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We’re Famous!!!

amazing-race-25-teams-racing-through-the-airport-in-st-thomas-u-s-virgin-islands
Image credit: geelindo on Instagram

Oh my goodness, a big thanks today to Leslie McKibben of Kids Night In babysitting for sending us this super cool article … we’re famous! Check it out:

‘Amazing Race’ 25 Spoilers: Teams Headed To St. Thomas & London For First 2 Legs After New York Starting Line? [PHOTOS]

By: Enstarz.com

The 25th season of The Amazing Race has only just begun, but the locations where teams have been filming legs have already been revealed thanks to fans spotting them on location and sharing the information they have found on social media.

After leaving from a starting line in Times Square at 3 a.m. on May 31, teams headed to the island of St. Thomas, a territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands, a destination which was confirmed by bystanders posting photos of teams at the St. Thomas airport.

“Spotted people from The Amazing Race in the St. Thomas airport,” one fan captioned a photo of a few teams as they ran across the tarmac after they departed their flight. The four contestants shown in the picture all carry trademark racer backpacks on their backs, and cameramen can be seen filming from a small platform above their heads.

That wasn’t the only time racers were spotted in St. Thomas, as yet another fan also noticed teams racing through the St. Thomas airport as well.

The biggest confirmation that teams were in the area however comes from a June 1 report in the News of St. John, which confirmed that teams were in fact in the area.

Caribbean Buzz helicopters confirmed to the newspaper that they had helped out with the filming of a CBS reality show, but wouldn’t confirm which one.

“We provided aerial support for filming of a CBS reality TV show,” their official statement reads. “It included (Carval) rock, Hans Lollick, Magen’s Bay and downtown at Fort Christian.”

Fort Christian and Magen’s Bay are both attractions in St. Thomas, but the inclusions of Carval Rock and Hans Lollick imply that teams traveled to several of the U.S. Virgin Islands to complete their tasks.

Though it is unclear if there was an elimination on the first leg, or which team may have been the first one cut from the competition, some teams are already confirmed to have made it to the second leg, which will take place in London, thanks to more social media posts.

At some point while leaving St. Thomas, teams reportedly needed to fly back into the U.S. to get connecting flights to London, as revealed by a fan who posted a photo of a team trying to find a flight to London on their Instagram page. The fan revealed that the team was trying to find an earlier flight to the city, but failed.

A correspondent at NBC News in London also confirmed that teams, including surfer Bethany Hamilton and her husband (meaning if there was a leg 1 elimination, they survived it), were in London, by posting a photo on her Twitter account which showed them all leaving Paddington Station.

“These people just sprinted thru Paddington. Six cameras. @Amazing Race_CBS?” she captioned the photo.

Amazing Race season 25 will air on CBS this fall, in a new Friday night at 8 p.m. timeslot.

Miss our first story on The Amazing Race filming in the islands? Click here to read it. 


Something “Amazing” Just Happened…

Image credit: Captain John Brandi of Palm Tree Charters
Boats waiting to transport the racers – Image credit: Captain John Brandi of Palm Tree Charters

Anyone see an abnormally high number of seaplanes flying near Lovango and Congo cays yesterday? Perhaps you saw a helicopter flying back and forth in the area? Want to know why???

CBS chose our happy little slice of heaven as a location in its latest season of The Amazing Race! How cool is that??!!

We got the call yesterday morning from Captain John Brandi of Palm Tree Charters.  He mentioned how someone inquired a while back about booking a charter for yesterday. Seeing how Captain John typically takes weekends off, Island Sue [Captain John’s better half :)] turned down the request. Captain John did do a bit of snooping, however, and soon learned what was up.

It turns out that another boat captain friend of ours was tapped to help out. (Now we’re not sure if any confidentiality releases were signed, so we’re keeping his name out of today’s post.)  What we do know is that this second captain was out near Carval Rock for a good part of the day. It seems that they did some filming in a variety of places around St. Thomas and St. John.

Image credit: Captain John Brandi of Palm Tree Charters
Set up for The Amazing Race – Image credit: Captain John Brandi of Palm Tree Charters

Check out this mobile movie of the seaplane coming in courtesy of Captain John Brandi:

And here is a helicopter moving in, again courtesy of Captain John Brandi:

Once we heard that CBS was using helicopters, we knew Caribbean Buzz had to be involved. Here’s their super official statement (my guess is they signed something):

“We provided aerial support for filming of a CBS reality TV show. It included (Carval) rock, Hans Lollick, Magen’s Bay and downtown at Fort Christian.”

So cool!

Amazing Race Map

Laurie and Craig Crandall just happened to be passing through St. Thomas yesterday afternoon when they caught a glimpse of filming.

“We just came home from a week in Alaska and were coming to the waterfront. And there were all of these filming crews and teams,” Laurie said. “We asked what was happening and we were told it was The Amazing Race. The seaplane was at the waterfront, so I think it was whoever arrived first got on the plane … There were probably about six teams. I wish I was able to get out and talk to them because it looked really cool.”