A GR Native is on The Upcoming Season of ‘The Amazing Race’

The new cast for season 32 of the 'Amazing Race' was just announced and one of the contestants may be familiar to viewers in West Michigan as he's originally from Grand Rapids.

James Wallington and his boyfriend Will are going to be one of the teams competing for the $1 million grand prize, as they travel around the world competing against 10 other teams that want the prize just as much as James and Will do.

According to 'The Amazing Race' page on CBS.com, James is originally from Grand Rapids, although his bio says that he's now living in Los Angeles, working as an event coordinator and social media manager.  So while it's doubtful we'll just run into them on the street here in West Michigan, we still have a connection to one of the teams this season!

James describes himself as a "#SUPERFAN" of the show, apparently, he’s applied to be on the show nine different times, finally making it on this season. When asked, other than the million-dollar prize, what he hopes to get out of the competition, he replied,

“In the words of Bill Murray, "If you think someone is the one, travel the world together and if you’re still in love, get married at the airport." I hope throughout the race Will and I are able to gain a deeper understanding of who we are as individuals and as a couple”

And we get to see that journey play out as they travel to Trinidad, France, Germany, Brazil, and few more places, according to CBS.com. They’re one of three couples that will be competing, two of the couples are dating and one is married; everyone else is either friends or blood-family members. Also, they have their work cut out for them as one of the teams is a pair of Pro Volleyball players, two former NFL stars, and two former Olympic Hurdlers.

Wondering how they were able to film Season 32 of 'The Amazing Race' during a pandemic? The show’s host told US Weekly that they actually started filming this season’s competition back in November of 2018. It takes a while to get everything edited, and this season was originally going to air back in the spring when the pandemic started, but CBS apparently wanted to wait until the fall, since a lot of their shows were put on hold, production-wise, during the beginning of the pandemic, when the world kinda shut down.

Slight spoiler-alert: By the way, because I’m a Facebook stalker, James’ Facebook page says he and Will are engaged now, so it looks like at least their relationship survives the season of competition. Now we just need to see how close to the $1 million they get.

Can’t wait to see how they do! The new season premieres Wednesday, October 14 at 9pm.