Van Munster discusses the 'All-Star' race

Admit it. You've dreamt of going on "The Amazing Race."

You've looked over your roster of friends and loved ones and tried to think of which person would make the most TV-ready partner to join you in jumping from planes, shoveling llama dung or weaving traditional head coverings. Is it really surprising that when Bertram Van Munster and the "Amazing Race" producers approached popular teams from previous seasons about returning for "The Amazing Race: All-Stars," he didn't have to ask twice?

"Most people would love to do this thing again and again and again, but this is what we came up with," he says. "We weren't turned down, no."

Van Munster and his Emmy-winning team combs the ranks of popular past contestants going as far back as the first season's loveable Kevin & Drew and as recent as hard-luck Dave & Mary and vicious beauty queens Dustin & Kandice from the fall installment.

"I always look for the team that has the best sense of humor, because it's not an easy race to do," Van Munster says, reflecting on casting choices. "But you look for the strongest, the good-looking ones, the older people, the younger people. You look for the whole range of what this show is all about."

The only returning "Race" winners are Joyce and Uchenna, the Houston-based couple that beat the show's most notorious team, reality gadflies Rob and Amber, also veterans of three seasons of "Survivor" (including Amber's "All-Star" win), one small screen wedding and several small screen privacy invasions. Can the world possibly have too much Rob and Amber?

"They came back with a whole renewed spirit," Van Munster swears. "In the beginning, I wasn't so sure about it the first time we got them, but it turned out to be a stroke of brilliance, that decision. I wasn't crazy about it. This time, I was really, really watching it like an eagle and I think they came in with a fantastic spirit into the race and you'll see the result of it."

In truth, this might as well be Rob and Amber's second time as "Amazing Race" all-stars. In their first race, they arrived with three reality shows worth of experience and a measure of notoriety which seemed to spread across the world. While their rivals raced as anonymously as two frantic Americans trailed by a cameraman can possibly run, Rob and Amber took advantage of people who knew them from TV and were eager to lend a hand. That advantage was gone this time around, as Van Munster reports that none of the teams were able to go incognito.

"One of the funny things was we had the two blonde girls [Dustin and Kandice] and we were in an airport somewhere in the world, I can't remember exactly where it was, and they were running through the airport and there were a couple people saying, 'Weren't they eliminated last week?'" Van Munster laughs. "It was fantastic. Yeah. They all got recognized. David and Mary got recognized in the craziest places, the girls got recognized and Rob and Amber."

Just because the racers arrived for the first day of shooting with a reservoir of competitive travel experience, Van Munster scoffs at the idea that being more prepared changed the strategy or difficulty of the game at all.

"We give them last minute decisions -- We tell you right here, right now, this is what you're going to do and it's going to be on the other side of the world," he explains. "So it's not always easy to have a real strategy, because we throw them off every time."

Van Munster adds, "They feel a little safer in the environment, but if you go to India and you're surrounded by two billion people, it is difficult to force your strategy through. You pretty much got to go with the flow sometimes."

Of course, Van Munster knows which all-star team pocketed the million dollar prize, but not only is he not offering hints, but he admits that he's given up on prognosticating.

"Here's the beauty of the whole thing: I could not predict it. I've always been wrong. We have all tried in my company to guess who's going to win. We have not been able to do it."

"The Amazing Race: All Stars" premieres on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.