The Amazing Race 30

The Amazing Race 30 is the thirtieth 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 29,000 miles (47,000 km). Starting in New York City, racers traveled through Iceland, Belgium, Morocco, France, the Czech Republic, Zimbabwe, Bahrain, Thailand, and Hong Kong before returning to the United States and finishing in the San Francisco Bay Area. New twists introduced in this season include the Head-to-Head, where two teams competed against each other in a task, and a leg where teams swapped partners. The season premiered on CBS on January 3, 2018, and the two-hour season finale aired on February 21, 2018.
Dating reality stars Cody Nickson and Jessica Graf (from Big Brother 19) were the winners of this season, while debaters Henry Zhang and Evan Lynyak finished in second place, and professional skiers Kristi Leskinen and Jen Hudak finished in third place.
As happened before in the twenty-fifth and twenty-seventh seasons, the show's official website announced that they would begin filming on October 1, 2017, at Washington Square Park in New York City, and invited fans to join them as they saw the new teams off. Teams left New York City and were in Iceland by the next day. On October 4, the show filmed in Antwerp, Belgium, with footage released online of racers competing in a "Frietrace" at Grote Markt. On October 8, photographs were posted to social media of teams playing pétanque at the Place des Lices in Saint-Tropez, France. On October 16, six teams were reported to be racing in Harare, Zimbabwe, with one task involving them singing at the Harare Gardens. Filming concluded on October 24, 2017, in San Francisco.
This season introduced Head-to-Head competitions, where two teams had to compete directly against one another. Additionally, for the first time, teams swapped partners with another team and ran most of one leg with their swapped partners instead. This season was the first time The Amazing Race visited Bahrain.
Host Phil Keoghan said that the casting focus for this season was to pick the most competitive lineup of teams in Amazing Race history.
While the team of Big Brother houseguests Jessica Graf and Cody Nickson from the recently concluded season 19 had been announced earlier, the full cast of eleven teams was revealed on December 7, 2017. The cast included former NBA players Cedric Ceballos and Shawn Marion, IndyCar racers Conor Daly and Alexander Rossi, freestyle skiers Kristi Leskinen and Jen Hudak, Well-Strung members Trevor Wadleigh and Chris Marchant, and competitive eaters Joey Chestnut and Tim Janus.
April Gould had previously competed on season 7 and season 9 of American Ninja Warrior, but failed to make it past the qualifier for both seasons.
At the Pit Stop of Leg 5, Lucas Bocanegra proposed to Brittany Austin, who accepted.
Cody & Jessica appeared on the premiere of Celebrity Big Brother 1, and also on the seventh episode of Big Brother 20, during which they hosted a Power of Veto competition and announced their engagement.
The following teams are listed with their placements in each leg. Placements are listed in finishing order.
The Amazing Race 30 received mostly positive reviews. Andy Dehnart of reality blurred called it "a decent season of the race." Jodi Walker of Entertainment Weekly was positive towards the teams and competitiveness of this season calling it "a truly great season". Ken Tucker of Yahoo! was critical of this season doubling up episodes and the cliquishness of this season towards the later episodes. In 2023, Rhenn Taguiam of Game Rant ranked this season as the thirteenth-best season. In 2024, Taguiam's ranking was updated with this season ranked 16th out of 36.