By admin 
When Conner Wilson and Garrett McGuire went off about a year ago to film their appearance on Season 39 of “The Amazing Race,” which premieres Wednesday on CBS, it wasn’t the first time they’d done something offbeat.
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Wilson and McGuire, who are each 27 and live in the Sacramento region, have been friends since their early childhood in south Placer. Long before they went on television, they improvised a road trip to Maine. They’ve run with the bulls in Pamplona. And they’ve ridden mopeds on back roads in Thailand.
“We’ll take any excuse we can get to go out and do something that’s kind of out of the ordinary,” Wilson said.
The men are making their national television debut on a show that rewards quick thinking, being calm under pressure and having a willingness to go on an adventure.
For those who know McGuire and Wilson, this latest chapter is fitting.
A friendship since early childhood
Elena Wilson didn’t think there would be other people at Monte Verde Park in Rocklin the day that Conner and Garrett met more than 20 years ago.
“If you see a nice welcoming face, you’ll just automatically start chatting them up,” Elena Wilson said about meeting Garrett’s mother, Kristi McGuire. “So we just kind of became fast friends and the boys were both just very even keel.”
The boys went to parent-participation preschool together in Loomis and competed on the same soccer team, the Loomis Fury, from sixth through eighth grade. Their families also vacationed together on the McGuire family houseboat on Lake Oroville.
While McGuire and Wilson went to different high schools, they eventually attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo together. Wilson studied business marketing. McGuire did his undergraduate work in bioresource and agricultural engineering and earned a master’s degree in civil engineering.
McGuire now lives in El Dorado Hills and does engineering work for Sherwood Design Engineers. Wilson lives in Loomis. He has a YouTube channel, @mellow_conner, with 16,000 subscribers where he documents his adventures, such as traveling 8,000 miles in a Mazda Miata.
The men applied twice to be on “The Amazing Race.” Wilson said that his family had long been fans of the show.
Wilson and McGuire’s interest in the show can also be traced to their willingness to make trips, even when their plans have had to shift at the last moment.
Kristi McGuire remembered when the COVID-19 pandemic upended a trip that her son and Wilson were going to make to Europe in 2020.
“So Conner goes out and he buys this old Subaru and they decided to drive cross country, just willy-nilly,” she said. “They had no plans. They went all the way to Maine, had their Maine lobster and they just slept wherever they could find a spot.”
Wilson and McGuire made it to Pamplona in 2022 to run with the bulls. The only problem? Their train arrived late and their hostel no longer had room. The men purchased blankets and slept in a park for two nights, waking up during the final night to a man attempting to pick McGuire’s pocket.
In the spring of 2025, the men went on a trip to Japan and Thailand with two friends from childhood, Gavin Scholtes-Dowd and Jake Mann. The four had played together on Loomis Fury and Scholtes-Dowd had gone to preschool with Wilson and McGuire.
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Mann said that in Thailand, they stayed on an island and spent two days riding mopeds on back country roads at speeds of around 40 mph.
“They were completely in their element,” Mann said.
Scholtes-Dowd said that they were already in the process of planning a trip for 2027.
“Whatever we want to do, whatever food, they’re not picky whatsoever,” Scholtes-Dowd said. “They’re just really go-with-the-flow type of guys.”
What to expect on ‘Amazing Race’ this season
McGuire and Wilson could offer only sparing details of what would occur on this season of “The Amazing Race,“ which filmed around September and October last year. Typically on the show, two-person teams travel the world, completing different challenges.
“Just to have the opportunity to travel around the world, do these crazy games, meet new people, try new foods, it was just right down our alley,” Wilson said.
McGuire doesn’t believe that appearing on the show strained their friendship.
“There might have been a few times where we were bickering with each other, but I don’t think it’s anything crazy, nothing unexpected,” McGuire said. “So I think if anything, it just is another amazing story that we have to carry with us for the rest of our lives. We’re going to be friends for life.”
Their friends are hopeful for what lies ahead.
“I think it’s absolutely amazing,” Scholtes-Dowd said. “I think they are two dudes, who, that fits them so well. They have wonderful personalities. They are so adaptable and easygoing and I cannot think of two better dudes to be on that together.”
Mann made note of his friends having unusual skills, such as McGuire being able to quickly figure out puzzles and Wilson knowing how to drive a stick shift car.
“I think what is going to help them is just kind of their ability to work in chaos and not needing comfort, I guess and being able to go up to people and spark conversations with locals and their willingness to embarrass themselves, too, on TV,” Mann said.
Kristi McGuire said that her family was “so excited” to see the show. Elena Wilson was optimistic about what will transpire on-screen.
“I knew that between the two of them, they weren’t going to blow up at each other and I also know Garrett is even keeled and also a thinker,” she said. “And so I knew that Garrett could help get them out of situations and not let stress get the best of them as far as the challenges.”
Garrett McGuire said the show was definitely in their wheelhouse.
“Conner and I have done so many adventures together, just growing up,” he said. “We’ve traveled together. We’ve done silly shenanigans together. The only difference now is there’s a camera filming it.”
This story was originally published September 29, 2026 at 11:43 AM with the headline “How Placer County friends landed on ‘Amazing Race’ after global adventures.”
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