The Amazing Race

***The Amazing Race*** is an American reality television show that features teams racing around the world for a $1,000,000 prize. The show premiered on September 5, 2001 on CBS. It has been hosted by Phil Keoghan since the start of the series.

The premise of the show is that teams of two (except Season 8 that featured teams of four) race around the world with the goal of being the first to cross the finish line. The winning team recieves $1,000,000.

## Format

*The Amazing Race* is a reality television competition, typically involving eleven teams of two, in a race around the world. The race cycle is divided into a number of legs, normally twelve; each episode generally covers the events of one leg. Each leg ends with a Pit Stop, where teams are given a chance to rest and recover before starting the next leg twelve hours later. The first team to arrive at a Pit Stop is often awarded a prize such as a trip, while the last team is normally eliminated from the race. Some legs are non-elimination legs, where the last team to arrive may be penalized in the following leg. Some races have featured double-length legs, where the teams meet the host at what appears to be a Pit Stop, only to be told to continue to race. The final leg of each race is run by the last three remaining teams, and the first to arrive at the final destination wins the show's prize, $1 million. The average length of each race is approximately 25 to 30 days.

Teams follow clues given to them in marked envelopes, including (from left to right) Route Info, Detours, and Roadblocks.During each leg, teams follow clues from Route Markers—boxes containing clue envelopes marked in the race's red, yellow, and white colors—to determine their next destination. Travel between destinations includes commercial and chartered airplanes, boats, trains, taxis, buses, and rented vehicles provided by the show, or the teams may simply travel by foot. Teams are required to pay for all expenses while traveling from a small stipend (on the order of one hundred dollars) given to them at the start of each leg. Any money left unspent can be used in future legs of the race. The only exception is air travel, where teams are given a credit card to purchase economy-class fares. Some teams have used the tactic of begging to replenish lost monies.

Clues may directly identify locations, contain cryptic riddles such as "Travel to the westernmost point in continental Europe" that teams must figure out, or include physical elements, such as a country flag, indicating their next destination. Clues may also describe a number of tasks that teams must complete before continuing to race. As such, teams are generally free and sometimes required to engage locals to help in any manner to decipher clues and complete tasks. Tasks are typically designed to highlight the local culture of the country they are in. Such tasks include:

* Route Info: A general clue that may include a task to be completed by the team before they can receive their next clue.
* Detours: A choice of two tasks. Teams are free to choose either task or swap tasks if they find one option too difficult. There is generally one Detour present on each leg of the race.
* Roadblocks: A task only one team member can complete. Teams must choose which member will complete the task based on a brief clue about the task before fully revealing the details of the task. Later editions of the program have limits on the number of Roadblocks one team member can perform, that both team members perform the same amount. There is generally one Roadblock present on each leg of the race.
* Fast Forwards: A task that only one team may complete, allowing that team to skip all remaining tasks and head directly for the next Pit Stop. Teams may only claim one Fast Forward during the entire race. Fast Forwards were absent in seasons 18, 19, 24 and 26, but it is not known if they were simply not shown on air or not included in the race.
* Intersections: Tasks that require two teams to work together until otherwise instructed. While Intersected, teams may be required to perform Detours, Roadblocks (a two-person task using one person from each team), and Fast Forwards together.
* Yields: A station where a team can force another trailing team to wait a predetermined amount of time before continuing the race. Teams may only yield any other team once per race. The Yield was last used in season 11 and has since been supplanted by the U-Turn.
* U-Turns: A station, located after a Detour, where a team can force another trailing team to return and complete the other option of the Detour they did not select. Teams may only U-Turn any other team once per race.
* Speed Bumps: A task that only the team saved from elimination on the previous leg must complete before continuing on the race. This usually consists of a small, easy to complete task.
* Switchbacks: A task that is based on an iconic task performed on an earlier season of the Race, typically at the same location that was previously used. Examples have been a Roadblock that held a team back for several hours leading to their elimination and a Fast Forward that presented a difficult choice but the team who took it ultimately won the race.

Teams are penalized for failing to complete these tasks as instructed or other rules of the race, generally thirty minutes plus any time gained for the infraction. Such penalties may be enforced while teams are racing, when they arrive at the Pit Stop, or at the start of the next leg.

The events of the race are generally edited and shown in chronological order, cutting between the actions of each team as they progress. More recent seasons have been edited to show split-screen footage of simultaneous actions or two or more different teams in the style of *24*. Footage from the race is interspersed with commentary from the individual teams or members recorded after each leg to give more insight on the events being shown.The show helps to track the progress of racers through a leg by providing frequent on-screen information identifying teams and their placement.

## Series overview

 3 | October 2, 2002  | December 18, 2002  | Melanie Cochran & Dylan Lucca