The Blue Mountains will enjoy national television exposure next week when the Channel 10 series The Amazing Race Australia hits our region.
And host Beau Ryan had a one-word answer when asked what viewers can expect from the Blue Mountains leg of the popular reality TV show, which airs on Tuesday, March 16: "Danger."
With just five teams left in the competition when they arrive in the Blue Mountains, one of the challenges features extreme heights that pushed them to their limits.
"We'd had heights [in the race] before in Tasmania. We had some serious heights in Townsville but we had nothing like the challenge we had in the Blue Mountains," said Ryan.
"I'd like to say the teams were conditioned for heights when we got there, but they definitely weren't."
Not that the Blue Mountains leg will be all adrenaline-filled danger.
Teams also experience a high tea detour at the Hydro Majestic Hotel at Medlow Bath while other destinations include the Leuralla Toy and Rail Museum.
Ryan said the Blue Mountains episode is one of his favourites from the entire season.
"It's a fantastic episode," he said. "We stayed in the Blue Mountains probably a day longer than we were scheduled because we needed to get so much done.
"I'm super-proud of the episode. It's probably one of my favourites."
But the praise comes with a sting, with one of the popular teams eliminated in the Blue Mountains in a "heartbreaking" finish, said Ryan.
"The Blue Mountains one [elimination] hits me hard," he said. "All of them hit me hard in a different way.
"I think the deeper a team goes, the harder it hits me because they're that much closer to the money. But even though they all want to win the quarter of a million dollars, a lot of them are representing more than themselves as well."
Filmed last year during COVID-19 restrictions, The Amazing Race Australia has shone the spotlight on domestic tourist destinations at a time when our regions have been hit hard by the pandemic.
It is a feature of the series that Ryan is particularly proud of.
"The Blue Mountains is only an hour-and-a-half from Sydney and it's as gorgeous as anywhere in the world," he said. "But a lot of people I know don't even think about the Blue Mountains [as a tourist destination]. They think about going to the Goldie or Tassie or the Red Centre - but they don't think about the Blue Mountains or going west. So just to put a lot of these places on the map is really significant for us."
The former rugby league player is no stranger to the Blue Mountains himself. When the Gazette spoke to him in late February he was planning a family visit to the area.
"I love the Blue Mountains. I go up there every winter with my family for Christmas in July," he said. "My mum got excited [this year] and moved it forward to March so we're going there soon."
The Amazing Race Australia airs on Sunday, Monday and Tuesdays on Channel 10.
