The Amazing Race 1, originally broadcast as The Amazing Race, is the inaugural installment of The Amazing Race (US) and the reality television franchise The Amazing Race. It premiered on September 5, 2001 and ended on December 13, 2001 on CBS. The entire season was released on DVD on September 27, 2005.[1]
Production[]
In December 2000, CBS announced that it was set to produce a new reality show entitled CBS Summer Global Adventure Series, which would feature eight teams of two traveling to eleven international locations to win $1 million.[2] Location scouting for the racecourse took place in January 2001.
Filming of the inaugural season of The Amazing Race started on March 8, 2001 and concluded on April 8, 2001, traveling 35,000 miles (56,000 km) across nine countries on four continents. The first season was marred by several production difficulties such as filming delays due to an airport strike in Rome and a sandstorm in the Sahara Desert, with the latter prompting production to prolong the teams' stay in the Pit Stop for 36 hours instead of the standard 12 and eventually moving to Gabès to commence Leg 6. The top of the original World Trade Center was considered as the Finish Line for the season but was changed to Flushing Meadows Park after production was unable to secure the needed permits.[3]
The season was originally planned to premiere in between May and July 2001, but was held back for the fall once CBS saw the final product in order to obtain a larger viewing audience.[4] Broadcast was postponed a further week due to the September 11 attacks, which occurred six days after the premiere.[5]
Several presentation aspects were unique to the first season. Teams were not required to read clues out loud to the cameras. In legs that featured self-driving, the team's cameraman sat in the back seat with the sound operator while the non-driving team member sat in the co-pilot seat. At the behest of CBS executives, host Phil Keoghan only greeted the last place team in every Pit Stop; all other teams were greeted and informed of their placements by local "greeters". Route Markers for this season were colored yellow and white, while each leg's Pit Stop mat featured a localized design.[6]
Uniquely, Keoghan also narrated the show's premise over each episode's opening credits:
- “It’s the most daring competition ever attempted, 11 two-person teams bound by friendship, love, or family, will race around the world. They have no idea where they’re going, what dangers they may encounter, or how the journey will affect their lives. Most of the teams will be eliminated, but the team that reaches the Finish Line first, will win a cash prize of one million dollars. This is a Race like no other in history. This is... The Amazing Race.”
Format[]
- 13 Legs: The Race consisted of 13 single-length legs. Teams encountered a Detour and a Roadblock on each leg.
- Fast Forward: A Fast Forward is available on each leg until there are only four teams remaining. A team could only claim one Fast Forward throughout the entire Race.
- Single Flight Itinerary: Teams could only book one travel itinerary for themselves. They could not book another set of tickets if they discovered another flight they would prefer after purchasing the first booking.
- No Penalty on Non-Elimination Legs: There were four predetermined Non-Elimination Legs. A team that came in last on a Non-Elimination Leg did not incur any penalty.
- Rules and Penalties: Teams were assessed penalties for rules infractions at the next Pit Stop following the infraction. Originally, penalties only affected a team's departure in the next leg. However, a penalty incurred in the ninth leg affected which team would be checked-in last and eliminated, thus the penalty was applied to that leg's final result. The following rules and penalties were revealed on this season:
- A team that improperly completes a Detour or a Roadblock would incur a time penalty of unspecified length.
- A team that takes the form of transportation specified in their clue only partway through, then switches to another form of transportation would incur a 30-minute penalty.
- A team that fails to complete either side of a Detour would incur a 24-hour penalty.
Teams[]
Rob & Brennan
Lawyers/Best Friends |
Frank & Margarita
Separated Parents |
Joe & Bill
Life Partners |
Kevin & Drew
Fraternity Brothers |
Nancy & Emily
Mother/Daughter |
Lenny & Karyn
Dating |
Paul & Amie
Engaged |
Dave & Margaretta
Grandparents |
Pat & Brenda
Working Moms |
Kim & Leslie
Teachers/Roommates |
Matt & Ana
Married |
Episodes[]
| Episode | Air Date | Leg | Destination | First Place | Last Place | Finish | Viewership (millions)[7] |
Ratings/Share (18-49)[7] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Race Begins" | September 5, 2001 | 1 | United States → South Africa → Zambia | Rob & Brennan | Matt & Ana | 1st Eliminated 11th Place |
11.80 | 5.1/13 |
| 2 | "Divide and Conquer" | September 19, 2001 | 2 | Zambia → France | Pat & Brenda | Kim & Leslie | 2nd Eliminated 10th Place |
10.00 | 4.6/12 |
| 3 | "Home for Some" | September 26, 2001 | 3 | France | Kevin & Drew | Pat & Brenda | 3rd Eliminated 9th Place |
8.60 | 3.6/9 |
| 4 | "Colossal Showdown" | October 3, 2001 | 4 | France → Tunisia | Joe & Bill | Dave & Margeretta | 4th Eliminated 8th Place |
8.70 | 3.9/10 |
| 5 | "Desert Storm" | October 10, 2001 | 5 | Tunisia | Kevin & Drew | Paul & Amie | 5th Eliminated 7th Place |
8.30 | 3.7/9 |
| 6 | "Whatever It Takes to Win" | October 17, 2001 | 6 | Tunisia → Italy | Frank & Margarita | Lenny & Karyn | Non-Elimination Leg |
8.40 | 3.6/9 |
| 7 | "Triumph and Loss" | October 24, 2001 | 7 | Italy → India | Frank & Margarita | Lenny & Karyn | 6th Eliminated 6th Place |
9.20 | 4.0/10 |
| 8 | "Competition to the Fullest" | October 31, 2001 | 8 | India | Kevin & Drew | Nancy & Emily | Non-Elimination Leg |
8.40 | 3.6/9 |
| 9 | "The Unexpected Twist" | November 14, 2001 | 9 | India → Thailand | Rob & Brennan | Nancy & Emily | 7th Eliminated 5th Place |
9.40 | 3.8/9 |
| 10 | "To the Physical and Mental Limit" | November 21, 2001 | 10 | Thailand | Rob & Brennan | Joe & Bill | Non-Elimination Leg |
8.20 | 3.1/9 |
| 11 | "Fight to the Last Minute" | November 28, 2001 | 11 | Thailand → China | Frank & Margarita | Kevin & Drew | 8th Eliminated 4th Place |
9.50 | 4.1/10 |
| 12 | "Race to the Finish (Part 1)" | December 5, 2001 | 12 | China → United States | Rob & Brennan | Joe & Bill | Non-Elimination Leg |
9.40 | 3.7/9 |
| 13 | "Race to the Finish (Part 2)" | December 13, 2001 | 13 | United States | Rob & Brennan | Joe & Bill | 3rd Place | 13.70 | 6.0/15 |
| Frank & Margarita | 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 | Leg 12 | Leg 13 | Average | 
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rob & Brennan | 1► | 3 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2.46 | 5-7 |
| 2 | Frank & Margarita | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1► | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2.38 | 9-3 |
| 3 | Joe & Bill | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4► | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2.77 | 7-4 |
| 4 | Kevin & Drew | 9 | 5 | 1► | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3.36 | 5-5 | ||
| 5 | Nancy & Emily | 10 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5.78 | 2-7 | ||||
| 6 | Lenny & Karyn | 4 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6.43 | 2-5 | ||||||
| 7 | Paul & Amie | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 6.60 | 3-1 | ||||||||
| 8 | Dave & Margaretta | 7 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 6.50 | 3-1 | |||||||||
| 9 | Pat & Brenda | 5 | 1► | 9 | 5.00 | 2-0 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Kim & Leslie | 6 | 10 | 8.00 | 2-0 | |||||||||||
| 11 | Matt & Ana | 11 | 11.00 | 1-0 | ||||||||||||
| Notes | [1][2] | [3] | [4] | [5] | [6] | [7] | [8] | [9] | ||||||||
Legend:
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Notes:
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Reception[]
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"
- Matt Roush at TV Guide Online (09/05/2001): "Two for the Road"
- Andy Dehnart at realityblurred (09/05/2001): "Amazing Race debuts tonight"
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"
- Andy Dehnart at realityblurred (09/05/2011): "The Amazing Race is 10 today"
- Joe Reid at Decider (09/05/2015): "Today In TV History: The Amazing Race First Sent Americans Careening Around The World"
Trivia[]
Franchise[]
- First season to visit South Africa, Zambia, France, Tunisia, Italy, India, Thailand, and China.
- First season to visit the continents of North America, Africa, Europe, and Asia.
- First season to visit four continents.
- First season to start and finish in the same city.
- First season to feature eleven teams.
- First season to feature an LGBT team.
- First season to have four Non-Elimination Legs.
- First season where the top three teams in the first leg happened to be the final three teams of the season.
US[]
- Host Phil Keoghan did not greet teams upon arrival at the Pit Stop other than the last placing team.
- First season to have a team that made it to the final leg fail to finish the Race, as Joe & Bill were too far behind the other two teams that already made it to the Finish Line.
- First season that the Finish Line was located in the contiguous United States.
External links[]
References[]
- ↑ http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Amazing-Race-1/3711
- ↑ Donna Petrozzello (December 13, 2000). CBS seeks great racers. New York Daily News.
- ↑ Andy Dehnart (September 3, 2021). Amazing Race behind the scenes: an oral history of CBS's first race around the world. reality blurred.
- ↑ http://enquirer.com/editions/2001/09/05/tem_one_amazing_show_one.html
- ↑ TV Nets Delay Fall Season. Yahoo! News (September 12, 2001).
- ↑ Sarah Grossbart (September 5, 2021). What a Trip: The Complete Oral History of The Amazing Race. E! News.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 http://www.spottedratings.com/2011/12/spotvault-amazing-race-cbs-fall-2001.html
- ↑ https://youtu.be/NJDcp7gSMz8?t=2811
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/TheAmazingRace/comments/103r5on/one_thing_i_loved_about_the_first_elimination_of/kooj7q9/?context=3
| 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 |