Lynchburg's Mel White returns to 'Amazing Race'

When CBS came calling for an all-star edition of "The Amazing Race," Mel and Mike White just couldn’t say no.

"How can you turn down a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the second time?" Mel said during a phone interview with his son earlier this week.

The popular father/son duo first ran the race for the show’s 14th season, which aired in 2009, and finished in sixth place. (They have a bad taxi driver, who got them lost in Thailand, to thank for that.)

Now Mel, a Lynchburg resident and activist who founded the gay rights group SoulForce, and Mike, a Hollywood actor, director and screenwriter, are back for "The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business," which premieres at 8 p.m. tonight.

This season finds them competing against other well-liked teams, including cowboy brothers Jet and Cord, Harlem Globetrotters Flight Time and Big Easy and Goth couple Kent and Vyxsin.

Also returning are mother/son Margie and Luke, sisters LaKisha and Jennifer, former NFL cheerleaders Jaime and Cara and engaged couple Amanda and Kris —all from Mel and Mike’s season — as well as best friends Zev and Justin from season 15 and father/daughter teams Ron and Christina from season 12 and Gary and Mallory from season 17.

"It was so different to be with teams we knew and liked, in comparison to just meeting them for the first time on the first day of the race," Mel said, adding that he and Mike have stayed friendly with the people from their season.

"Plus, you see the other teams and you get a feeling for their personalities. Like, the cowboys. I felt like I knew them before we met them."

Mel said he trained every other day to get ready for the race, while Mike, who is in the middle of post-production on a new HBO series, said he was "lucky to just get out to do it."

The season was filmed in November and December, and Mike said everything came rushing back once they were in front of the cameras.

"The first time you do it, there’s this huge learning curve that comes with just learning how the production works, how the race runs," he said. "And that stuff, it kind of comes back to you in one hallucinogenic explosion. 

"But you’re racing against 10 teams who have also done it, and a lot of them have done it a lot more recently than you. They’re all kind of pros at it, so you have more competition in a sense."

And because they were all seasoned racers, producers made sure to put them through their paces, Mel said.

"They had some great detours and roadblocks. It was very difficult. But we stayed in there."

At 70, Mel was once again the season’s oldest contestant, and there were only three players who were older than Mike, who is 40.

"That’s 110 years old (combined), compared to all these 20-years-olds that we were running against," Mel said. "I felt like Father Time on steroids."

The pair wasn’t at liberty to go into too much detail about this season, but we do know that the first episode will start in Palm Springs, Calif., and end in Australia.

And you can expect more of the father/son bonding that originally endeared the Whites to viewers.

"I had more fun being with Michael this time because we were much closer from the first race," Mel said. "I really enjoyed my son. Believe it or not, I’d do it again if I had another chance. Put the word out."

Mike, however, isn’t so sure.

"I think," he said, "let’s stop while we’re ahead."