The Amazing Race 1

The Amazing Race 1, originally broadcast as The Amazing Race, is the inaugural installment of the The Amazing Race (US) and the reality television franchise The Amazing Race. It ran from September 5, 2001 to December 13, 2001.

Development
The inaugural season of The Amazing Race traveled 35,000 miles (56,000 km) within 39 days, through 4 continents, 9 countries and 24 different cities. The first race was marred by several production errors such as filming delays due to an airport strike at the Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport in Rome and a sandstorm in Tunisia, with the latter prompting production to prolong the teams' stay in the Pit Stop for 36 hours instead of the standard 12 and eventually moved to Gabès to commence Leg 6.

Leaderboard
This chart shows each teams ranking per leg according to their official check in at the Pit Stop. However, time penalties issued before the start of the next leg due to improperly performed tasks are not reflected here. Notes: Leg 1 had an unaired Roadblock which required a member of the team to cook a whole ostrich egg for both team members to eat before heading to the Pit Stop. This roadblock was shown partially on DVD release, but Pat & Brenda and Matt & Ana were not shown completing this Roadblock. Dave & Margaretta originally finished 7th, but they were issued a penalty for improperly performing the Detour. The penalty affected their departure time instead. Dave & Margaretta initially were checked in at the Pit Stop in 6th Place, but they were again penalized for not completing the Roadblock correctly, hence falling to 8th Place, with their penalty extending their stay at the previous Pit Stop. Paul & Amie arrived 5th at the Pit Stop but started the next leg at 4th Place after being given a time credit due to a production error. Paul & Amie mistakenly arrived at the Pit Stop while accidentally skipping the Roadblock. However, since they were already in last place, they were eliminated without being penalized. Frank & Margarita and Joe & Bill originally checked in at the Pit Stop at 1st and 2nd Place respectively, but both teams incurred a 30-minute penalty for not following a clue correctly before they were officially checked in. However, their placements were not affected. Lenny & Karyn were given a time credit due to production error. However, it did not affect their placement. Nancy & Emily and Joe & Bill initially arrived at the Pit Stop at 4th and 5th Place, respectively, but the former's decision to deliberately forfeit the Detour incurred them a 24-hour time penalty, moving the latter in 4th Place. Joe & Bill were so far behind that when they reached the last Detour, their next clue informed them that the race was over.

Pre-Production

 * Zap2It (09/13/2000): "Bruckheimer, CBS join for new reality 'Race' "
 * Zap2It (07/24/2001): "Amazing Race Kicks Off CBS Fall Season"

Pre-Season Reviews

 * Gary Levin at USA Today (08/02/2001): "CBS trouts out Amazing Race"
 * Warren Berger at New York Times (09/02/2001): "A Long Trip, With Someone You Know"
 * John Levesque at Seattle P-I (09/03/2001): "Amazing Race has plenty of gumption"
 * Anita Gates at New York Times (09/05/2001): "Bungee Jumping to Save Minutes: It's Called Reality"
 * Rob Owen at Post-Gazette (09/05/2001): "TV Reviews: 'Lost' and 'Amazing Race' both leave starting line -- best bet on CBS's 'Race' "
 * John Carman at SF Gate (09/05/2001): "Reality TV thinks globally / Players roam the world"

Post-Season Reviews

 * Gary Levin at USA Today (12/13/2001): "Momentum carries 'Race' to finish"
 * The Trades (12/25/2001): "Roundtable Discussion on The Amazing Race"

Franchise

 * First season to visit the United States, South Africa, Zambia, France, Tunisia, Italy, India, Thailand, China, and Alaska.
 * First season to start and end in the same city.
 * First season to feature eleven teams.
 * First season to have four non-elimination legs.

US

 * This is the first season to have team(s) that made it to the Finish Line, but never finished the race, as Joe and Bill were too far behind and the other two teams already made it to the finish line.
 * First season that the Finish Line was located in the contiguous United States

Season 1

 * Coincidentally, the top three teams in the first leg happened to be the final three teams of the season.


 * Phil Keoghan did not greet teams that arrive at the Pit Stop other than the last placing team.
 * No team of siblings were on this season.