The Amazing Race 19

The Amazing Race 19 is the nineteenth season of the American reality competition show The Amazing Race. Hosted by Phil Keoghan, it featured eleven teams of two, each with a pre-existing relationship, competing in a race around the world in order to win US$1,000,000. This season visited four continents and ten countries and traveled over 35,000 miles (56,000 km). Starting in Hacienda Heights, California, racers traveled through Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Malawi, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Panama before returning to the United States and finishing in Atlanta. New twists introduced in this season include the Hazard – an extra task for the last team to finish the first task – and a double elimination leg. The season premiered on CBS on September 25, 2011, and the finale aired on December 11, 2011.
Engaged couple Ernie Halvorsen and Cindy Chiang were the winners of this season, while dating couple Jeremy Cline and Sandy Draghi finished in second place, and married couple Amani and Marcus Pollard finished in third place.
This season traveled a little over 35,000 miles (56,000 km) to 20 cities across four continents. This season included first-time visits to Denmark, Indonesia, Malawi, and Belgium. Filming started on June 18, 2011, with teams seen leaving Los Angeles International Airport and heading to Taiwan. As with the previous season, racers had a task they had to perform before receiving tickets to their first destination. American film crews were also spotted in Hillerød, Denmark on July 4.
Two new game elements were introduced in this season. Leg 1 introduced the Hazard: a penalty that one team incurred for being the last team to finish the starting line task. According to Phil Keoghan, the Hazard was added to "test people's mental strength out of the gate", and claimed that it had a "rolling effect" throughout the rest of the season. Leg 2 was the first time in which two teams were eliminated at the Pit Stop.
During the first leg, Kaylani Paliotta lost her passport at a gas station while en route from Hsi Lai Temple to Los Angeles International Airport. Kaylani & Lisa returned to the gas station to search for the passport, but could not find it and opted to proceed to the airport, hoping that another racer had picked it up. The camera crew accompanying the team had seen the dropped passport, but could not act on it, and instead informed production of the situation. Production prepared to conduct an impromptu elimination and Phil Keoghan rushed to the airport. The passport was found by two bystanders who had previously helped another team at the gas station. After posting about the incident on Twitter, a fan of the show advised them to take the passport to the airport, and they were able to return it to Kaylani before her scheduled flight.
Leg 5 was supposed to take place in Laos. However, a monsoon caused heavy flooding in the country and forced the production team to construct an additional leg in Thailand instead. Laos would eventually be visited later in The Amazing Race 31.
On March 28, 2011, The Amazing Race was renewed for a nineteenth season set to air during the 2011–12 television schedule. On August 31, 2011, CBS announced that the season would premiere on September 25.
Discover Card returned as one of the sponsors. Travelocity continued to sponsor the show, while Ford also returned as one of the sponsors, with their fifth generation Ford Mustang appearing as a prize car in the 10th leg, customized by the winner.
Some of the more prominent members of the cast included Survivor: Africa winner Ethan Zohn and Survivor: The Amazon winner Jenna Morasca, former sailor Zac Sunderland, professional snowboarders Andy Finch and Tommy Czeschin and former NFL tight end Marcus Pollard.
Ernie & Cindy appeared on the final episode of The Amazing Race 29 where they handed tickets to the final three teams entering Wrigley Field in their hometown of Chicago.
Ethan Zohn returned to compete on Survivor: Winners at War.
The following teams are listed with their placements in each leg. Placements are listed in finishing order.
The Amazing Race 19 received mixed reviews. Andy Dehnart of reality blurred wrote that this season was "yet another example of the race dumbing itself down." Scott Von Doviak of The A.V. Club wrote that he'd "have to rank this as one of the lesser seasons, probably in the bottom third. Too many lackluster teams and tasks, too many non-elimination legs, and the absence of any compelling heroes and villains all added to a rather disappointing trip around the globe." Daniel Fienberg of HitFix wrote that the season "left me frustrated more often than it left me exhilarated" calling it lackluster due to "Too many Non-Elimination Legs too early. Too many bland, copacetic couples. Too many bland, copacetic couples who, predictably, got along too well." Luke Dwyer of TV Fanatic graded this season with a B saying "the majority of the legs and destinations were good, but not great. The cast was likable, but beyond Andy and Tommy, nothing spectacular. The finale was a dud and that's always going to bring the feel of the season down." Michael Hewitt of the Orange County Register wrote that "the Race had been losing a bit of its mojo for several seasons, hitting bottom with the spring's Second Chances edition. This fall's 19th Race was much improved, though, and it remains the most brilliantly shot and edited show on TV" and that this season had "a few more challenging challenges and the clues often required some solving on the parts of the contestants." In 2016, this season was ranked 17th out of the first 27 seasons by the Rob Has a Podcast Amazing Race correspondents. Kareem Gantt of Screen Rant wrote that this season "had some legs that kind of underwhelmed, but overall, the drama and suspense of the race trumped the season's shortcomings, which were rather minute, to be honest." In 2021, Jane Andrews of Gossip Cop ranked this season as the show's 8th best season. Val Barone of TheThings ranked this season as the show's 8th best season. In 2022, Jason Shomer of Collider ranked this season among the show's top seven seasons. In 2022, Rhenn Taguiam of Game Rant ranked this season as the fourth-best season. In 2024, Taguiam's ranking was updated with this season becoming the sixth-best season.
Canadian broadcaster CTV also aired The Amazing Race on Sundays at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, Central, & Atlantic (9:00 p.m. Pacific & Mountain).