The Amazing Race

Network: CBS
Episodes: Ongoing (hour)
Seasons: Ongoing

TV show dates: September 5, 2001 — present
Series status: Has not been cancelled

Performers include: Phil Keoghan (host)

TV show description:      
Twelve teams of two race around the world, competing with one another to win one million dollars on this reality competition series.

Racers begin the first of 13 legs in the United States before jet setting to exotic locations like Dubai, Botswana, Zambia, Singapore, Iceland, Thailand, and even Kuwait. During each leg of the competition, racers receive a clue about a destination they must get themselves to — by foot, plane, bus, taxi, car, boat, train, or even rickshaw on occasion. Each leg also has tasks usually tied closely to the culture of the country that teams must complete before checking in with host Phil Keoghan who waits for them at the end of the leg or the “pit stop.” The last team to arrive is usually eliminated.

The teams are then released the following day in the order that they arrived at the pit stop, to begin the process all over again in another country. Along the way, teams have a chance to “yield” another team — delaying them by 30 minutes, or to go for a “fast forward” which allows them to bypass the usual tasks by completing a special challenge.

By the end of the race, the final three teams in the competition finish the final leg back in the U.S.A. where Phil and all of the previously eliminated racers wait for the first team to cross the mat.

Those able to remain calm while driving on the “wrong” side of the road, read maps, and can make sense of signs in a foreign language — all at once — will fare well. But teams who scheme, argue, and follow the expert map readers seem to fare better. Either way, the journey for the contestants is nothing short of amazing.