Why Do Amazing Race Teams Wear Matching Outfits? Season 25 Winners on Assigned Colors

Quick answer: Amazing Race teams match because production asks them to. Each of the 2 racers on a team packs clothes in a color the show assigns, so cameras, editors and viewers can sort 13 pairs at a glance. The teams buy the clothes themselves, and the matching fades after the first few legs.

It looks like a cute couple thing. It is closer to a jersey, because for the first hour of a season nobody at home knows a single name.

Why do Amazing Race teams wear matching outfits?

Because 26 strangers in gym clothes are hard to tell apart. A season 25 winner put it on the record: Maya Warren and Amy DeJong told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that teams are given a color and encouraged to pack outfits in it. A fan-run Amazing Race wiki describes the same request and adds that it mostly applies to the opening legs, when the field is biggest.

There is a second, practical reason. Each team runs with a two-person camera and sound crew, and a bright pair of shirts is easier to follow through a market or a train station than two gray ones.

Does the show assign each team a color?

Yes, according to that same account. Warren and DeJong were handed maroon. They raced in raspberry pink instead, because, as Warren said, "Really, who can find maroon clothes?" Nobody stopped them. So the color is a strong suggestion, and close is good enough.

Do racers have to buy their own matching clothes?

They do. TheWrap visited a starting line in 2015 and reported that the cast buys and brings its own backpacks, and that the outdoor brands you see all over the show are not sponsors. Clothes work the same way. So a team needs 2 of the same shirt, in a set color, with no big logo, on its own budget.

The bag is small, too. Season 33 winner Kim Holderness wrote that she packed 2 tank tops, 2 sports bras, 1 pair of leggings and 1 pair of shorts. Our rundown of what Amazing Race racers wear has the full list.

Why does the matching stop later in the season?

Count the laundry. With 2 tops each, a racer wears each one about every other day and washes it in a hotel sink. By the middle legs, the team color is drying on a chair. Fewer teams are left by then, and viewers know faces, so the color has done its job.

Tasks interrupt it as well. Some legs put every team in the same costume or safety gear, and racers have to keep it on until they are told otherwise.

Did the season 39 teams match at the starting line?

Season 39 started at Jack Poole Plaza with 13 pairs, from brothers Zach and Nate Johnson to former pro soccer players Ali Krieger and Joanna Lohman. The first leg was hard on clothes. A bungee swing at BC Place came first, then a Detour on False Creek where, per TVLine's recap, many teams flipped their outrigger canoes.

We have not logged each team's color yet, so we are not going to guess. Erin Taylor and Javi Vintimilla won the leg, and Zach and Nate were eliminated.

What does a matching team shirt cost?

For a relay, a mud run or a long trip with a partner, you need 2 of the same quick-dry tee. These three are similar styles, not shirts any racer wore.

Prices checked on underarmour.com, baleaf.com and smartwool.com, Sept. 30, 11:55 p.m. ET.

How do you pick a team color that works on camera?

Go bright and go solid, and check that the shade exists in both of your sizes before you commit. That is the lesson of the maroon story.

Do other competition shows color-code their casts?

Most do, and usually the show pays for it. Survivor hands out tribe buffs, covered in Survivor 51 tribe colors and where to buy a Survivor buff. MTV issues team kit, which we break down in what The Challenge competitors wear. The Amazing Race is the odd one: the color is assigned, and the shopping is left to you.

The camera logic behind all of it is in why competition shows color-code their casts. For the feet, see what shoes Amazing Race racers wear. To name a top you spot this season, start with how to find workout clothes you see on TV, or browse all competition shows.

FAQ

Does CBS give Amazing Race teams their outfits? No public account says so. The racers quoted here describe packing their own clothes in a color the show gave them.

Can teams wear brand logos? Racers are asked to avoid them, which is why so many tops on the show are plain.

Do teams match for the whole race? Rarely. With about 2 tops each, most pairs match in the early legs and mix after that.

Sources