‘We’re the personality hires’

08/13/2026

Jax State alumni among 13 contestants on latest season of The Amazing Race 

By Brett Buckner 

Jacksonville State University (Jax State) alumni Daisha Wilks, 28, and Dalton Hamby, 27, have already lived a life most couples only dream about. They’ve traveled around the world with little more than backpacks and one‑way tickets while building a growing social media presence – including a YouTube channel documenting their adventures. Now, they’re stepping onto one of the biggest stages in reality television.

When the 39th season of The Amazing Race premieres Sept. 30, viewers will be introduced to a pair of competitors who appear engineered for the show's adventure‑driven chaos.  

Their official team nickname, “Daisha and Dalton: Dating from Flat Rock, Ala. and Jacksonville, Ala.”, is catchy, but their story, their chemistry, and their willingness to dive headfirst into the globe-spanning adventure will make them unforgettable. 

But they aren’t cocky about their chances of outpacing the 12 other teams and winning the $1 million prize. 

“We’re not like that at all,” Dalton said. “We definitely knew our strengths and weaknesses.” 

“We know we’re not going to be the most athletic and we’re not going to be the smartest there,” Daisha added. “Basically, I think we’re the personality hires of the season.” 

No matter what happens, they will make the most of it. 

“We just want to enjoy the adventure,” Daisha said. “We traveled before the show, and we’re going to travel after the show. So, let’s try to make the most of a once‑in‑a‑lifetime experience.” 

“When can we start traveling together” 

Daisha was at Jax State working on her master’s degree in biology. Dalton had moved back to Jacksonville and was working at the University Recreation and Fitness Center. He noticed one of Daisha’s Instagram posts about her love of traveling and decided to take a shot. 

“He slid into my DMs,” Daisha said, laughing. “He saw me, found me on Instagram and he slid into my DMs.” 

Dalton admits, with a wide grin, that it was a pretty bold play. 

“It’s not normal to not know each other if we’re like Instagram friends,” he said. “But I saw that she traveled, and I love to travel. So, I was like, let me send this video. And it’s literally a video of me sliding into her DMs. And I guess she liked it. It was cheesy, but it worked. And now we’re here.” 

After knowing each other for less than six months, Daisha and Dalton spent three months traveling across Southeast Asia. The trip began in the Philippines and stretched through Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia. It’s the kind of choice that would terrify most new couples. For them, it felt natural. 

“It's a complete pivot,” Daisha said. “You would think it was something that happened gradually, but it wasn’t. After we met, we basically made the decision almost immediately that we wanted to travel together.” 

Choosing the Philippines, and each other 

When Daisha and Dalton sat down to list the places they wanted to visit, the list was overwhelming, but the Philippines stood out.

“Dalton is 99.7% Filipino,” Daisha said. “And that’s a part of him that we haven’t really discovered before.” 

Dalton had grown up with his adopted family and wanted to know more about where he came from. 

“That was one of the biggest things for me,” he said. “My family is great, but they’re my adopted family. I didn’t know anything about my birth parents. Going to the motherland, I guess, was very special to me at the time.” 

There wasn’t a long conversation about it. No overthinking. No hesitation. 

“When I met Daisha, I was like, ‘Hey, can we just go there?’ And she said, ‘Yes.’ That was it,” Dalton said.  

“I got on my computer,” Daisha added, “and started looking at flights.” 

Their only goal was to explore. They booked the first week of accommodations and let the rest unfold along the way. 

“The best moments during our travels were the moments that we didn’t plan ahead of time,” Dalton said. “After that initial trip, we wanted to do it a little differently. We just kept traveling and only bought one‑way tickets.” 

Daisha agreed. 

“We would see what friends we made or what people we connected with. Where are they going? What do they recommend?” she said. “A lot of our adventures sound very scary to a lot of people, but once you start, it becomes almost normal.” 

Their parents supported them completely. 

“Honestly, this is something that I don’t think anyone expects,” Daisha said. “I was in school, and my goal was to become a doctor, and I was working toward that. Then when I met Dalton…” 

She paused, then smiled. 

“I had this peace about it. Once we started traveling together, I was like, ‘This is it. This is what I want and who I want to be with.’” 

Dalton felt the same. 

“When we met each other, it was like finding a piece of a puzzle that just fit,” he said. “We don’t need to make a billion dollars to have some kind of lifestyle. We just need to travel, manage what we have, and do it together.” 

Building a Life Through Creativity 

Traveling the world, and occasionally the States, for months at a time takes money. Daisha and Dalton found a way to make it work. 

“I paid for things using the money I’d saved working at Red Lobster during college,” Daisha said. “Dalton used the money he’d saved working for the Emergency Management Agency. And we took off.” 

While at Jax State, Dalton filmed and edited Jax State football practices and games and even made preseason hype videos. Daisha grew up using her family’s video camera, recruiting friends to act out roles in imagined plays. Their shared enthusiasm for videography would eventually provide a source of income to fund their trips.  

“This was part of my dream,” Daisha said, “and I didn’t even know it back then.” 

Daisha and Dalton film content for businesses, weddings, and their own social media pages. Their Instagram, TikTok and YouTube accounts have become a digital scrapbook of their travels and a showcase of their personalities. 

“We have to put our heads together,” Daisha said. “We get to basically just make stories together.” 

That same personality and natural chemistry are likely what caught the attention of The Amazing Race. 

This is a scam 

After returning home from one of their trips, Daisha’s mother suggested that the couple create an audition tape for the show. They filmed it in her front yard.  

“We made a video, submitted it, and then we forgot about it,” Daisha said. “We didn’t think about it again until they contacted us.” 

But the message wasn’t easily received. An email arrived in the middle of the night stating that The Amazing Race casting producers had been calling and texting, but nothing was getting through. Daisha and Dalton were in Laos at the time, and both assumed it was a scam. 

Daisha did some quick Google sleuthing and learned it was legitimate. 

“That was a fun night,” Dalton said, laughing. “We responded, and they wanted to do a FaceTime call. I’ve never seen Daisha put on makeup so fast.” 

“Look, I’m a small‑town girl from Alabama,” Daisha added. “This is a casting director. You’d better believe I’m going to at least put on some mascara.” 

Daisha and Dalton’s social media presence and travel experience certainly helped, but their dynamic, natural rapport likely sealed the deal. 

“It’s just about being yourself,” Daisha said. “That’s really all we did. For us, what you see is what you get, and I guess they liked that.” 

Once they were chosen to compete, Daisha and Dalton went to work. They ran the bleachers at AmFirst Stadium and, at night, they put on headlamps and ran around the library. 

“Jax State was our training ground,” Daisha said. “We ran all around the school. I’ve always loved the campus in Jacksonville. It’s just so beautiful.” 

“We were literally training day and night,” Dalton said. “We would run around the campus, doing whatever we could think of to get ready for the competition because it is so physical.” 

They passed students constantly, backpacks strapped tight, sprinting across campus, but could provide no explanations. 

“We’ve had to keep it a secret for a very long time,” Dalton said. “And it’s going to be exciting when people get to see, you know, in the community.”  

For Daisha and Dalton, representing Jacksonville State on the show carries special meaning. 

“JSU is the friendliest campus in the South,” Daisha said. “So wherever we go, we’re bringing that with us. We’re going to prove it.” 

Stress, strategies, and sticking together 

Traveling together for months at a time taught Daisha and Dalton how to handle stress, invaluable during the race. 

“It’s not as easy as it sounds,” Dalton said of traveling. “Most of the time, whenever Daisha is at 90 percent, I could be at a 10. So, we feel each other out. That’s kind of how it works on the race too. It’s designed to put you in the most stressful environment. It will test our relationship.”  

Daisha agreed. 

“It ages a relationship,” she said. “It sounds so cheesy, and honestly, I hate saying it because before I met him, if I’d heard some girl talking about a guy like this… just ‘ew.’ But this is my person. We argue, and it’s stressful, but if he’s low, then I know I’ve got to step it up.” 

Daisha and Dalton know they have to be there for each other.  

“There’s no one else there for you,” Daisha said. “You are on the other side of the world – different language, culture, everything - you have to communicate with your partner to make it work.” 

Their strategy is simple, and deeply rooted in how they already live. 

“You have to control your mind,” Dalton said. “You have to keep a positive attitude because bad things are going to happen, especially when you travel and inconveniences are going to come up. The main thing is we have to make sure that we are good.” 

Once the show is over, their adventures will continue, but for Daisha, the where of it all doesn’t really matter. 

“For me, there’s not a dream location,” she said. “It’s more like the dream is to bring more people with us to experience the world.” 

Through their social media accounts and now through The Amazing Race, Daisha and Dalton hope to inspire others to chase their own experiences.

“Do what’s scary,” Dalton said. “Just try it, take a shot in the dark. Something crazy and amazing might happen.”