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The Amazing Race's Niko And Alana Are Grateful For Family's Sacrifices After Migrating To Australia

The Generation Z siblings say their grandparents came from Greece "with literally nothing".

Generation Z and millennials are often dismissed as being ‘ungrateful’, but The Amazing Race Australia’s youngest contestants have said they have plenty to be thankful for.

Siblings Niko, 19, and Alana Pappas, 21, are second-generation Greek Australians, who were hoping to win the reality show so they could share the prize money with their family, who made sacrifices after migrating to Australia.

“It was our grandparents who came from Greece at 18 years old with literally nothing,” Alana told HuffPost Australia on Tuesday.

“They had to muster all their money to get over here. They had to work in factories. My mum – her whole family were cleaners and my mum actually had to help as a teenager and kid, cleaning primary schools and that sort of thing.”

The Amazing Race Australia contestants Alana and Niko Pappas.
Channel Ten
The Amazing Race Australia contestants Alana and Niko Pappas.

The Arts degree student from South Australia said her parents were conscientious about providing a comfortable lifestyle for her, Niko and their older sister Maria.

“They [my grandparents] had it really tough and the fact that our parents worked so hard from that upbringing, they worked hard so they could get jobs that would put us through private school,” said Alana.

“It just means so much to us. We wish we won the money so we could thank them in some sort of way.”

Unfortunately Alana and Niko were the first team to be eliminated on Monday night during The Amazing Race’s premiere.

However, they did celebrate with a family viewing party, though kept it small.

“We would’ve had a big viewing party if we didn’t get eliminated but because we did so quickly, we wanted it intimate,” said Niko.

“Dad was saying if we made it further he would’ve had a massive lamb on the spit, all the family around, all the cousins,” added Alana.

Hosted by Beau Ryan, The Amazing Race Australia airs on Monday and Tuesday at 7:30pm on Channel Ten.

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