Ready for their greatest adventures! The Amazing Race aired its first season in September 2001 — and has had its fair share of shocking moments in the decades since.
The CBS game show follows teams of two as they race around the world completing various tasks and mental challenges in hopes of winning $1 million. Hosted by Phil Keoghan, the reality series has earned 13 Primetime Emmy Awards (10 of which were in the Outstanding Reality-Competition Program category). Ahead of the season 32 premiere in October 2020, the New Zealand native officially logged one million miles traveled throughout the series.
“There was no hoopla. There was no champagne. There were no fireworks,” the Tough as Nails host joked to Us Weekly exclusively, comparing the achievement to “going to the moon and back, twice.”
At the time, the producer hinted at the “really good mixture of teams” competing on season 32, which aired two years after filming due to the coronavirus pandemic. “Like all of our Amazing Race family, they all get very, very close. … I assure you there’s some good dynamics right out of the gate,” he told Us.
However, some of the teams got too close for viewers’ comfort. Eventual season 32 winners James Wallington and Will Jardell, who were the first LGBTQ+ couple to get engaged on the competition series, sparked backlash for their rock-solid alliance with other pairs.
“It wasn’t something that we were super committed to or thought was like a long-term situation,” Will exclusively told Us in January 2021 after the emotional season finale. “We thought it was just that one leg in Bogota, where in actuality, none of us even helped each other. So it wasn’t even like an alliance. … I think it’s just all the teams recognized that social strategy was important relatively early.”
James agreed, noting that the teamwork strategy “was only supposed to be short-term.” Instead, James told Us, “It was more so to find two teams that felt very like-minded in their approach to the competition.”
The couple, who wed in December 2021, weren’t the only contestants to have bothered viewers by assisting other teams. When influencer Tyler Oakley appeared on season 28, he was criticized for giving hands-on help to his competitors. However, co-executive producer Elise Doganieri denied that the “Psychobabble” podcast host was cheating.
“There is no rule preventing participants at a Roadblock from helping one another,” Doganieri told The Wrap in 2016 as fans fumed over the game plan. “They can offer as much or little help as they want to other participants. The only rule is: Non-participants may not help their partner [who is performing the task].”
Scroll down to relive some of the most controversial moments from the show’s 30-plus seasons:
