NORTH Queensland is in the national spotlight with popular reality television show the Amazing Race Australia showcasing the best of the region.
Contestants on the program, hosted by former NRL player Beau Ryan, travelled to North Queensland for the first weeks of the challenge, which was filmed under a veil of secrecy from September to November last year.
In the first episode, contestants travelled to Mossman where they undertook prawn peeling and beer carrying tasks at the Imperial Hotel, before heading to the Mossman Sugar Mill.
From there the teams travelled to Winton for an outback dunny race and dinosaur reconstruction puzzle before changing the tyre of a road-train and heading to Longreach's Stockman Hall of Fame.
Mr Ryan said on episodes to screen this week, Australia would get a taste of the best of Townsville, Magnetic Island, Palm Island and the Great Barrier Reef.
The entire cast and crew quarantined before they made their way to remote Queensland towns and Mr Ryan said they provided both an economic and morale boost to the towns.
"We were excited, Mossman was one of the first places to hit out of quarantine and I was ready to go," Mr Ryan said.
"We hit the place like a cyclone.
"The people didn't really know what were were doing because there had been no announcement it was word of mouth, and they followed us around town.
"The locals were loving it, and on the show you're seeing salt of the earth people.
"There's 100 plus people working on the show at any time, plus I'd spend $100 a day on coffee so there was a lot of winners."
He expected the exposure for the towns showcased would also provide a tourism boost.
"100 per cent, I played in Townsville many times, but I'd never been to Magnetic Island.
"It will sort of put it on the map and open so many doors for so many people, I can't wait for tourism to go gangbusters.
"Townsville is the same, kind of out for sight out of mind, a lot of people don't know were it is geographically.
"People are only starting to find out and it can only be a good thing."
Mr Ryan said challengers were put through their paces in the North, from abseiling in Townsville to a race on Maggie.
"Palm Island was great for a few reasons, people were wonderful and it's a massive NRL town so that's good for me.
"We had the Welcome to Country with the traditional owners and mob there... to all the different sights with the deep rainforest to the landing strip.
"It was pretty rough out there, the two hour trip by boat sorted a few out."
"Obviously Magnetic Island is paradise, but probably the hardest physical challenge of the race was on Magnetic Island."
The Amazing Race Australia screens on Win/Ten at 7.30pm, Sunday to Tuesday.
