‘The Amazing Race’ Adds 2 More Pairs for Supersized Season 35 — Meet the Cast (PHOTOS)

It’s time to hit the road with The Amazing Race. The long-running CBS reality competition series has unveiled the Season 35 cast, and among its ranks are veterans (Liam and Yeremi), a deaf father-son duo (Rob and Corey), and more. The pairs will compete in the supersized season comprised of 90-minute episodes, premiering Wednesday, September 27, at 9:30/8:30c. And for the first time ever, the series is having 13 pairs compete instead of the usual 11.

To make up for the gaps of scripted programming due to the ongoing writers and actors strikes, The Amazing Race Season 35 and Survivor Season 45 will clock in at 90 minutes each week. This year’s 23,800-mile adventure begins at the Hollywood Sign in California to celebrate the landmark’s 100th anniversary, and the globetrotting adventure will take the 13 teams to a new country, Slovenia, and more exciting locations.

In Slovenia, players “will fly in a gravity defying glider, 2,000 feet over Lake Bled, cross-country ski indoors, and climb 1,110 steps to the top of Planica’s tallest ski jump, among other once-in-a-lifetime challenges,” CBS describes.

Long before reaching that thrilling destination, the cast will be visited by a former Amazing Race team for the first time. The appearance takes place in the Season 35 premiere and will surprise the races and judges alike at the end of the first Roadblock. There, one contestant “must traverse a perilous tightrope stretched from one roof top to another at the historic Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.”

The Emmy-winning series also returns to commercial travel this season and will bring back no non-elimination legs, “the race-changing Express Pass and a twist on the infamous U-Turn, making this season one of the most competitive.” At stake is a $1 million prize.

“We start this season of The Amazing Race with an international flight to Asia, bringing back the thrill of traveling around the globe to exotic places. And on top of that, our cast is fantastic! Their energy is palpable and their enthusiasm even greater! This season’s big, 90-minute episodes allow us to show more of each city we travel to, especially the people and the culture, plus we get to know our contestants on a deeper level and their relationships with each other,” co-creators and executive producers Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri said in a statement. “You will laugh, you will cry, you will shout at the TV in frustration and also scream with joy, but best of all you will feel the highs and lows on this journey of the human spirit with the majestic backdrop of the world.”

Phil Keoghan returns as host. Get to know The Amazing Race Season 35 cast in the gallery below.

The Amazing Race, Season 35 Premiere, Wednesday, September 27, 9:30/8:30c, CBS