The Amazing Race: Family Edition is the eighth season of the reality television show, The Amazing Race. It premiered on September 27, 2005 and ended on December 13, 2005 on CBS.
Contents
Development
Casting interviews were conducted in March 2005. Due to the unique format, two rules were changed for this season only - gasoline was covered by production costs (in addition to airline tickets), while the "six-Roadblock rule" in place since season 6 was removed as the teams consisted of four-person families. Some Roadblocks also required two members of each team to participate.
The Family Edition was filmed in a single month (July 2005) and traveled 11,000 miles (18,000 km), spanning only four different countries in North America.
Travelocity and GMC were the official sponsors during this season and provided prizes throughout the race to winning teams on certain legs.
Teams
Linz Family
Siblings |
Bransen Family
Dad and Daughters |
Weaver Family
Widow and Kids |
Godlewski Family
Sisters |
Paolo Family
Dad, Mom and Kids |
Gaghan Family
Dad, Mom and Kids |
Schroeder Family
Dad, Stepmom and Kids |
Aiello Family
Father and Sons-in-law |
Rogers Family
Dad, Mom and Kids |
Black Family
Dad, Mom and Kids |
Episodes
| Episode | Air Date | Leg | Destination | First Place | Last Place | Finish | Viewership (millions)[1] |
Ratings/Share (18-49)[1] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Go, Mommy, Go! We Can Beat Them!" | September 27, 2005 | 1 | New York → New Jersey → Pennsylvania | Godlewski Family | Black Family | 1st Eliminated 10th Place |
10.64 | 4.4/11 |
| 2 | "How Do We Know We Aren't Going to Get Shot?" | October 4, 2005 | 2 | Pennsylvania → District of Columbia → Virginia | Weaver Family | Rogers Family | 2nd Eliminated 9th Place |
11.25 | 4.3/10 |
| 3 | "I Don't Kiss, I Make Out!" | October 11, 2005 | 3 | Virginia → South Carolina → Alabama | Bransen Family | Aiello Family | 3rd Eliminated 8th Place |
10.95 | 4.3/10 |
| 4 | "Think Like an Office Chair" | October 18, 2005 | 4 | Alabama → Mississippi → Louisiana | Bransen Family | Schroeder Family | 4th Eliminated 7th Place |
11.11 | 4.5/11 |
| 5 | "We're Getting Out of the Country, Girls" | October 25, 2005 | 5 | Louisiana → Panama | Paolo Family | Godlewski Family | Non-Elimination Leg |
10.38 | 4.1/10 |
| 6 | "I'm Sick of Doing Stuff I Can't Do" | November 1, 2005 | 6 | Panama → Costa Rica | Paolo Family | Gaghan Family | 5th Eliminated 6th Place |
10.89 | 4.3/10 |
| 7 | "You Look Ridiculous" | November 8, 2005 | 7 | Costa Rica → Arizona | Godlewski Family | Bransen Family | Non-Elimination Leg |
10.84 | 4.6/11 |
| 8 | Arizona | Godlewski Family | Paolo Family | 6th Eliminated 5th Place | |||||
| 8 | "How's That Face Feel?" | November 22, 2005 | 9 | Arizona → Utah | Linz Family | Weaver Family | Non-Elimination Leg |
10.30 | 3.8/9 |
| 9 | "Don't Talk to Me Like I Was an Animal or Something" | November 29, 2005 |
10 |
Utah → Wyoming → Montana | Bransen Family | Godlewski Family | Ordered to Continue Racing |
8.80 | 3.5/8 |
| 10 | "The Family Christmas Card" | December 6, 2005 | Bransen Family | Godlewski Family | 7th Eliminated 4th Place |
11.16 | 4.1/10 | ||
| 11 | "25 Days, 50 Cities, and More Than 600 Consecutive Hours Together as a Family" | December 13, 2005 | 11 | Montana → Canada → New York | Bransen Family | Weaver Family | Ordered to Continue Racing |
11.51 | 4.7/12 |
| Linz Family | Weaver Family | 3rd Place | |||||||
| Bransen Family | 2nd Place | ||||||||
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.
| Place | Team | Leg 1 | Leg 2 | Leg 3 | Leg 4 | Leg 5 | Leg 6 | Leg 7 | Leg 8 | Leg 9 | Leg 10 | Leg 11 | Average | 
| ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Linz Family | 9 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1> | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2.82 | 5-4-2-4 |
| 2 | Bransen Family | 7 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3.18 | 4-5-4-2 |
| 3 | Weaver Family | 3 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 5< | 2 | 3 | 4< | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3.27 | 2-4-2-7 |
| 4 | Godlewski Family | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3.10 | 4-5-2-2 | ||
| 5 | Paolo Family | 6 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 1► | 1> | 4 | 5 | 4.13 | 1-1-3-2 | |||||
| 6 | Gaghan Family | 2 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5.50 | 2-2-1-1 | |||||||
| 7 | Schroeder Family | 5 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 4.75 | 2-0-1-1 | |||||||||
| 8 | Aiello Family | 8 | 5 | 8 | 7.00 | 0-0-1-2 | ||||||||||
| 9 | Rogers Family | 4 | 9 | 6.50 | 0-0-1-0 | |||||||||||
| 10 | Black Family | 10 | 10.00 | 0-0-0-0 | ||||||||||||
| Notes | [1] | [2] | [3] | [6] | ||||||||||||
Legend:
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Notes:
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Trivia
Franchise
- First season to stay entirely within one continent.
- First time visits to Panama and Costa Rica.
- First season not to have a team penalized nor told to go back and fix the mistake before checking in.
- Most participants in a race: 40 people.
- First time that the penultimate leg was a superleg.
- Only season with multiple superlegs (not counting No-Rest Legs).
US
- Fewest countries visited, 4.
- One of three seasons to have no teams returning in All-Stars.
Reception
- Harry Smith on The Early Show (08/16/2005): "Amazing Race 8: A Family Affair"
- Gary Levin at USA Today (08/16/2005): "Families compete in new Amazing Race"
- Stephen M. Silverman at People.com (08/17/2005): "New Amazing Race Season a Family Affair"
- R.D. Heldenfels at Ohio.com (10/11/2005): "It's Not That Complicated"
- Dalton Ross at EW.com (10/14/2005): "What's wrong with The Amazing Race?"
- Sal Cinquemani at Slant Magazine (10/19/2005): "Reviewing Family Edition So Far"
- Joanna Slimmer at flowjournal.org (11/19/2015): "Why Family Edition does not suck"
- Robert Voets at USA Today (12/11/2015): "Reality Check - Amazing Race Recaps"
- Andy Dehnart at realityblurred (01/23/2006): "Phil Keoghan thought TAR 8 sucked; CBS exec says the season wasn't particularly successful"
External links
| The Amazing Race Season Index | |
|---|---|
| United States | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 26 · 27 · 28 · 29 · 30 · 31 · 32 |
| Asia | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 |
| Australia | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 |
| Brazil | 1 |
| Canada | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 |
| Central Europe | Canceled |
| China | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 |
| China Rush | 1 · 2 · 3 |
| France | 1 |
| Israel | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 |
| Latin America | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 |
| Norway | 1 · 2 |
| The Philippines | 1 · 2 |
| Ukraine | 1 |
| Vietnam | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 |
