Steph Tisdell has broken her silence on the shock cancellation of The Amazing Race Australia.
Channel 10 confirmed that the popular reality TV show would not be back in 2026, despite confirming it on its programming slate, due to production issues.
Speaking exclusively to New Idea at the 2026 AACTA Awards, Steph shares her sadness over the news after competing on the 2025 series with her brother, Ben.
“They said we can never do better than Steph, we’ve peaked, it’s over, leave it alone now,” she jokes of their decision not to renew the program.
“No, I’m kidding, it sucks for them, but I also think the world is in an interesting state at the moment, so, you know.”
Speaking about the future of free-to-air TV, Steph says she is unsure what will happen but that she hopes the Communications Legislation Amendment will be a positive change for Australian TV.
The new ruling means streaming services with over one million Australian subscribers will have to invest 7.5% of their revenue into new Australian content.
“[The quotas ruling] will probably will see a bit of rejuvenation in the industry, but I can’t answer those questions,” she adds.
Has The Amazing Race Australia been cancelled?
The news that The Amazing Race won’t return in 2026 was a shock to fans, considering casting was already underway and filming was expected to start in just a few weeks.
The shock announcement came on January 29, with Network 10 citing production challenges as the reason for the cancellation.
“We’ve been working on another brilliant new season of The Amazing Race Australia, but due to several factors, including travel logistics, it will not be part of our 2026 program schedule,” they confirmed.
The spokesperson added that the show had been temporarily paused, rather than cancelled, and said Beau will remain part of the 10 family.
Beau acknowledged the challenges of producing the series in a chat with The Daily Mail, sharing his hopes that it will return better than ever.
“It’s a job that I’ve loved since the first day in the role, and it’s something that I get really excited about, but if it means we have to push it back to get the product right in terms of number of eps, correct countries, correct casting, then, so be it,” he said.
“I love it at 10, and I love my role and, hopefully, it just means it goes bigger, better and longer.”
The cancellation was a massive shock, considering The Amazing Race Australia‘s 2026 return was confirmed in November at the Paramount Australia 2026 Upfronts.
Ratings had been a major success for the 2025 series, averaging 813,000 national viewers, a marked seven per cent increase from the year before.
The finale alone, which saw actor brothers Stephen and Bernard Curry win, drew in 1.1 million total national viewers.
Before the U-turn, New Idea had revealed that casting was already underway for 2026, with some big names being considered.
Carrie Bickmore and Tommy Little were said to be among those in talks to appear on the 2026 series of the popular franchise.
“They’re the dream team,” one TV insider had told us.
“Carrie and Tommy are hilarious, competitive and have genuine chemistry. It would be TV gold.”
Many celebrities were said to be jumping at the chance to be considered for the 2026 series, even reaching out to Beau in a bid to secure their place.
Dave, 2DayFM hosts Jimmy and Nath, and sports journalist Mark “Howie” Howard had reportedly slid into Beau’s DMs to discuss the show’s casting.
One source claimed The Amazing Race was becoming one of the “most enticing celebrity series” in Australia, making its cancellation a major shock to fans.
What has Beau Ryan said about the cancellation?
Beau Ryan clarified that The Amazing Race has not been taken off the air for good but will be back in 2027 instead.
“I had a meeting with Paramount the other day. The Amazing Race doesn’t go at the same time every year, in terms of going to film,” he explained on Triple M Breakfast with Beau, Cat & Woodsy.
“About a week ago, they said, ‘We’re going to go [film] at the start of March.’ It was only 5-6 weeks away, and it was happening very quickly. It’s a big show with a lot of moving parts. It takes 6-12 months to plan and prepare for. People were working on visas and casting people… and it was going to be tight.”
“So, we were going to push it back to later in the year, but the later you go, the longer it takes to edit it and put it all together,” he continued.
“Paramount made the decision that we won’t air it this year. It gives us a bit more time to spend longer over there, do it right, get all the planning, visas, and casting done correctly, so we might go later this year.”
He said they have not yet set a filming date, as it remains up in the air about exactly when the show will return after the postponement.
