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“The Fireball Run” tracks 40 rally teams competing in an eight-day, 2,000 mile trivial pursuit game in which contestants visit selected destinations to solve riddles and perform missions.
Some experiences, including the group’s visit to the FDR Library in Hyde Park, focus on history, while others require the participants to perform physical challenges.
Filmed in September, the show, currently in its 10th season, is streamed live in the U.S. and aired on television in a number of overseas markets, including India, Africa, Latin America and Europe.
This season's race began in Western New York. The stopover in Dutchess was part of the fifth and sixth days of the contestants' journey.
Apart from the reality show aspect of the broadcast, the series works with the Child Rescue Network to raise awareness of missing children.
At the start of the Thursday’s leg, which would take the racers to southern Saratoga County, Poughkeepsie Mayor Rob Rolison was on hand to greet the participants and send them on their way.
Rolison told the crowd that Poughkeepsie is grateful to have been chosen as an overnight destination by the show.
The racers, which include Brazilian Astronaut Marcos Pontes, actor Brian O'Halloran and billionaire reality star Jacqueline Siegel, also have two notable personalities from Dutchess County in their midst: Rick Brownell of Brownell Motors and Rob Doyle of Absolute Auctions are competing in a 2016 Ford Explorer.
Brownell serves as president of the Beacon Chamber of Commerce. Doyle is a member of the National Auctioneers Hall of Fame.
Racing under the moniker "Distinctly Dutchess," the two are raising awareness about Tiffany Dixon, who was abducted in Brooklyn on Oct. 10, 1991.
For more information on the competition, click here.
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