The Amazing Race 21

The Amazing Race 21
Season Information
Version:	United States
Continents Visited:	3
Countries Visited:	9
Cities Visited:	21
Distance Traveled:	25,000 miles (40,000 km)
Starting Line:	Colorado Street Bridge, Pasadena, California
Finish Line:	Gotham Hall, New York City, New York
Filming Dates:	May 26, 2012 – June 16, 2012
Season Run	September 30, 2012 – December 9, 2012
Number of Legs:	12
Number of Teams:	11
Winners:	Josh & Brent
Runners-Up:	Jaymes & James Trey & Lexi
Cast
Season Chronology
Previous:	The Amazing Race 20
Next:	The Amazing Race 22

The Amazing Race 21 is the twenty-first installment of the reality television show, The Amazing Race.

Development

The season was announced by CBS on June 17, 2012. The original grand prize for this season remained at US$1 million, but if the team that comes in first in the first leg wins the race at the end, the grand prize would be doubled to US$2 million.

In an effort to assist viewers in navigating primetime changes due to live sports coverage overruns, CBS listed the scheduled delayed start times (30 minutes later in Eastern and Central Time zones) for the following days: Oct 7 & 21; Nov 4 & 18; Dec 2, 16 & 30. The network also unveiled an upgrade to the CBS Eye-lert system, which informs viewers of any further adjusted start times.

Teams

1st place  Josh & Brent Goat Farmers	2nd place  Jaymes & James Chippendales	3rd place  Trey & Lexi Dating	4th place  Natalie & Nadiya Twins	5th place  Abbie & Ryan Dating Divorcees
6th place  James & Abba Rock Star/Lawyer	7th place  Rob & Kelley Married Monster Truckers	8th place  Gary & Will Substitute Teachers	9th place  Caitlin & Brittany Best Friends	10th place  Amy & Daniel Dating On and Off
11th place  Rob & Sheila Lumberjack/Marketing Exec

Episodes

Episode		Air Date	Leg	Destination	First Place	Last Place	Finish	Viewership (millions)	Ratings/Share (18-49)
1	"Double Your Money"	September 30, 2012	1	United States → China	Abbie & Ryan	Rob & Sheila	1st Eliminated 11th Place	9.40	2.5/6
2	"Long Hair, Don't Care"	October 7, 2012	2	China → Indonesia	Natalie & Nadiya	Amy & Daniel	2nd Eliminated 10th Place	9.66	2.6/7
3	"There's No Crying in Baseball"	October 14, 2012	3	Indonesia	Abbie & Ryan	Caitlin & Brittany	3rd Eliminated 9th Place	9.11	2.0/6
4	"Funky Monkey"	October 21, 2012	4	Indonesia → Bangladesh	James & Abba	Gary & Will	4th Eliminated 8th place	9.54	2.0/6
5	"Chill Out, Freak"	October 28, 2012	5	Bangladesh	James & Abba	Josh & Brent	Non-Elimination Leg	9.41	2.5/6
6	"Get Your Sexy On"	November 4, 2012	6	Bangladesh → Turkey	Trey & Lexi	Rob & Kelley	5th Eliminated 7th Place	10.20	2.6/6
7	"Off to See the Wizard"	November 11, 2012	7	Turkey → Russia	Trey & Lexi	James & Abba	Non-Elimination Leg	9.18	2.5/6
8	"We Was Robbed"	November 18, 2012	8	Russia	Jaymes & James	James & Abba	6th Eliminated 6th Place	9.59	2.4/6
9	"Fishy Kiss"	November 25, 2012	9	Russia → Netherlands	Natalie & Nadiya	Abbie & Ryan	7th Eliminated 5th Place	9.58	2.5/6
10	"Not a Well-Rounded Athlete"	December 2, 2012	10	Netherlands → Spain	Trey & Lexi	Natalie & Nadiya	Non-Elimination Leg	10.02	2.7/6
11	"Take Down That Million"	December 9, 2012	11	Spain → France	Jaymes & James	Natalie & Nadiya	8th Eliminated 4th Place	9.35	2.6/6
			12	France → United States	Josh & Brent	Trey & Lexi	3rd Place
						Jaymes & James	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	Average
1	Josh & Brent	7	5	5	4	7	6	5	5	4	3	3	1	4.58	7-7
2	Jaymes & James	10	3	3	6	6	5	2	1	2⊂	2	1	2	3.58	7-7
3	Trey & Lexi	9	2	2	7	5	1	1	2	3⋐	1	2	3	3.17	7-7
4	Natalie & Nadiya	4	1	6	3	3	4	3	3ϵ	1►	4	4		3.36	6-5
5	Abbie & Ryan	1	4	1	2	2	2	4	4	5⊃				2.78	4-6
6	James & Abba	6	6	4	1►	1	3	6	6					4.13	3-5
7	Rob & Kelley	5	8	7⊂	5	4	7							6.00	4-3
8	Gary & Will	8	9	8⊃⋐	8									8.25	3-2
9	Caitlin & Brittany	3	7	9										6.33	2-2
10	Amy & Daniel	2	10											6.00	2-1
11	Rob & Sheila	11												11.00	1-1
Notes		[1]		[2][3]	[4]		[5]	[6][7][8]	[9][10]	[11]			[1]
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 ϵ The team used the Express Pass somewhere during the leg ⊂ The team used the U-Turn ⊃ Recipient of the U-Turn ⋐ The team that used the second slot of the "Double U-Turn" ⋑ Recipient of a second U-Turn due to the "Double U-Turn" twist
Notes: 1: This leg had two Roadblocks and no Detour. The team member who sat out the first Roadblock was required to perform the second one. 2: Gary & Will Blind U-Turned Rob & Kelley, who had already passed the U-Turn point and were therefore unaffected by it. 3: Caitlin & Brittany initially arrived 6th, but had missed the clue at the U-Turn, having found the Pit Stop by chance. They had to backtrack to the U-Turn to retrieve their clue. During this time, all remaining teams checked in, resulting in the elimination of Caitlin & Brittany. 4: Rob & Kelley initially arrived 4th, but took a boat directly to the Pit Stop instead of to Swarighat, as instructed in their clue. They were required to backtrack and take the proper route. Josh & Brent checked in during this time, dropping Rob & Kelley to 5th. 5: As part of the Speed Bump, Josh & Brent were instructed to find a marked Maraş ice cream cart, but accidentally went to another ice cream cart in the area. After returning to the Detour starting point, they were instructed that they had not completed the Speed Bump and were turned back until they correctly finished the task. This did not affect their placement. 6: Episode 7 ended with a cliffhanger where three teams were still running Leg 7: James & Abba, who had to locate their passports before being checked in; and Abbie & Ryan and Josh & Brent, who were still at the Detour. 7: In Leg 7, Josh & Brent were unable to complete either Detour before the sites for both Detour options closed for the day. They were issued a 4-hour penalty after attempting, but failing to complete Synchronized Detour in time, which was assessed at the start of Leg 8. 8: James & Abba initially arrived 4th, but were not allowed to check in because Abba's passport was amongst the items stolen by their cabbie during the Roadblock. As they tried to retrieve the passport, Abbie & Ryan and Josh & Brent checked in during this time, dropping James & Abba to last place. However, Leg 7 was a non-elimination leg and they were allowed to keep racing until they came to a point where they would need to produce their passports for international travel. 9: Natalie & Nadiya used the Express Pass to bypass the Roadblock in Leg 8. Before using the Express Pass, Natalie elected to perform the Roadblock, and this is reflected in the total Roadblock count. 10: As they spent much of the leg trying to retrieve Abba's passport or acquire a new one, James & Abba were only shown retrieving the Speed Bump clue and traveling to the task before arriving at the Pit Stop in last place and being eliminated. On the official website, Abba disclosed that he was able to complete the Roadblock, but they did not perform the Detour as they were too far behind the other teams and were ordered to go directly to the Pit Stop. 11: Trey & Lexi knowingly U-Turned Jaymes & James, who had already passed the U-Turn point and were therefore unaffected by it.

Trivia

Franchise

• First season to include the Double Your Money prize for the team that won the first leg. If that team went on to win the Race, the grand prize would be doubled.
• First season to include the Blind Double U-Turn, which allows two teams to U-Turn two different teams while remaining anonymous.
• First time that a team was allowed to continue racing on the next leg despite losing passport(s).

US

• First season where no new countries were visited.
• First season where the Express Pass is not given to the winning team on the first leg.
• Season with the most Roadblocks, 14.