Channel surfing

LIHUE — Kauai “Soul Surfer” Bethany Hamilton and her new husband, Adam Dirks, will compete against 10 other teams in the 25th season of “The Amazing Race.”

“We are the surfers,” Dirks said in a meet the contestants video. “Confident …”

“…but not arrogant,” Hamilton finished. “We both love adventure and challenge, and we kind of thrive in that.”

The challenge will take the Kauai couple around the world — more than 26,000 miles and through eight countries —and offer a chance to walk away with $1 million in prize money.

“The Amazing Race” is an Emmy Award-winning reality series which pits 11 teams, each comprised of two members, against each other on a trek that lasts approximately 25 days. At every destination, each team must compete in a series of challenges, some mental and some physical, and only when the tasks are completed will they learn of their next location. Teams who are the farthest behind are gradually eliminated.   

Hamilton says one thing she is nervous about is reaching a “roadblock” — a task only one team member performs. 

“I think sometimes having one arm we’ll have to be very picky on which roadblocks I do and which roadblocks Adam does,” she said. “Maybe I’ll get really creative, but sometimes there’s just things that physically, it’s really challenging.”

Hamilton knows more than her fair share about overcoming challenges. On Halloween Day in 2003, at age 13, she was surfing at Tunnels on Kauai’s North Shore when a 14-foot tiger shark attacked and severed her left arm. Months later, the pro surfer was back competing.

Now, she and her husband have their sights set on the grand prize.

“We see this challenge ahead of us and we both want to conquer it,” Dirks said. “It’s something we’d be super stoked and proud of, to say, ‘Yea, we won ‘The Amazing Race.’’ And we’re going to do everything in our ability to make it happen. A million dollars is pretty nice, too.” 

The show premieres on Friday, Sept. 26 on CBS.