Luke McGregor would have loved to have brought his wife, author Dr Amy Theunig, to the celebrity edition of Ten’s globe-trotting competition The Amazing Race. But with Teunig tied up in academia, the comedian turned to his second choice for a traveling companion: his mother, Julie.
“I would have rather shared a hotel room with my wife,” McGregor says. “But when I saw my mom it was always at Christmas or family events, we never actually went on vacation together. And I thought she would say more okay things on TV than my dad. Ta.”
Comedian Luke McGregor and his mother Julie appear on The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition.
Rosehaven co-star Celia Pacuola, who says she “always travels with me”, was also busy hosting “Thank You God You Are Here.”
The McGregors followed leads across Argentina, South Africa, Namibia and Thailand, and spotted at least one celebrity (Peter Hellyer, Ian Thorpe, Natalie Bassingthwaite, Billy Brownless, Matildas player Chloe Logarzo, Emily They will compete against 10 other groups consisting of (including Gielnik). I’m playing for charity. For McGregor, who had previously turned down offers to appear on reality TV, “the idea of traveling around the world and solving puzzles seemed like a no-brainer.”
“What scares me is that the editing might show me being mean to someone,” he says. “That’s always been my goal. Don’t be mean.”
That determination was sometimes tested by the realities of traveling with two film crews.
Luke and Julie McGregor try their hand at tango in Argentina on ‘The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition’.
“When we enter a place, my natural instinct is to hold the door open for them, but that’s not allowed, because without it looking like you’re with people… Because they need shots that go in,” he says. “I just have to push through the door and let them close the door, which was difficult. I hope my way of opening the door comes back.”
Regular travel can also put a rough test on a relationship, but McGregor and his mother have grown closer. She used the people skills she honed in real estate to ask for directions, and her son was “running around in circles with a map.” The pair pushed through the awkwardness and danced the tango in Buenos Aires on the first leg of their trip.
