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. The entire season was released on DVD on October 23, 2012.
Production[]
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.
Filming began on July 7, 2005 and concluded on July 31, 2005. This season traveled a total of 11,000 miles (18,000 km), across four countries around North America.
A leg was originally designed for Belize, but was cancelled due to Hurricane Emily, which gave teams an extra day off in Costa Rica after Leg 6.[1] For this season only, the color scheme for all Route Markers and the mat at each Pit Stop was changed to yellow and white with black lining.
Travelocity, BP, ARCO, Jayco, and GMC were the official sponsors during this season and would provide the prizes awarded to first place teams on certain legs.
This season featured a visit to New Orleans, where filming occurred about a month before 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 host Phil 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 the hurricane neared landfall, the Rogers offered the Schroeders safety at their home. The hurricane wiped out the Schroeders' 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.[2]
Twists/Changes[]
- Family Edition: Teams consisted of four contestants each with a familial relationship, including minors as young as 8 years old.
- Credit Card for Gasoline: Because driving was the primary means of travel on this season, teams' production-provided credit cards were used for gasoline purchases, in addition to the standard use for purchasing airline tickets.
- Two-Person Roadblocks and No Roadblock Limits: Some Roadblocks required the participation of two members of each team. In addition, due to the Family Edition twist, there were no limits to the amount of Roadblocks each racer could perform.
- Yield: Yields are available on certain legs of the Race. A Yield in the first leg was unaired.
- Surrender Money and Possessions: A team that came in last place on a Non-Elimination Leg would have to relinquish all accumulated money in their possession and would not receive any money at the start of the next leg. In addition, that team would also have to relinquish all their belongings except for their travel documents and the clothes on their backs.
- Superleg: Teams encountered a double-length leg in the tenth leg. They received a clue directing them to meet with host Phil Keoghan, who surprised them by handing them their next clue and ordering them to continue racing. In addition, the final leg was also a double-length leg.
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)[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 | Bransen Family | Godlewski Family | Ordered to Continue Racing |
8.80 | 3.5/8 |
| 10 | "The Family Christmas Card" | December 6, 2005 | Wyoming → Montana | 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 | Bransen Family | Weaver Family | Ordered to Continue Racing |
11.51 | 4.7/12 |
| Canada → New York | 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 | 
| ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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:
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Notes:
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Trivia[]
Franchise[]
- First season to stay entirely within one continent.
- First season to feature only ten teams.
- According to Wally Bransen, there were supposed to be eleven teams (families of four pairings) during pre-production, the Flanders Family were to be the 11th team and they were set to compete, however, they dropped out.[4]
- 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.
- First season to have contestants born in the 1990s.
- First season to feature only one all-female team: Godlewski Family.
- Most participants in a race: 40 people (tied with The Amazing Race Australia 6).
- First (and only) season to allow two team members performing Roadblocks.
- First (and only) season to feature two Superlegs (not counting No-Rest Legs).
- First time that the penultimate leg had a superleg.
- First season where the majority of the final three teams are female.
- First season not to feature a friend team.
US[]
- Fewest countries visited, 4.
- First season to take place entirely in the Americas.
- Only season to feature minors below 18 years of age.
- Leg 9 was the 100th leg in the US version of The Amazing Race.
- One of three seasons to have no teams returning in both All-Stars seasons or The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business.
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 · 36 · 37 · 38 |
| Asia | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 |
| Australia | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · |
| Brazil | 1 |
| Canada | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 |
| Central Europe | Cancelled |
| China | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 |
| China Rush | 1 · 2 · 3 |
| Finland | 1 · 2 · 3 |
| 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 |