Just finished watching the first episode of season 34 tonight.
I quite like the Scramble format (completing the challenges in any order), it makes the race more exciting and more suspenseful.
Like the previous season, the production company chartered a Boeing 757 plane to carry the competing teams and all the crew. As Phil explained in the BTS video below, the plane (with every team onboard) departed from Los Angeles to Halifax, Canada for a fuel stop, before continuing onto Munich where the first leg began.
The show’s co-creator Elise Doganieri has written a new book, The Official Amazing Race Travel Companion, which came out this week. Apart from a travel guide, it also features a never-before-seen “behind the scenes” snapshot of how the show is made, who they hire, and how destinations are chosen.
In Australia, you can order a copy from the websites of Booktopia, Angus and Robertson, or The Nile.
It’s the timeslot the show had for much of its run in the past; fans seemed to be able to find it there and it was competitive against the competition in the time slot. Last night’s number was on par with those ratings.
I notice that in the episode two weeks ago (the end of the mega leg in Florence), the winning team received Expedia points for a trip for two to Sydney, including a Sydney Harbour cruise and wine tasting at Hunter Valley.
It will be great if the US version returns to Australia for real next year.
Sorry if this has been posted before but I just found this online. Seems some of the rules have changed over time, because I recall in very early seasons the contestants were allowed to beg for money. That was in the seasons when the last team to a pitstop had to hand over all their money before continuing.
It was Will who tested positive to COVID. Will and Abby was isolating in separate rooms in their hotel in Amman, Jordan, when Phil spoke to them via Zoom. Will and Abby were immediately eliminated while the other seven teams began their day’s race at the same time.
Glenda and Lumumba arrived last at the pit stop and would start the next leg 45 minutes after the first group.
I caught up with the last four episodes last week. It included another mega leg in southern Spain, with a roadblock and a detour in Malaga, and a roadblock and a detour in Ronda, on the same day. Based on the pitstops, the overall route was just another race across Europe with a sidetrip to Jordan.
The theme for the mega leg was paying attention to detail. Marcus and Michael fell well behind in the Malaga roadblock (assembling six panels to form the Picasso painting The Three Musicians), because Marcus didn’t realise the back panel was turned upside down until well into the task. The army friends could not catch up with the other four teams and were eliminated.
The final two episodes will be shown on Seven this Wednesday and next Wednesday.
Interesting to see the teams in two seater convertible vehicles. Usually there is room for the camera operator and sound person in the vehicle, but in the convertibles they had the camera mounted to the windscreen.
They always manage to make the viewers think the last two teams are competing to get to the pitstop first but this isn’t always true. Based on the shadows the twins were at least a couple of hours ahead of the army friends, despite it looking like they were a lot closer.
