The Amazing Race is about to kick off its 25th season with 11 new teams. Click ahead to meet the new racers and see what they had to tell TVGuide.com about doing the show before they sprinted around the world.

Connection: Engaged Ages: Both 29 Hometowns: Nashville Current occupations: Environmental field tech and singer/songwriter In their own words: Keith: "We've wanted to do this since Survivor and have expressed our interest for a long, long time. I guess our relationship has lasted long enough that they saw it wasn't just a showmance." Whitney: "We moved our wedding for this. That's how serious we are about it. It was June 12 in the Dominican Republic, but we moved it to the end of July."

Connection: Friends and firefighters Ages: 50 and 39 Hometowns: Boston and Chelsea, Mass. Current occupations: Firefighters In their own words: Scott: "We might say we're exotic dancers or underwater basket weavers. We don't want to say too much, but they can probably guess." Michael: "If we win the $1 million, we want to donate some to the Wounded Warriors and help some veterans who've come back. They fight for freedom in this great nation."

Connection: Mother and daughter Ages: 42 and 24 Hometowns: Media, Pa., and Detroit Current occupations: Flight attendants In their own words: Nici: "We're not telling [teams] we're flight attendants. We both were in the military as well — Air Force and Army — so we're not sharing that either. We're going to hold onto that as long as we can." Shelley: "We're going to let them think we're the ditzy sisters. She just got out of college and I'm a stay-at-home mom. That's our story."

Connection: College sweethearts Ages: 23 and 24 Hometowns: South Pasadena, Calif. Current occupations: Flight attendant and restaurant server In their own words: Tim: "One of our advantages is travel. I'm a flight attendant, so I know that like the back of my hand. And any performance task — we want dancing tasks." Te Jay: "We're very manipulative and charming, but we don't want to come off as that. We want to come off as the underdog and just be friendly, but little do they know we're playing them the whole time."

Connection: Friends and food scientists Ages: 29 and 24 Hometowns: Madison, Wisc. Current occupations: Ph.D students In their own words: Maya: "We're physically fit. We've run marathons. We may not look like the buffest, but stamina-wise, we can definitely kick butt." Amy: "We overthink. That could slow us down a lot. We could both overthink, so one of us has to not overthink a lot."

Connection: Sisters Ages: 28 and 21 Hometowns: Miami Current occupations: Realtors In their own words: Lisa: "We will work with other teams and we're going to be really nice to everyone. Everyone always underestimate the blondes, but we're tough and we can deal with high-stress situations." Michelle: "What Caroline and Jen did last season [flirting for the second Express Pass] was so smart. We're not against doing that at all. You do what you have to do."

Connection: Dating Ages: 28 and 30 Hometowns: Tustin, Calif. Current occupations: Model and accountant In their own words: Dennis: "I actually bought an old car just to make sure I'll be used to driving manual. When she tried driving manual, she cried." Isabelle: "I did cry. I will not be our driver. I actually set up a fake Amazing Race course for him to drive around in Tustin. It was intense."

Connection: Married Ages: 36 and 37 Hometowns: Columbia, S.C. Current occupations: Cosmetic dentist and orthodontist In their own words: Misti: "I was Miss Galaxy and I was about to give up the title. There was not really anywhere to go after that. I didn't want to stop competing … so we asked [Cyrus Frakes, my pageant coach] and he was like, 'You guys would be great on The Amazing Race.'" Jim: "Unfortunately, we were not die-hard fans of the show. We've seen episodes, but we never really followed a season. We've seen the last 10 seasons full after we got cast. In hindsight, I wish we'd been watching from the start."

Connection: Married Ages: 24 and 25 Hometowns: Princeville, Hawaii Current occupations: Pro surfer and motivational speaker and "professional husband" In their own words: Bethany: "Obviously we'll have to be strategic with one arm. Some tasks will be really hard for me, so hopefully we can be balance it out. ... Having one arm, people might be more prone to help you or underestimate you." Adam: "Bethany is very adaptable and has ingenuity. She's proven that in her career. But we're going to be friendly with everyone so people [might be willing] to help us out."

Connection: Dating Ages: 29 and 30 Hometowns: Houston, Texas, and Woodbridge, N.J. Current occupations: Pro wrestlers In their own words: Brooke: "We both have a tendency to be very hotheaded. We both get very frustrated easily, especially me. I know I have to watch myself. The first step is being aware." Robbie: "We tried to condense our cosmetics bag from [huge], which is normal travel for us, to small. We'll race better if we feel better about ourselves and we'll feel better about ourselves if we have our jewelry and our clothes brands that we like and our eye cream before we go to bed."

Connection: Friends and urban bike racers Ages: 33 and 26 Hometowns: Brooklyn, N.Y., and New York, N.Y. Current occupations: SoulCycle instructor and YouTuber and educator In their own words: Alli: "This sounds crazy, but I get really uneasy on planes when there's turbulence." Kym: "I have motion sickness. You probably will at some point on the show see me throw up."