The Amazing Race 34

The Amazing Race 34 is the thirty-fourth season of the American reality competition show The Amazing Race. Hosted by Phil Keoghan, it featured twelve teams of two, each with a pre-existing relationship, competing in a race around the Euro-Mediterranean region to win US$1,000,000. This season visited three continents and eight countries and traveled over 11,000 miles (18,000 km) during ten legs. Starting in Munich, racers traveled through Germany, Austria, Italy, Jordan, France, Spain, and Iceland before returning to the United States and finishing in Nashville. Much like the previous season, this season also used a chartered plane rather than commercial airlines to facilitate travel between countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic. New elements introduced in this season include an international starting line during the first leg, the Scramble, where teams could perform the first leg's tasks in any order, and eliminating a team in every leg. The season premiered on CBS on September 21, 2022, and concluded on December 7, 2022.
Dating couple Derek Xiao and Claire Rehfuss (from Big Brother 23) were the winners of this season, while long-lost twins Emily Bushnell and Molly Sinert finished in second place, and married couple Luis Colon and Michelle Burgos finished in third place.
Production began on May 22, 2022, with the teams and filming crew departing from Los Angeles International Airport on a chartered Titan Airways Boeing 757, so as to reduce prolonged personal interactions associated with COVID-19 infections much like in the previous season. Filming began on May 25, 2022, in Munich, Germany, making it the first time the American version started outside the United States. On May 30, photographs were posted online of sightings in Bologna and Florence, Italy. Jordan was visited for the first time in the entire franchise, with teams racing through Petra on June 2. On June 12, racers were spotted in Ronda, Spain, and the city's tourism office announced that the show had filmed there a day later. Filming concluded in Tennessee in mid-June.
This season originally planned to exclude non-elimination legs for the first time in franchise history. However, after one team received a positive COVID-19 test and was removed from the race, the last team to arrive in the leg received the final departure time as a penalty at the beginning of the next leg. The first leg of the season, announced as the series' 400th leg, featured "a game-changing element" called the Scramble, where teams were told the locations of all of the tasks that they had to complete at the start of the leg and could complete them in any order.
Casting opened in mid-November 2021. Contestants were required to be fully vaccinated.
On March 9, 2022, CBS renewed The Amazing Race for a thirty-fourth season set to air during the 2022–23 television season. On June 23, 2022, CBS announced that the season would premiere on September 28, following the premiere of Survivor 43. On October 5, the season began airing in the Wednesday 10:00 pm time slot, following Survivor and The Real Love Boat. Starting on November 2, The Amazing Race was moved forward to the 9:00 pm time slot when The Real Love Boat was shifted onto Paramount+.
Prior to the premiere, CBS News Sunday Morning aired a segment with correspondent Tracy Smith competing on the first leg with her husband.
Expedia replaced Travelocity as the series' main sponsor. With the change in sponsors, the season featured one Expedia-focused leg that included a local tourism-inspired task called an Expedia Experience.
The cast included Big Brother 23 HouseGuests Derek Xiao and Claire Rehfuss, former Los Angeles Rams cheerleader Quinton Peron, and former New York Jets and Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan. Rex Ryan was originally asked to compete with his twin brother, Rob Ryan, but the latter was unable to compete due to his work obligations with the Las Vegas Raiders. Aubrey Ares and David Hernandez were not initially selected for the final cast, but were called to compete two hours before The Amazing Race started production.
Derek Xiao and Claire Rehfuss appeared as clue givers during the first Roadblock of season 35.
In 2023, Luis Colon competed on the second season of The Challenge: USA.
The following teams are listed with their placements in each leg. Placements are listed in finishing order.
The Amazing Race 34 received mixed reviews. Andy Dehnart of reality blurred wrote that "it's been one of the most enjoyable seasons of The Amazing Race ever, in that the teams were just so fun to watch" and that that season "was a lot of fun overall: it had some weak legs and repetition, but also some exceptional challenges." Mark Blankenship of Primetimer wrote that "Season 34 of The Amazing Race is great not only because of what's in the competition, but also because of what isn't. For the first time, the producers have removed non-elimination legs, which has created some of the most nail-biting episodes in years." Mack Rawden of CinemaBlend wasn't positive towards the removal of non-elimination legs due to it removing tension in the episodes. Joshua Schonfeld of Screen Rant wrote that the COVID-19 protocols made the show easier compared to other seasons. In 2024, Rhenn Taguiam of Game Rant ranked this season 23rd out of 36.