Why CBS Is Loading ‘The Amazing Race’ With Social Media Stars
Season 28 of reality contest will send “social media influencers” including Tyler Oakley and Korey Kuhl running around the world
Mikey Glazer | November 11, 2015 @ 4:56 PM
Last Updated: December 11, 2015 @ 8:52 PM
Tyler Oakley, center, is amongst the 22 social media stars cast on CBS' next "The Amazing Race," debuting in February 2016. (White House Photo, CBS(2))
President Obama drafted LGBT icon Tyler Oakley to talk health care at the White House and now CBS is sending him abroad to represent the U.S.
Oakley and 21 other social media stars will race around the world on latest edition of “The Amazing Race.”
The 10-time Emmy-winning reality franchise is sending 11 teams of social media influencers — YouTubers, Viners, Gamers and Instagram models — out into the wild for Season 28, which will begin shooting at an undisclosed location in the coming days.
Co-creators and Executive Producers Elise Doganieri and Bertram van Munster/ Getty Images
This is as close as “Race” producers have come to an all-celebrity season, with some of these personalities already household names (Oakley, “Magic Viner” Zach King, Vine teen heartthrob Cole LaBrant) and some with more niche followings online (Instagram models Jessica Versteeg and Brittany Oldehoff).
It’s a natural move for the show’s creators — creator/executive producer couple Elise Doganieri and Bertram van Munster (above), host/producer Phil Keoghan and casting director Lynne Spillman — who have inched closer and closer to casting all-out media professionals over the past few years.
Last spring, the “Race” flirted with the idea of social media stars, casting fashion blogger Jenny Wu (“GoodBadandFab.com”) who diligently pre-loaded three weeks worth of content to publish on a timer as she was traveling around the world.
Jenny Wu and sports agent lawyer Jelani Roy (GoodBadandFab.com; MontyBrinton/CBS)
That season had the biggest casting tweak to date, welcoming five “blind date” couples who met at the starting line, a noisy tweak that brought needed attention to the show’s schedule shift to Friday nights after years in the coveted the Sunday night spot.
The currently airing season of “The Amazing Race” is dominated with performers and media professionals. The group includes two personalities who appear daily on the TMZ TV show, two local newscasters, two additional paparazzi (beyond the TMZ pair), two full-time street performers who previously appeared on multiple other reality shows, two women who were professional NFL cheerleaders, two male models, and a couple who made a viral video about “The Amazing Race” itself.
Shevonne Sullivan (left) and Kelly Berning (right) appear on “TMZ.” (Mikey Glazer)
It makes sense that instead of dancing around the edges of the pool of performance-oriented people who are media-adjacent, producers would dive in head first with prominent names like Oakley, who has his own feature film coming out next month.
In another first, host/producer Keoghan will stream live video from the first leg of the show on his Facebook feed this Sunday, Nov. 15 at approximately 7:30 p.m. PT.
An avid cycler who spends his off-seasons recreating the Tour de France on a vintage 1938 bike, Keoghan is also a regular live tweeter during Friday night airings of the show and has co-hosted viewing parties in L.A. where fans and alums could come and watch the show.
This “live look in” is part of an ongoing strategy by both Doganieri/van Munster and CBS to give fans greater access. After sequestering the show in secrecy for most of their runs, “The Amazing Race” has recently done two “open to the public” starting line segments, one in Times Square and one on Venice Beach (above).
Jeff Probst, and Mark Burnett staged a nationwide two-week vote-on campaign last May for the currently airing season of “Survivor,” letting fans choose the entire cast from a pool of 32 returning favorites.
Fans voted 20 alums back onto “Survivor” (Photo illustration by Mikey Glazer, images via CBS)
While remaining vigilant about the series being spoiler-free, the inclusion of returning players and social media stars whose lives are on-going reality shows followed by millions of fans raises the degree of difficulty in keeping a lid on the “early boots” for months, when they are likely to reemerge online or in the public.
As for their casting, CBS had the contestants announce the news themselves on their channels 30 minutes before an embargo lifted for other media. The social engineers are driving the train and CBS is laying the track.
Here’s who’s in the driver’s seat for the upcoming season.
Tyler Oakley (7.7 million subscribers) and podcast pal Korey Kuhl
Rooster Teeth COO Burnie Burns (8.2 million subscribers) and girlfriend, Ashley
Clevver TV hosts Erin White Robinson and Joslyn Davis
Vine teen heartthrob Cole LaBrant (6.5 million followers) and mother, Sheri
Magic Viner Zach King (3.7 million followers) and wife, Rachel
Dance video super stars Dana Borriello and Matt Steffanina (2.4 million Youtube subscribers)
Instagram models Jessica Versteeg and Brittany Oldehoff (in the low end, with only 60,000 followers together)
Viral video star Marty Cobb and daughter, Hagan Parkman (Cobb’s flight attendant safety demonstration video netted over 22 million views online)
Beauty Youtuber Blair Fowler (1.7 million subscribers) and dad, Scott
Pro Frisbee players Kurt Gibson and Brodie Smith (1 million followers)
Brothers Cameron and Darius Benson (3 million Vine followers)
“The Amazing Race” 27 is currently airing on Friday nights at 8 p.m. Season 28 will begin airing in February 2016.
YouTube's 25 Biggest Stars (Photos)
Galvin Free and Daniel Gruchy created "The Slow Mo Guys" in 2010, a series which simply consists of different things filmed in extreme slow motion. Their channel now has over 4 million subscribers and over 330 million views.
Zoe Sugg, known to her fans as Zoella, hosts a fashion, beauty and lifestyle channel. She recently signed a two-book deal with Penguin Books for "Girl Online," a loosely autobiographical book about an anonymous young blogger goes viral.
Shane Dawson is best known for creating YouTube comedy videos that include recurring characters, and spoofs of popular TV shows and music videos. The multi-talented online star has also released five songs of his own and made his own film on Starz's "The Chair" titled "Not Cool."
YouTube beauty expert Michelle Phan became Lancome's official make-up artist and in 2011 she co-founded ipsy, a monthly subscription service for make-up.
Matthew Clarke rose to fame after a video of him and friend, David Milchard, reenacting conversations with his two-year-old daughter, Coco, went viral. He is currently on Season 3 of his series as he reenacts conversations with the now 3-year-old.
Grav3yardgirl, also known as Bunny Meyer, hosts fashion and beauty videos. She is known for her segments "Does This Really Work," "Follow Me Around" and "First Impression Friday."
Grace Helbig entered the YouTube arena by creating R-rated versions of fairy tales. The unique twist on children's classics won Helbig her own show on My Damn Channel called "DailyGrace," and an gig on "Attack of The Show" as both a host and correspondent. She currently has a pilot in development at E!.
Felix Kjellberg, better known online as PewDiePie, is a video game commentator. He has over 31 million subscribers to his channel and is one of the fastest-growing YouTube channels.
Bethany Mota rose to YouTube fame after posting haul videos in 2009. Since then, she's gone on multiple tours, paired with Aeropostale to create a fashion line and currently stars on the 19th season of "Dancing with the Stars."
"Epic Meal Time," created by Harley Morenstein and Sterling Toth, is a Canadian cooking show that creates high calorie meals, usually including meat and alcohol. The channel has over six million subscribers and has won the Shorty Award for Food.
The founder of 5 Second Films, Brian Firenzi started a movement in 2005 in the dormitories of USC that has led to over 115 million views on YouTube. The micro-films have even featured the talents of Patton Oswalt, Andrew W.K. and "Weird Al" Yankovic.
With over 1.5 million followers on his channel, Chester See entertains his vast audience with original songs, sketches and short films.
After breaking his back and legs during a snowboarding accident, Devin Graham moved behind the camera for a series of cinematic, breath-taking extreme sport videos that have amassed more than 415 million views and more than 2.5 million subscribers.
Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali? Hitler or Darth Vader? These are the questions we want answered, and Peter Shukoff and Lloyd Ahlquist answered them with "Epic Rap Battles of History." Their channel boasts over 11 million subscribers, with over 1.2 billion views for their videos.
Hannah Hart's "My Drunk Kitchen" embraces alcohol-fuelled baking, drawing in over 1.4 million subscribers and over 105 million views. She was also recently chosen to co-host the Streamys with friend and fellow YouTube star, Grace Helbig.
Jesse Wellens pranked his girlfriend, Jeana, attempting the cinnamon challenge in 2007, leading to the launch of "PrankvsPrank," an ongoing prank war that has since gained over 884 million combined views and 6.4 million subscribers. Surprisingly, the couple is still together.
Jenna Marbles has over 14 million subscribers, making her the seventh most-subscribed-to channel and the top YouTube channel run by a woman, with over 1.5 billion views.
Lindsey Stirling -- a violinist, dancer and performer -- posts both music videos and live performances on "Her YouTube Channel," which has over 5 million subscribers and 735 million views.
Henry Reich created a series of science education videos called "MinutePhysics" in order to get kids excited about learning. His channel has over 2.5 million subscribers and videos have been featured on "PBS Newshour" and "NBC News."
Philip DeFranco has hosted his own news/talk show on YouTube since 2007, which has garnered over 3 million subscribers and 1 billion views.
The Piano Guys gained their popularity through YouTube where they posted piano and cello renditions of popular songs. They have since attracted over three million subscribers and many of their songs have more than 20 million views each. After getting a record deal, their first four albums all reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts.
Ray William Johnson started hosting "Equas Three," a commentary show on viral videos, from his dorm room in 2008. That has grown to over 10.8 million subscribers and over 2 billion views. Johnson left the show in March, but Robby Motz has since taken over and the funny, biting commentary hasn't slowed down.
With nearly 20 million subscribers, 3.7 billion video views and three different spans of time as the most subscribed YouTube channel, Ian Andrew Hecox and Anthony Padilla can lodge a claim as the Lords of the Internet with their comedy duo "Smosh."
Toby Turner has succeeded with not one, but three YouTube channels, with a combined total of 14.9 million subscribers and over 3.2 billion views.
UberHaxorNova has earned over 2 million subscribers through his inappropriate jokes. He is also known for his "rage" videos.
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The video platform has created a new generation of online celebrities, earning them million of views and sometimes millions of dollars
Galvin Free and Daniel Gruchy created "The Slow Mo Guys" in 2010, a series which simply consists of different things filmed in extreme slow motion. Their channel now has over 4 million subscribers and over 330 million views.
