out is easier than what they just did.

Derek & Shelisa Williams

Married/Retired Law Enforcement Officers. Like other eliminated teams, Derek & Shelisa began their final leg at the bottom of the pack. The Williams struggled early on with the Boleadora Detour at the beginning of the Argentina Mega Leg, to the point where they switched. However, they were also outnumbered as five teams formed two separate alliances with the goal of surviving. The alliances worked well with each other and finished ahead of Derek and Shelisa thus resulting in them becoming eliminated in 8th place.

Tropes associated with them:

• Cool Old Couple: They're much older than most of the other teams, old enough to be grandparents, and yet they can keep up with the others teams with no problems, spending the first several legs near the front.
• Enraged by Idiocy: In the Argentina Mega Leg, Shelisa was annoyed by Derek's poor performance at throwing a lasso in the Boleadora Detour to the point where they switched Detours. Later on, when Derek completed the Rally Car Track Roadblock, Shelisa was annoyed by how long it took Derek to complete the puzzle.
• Happily Married: They've been together for 34 years.
• Like an Old Married Couple: Considering they literally are an old married couple, they fittingly bicker quite a bit, but it's clearly meant in jest and they clearly love each other.
• Non-Gameplay Elimination: Of the Mercy Kill variety. By the time they got to the second Detour of the Mega Leg, all of the other teams had checked in, forcing them to skip it and go straight to the Pit Stop to be eliminated.

Kishori Turner & Karishma Cordero

Cousins. Kishori &Karishma mainly stayed with the bottom of the pack and began Leg 5 in Santiago, Chile in the bottom 4. Upon arriving at the skate park for the Skateboard Building Roadblock, Kishori was hoping it would involve her riding the skateboard since she did so as a kid. However, much to her dismay, it was a building challenge which was her least favorite type of challenge. Kishori finished building the skateboard last as she and Karishma couldn't catch up to the other teams which resulted in them becoming the eliminated in 9th place.

Tropes associated with them:

• Driving Stick: What put them behind at the start of their last leg was their difficulty in driving stick shift in Chile. They stated that they just learned to drive stick shift right before joining the Race.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Karishma, after taking several tries during the roadblock in Leg 4, finally realizes she's been looking at the board wrong and screams when she realizes she got it.
• Oh, Crap!: They, along with Michelle and Sean, both had this reaction in the 2nd Leg, when Juan and Shane told them that they were supposed to do the Detour first, before coming to the Roadblock.
• Read the Freaking Clue: Karishma rushed into the first roadblock so quickly that she didn't read the clue that instructed her to wear both the provided hat and necktie.
• Sequence Breaking: In the 2nd leg, they and Michelle & Sean unknowingly headed to the Roadblock location while looking for the Detour clue.

Michelle & Sean Clark

Married Aerobics Instructors. Despite their skills as jump rope instructors, Michelle & Sean did not perform well throughout the 1st 4 legs, often falling into the back of the pack. The couple arrived at the Bronze Statue Roadblock in Medellín, Colombia along with the majority of the teams, giving them a decent lead over Sunny and Bizzy (who at that time were struggling with the Rebus Puzzle Detour). However, Michelle poorly read the map at the Roadblock, thus allowing the Firefighters to arrive and overtake them, along with Kishori & Karishma. After many hours passed, Michelle & Sean completed the Roadblock and became eliminated in 10th place.

Tropes associated with them:

• Happily Married
• Oh, Crap!: They along with Kishori & Karishma both had this reaction in the 2nd Leg, when Juan and Shane told them that they were supposed to do the Detour first, before coming to the Roadblock.
• Sequence Breaking: In the 2nd leg, they and Kishori & Karishma unknowingly headed to the Roadblock location while looking for the Detour clue.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: In Guatape, Colombia, Sean had a fear of heights that almost cost him and Michelle the race. Fortunately, in the next leg he temporarily got over it while paragliding to next starting point in Medellin.

Anthony & Bailey Smith

Twin Brothers. After finishing the Mexico Mega Leg in the middle of the pack, the Smith brothers got off to a rough start when they couldn't find their water taxi in Guatapé, Colombia after the 1st task. Upon arriving at the Yipao Detour which involved stacking items on top of a Willys Jeep, the twins chose to switch to the Bandeja Paisa Detour which involved cooking three dishes. However, the brothers chose to switch back to the Yipao Detour, then quickly gave up, made a 3rd switch to the Bandeja Paisa Detour, and eventually performed the cooking. This indecisiveness was what led Anthony & Bailey to become eliminated in 11th place.

Tropes associated with them:

• Dumb Blond: Have bleach blond hair and are shown to be not that bright, with them admitting they would rather get physical tasks over mental ones. Making the stupid choice of switching detours four times is what gets them sent home.
• Sibling Team
• The Ditherer: They switched detours 4 times before settling on the cooking detour, which, ultimately, got them eliminated.
• The Generation Gap / Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: As millennials who are only 26, Anthony and Bailey had no idea who Elizabeth Taylor was when they were tasked to find her home for the Pit Stop. This is probably due to Taylor being more associated and popular with older generations since her career was at its height in the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

Chris Foster & Mary Cardona-Foster

Father & Daughter. The team took part in the race in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico but fell to the bottom of the 1st half of the Mega Leg due to poor navigation and being too late to do the Pick 'Em Up Detour since all the rocking horses were taken. Chris and Mary began the 2nd half of the Mega Leg in last and got easily lost looking for the Iguana Bridge. Chris did not have enough stamina and needed to rest to the point where he and Mary couldn't catch up to anyone thus becoming eliminated in 12th place.

Tropes associated with them:

• The Load: Downplayed. Due to Chris' old age, as well as having to race 2 legs back to back, in the withering heat of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Mary had to do both Roadblocks. Also, this was all in the course of just one day.
• Parent-Child Team

Maya & Rohan Mody

Brother & Sister. The siblings came onto the race and were inspired by other sibling teams who won the race a while ago. Unfortunately, they got stuck in a narrow alley and had to make a long three-point turn to leave. By the time they got through their car troubles, it was already too late to catch up and were the first eliminated in 13th place^note technically first by filming date, but second to S35's Alexandra & Sheridan by airing date despite the Pit Stop being a Keep On Racing Leg.

Tropes associated with them:

• Ascended Fanboy/Ascended Fangirl: Both siblings have been superfans since they watched Nick & Starr & Tammy & Victor win their races.
• Brother–Sister Team
• History Repeats: A team of Gen Z siblings who went home first after spending hours going in the wrong direction.
• No Sense of Direction: This is what led to their downfall.