The Amazing Race Wiki
Register
Advertisement

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.

Production[]

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.

This season featured a visit to New Orleans, where filming occurred about a month before the Hurricane Katrina struck the region. The episodes aired after the hurricane had devastated the region. A special message was inserted at the beginning of the episodes featuring Louisiana, including one spoken by Keoghan himself, dedicating them to the victims and to those helping the recovery. The Schroeder family, from New Orleans, had befriended the Rogers family from Shreveport in the northern part of the state during the Race. As Katrina neared landfall, the Rogers offered the Schroeders safety at their home. Katrina wiped out the Schroders' home and most of their possessions, and after staying with the Rogers for about two weeks, they were able to get more permanent housing in Baton Rouge, and most of the other teams from this Race chipped in to help the family out.[1]

A leg was originally designed for Belize, but was cancelled due to Hurricane Emily, and gave teams an extra day off in Costa Rica after Leg 6.[2]

Casting[]

Casting interviews were conducted in March 2005, host Phil Keoghan toured several cities in the United States (Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver, Albuquerque, Phoenix, and Los Angeles) to scout contestants for the show. Final casting interviews took place in Las Vegas. 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.

Teams[]

Linz Family
 1st place 
Linz Family
Siblings
Bransen Family
 2nd place 
Bransen Family
Dad and Daughters
Weaver Family
 3rd place 
Weaver Family
Widow and Kids
Godlewski Family
 4th place 
Godlewski Family
Sisters
Paolo Family
 5th place 
Paolo Family
Dad, Mom and Kids
Gaghan Family
 6th place 
Gaghan Family
Dad, Mom and Kids
Schroeder Family
 7th place 
Schroeder Family
Dad, Stepmom and Kids
Aiello Family
 8th place 
Aiello Family
Father and Sons-in-law
Rogers Family
 9th place 
Rogers Family
Dad, Mom and Kids
Black Family
 10th place 
Black Family
Dad, Mom and Kids

Episodes[]

Episode Air Date Leg Destination First Place Last Place Finish Viewership
(millions)[3]
Ratings/Share
(18-49)[3]
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 Roadblock
1st Half 2nd Half 1st Half 2nd Half
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][4][5] [6]
Legend:
     The team finished in first place
     The team finished in last place and was eliminated from the race
     The team finished in last place in a non-elimination leg
     The team that won The Amazing Race
     The team that crossed the Finish Line second
     The team that crossed the Finish Line third
The team used the Fast Forward pass
> The team used the Yield
< Recipient of the Yield

Notes:
1: An additional task in Leg 4 was presented to teams as a Roadblock but was aired as a miscellaneous task. The Roadblock tally includes the Roadblock in this leg as every team was shown having a particular member performing it.
2: Legs 10 was a double-length leg, with two Detours and two Roadblocks, and shown over two episodes. The placements listed in the first column reflect the order teams arrived at the leg's halfway point.
3: Leg 11 was a double-length leg, with two Detours and two Roadblocks. The placements listed in the first column reflect the order teams picked up a charter flight to a mystery destination at Olympic Stadium, the leg's halfway point. This leg was shown over a single two-hour episode.
4: The Weaver Family was not shown performing the Roadblock on air, as the Linz and Bransen Families had already crossed the Finish Line. An interview after the race with the family revealed that Rebecca was the team member who did the Roadblock.
5: The Bransen Family won "The Final Amazing Challenge" task shown on the CBS website after the end of the race.
6: The finishes in the first half of the superlegs in Leg 10 and Leg 11 are not counted as part of the average. Only the final finish in the leg is counted toward the average.

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 (tied with The Amazing Race Australia 6).
  • First time that the penultimate leg was a superleg.
    • Only season with multiple superlegs (not counting No-Rest Legs).

US[]

  • Fewest countries visited, 4.
  • First season to take place in the Americas.
  • 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[]

References[]

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 · 33 · 34 · 35
Asia 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5
Australia 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7
Brazil 1
Canada 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9
Central Europe Cancelled
China 1 · 2 · 3 · 4
China Rush 1 · 2 · 3
Finland 1
France 1
Israel 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8
Latin America 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6
Norway 1 · 2
Philippines 1 · 2
Ukraine 1
Vietnam 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6
Advertisement