Eugene couple to compete on new season of \'The Amazing Race\'

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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Married beekeepers Anita, 63, and Arthur Jones,61, from Eugene, Ore., are the oldest — and perhaps mostcolorful — team on this season of "The AmazingRace."
Among the self-described hippies' mottos: "Don't worry, behippie" and "The hokey pokey is what it's allabout."
Before the race, the Joneses worked out in hopes of keeping up withthe other teams.
"We both tried to do some training, along the lines of goingdown to our little gym, but that was pretty much it," saidAnita. "We have an emerging farm, so we do a lot of work outthere, splitting wood and taking care of the horses. We're prettyphysical, so we thought, 'Hey, we can be in there with everybodyelse. It'll be fun.'"
In addition to the Eugene couple, an ex-NFL player and hisestranged wife, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and her actorbrother, recent divorcees, a pair of Southern belles and fraternitybrothers are among the 11 two-person teams hurrying for the finishline — and the $1 million grand prize — on the upcoming13th edition of CBS' "The Amazing Race."

"I love the fraternity brothers because they're so young andsuch a contrasting team," host Phil Keoghan recently told TheAssociated Press. "One takes his time to think things out. Theother one loves to rush and go at a million miles an hour. There'sdefinitely tension between the two of them while they're makingdecisions during the race."
Another team competing is geeky best friends Mark Yturralde, 41,and Bill Hahler, 42. The Comic-Con treasurer and student aidadministrator from San Diego have been pals for over 20 years andhave auditioned for "The Amazing Race" since thelong-running reality series' third season. The superhero and gamingaficionados said they left their toys at home during the race.
"We've got really teeny backpacks," said Hahler."They are small. We wanted to make sure that there wasn'tanything to prevent us from putting that pack underneath the seatin front of us when we got on a plane. We didn't want something tohappen where we got delayed because of our luggage. We thought thatwould help us go faster."
"We did extensive research on what to wear — what waslightweight and would help us move the fastest," addedYturralde. "I think it was the longest I ever went withoutwearing a logo on my T-shirt. If you see me on the street, I'musually wearing a Superman, Bizarro or Batman T-shirt on a constantbasis, but we had to utilize more multi-use clothing for 'TheAmazing Race.'"
Ken Greene, a former St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Chargersdefensive back, now 51, will race with estranged wife Tina.
Starting at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the 13th season ofthe Emmy-winning reality competition (premiering Sept. 28 at 8p.m.) will follow the teams as they travel over 30,000 miles in 23days to countries such as Brazil, Bolivia, Russia, India andKazakhstan. It's the first time the series visited the landlockedcountry lampooned by Sacha Baron Cohen in "Borat."
"We shot most of that episode in the capital," saidexecutive producer Bertram van Munster. "People were a littleafraid we were going to pull a 'Borat' on them. I told them weweren't doing 'Borat,' but what happened there is very, very funny.It's not easy to shoot in places like that because they practicallyhave no television industry."
Van Munster, who is currently scouting locations in Asia for the14th season, promised the 13th season will include a series offirsts for the reality competition, including a mistake thatultimately prohibited one team from joining their fellow racers atthe finish line, as well as a memorable first-ever stop for"The Amazing Race" in Cambodia.
"The teams have no idea how to get from Point A to Point Bthere," said van Munster. "They don't know the language.It's very difficult to get through this country. They get so stuck,but they find so many fascinating solutions of how to get througheverything. One of the things the teams do there is go to areal-life floating village. It's insane."
Viewers shouldn't expect to witness the around-the-worldshenanigans in high definition, according to van Munster. While theupcoming Gabon-set season of CBS' "Survivor" will bebroadcast in HD for the first time, "The Amazing Race"co-creator said the network hasn't decided on a similar stance forthe often on-the-bubble show.
"I don't think it's a priority," van Munster said."We're just happy to continue making the show as it is."