Meet the New Amazing Race Cast: Chippendales! Goat farmers! A Lumberjack! Oh My! (PHOTOS)

CBS has announced the cast of The Amazing Race's upcoming 21st season, which means it's time to make some snap judgments based on looks, occupations, and little else. As usual, there are some interesting duos—including a pair of Chippendales dancers and the guys from that Planet Green reality show called The Fabulous Beekman Boys.

As for the game itself, the network is promising "the biggest twist ever," where if the same team wins both the first leg of the race and the last leg of the race, they will double their money and win a $2 million grand prize instead of $1 million grand prize. (Doesn't seem like much of a "twist," but hooray for higher stakes, I guess?) Along the way, "teams will travel through three continents, nine countries, and cover more than 25,000 miles, where they'll be faced with a 10-story rappel in Los Angeles, frying an egg on their heads in Indonesia, working as "rat collectors" in Bangladesh and revisiting one of the Race's most infamous Roadblocks in the Netherlands in this season's 'Switchback.'"

Sounds about right. Click through the photo gallery below to meet the new cast, then let's hear your first impressions in the comments.

The Amazing Race Season 21 Cast Photos


Will you be watching The Amazing Race this fall? Which team is your early favorite?


The Amazing Race returns for Season 21 on Sunday, September 30 at 8pm on CBS.


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Pretty Little Liars' Summer Finale: Chekhov's Gun Goes Off

Pretty Little Liars S03E12: "The Lady Killer"

Wow, okay. I trust we've all had time to decompress?

As promised, Pretty Little Liars' midseason finale did not hold back: a character death, a character's life in jeopardy, the reveal of Maya's killer, and the unmasking of the second "A."

Well, maybe. I'm not so certain about those last two.

Nate makes sense as Maya's killer, but do we think he actually did it? As I've said before, his motive is clear—and now we know he was definitely a homicidal psychopath—but that doesn't link Maya to Alison at all. Her death couldn't have just been about Nate's insane jealousy: In the video Nate showed Emily, Maya talked about the mess she'd gotten herself into, and only then mentioned separately that her stalker had found her again.

Of course, it's possible that "A" just got lucky, and Nate taking Maya out of the picture was serendipitous—just like Nate inadvertently got Garrett out of prison by taking the blame for Maya's murder.

When it comes to Nate, PLL's writers might have dropped too many hints, because I don't think any of us were that surprised by his reveal as the stalker. If anything, I was annoyed that Emily was so dense as to believe him—didn't his creepy behavior in last week's episode merit keeping some distance? It also felt a little absurd that she agreed to go away with him without ever having met the rest of his family. You know better than that, Em.

But enough about Nate. Let's talk about Toby. That last scene between Mona and Toby was pretty killer; I'm sure I wasn't alone in thinking we wouldn't get a peek under that hood. The reveal of Toby was the first major gasp moment Pretty Little Liars has offered in a while. But do we really believe he's bad?

Here's the thing: It totally makes sense that Toby would try to infiltrate the "A" gang in order to protect Spencer and her friends. So, yes, Toby could just be undercover, faking it. I don't know, though—does the timeline really make sense? If Toby is only pretending to be the second "A," how long has he been doing it? I don't think Mona would really buy the idea unless he's been in it for a long while. Honestly, I can see it going either way, and given how much PLL fans love Toby (and Spencer/Toby), I would not be surprised if this is all just a trick. I'm just saying, I'm not convinced.

If Toby isn't playing both sides, though, who called Emily to warn her about Nate? The mind, it boggles.

All speculation aside, the midseason finale was a fun and stressful episode. The scenes of Emily and Nate in the lighthouse were some of the scariest Pretty Little Liars has ever done, and the in media res opening was definitely effective. (I really thought Caleb was going to die. Now I'm 99 percent sure he'll pull through.) I'm glad that the next episode we're getting is a Halloween special, because I really just want Pretty Little Liars to up the creep factor. The relationship stuff is great and all, but I like getting spooked.

Normally this show's midseason finales leave me wanting more, and I'm always frustrated that I have to wait several months (only two in this case) for the next episode. But there was something satisfying about this. I'm content to wait it out for a while, even if it means endless speculation about Toby's true loyalty. Let's sit back, catch our breath, and wait for Pretty Little Liars to help us celebrate Halloween.

QUESTIONS:

– Okay, have at it: Is Toby really the second "A," or is he playing Mona?

– Did Nate actually kill Maya?

– Caleb's going to be okay, right?

Pretty Little Liars "The Lady Killer" Photos


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What to Watch Tonight: The Futurama, Necessary Roughness, and Melissa & Joey Finales

What to watch on Wednesday, August 29...

I'm going to start calling Wednesdays "Reality Wednesdays" because it literally feels like that's all this day has to offer, which is why I feel like I'm always featuring the same shows week after week. My apologies in advance, but here is your television line-up for the night:

SEASON FINALE, 8pm, ABC Family
Melissa & Joey
We never feature this one, but considering it's the first season finale I figure, "why not?" In "Mel Marries Joe" Mel agrees to officiate a marriage between Joe and Elena, which is happening because Joe's about to get kicked out of the country if he doesn't marry somebody STAT. Of course, my guess is that Melissa's going to have a conniption fit watching Joey walk down the isle with some other lady.

9pm, USA
Royal Pains
In "Dancing With the Devil" Hank treats a pop star who seeks out treatment in order to prep for her latest tour. Hank also meets a pediatrition—maybe a new friend? Meanwhile, Divya falls for a polo player (one of the guys from last week?) and Paige gets ready to leave for school. Ahhh, it's that time of year!

SEASON FINALE, 10pm, Comedy Central
Futurama
In the hour long season finale (aka two episodes smushed together), "31st Century Fox; Naturama," Bender becomes a target for the hunters after saving a robotic fox from their grasp. Then the crew morphs into a team of wild animals when a nature documentary hones in on them as subjects. What kind of animal would Bender be?

SEASON FINALE, 10pm, USA
Necessary Roughness
In "All The King's Horses" the Hawks prepare for their season opener, but a massive disaster may materialize at the zero hour, threatening the team's future. Considering it's the season finale, do you think this "disaster" will wind up as a cliff-hanger? And what is this disaster, anyway?

10:30pm, TV Land
The Exes
In "He's Gotta Have It" the guys get a less-than-expected visitor—one of Phil's tennis star clients, who moves in for a short stint to escape from the paparazzi. Also Holly and Haskell kick start a competition to determine which one of them is better suited to take care of a pregnant Eden. Shouldn't Eden be best suited to take care of pregnant Eden?

PLUS ALL NEW EPISODES OF...
Big Brother, 8 p.m., CBS
Oh Sit!, 8 p.m., The CW
Republican National Convention, 8 p.m., PBS, CNN, MSNBC
So You Think You Can Dance, 8 p.m., FOX
Baby Daddy, SEASON FINALE, 8:30 p.m., ABC Family
Abandoned, 9 p.m., NatGeo
America's Got Talent, 9 p.m., NBC
American Greed: The Fugitives, 9 p.m., CNBC
American Guns, 9 p.m., Discovery
Haunted Collector, 9 p.m., Syfy
Hollywood Exes, 9 p.m., VH1
How the Universe Works, 9 p.m., Science
Not My Mama's Meals, 9 p.m., Cooking
Buying and Selling, SEASON PREMIERE, 9 p.m., HGTV
Restaurant: Impossible, 9 p.m., Food
Storage Wars Texas, 9 p.m., A&E;
Toddlers & Tiaras, 9 p.m., TLC
Toy Hunter, 9 p.m., Travel
Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry?, 9 p.m., Investigation Discovery
America's Lost Treasures, 10 p.m., NatGeo
American Hoggers, 10 p.m., A&E;
Auction Hunters, 10 p.m., Spike
Dirty Jobs: Down Under, 10 p.m., Discovery
Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, 10 p.m., TLC
I Married a Mobster, 10 p.m., Investigation Discovery
Paranormal Witness, 10 p.m., Syfy
Restaurant Stakeout, 10 p.m., Food
The Real World: St. Thomas, 10 p.m., MTV
The Soul Man, 10 p.m., TV Land
The Soup, 10 p.m., E!
Top Chef Masters, 10 p.m., Bravo
House Hunters International, 10:30 p.m., HGTV
The Exes, 10:30 p.m., TV Land

LATE-NITE PICKS:
Shia LaBeouf on Chelsea Lately, 11 p.m., E!
First lady Michelle Obama on Late Show With David Letterman, 11:35 p.m., CBS
Bill Maher qnd Tristan Prettyman on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, 11:35 p.m., NBC
Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Fiona Gubelmann on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, 12:37 a.m., CBS

What are you watching tonight?


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