Your guide to team nicknames.

TAR 1:
Bert and Ernie: Bill and Joe
Cockroach: Paul and Amie
Danza: Frank and Margarita
Dark Hair and Light Hair: Kim and Leslie
Ensure: Dave and Margaretta
Esquire: Brennan and Rob
the Frats: Kevin and Drew
Guido: Bill and Joe
Kenny: Karyn and Lenny
Momily: Nancy and Emily
Team Shower Fresh Scent: Kevin and Drew

TAR 2:
Boston: Chris and Alex
Cha-Cha-Cha: Danny and Oswald
Drawl: Norm and Hope
Groanies (or Groaning Grannies): Peggy and Claire
Gutsy Grannies: Peggy and Claire
Itchy and Scratchy: Gary and Dave
Jeebus: Cyndi and Russell
Rev: Cyndi and Russell
Tarawil: Wil and Tara
Team Flanders: Cyndi and Russell
the Teeth: Blake and Paige
Thunk: Gary and Dave
The Twins: Shola and Doyin
Xerox: Shola and Doyin

TAR 3:
Aahab: Aaron and Arianne
Asshat: Ian of Teri and Ian (because he was an ass in a hat)
Big Kahunas, or BKs: Teri and Ian
the Bald Snark: Ken and Gerard
the Doublemint Twins: Derek and Drew
Firecop: Damon and Andre
FloZach: Flo and Zach
Heave: Heather and Eve
Huge Tinies: The alliance/constant grouping of teams that had a huge male and tiny female
JVJ: John Vito and Jill
Oh Brother: Ken and Gerard
Team 911: Andre and Damon
Terian: Teri and Ian
TnT: Tramel and Talicia
The Twins: Derek and Drew
Twinhunt: early targeting of Derek and Drew for elimination

TAR 4:
AirSteve: Steve of Steve and Dave (to differentiate from two other Steves)
ATC (Air Traffic Control): Steve and Dave
the BFGs ("Big Fat Guys"): Steve and Dave
BuffJon: Jon of Kelly and Jon (to differentiate from other Jon)
the Chipsters: Chip and Reichen
the Chippendales: Reichen and Chip
the Clowns: Jon and Al
ClownJon: Jon of Jon and Al (to differentiate from other Jon)
DadSteve: Steve of Steve and Josh (to differentiate from two other Steves)
the Falconettes: Monica and Sheree
IndianaSteve: Steve of Debra and Steve (to differentiate from two other Steves)
Millie the Mole: Millie of Millie and Chuck
Rasshole: Russell of Cindy and Russell (because he was such an asshole)
the Supremes and/or Team Supreme: Monica and Sheree
Team Who: David and Jeff
the Virgins: Millie and Chuck
the Werewolf (or Chuck the Werewolf): Chuck of Millie and Chuck

TAR 5:
the Bowling Moms: Linda and Karen
Ka*i: Kami and Karli
Mirna and Schmirna: Charla and Mirna
Twinkies: Kami and Karli
the Twins: Kami and Karli

TAR 6:
El Hornio: Adam of Adam and Rebecca (because of his bizarre hair style which featured two mini horn-like ponytails)
Mactors: the alliance of Freddy/Kendra and Hayden/Aaron
Nuance: Freddy and Kendra (because she stated in the first episode of the season that she and Freddy were models and understood the nuances of airports.... and promptly went to the wrong location in the airport)
Spazzpants*: Jonathan and Victoria (*just Jon)
Team Hornio: Adam and Rebecca

TAR 7:
Romber: Rob and Amber

TAR 8 (Family):
Cincinnati: Linz Family
Desperate Housewives: Godlewskis
Florida: Weavers
Gabblegabblegabbleskis: Godlewskis
Gadzookskis: Godlewskis
Goodlookskis: Godlewskis
Pinks: Godlewskis
Tonyas: the female members of the Bransens (three sisters; the other member was Wally, their dad)
Weevils: Weavers

TAR 9:
Frats: Eric and Jeremy
the Frosties: Lisa and Joni
the Glamazons: Lisa and Joni
Hippies: BJ and Tyler
MoJo: Monica and Joseph
Nerds: Dave and Lori
Pinks: Daniele and Dani
Team Choad: the collective effect of BJ/Tyler and Jeremy/Eric

TAR 10:
*lyns: Lyn and Karlyn
*wins: Erwin and Godwin
A(AM!), or Addicts (and Models!): Tyler and James
Alabama: Lyn and Karlyn
Bama: Lyn and Karlyn
Barbies: Dustin and Kandice
Blondes: Dustin and Kandice
BQs, or Beauty Queens: Dustin and Kandice
Kentucky:[b] David and Mary
[b]The Pointies: Rob and Kimberly

TAR 11 (All Stars):
Pink: Daniele (of season 9's Dani and Daniele; paired with Eric here)

Various Acronyms:
TPTB: The Powers That Be (including producers, creators, network bigwigs)
NEL: non-elimination leg
MFE: marked for elimination (the penalty for coming in last in a NEL in seasons 10 and 11)
TBC: to be continued (shown at the end of the first part of a double length leg)
WRP: World Race Productions (the company behind The Amazing Race
BVM - Bertram van Munster (co-creator/executive producer of TAR)
AYL: Amazing Yellow Line (The line or lines on the map that show the teams' routes during flight segments of the show)
HoO: Hours of Operation (A bunch which occurs when the producers decide that a shop/gate/whatever that racers need to visit/pass through will be closed between certain times, and put an 'Hours of Operation' sign up saying so)
ESM: Eat/Sleep/Mingle (The much-lamented section of Phil's introduction to each leg in which we saw grabs of the teams' activities during the pitstop)
KF: Killer Fatigue (a condition brought on by the stress of the race which strikes many contestants, especially later in the race, and which has caused several truly fantastic breakdowns and blowups)

Here's a list from the early TAR seasons. I've seen several others used (I actually made a list somewhere) in those earlier seasons, but I'm not 100% sure if they were official ones. There were nicknames for individual racers but not for the team (Asshat and BuffJon). To be clear, when you say common usage, that includes the ones used in the recap and the ones the racers came up with on television, or just the ones used here? Hope that FAQ list helps!

Bald snark - Ken/Gerard (TAR3) and the act of switching Detour options
*wins and *lyns - Erwin/Godwin and Lyn/Karlyn, respectively, both TAR 10
A(AM!) - Addicts (and Models!) - Tyler/James, TAR 10
Mactors - Models/actors, named for the alliance between Freddy/Kendra and Hayden/Aaron, TAR6
Spazzpants,* - Jonathan/Victoria (the asterisk is just Jon), TAR6
Romber - Rob/Amber, TAR7/TARAS

The Pointies (Rob and Kimberly) from season 10 also. I don't know if they're mentioned by name as often, but I vaguely recall seeing the name last season and people asking who they were.

Pink: Dani and Danielle
Nuance: Freddy and Kendra, because she stated in the first episode of the season that she and Freddy were models and understood the nuances of airports.... and promptly went to the wrong location in the airport
El Hornio: Used to refer to Adam or Adam and Rebecca

It was actually Hera from TAR6 that gave us that term and for that, we are thankful.

A(AM!) actually refers to Addicts (and Models!), since the show was pushing the "former drug addicts" angle yet not labelling them as such.

There weren't that many nicknames from TAR5, but one of the most memorable from the series is the Bowling Moms, also known as Linda and Karen.

BJ and Tyler: Hippies

Team Choad: the collective effect of BJ/Tyler and Jeremy/Eric

Nerds: Dave and Lori

Eric/Jeremy: Frats

Godlewskis: Desperate Housewives

Weavers: Florida

Lyn/Karlyn: Alabama

David/Mary: Kentucky

Ken/Gerard: Also known as Oh Brother

Out of fairness, most commonly accepted nicknames came either from the teams themselves on-air or from Miss Alli's recaps. As i recall, Miss Alli started discouraging forum originating nicknames around season five because of the confusion it created to forum dwellers who might not understand such nicknames. As it is, there are teams that had both on-air and recap based nicknames, such as Peggy and Claire from season two (they named themselves the Gusty Grannies and we know them as the Groaning Grannies; the Guidos (self-named, but they also had an on-air nick of Bert and Ernie).

That's what I understood as well. IIRC, the ones posted have actually been used on-air. As for TAR10, I've seen it used a lot as if it was an official nickname, since we were only limited to calling someone by either their on-air names or ones that have shown up in the recaps.

Aren't Kevin/Drew from season one also called the Frats?

Yes, and they really were frats.

Gutsy.

Although gusty would have been interesting on those long distance flights.

dunvegan948, do you have to ruin it for me? Gusty was funny! Hee.

I've watched all the seasons, and know most of this, but for those who maybe haven't watched all the seasons, it would probably be helpful to indicate what season the team is from as well as why/how they got the nickname. For a newbie, finding out that Bald Snark refers to Ken & Gerard probably won't help them out too much, if they don't know who they are in the first place.

I thought the Godlewskis were the pinks? Now I'm confuzzled! (Other Godlewski nicknames- Gabblegabblegabbleskis, Goodlookskis)

Teri & Ian- Big Kahunas/BKs(self-titled)

Kami & Karli- Twinkies

Dustin & Kandice- BQs (Blondes/Barbies by fellow contestants)

Yeah, "Pink" was used for both Danielle (when she was partnered with Eric) and for the Godlewskis. Repetitive! Bad recapper!

MoJo - Joseph and Monica of TAR9 (Self-titled. They apparently thought it was very clever - they even had individual shirts made, with 'Mo' and 'Jo' written on them as appropriate. Ick.)
Tonyas - the female members of the Bransen Family of TAR8 (three sisters -the other member was Wally, their dad)

And yet another Godlewski nickname was the Gadzookskis. That name is a mine of comic potential, really.

Hey everyone. I'm going to start putting this together in a pinned post over the weekend. The more full descriptions you give me, the less I have to think and/or research, which means ... please give me as full descriptions as possible, as in: Nickname: Real names, season (at least).

Thanks!

I checked the show FAQ and there is no mention of this. Probably the biggest catch phrase of TAR.

My ox is broken!! This is bullshit.

It inspired The funniest recap EVAH and T-shirts from Glarkware that many people bought and wore to TARCon V.

Technically, the brilliant Miss Alli referred to the team as Team Hornio, whereas Adam alone was El Hornio. Heh.

And the reason, of course, was Adam's bizarre hair style which featured two mini horn-like ponytails.

It can always be edited, but there's our first draft, in all of its glory.

Daniele and Dani were the Pinks in season 9 because they wore those horrible pink pants with the giant "PINK" printed across their asses.

Just a couple to throw on the pile:

Season One:

Team Shower Fresh Scent: Kevin and Drew

Season Three:

Terian: Teri and Ian

Huge Tinies: The alliance/constant grouping of teams that had a huge male and tiny female

From Season Four:
the Chippendales (Reichen and Chip)
the Supremes & Team Supreme (Monica and Sheree)
the Clowns (Jon and Al)
the Virgins (Millie and Chuck)
Millie the Mole
the BFGs, "Big Fat Guys" (Steve and Dave)

I believe these were all used on-screen as well.

Also from TAR4:

ATC (Air Traffic Control): Steve and Dave
BuffJon*: Kelly and Jon (*just Jon)

Millie the Mole's partner was Chuck the Werewolf

Was there ever a consensus on what to call Mirna other than batshit crazy? IIRC, she got called Snarla on-screen.

Since TAR4 featured three guys named Steve, each got his own modifier for the recaps.

Debra and Steve: IndianaSteve, because that's where they're from. In this case it didn't make much of a difference since they were eliminated first.

Steve and Josh: DadSteve, because he's Josh's dad.

Steve and Dave: AirSteve, because they are air traffic controllers.

Jon of the clowns Jon and Al also got named ClownJon to seperate him from the Jon who was with Kelly, though that one didn't get his own name.

A few more came to me this morning...

From Season Two:
Itchy and Scratchy (Gary and Dave)
Team Flanders (Cyndi and Russell)

From Season Three:
Team 911 (Andre and Damon)

From Season Four:
Rasshole (Russell, because he was such an asshole)

Jon (of Kelly and) was called BuffJon (for good reason)

Courtesy of TAR3, TnT: Tramel and Talicia

Here's some that were repeated in different seasons, but in one season it trigered a different reference that was used on the show:

Season two: The Twins were identical male twins, Shola and Doyin.

Season three: The Twins were identical male twins and models, Derek and Drew Riker (both were well-known models, often used together in international fashion photography). In early TAR 3 episodes, they were targeted by a group of other teams for elimination, in a "Twinhunt."

Season five: Kami and Karli were female Twins (don't know if they were identical or not) bur the show did refer to them as twins.

Kami & Karli were also, on occasion, referred to as "Ka*i," though that might not be canonical.


Don't forget "Mirna & Schmirna." Only positive contribution Marshall and Lance ever made.

Season 8:
The Black Family (Oops, never mind. I'm going to hell)
Cincinnati (Linz Family)

Season 9:
The Frosties (Lisa and Joni)

Season 9's Lisa and Joni were also known as the Glamazons.

I'm also almost positive I remember season 3's twins, Derek and Drew, being referred to on the show as the Doublemint Twins.

Bama for Lyn/Karlyn of season 10.

Not sure if Weevils is canon for Weavers of season 8, but I have seen it used a lot.

Asshat for Ian of Teri/Ian for season 3 and 11 because of the hat he wore.

*lyns for Lyn/Karlyn of season 10.

*wins for Erwin/Godwin of season 10.

I'm pretty sure that it was Shola and Doyin who some other team referred to as the Doublemint Twins. Derek and Drew were the Wonder Twins.

Mars, kindly do away with the Team Shower Fresh Scent moniker above.

Not only did it really suck - no offense, my love - it stuck around for about an episode.

Frats, as we were known most of the time, was gleefully interchangable with Frat Bastards.

Please note that the other yo-yos, while Frat-esque, were not actually farternity brothers, and therefore not nearly as deserving of such a cool name.

S10 probably should include the 6 Pack or the Back Pack as the collective of the *lyns, Kentucky, and *wins.

S2: Weasel for Wil, and subsequently Tarweasel at times for Wil and Tara.

Kevin, I hear ya on the "Shower Fresh Scent" name.

But the thing is, it was used pretty much throughout the Season 1 recaps. So I think we need to keep it on the list, if only as a help in decoding.

Tis a pity that (in reference to the Blondes on Season 12) is too long to be actually useful! >:)

All Season 12 nickname suggestions go in the nickname thread in the Whimsy section at present.

Could someone sill me in on what TPTB means? I see that all the time but still have no idea...

The Powers That Be - Producers, creators, moderators, the God(s) of your choice, etc.

The Powers That Be are not really a team nickname, so... please don't abuse this thread.

These are ones that were used on the shows themselves:
Tar 1 - The Fatties - Kevin and Drew
Tar 2 - Doublemint - Shola and Doine (or however it's spelled!)
Tar 3 - Zoolanders - Derek and Drew
Tar 6 - Blue Hair - Jonathan
The little ones - Adam and Rebecca

This isn't really a team nickname, but I was hoping someone could explain where the term "fern" came from? I think I get what it means, but I'm not sure how it came about.

Danny and Oswald aka Team Cha Cha Cha got the assistance of a young girl named Fern. She helped them on their Bangkok leg in season 2. Her assistance led to them getting the quickest way to Sydney and with the help of a fast forward (which used to be available on every leg) allowed them to get some much needed rest and a first place finish in Sydney.

Ever since, TWoPers have called anyone who helps the Racers a Fern. Whether or not they are willing to assist or are dragooned into it.