Yvonne & Melissa

Yvonne Chavez and Melissa Main are a team of Girlfriends on The Amazing Race 36.

The dating couple took a low-profile in the race. They proved to be a middle-of-the-pack team whose minor mistakes kept them in later departure groups, but their cohesion did allow them to overtake several teams to make it deep in the race. As the teams dwindled, they were still able to continue being in the middle of the pack. However, their lucky breaks ran out in the 9th leg when Melissa struggled with a detail-based Roadblock which put them too far behind the rest of the cast and couldn't recover before finishing in 5th place.

Profile[]

Retrieved from Parade.com^[1]

Relationship: Dating
Age: 40 & 38
Occupation: Global strategy and operations lead & Investigator for U.S. Navy special operations
Current Town: San Diego, CA

The Amazing Race 36[]

Race History[]

Yvonne & Melissa's Race History
Episode	Leg	Destination(s)	Detour Choice (underlined)	Roadblock Performer	Placement	Notes
1	1	Mexico	Pick 'Em Up / Pin 'Em Down	Yvonne	6 of 13
2	2	Mexico	Balloon Collection / Color Correction	Melissa	5 of 12
3	3	Mexico → Colombia	Bandeja Paisa / Yipao	Melissa	6 of 11
4	4	Colombia	Dance Vibe / Wall Scribe	Yvonne	7 of 10
5	5	Colombia → Chile	Perform for Pesos / Climb for Clues	Melissa	6 of 9
6	6	Chile → Argentina	Bicicleta / Boleadora	Melissa	6 of 8	^[1]
6	6	Argentina	Who Did It? / What's Your Beef?	Yvonne	6 of 8	^[1]
7	7	Argentina → Uruguay	Candombe / Murga	Yvonne	5 of 7
8	8	Uruguay → Barbados	Fish Pot Building / Seaweed Clearing	Yvonne	4 of 6
9	9	Barbados → Dominican Republic	No Detour	Melissa	5 of 5
9	9	Barbados → Dominican Republic	No Detour	Yvonne	5 of 5
				Average	5.56
Legend: The team finished in first place The team finished in last place and was eliminated from the race The team finished in last place in a non-elimination leg The team that won The Amazing Race The team that crossed the Finish Line second The team that crossed the Finish Line third
Notes: 1: Leg 6 was a megaleg, with two Detours and two Roadblocks, shown over one episode. The placement listed in the top row reflect the order teams completed the first half's Roadblock.

Post-Race[]

After the race, Yvonne & Melissa moved in together and welcomed their first child, daughter Vivian Rose, who was born on the week of the premiere episode.^[2]
- Thus, they are the first team in the US version to have a post-show montage, second overall after Chen & Luz.
Yvonne & Melissa attended the wedding of fellow racers Amber & Vinny on November 7, 2024, along with other racers Ricky & Cesar, Kishori & Karishma, Maya & Rohan, Chris & Mary, and Derek & Shelisa.

Trivia[]

Yvonne & Melissa are the first team to be eliminated in the Dominican Republic on the original US version.
Yvonne & Melissa are the highest finish for a lesbian team in the US version, 5th place (tied with Carol & Brandy).