Get to know Penn & Kim Holderness, social media sensation who won The Amazing Race 33
RALEIGH, NC – Married social media sensation Penn and Kim Holderness made history after winning the Amazing Race 33 which aired on CBS. The Holderness Fam became the oldest ever couple age 45 and 47 respectively to win in history of Amazing Race since the franchise began in 2001.
During the race, the couple who raised two kids in their family, began the 11-leg race by finishing fourth in first leg and 5th in 2nd leg. In the following leg, the team won the third leg, before the fourth leg being suspended due to COVID‐19 outbreak.
When the race restarted 20 months later at fifth leg, the couple go head-to-head with competitors like flight attendants Cayla Platt and Raquel Moore until its final leg (leg 11) at Los Angeles, California. But in the end, it was the Holderness couple who finished first and won a total of US$1,012,500 prize money and trips to Cape Cod, Massachussetts and Antalya, Turkey; courtesy of their leg wins during the race.
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- About the winning couple Penn and Kim Holderness
Kim Dean Holderness was born and raised in Florida and was a competitive dancer. She went to the University of Florida, where she was a member of the Dazzlers dance team that performs at athletic events. She graduated in 1998 with a degree in telecommunications. She worked as a television reporter in Florida before joining Inside Edition from 2004-08 in New York City.
Penn Holderness was born and raised in Durham, North Carolina, to a Presbyterian minister and a public school teacher. He graduated from Durham's Charles E. Jordan High School, where he played basketball, and was a choral music student at the residential Governor's School of North Carolina (East). He is on the board of directors of the Governor's School Foundation. In 1996 he graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in philosophy. His first on-air journalism job was in Grand Junction, Colorado, followed by five years in Orlando. From 2003-05, he hosted three seasons of Designer Finals on HGTV. He hosted a college basketball show on CSTV with former University of North Carolina basketball coach Matt Doherty. Penn also worked as a video essayist for ABC and ESPN while living in New York before returning to North Carolina, where he anchored the evening news for WNCN-TV. He has a brother, Dale.
Penn and Kim met in Orlando while working in local news and were married in 2005. After careers in journalism, they worked for Greenroom Communications, a video production company. They are creative consultants at Walk West, a Raleigh-based marketing and advertising firm. They formed their own company, Holderness Family Productions, in 2013. Kim is Chief Executive Officer and Penn is Chief Creative Officer. They both appeared in small roles in the 2013 film Iron Man 3, as news reporters.
The Holderness Family first found fame in 2013 when they released "XMAS Jammies" - a parody of Will Smith's "Miami" meant to be their family's digital Christmas card. Overnight, their video went viral on YouTube, garnering 15 million views in one week. They have been making videos ever since.
Subsequent releases included a Halloween-themed Snoop Dogg parody called "Kin and Moose", a Meghan Trainor parody about Thanksgiving titled "All About That Baste", a parody of Eminem's "Lose Yourself", and a parody of Dean Martin's "Baby, Just Go Outside" which garnered over 75 million views on Facebook.
In 2020 when COVID-19 hit, they made several viral parodies and skits, including a Hamilton medley about wearing a mask.
In March 2021, The Holderness Family released a Frozen parody called "It's Vaccination Day" to showcase their reactions to securing a COVID-19 vaccine appointment.
They have released a new "XMAS Jammies" every holiday season, and have added over 300 additional parodies in between. Kim has also starred in a number of viral skits in their subchannel "Holderness Family Laughs", including "When Rona Won't Leave", "The New Normal" and "Every Hallmark Movie Ever".
On broadcast television, the Holderness Family have appeared on The Today Show, Fox & Friends, Good Morning America, CNN, HLN, CBS This Morning, and multiple times on Right This Minute. Their full-length specials include The Holderness Family on UPTV, The 12 Foods of Christmas on The Food Network, and The Greatest Holiday Video Countdown on The CW.
