The Amazing Race

The Amazing Race is a reality game show broadcast in one-hour episodes in which teams of two race around the world in competition with other teams. It has been broadcast on CBS since 2001 and is currently in its 6th season. It is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and hosted by Phil Keoghan.

The race itself combines the progressive elimination of Survivor, but instead of a voting-based elimination the game resembles a treasure hunt in amateur rally racing. The race starts in a US city. Teams must then follow clues and instructions and make their way to checkpoints in places around the world, eventually racing back to the finish line in the US. So far, the Race has visited Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Hungary, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Russia, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

For the second straight year, The Amazing Race was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality/Competition Program, in the 2003-04 Emmy ceremony on September 19, 2004. It defeated two of its competitors from last year: CBS's Survivor (which was the first reality show to win an Emmy) and Fox's American Idol.

Teams

Each of the 11 (or 12, in the 3rd and 4th seasons) teams on The Amazing Race comprises two individuals. The teams usually represent a wide demographic of different ages, races, sexual orientations and personal relationships. Past couplings include: long-time married couples, siblings (including twins), parent/child, friends (roommates, fraternity brothers, platonic friends, high school friends, lifelong friends etc), romantic partners (both heterosexual and homosexual), and couples who are separated or formerly dating.

Teammates must race the entire race together, and cannot split up or continue on without each other. If one teammate becomes injured or unable to finish the race, the team must forfeit (example: Marshall and Lance, 5th season). Both teammates must also arrive at each Pit Stop together in order to clock in. The various relationship dynamics between the team members under the stress of competition is one focus of the show.

Rules of the race

All teams must abide by certain rules throughout the duration of the race. Failure to abide by the rules sometimes results in teams receiving time penalties, which can often negatively affect their finishing position. For misreading a clue's instructions, the time penalty is however much time was gained by breaking a rule, plus an additional 30 minutes (example: Heather and Eve, 3rd season). Intentionally not following a clue's instructions leads to a 24 hour penalty (example: Nancy and Emily, 1st season). Depending on a team's position, either penalty could easily eliminate them (which was the case with both of the examples). Taking more than one clue also causes teams to receive a 30 minute penalty (example: Freddy and Kendra, 6th season, who were not eliminated but dropped 2 places in position). Other actions may also result in a penalty if it disadvantages other teams (example: Don and Mary Jean, 6th season, who received a time penalty of 30 minutes when they accidentally took fellow racers Adam and Rebecca's car by mistake).

Route Markers

Route Markers provide instructions for each team on where to go next, or on what task to complete. After arriving at the next destination, teams must find the next Route Marker in order to proceed. If the teams must complete an objective, the next Route Marker is given to them after completion. At certain points in the race, teams may accidentally pass a required Route Marker if they discover their destination on their own. This is not permitted, and the team is either penalized by adding to their time or by forcing them to backtrack and retrieve the missed Route Marker (examples: Chip and Kim and Kami and Karli, 5th season).

Route Markers were colored yellow and white in the first season, but they were changed to bright yellow and red in subsequent seasons so that the teams would have an easier time spotting them.

One notable exception involving the color of the Route Markers occurred during the fourth season, when the production visited Vietnam. While there, the flags used were a solid yellow, to avoid confusion with the flag of the former Republic of South Vietnam.

Special Markers

Some Route Markers in The Amazing Race involve special rules and twists, requiring teams to split up or perform special tasks in order to proceed.

Detour

Detours, which are placed on each leg of the race, force teams to decide between two paths. Detours usually involve an easier option that takes more time, and a harder, riskier option that takes less time. This often forces teams to either take the easy way and lose time, or face their fears in favor of gaining time on other teams. The faster route could cause a team to instead lose time if not performed correctly. In later seasons, the trend is towards detours which offer less clear-cut choices, usually with the element of luck introduced into the easier option such that if a team is incredibly fortunate, they would actually accomplish the task faster than if they had taken the surer, harder and riskier option.

Roadblock

Roadblocks force teams to split up, allowing only one of the members to complete an objective. The other team member must stand by and watch. Before heading into a Roadblock, teams read a vague clue about the task to come - e.g., "Who's really hungry," or "Who wants to get down and dirty?" Oftentimes, a team may deduce the specific task by what the surroundings are, and by common sense. They then must decide which team member would be best suited to complete it. Once a choice has been made, and the objective has been started, the teammates cannot switch roles. This often leads to teams losing time due to one teammate being unable to complete a Roadblock quickly enough. Starting with the sixth season, each team member is only allowed to complete a maximum of six roadblocks throughout the entire race, thus forcing both team members to contribute more equally rather than one team member (usually the man in co-ed teams) significantly carrying the team throughout the race. It also makes it fairer for same-sex teams (especially all-woman teams who can be considered physically at a disadvantage) to advance in the race.

Fast Forward

The Fast Forward allows the first team that finds it to skip all remaining challenges and Route Markers of the leg and proceed directly to the Pit Stop. To find the Fast Forward card, the team must perform the task described on the Fast Forward clue, which is found along with a regular clue at one of the Route Markers. Once they perform the specified task, they will receive the Fast Forward card, which will direct them to the Pit Stop.

Only one team may use each Fast Forward. Any team that is beaten to the Fast Forward must go back and complete the regular challenges. Since a team may use only one Fast Forward during the whole race, they must decide on the best time to use it. A Fast Forward usually results in the team arriving at the Pit Stop first, but does not guarantee it. Throughout the show, several teams using Fast Forwards have checked in after other teams, and one team arrived last at the Pit Stop after earning the Fast Forward, and was therefore eliminated (Dennis and Andrew, 3rd season).

The first four seasons of The Amazing Race featured Fast Forwards in all legs but the last. This was changed in The Amazing Race 5 so that only two legs have them. The rule of a team using a Fast Forward only once has not been changed, but the decreased number of Fast Forwards has forced teams to rethink tactics used in previous races. It is no longer favorable to leave the Fast Forward to use later on, since it is unlikely that the same team will come across it again.

Yield

In the fifth season, Yields were introduced. A Yield allows the first team that discovers it to stop any team behind them at the Yield for a predetermined amount of time as mandated by an hourglass. Like the Fast Forward, each team may use only one Yield during the game. However, each team may be Yielded by another team an unlimited amount of times. In the sixth season, the number of Yields was reduced from one on every leg to only three in the entire race. The trend appears to be that the number of Yields and the legs which they appear will differ from season to season to discourage the teams from relying on it and keep the race unpredictable.

Pit Stops

Pit Stops (or "checkpoints") are the final destination in each leg of the race.

There is a mandatory resting period (usually twelve hours) at each Pit Stop. Teams leave for the next leg at exactly the time they arrived in the previous leg, but in the opposite time of the day, and in the order in which they arrived, except in cases where a team has received a time credit or penalty based on actions in the previous leg. In most legs of the race, the last team to reach the Pit Stop is eliminated (however, there are some non-elimination rounds--see below). In some legs, the first team to arrive wins a prize such as a vacation or camera, which they receive at the end of the race. From the sixth season, the prizes were extended to the winners of every leg.

Teams usually have to complete all tasks and check in at the pit stop before they are given their placing or eliminated. Occasionally, on a elimination leg, if all other teams have checked in and the last team is very far behind or not going to arrive at the pit stop for some time, clues may instruct them to go directly to the pit stop (examples: Peggy and Claire, Shola and Doyin, Mary and Peach, all from the second season), or host Phil Keoghan may go out to the team's location to eliminate them (Lena and Kristy, sixth season).

An unusual case occurred in the sixth season: an episode ended without a Pit Stop check-in. In the midst of Race activity, a 'To Be Continued' message appeared at the end of the sixth episode of the season. Whether this is the midpoint of some form of double-length leg, or if the Pit top will appear earlier in the next episode, remains to be seen.

Money

At the beginning of each leg of the race, every team receives an allowance of cash with their first clue. This money is usually given in U.S. Dollars regardless of the players' current location. The amount given varies from leg to leg, and can range from a few hundred dollars to one dollar. Any money not spent on previous legs of the race can be carried into future legs.

Between Pit Stops, all expenses regarding food, transportation, lodging and supplies must be purchased from the racers' cash reserves. The sole exception to this rule is the purchase of airfares, which is done with a credit card supplied to each team. Teams must travel using coach class when traveling by air.

Non-elimination rounds

Each race has pre-determined non-elimination rounds in which the last team to arrive at the Pit Stop is not eliminated. Instead, they are allowed to continue on with the race. Non-elimination rounds generally come later in the race, and racers are not explicitly told which legs they are. Starting with the fifth season, the last clue before the Pit Stop always ends with the statement, "The last team may be eliminated." Previously, the last clue ended with the statement, "The last team will be eliminated", except in non-elimination legs, thus allowing the racers to figure out that the current leg was non-elimination.

Also, with the fifth season of The Amazing Race, the rules concerning non-elimination rounds were changed. Instead of simply giving the final team a free pass to continue with the race, they are now penalized in an attempt to decrease their odds of winning the next leg. All their collected money is taken from them, and no money is handed to them at the beginning of the next leg. This forces the team to find their own money to complete the next leg in order to stay in the race. If they manage to stay in the race, their funding goes back to normal for the subsequent legs, provided they don't come in last in another non-elimination round.

Final leg

In the last leg of the race there are three teams remaining. This leg sometimes includes an intermediate destination where the teams must travel to complete a task before moving on to the final destination (examples: Alaska, 2nd season; Hawaii, 3rd and 4th season; Calgary, Canada, 5th season). The final destination is a U.S. city, where the teams must complete a task before receiving the clue directing them to the finish line, where host Phil Keoghan and all the eliminated teams wait for them. The first team to reach the finish line wins the race and $1 million. All non-winning teams win lesser amounts of money on a sliding scale based on their placement in the race. A team may become stranded at one of the locations on the course of the race or fall extremely far behind the other teams, in which case, after the other teams finish, they will be informed that the race is over since they obviously would finish after the other two teams (examples: Joe and Bill, 1st season; David and Jeff, 4th season).

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