VICTORIAN TEAMS FTW..!!! THE AMAZING RACE CONTESTANTS (FROM LEFT): ROSS AND TARRYN, STEVE AND PAUL, SARAH, ANDREW AND SHANE, AND JAMES. PICTURE: TIM CARRAFA HERALD SUNFOUR Victorian couples, including a pair of Victoria Police detectives, make up the 11 teams in the new series of The Amazing Race.
Former Fitzroy best-and-fairest footballer Ross Thornton is also in the race, joining his basketballer daughter Tarryn.
Channel 7 is preparing to launch the second series of the hit show next month, in what is a boom time for locally produced reality shows.
The Voice and The Block on Channel 9, plus Australia's Got Talent on Seven, are all doing well, a bonus for the local television industry.
Seven is hoping our love affair with locally produced big television formats will continue with the next series of The Amazing Race.
Detectives Shane Haw and Andrew Thoday are crime scene officers, working in fingerprints, DNA and crime scene photography.
They have worked in Melbourne's southern suburbs together for six years, and Victoria Police approved the men going on the show, "as long as you don't bring the police force into disrepute", Haw said.
Both detectives have young families and they said doing The Amazing Race was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"We wanted to get out of the rat race for a while. It's something that we would never do," Haw said.
"We are just average blokes who happen to be cops and we love having fun, so we thought what better a thing to do than The Amazing Race."
The detectives are tipped to go well in the show. And they would do it all again.
"It's a money-can't-buy experience," Thoday said.
"We were just rapt to be given the opportunity.
"We had an absolute ball."
A launch date for The Amazing Race has not been announced, but it will air some time next month.THE VICTORIAN CONTESTANTSJAMES KINGSBURY AND SARAH ROZA (Dating)About: Divorcee Sarah, 32, and James, 23, have been dating for a short time. Sarah describes herself as a “pushy, loud and persuasive person’’.
ROSS AND TARRYN THORNTON (Father and daughter)About: Ross is a former Fitzroy footballer and his daughter Tarryn a Victorian representative basketballer player. Both promise to be competitive.
PAUL MONTGOMERY AND STEVE SCALE (Workmates)About: The pair work together in a road building company. They are opposite personalities. Steve is more laid back and Paul more intense.
SHANE HAW AND ANDREW THODAY (Police detectives)About: As well as workmates, the pair are best friends and have worked together for six years.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/tv-radio/victorian-teams-get-set-for-amazing-race/story-e6frf9ho-1226335167259