The Amazing Race 26

The Amazing Race 26
Season Information
Version:	United States
Continents Visited:	5
Countries Visited:	9
Distance Traveled:	35,000 mi (56,000 km)
Starting Line:	Castaic Lake, Castaic, California
Finish Line:	Continental Avenue Bridge, Dallas, Texas
Filming Dates:	November 12, 2014 - December 6, 2014
Season Run	February 25, 2015 - May 15, 2015
Number of Legs:	12
Number of Teams:	11
Winners:	Laura & Tyler
Runners-Up:	Jelani & Jenny Hayley & Blair
Cast
Season Chronology
Previous:	The Amazing Race 25
Next:	The Amazing Race 27

The Amazing Race 26 is the twenty-sixth installment of the reality television show, The Amazing Race. It premiered on February 25, 2015 and ended on May 15, 2015 on CBS. The entire season was released on DVD on November 21, 2017.

Production

On June 17, 2014, it was announced applications were open for all dating couples, as well as singles looking for blind date. It was closed in September 2014. Semi-finalist interviews and final casting interviews were both held in October 2014.

Filming began on November 12, 2014 and concluded on December 6, 2014. This season traveled a total of 35,000 miles (56,000 km), across nine countries on five continents.

For the first time in the Race's history, all 11 teams were dating couples, five of which had never met each other prior to the Race. Host Phil Keoghan explained that this idea came about from fans who wanted to participate in the show but did not have a partner to race with. Production billed this as "the most extreme blind date ever".

Travelocity, Fitbit, and Ford were the official sponsors during this season and would provide the prizes awarded to first place teams on certain legs.

Twists/Changes

• Blind Date: Ten single racers met each other for the first time at the Starting Line and were paired up into five "blind date" teams. They competed against six pre-existing dating couples.
  • Date Night: A special ticket was randomly hidden in a clue in each of the the second to tenth legs. The team that found this ticket would be given an opportunity to participate in a romantic activity at the Pit Stop.
• Roadblock Limits: This season featured 11 Roadblocks, with team members limited to performing a maximum of 5 Roadblocks before the final leg. The final leg then featured two Roadblocks, with each team member required to perform one, leaving for a maximum Roadblock split of 6-5.
• Production-provided Smartphones: Teams were given smartphones with only the camera feature enabled and required to take a number of selfies per leg. However, teams were not precluded from using their smartphones to take photos of other things (i.e., maps, directions, information, etc.). Unbeknownst to them, their selfies would be used as part of the Final Memory Challenge.
• Double U-Turn: Double U-Turns are available on certain legs of the Race. The one in the first leg was a Blind Double U-Turn, in which the teams that used it did not have to publicly reveal themselves by using their "Courtesy Of" photo.
• Express Pass: The team that wins the first leg would be awarded the Express Pass, which allows them to skip any task of their choosing until the end of the eighth leg.
• Save: The first team to complete both sides of the Detour in the third leg would be awarded the Save, which grants them a one-time immunity from elimination until the end of the tenth leg. Ultimately, this option was unaired because no team claimed the Save.
• Speed Bump: A team that came in last place on a Non-Elimination Leg would encounter an additional task in the following leg that only they would have to perform.
• Roulette-based Detour: The Detour teams performed in the sixth leg was determined by the spin of a roulette wheel. It is unknown if they were allowed to switch tasks later on.
• No-Rest Leg and Midpoint Elimination: Upon checking in at the Pit Stop at the end of the eleventh leg, teams were given their next clue by host Phil Keoghan and immediately began the final leg. The first team to arrive received a prize, while the last place team did not face a penalty. In addition, they were warned that the last team to arrive at a predetermined midpoint in the final leg would be eliminated.
• Rules and Penalties: The following rule and penalty were revealed on this season:
  • A team that willingly abandons production-provided equipment that would later be necessary for completing a Route Info task would incur a 2-hour penalty upon arrival at the location of the task in lieu of completing it.

Teams

Laura & Tyler  1st place  Laura & Tyler Blind Dating	Jelani & Jenny  2nd place  Jelani & Jenny Blind Dating	Hayley & Blair  3rd place  Hayley & Blair Blind Dating	Mike & Rochelle  4th place  Mike & Rochelle Dating	Matt & Ashley  5th place  Matt & Ashley Dating → Engaged
Aly & Steve  6th place  Aly & Steve Dating Olympians	Jeff & Jackie  7th place  Jeff & Jackie Blind Dating	Bergen & Kurt  8th place  Bergen & Kurt Blind Dating	Harley & Jonathan  9th place  Harley & Jonathan Dating	Libby & CJ  10th place  Libby & CJ Dating
Jeff & Lyda  11th place  Jeff & Lyda Dating

Episodes

Episode		Air Date	Leg	Destination	First Place	Last Place	Finish	Viewership (millions)	Ratings/Share (18-49)
1	"Great Way to Start a Relationship"	February 25, 2015	1	United States → Japan	Jelani & Jenny	Jeff & Lyda	1st Eliminated 11th Place	6.16	1.5/4
2	"I Got the Smartest Dude"	February 27, 2015	2	Japan	Jelani & Jenny	Libby & CJ	2nd Eliminated 10th Place	6.15	1.1/4
3	"#MurphysLaw"	March 6, 2015	3	Japan → Thailand	Mike & Rochelle	Harley & Jonathan	Non-Elimination Leg	6.07	1.2/5
4	"The Great Amazing Nasty Race"	March 13, 2015	4	Thailand	Bergen & Kurt	Harley & Jonathan	3rd Eliminated 9th Place	6.29	1.1/4
5	"Get in That Lederhosen, Baby"	April 3, 2015	5	Thailand → Germany	Aly & Steve	Bergen & Kurt	4th Eliminated 8th Place	6.07	1.3
6	"Smells Like a Million Bucks"	April 10, 2015	6	Germany → France → Monaco → France	Hayley & Blair	Jeff & Jackie	5th Eliminated 7th Place	5.75	1.1/4
7	"Back in Business"	April 17, 2015	7	France → Namibia	Matt & Ashley	Aly & Steve	Non-Elimination Leg	5.46	1.1/4
8	"Moment of Truth"		8	Namibia	Laura & Tyler	Aly & Steve	6th Eliminated 6th Place
9	"Can I Get a Hot Tub!"	April 24, 2015	9	Namibia → Netherlands	Laura & Tyler	Matt & Ashley	Non-Elimination Leg	5.75	1.1/4
10	"Fruits of Our Labor"	May 1, 2015	10	Netherlands → Peru	Hayley & Blair	Matt & Ashley	7th Eliminated 5th Place	5.52	1.1/5
11	"In It to Win It"	May 8, 2015	11	Peru	Hayley & Blair	Mike & Rochelle	Ordered to Continue Racing	5.48	1.1/5
12	"Monster Truck Heroes"	May 15, 2015	12	Peru → United States	Laura & Tyler	Mike & Rochelle	8th Eliminated 4th Place	5.72	1.1/5
						Hayley & Blair	3rd Place
						Jelani & Jenny	2nd Place

Leaderboard

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	Laura & Tyler	3	2	4	4♥	6	6♥	2♥	1⋐	1	4	3	1	3.08	5-6
2	Jelani & Jenny	1	1	3	7	4	5	4	4ϵ⊃	3♥	2♥	2	2	3.17	6-5
3	Hayley & Blair	8	9	2	2	5	1	3	3	2	1	1	3	3.33	5-6
4	Mike & Rochelle	7⊂	8	1	6	7♥	3	5	5	4	3	4	4	4.75	6-4
5	Matt & Ashley	9	7	6♥	8	2	4	1	2⊂	5	5			4.90	5-3
6	Aly & Steve	4	3	5	3	1	2	6	6⋑					3.75	3-3
7	Jeff & Jackie	2	6	8	5	3	7							5.17	2-2
8	Bergen & Kurt	6	5	7	1	8								5.40	2-0
9	Harley & Jonathan	5	4♥	9	9									6.75	1-1
10	Libby & CJ	10	10											10.00	1-0
11	Jeff & Lyda	11⊃⋐												11.00	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 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 ♥ The team that found and won the Date Night ticket
Notes: 1: Jeff & Lyda Blind U-Turned Jeff & Jackie, who had already passed the U-Turn point and were therefore unaffected by it. 2: Bergen & Kurt abandoned their provided vehicle due to difficulties driving it and were thus unable to complete the Route Information task which required use of their vehicle and they received a 2-hour penalty. Throughout the leg, Bergen & Kurt had to walk or use public transportation. Additionally, Bergen & Kurt got lost in finding the Detour location of their choice and fell behind all the other teams. Later, when all the other teams had checked in at the Pit Stop, host Phil Keoghan met with them at where they rested to eliminate them. 3: Jelani & Jenny used the Express Pass to bypass the Play Detour. However, they still had to do the other side of the Detour since Matt & Ashley U-Turned them before they got to the board. 4: Leg 11 had no mandatory rest period between legs, and all teams were ordered to continue racing. The team who checked in last on this leg did not face a Speed Bump in the next leg. 5: Leg 12 featured two Roadblocks and no Detour. The team member who sat out the first Roadblock was required to perform the second one. 6: Mike & Rochelle arrived last at P2 Ranch, an elimination point. Instead of being allowed to perform the task, they were eliminated.

Trivia

Franchise

• First time visit to Monaco.
  • With a land size of 2 km² and a population of 37,831 (2013), Monaco is the smallest country the Race has visited, surpassing Liechtenstein, which was previously visited in The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business.
• This is the first season to not feature a family team and also the first (and only) season to not feature an all-female team.
• This is the second season to not feature a friend team (after The Amazing Race: Family Edition), and the first in standard format to do so.

US

• This season has the second-most teams without a pre-existing relationship (5 teams), and the first season not to feature returning racers to do so.
• This season's visit to Namibia breaks the record for the largest gap between one country's visit in a season and its previous visit (24 seasons since its last visit in The Amazing Race 2).
• The first season since The Amazing Race 13 to feature a Detour on the first leg.
• The first season to feature a U-Turn on the first leg.
• First season to have a Detour assigned by luck rather than a team choosing their Detour option (Leg 6).
• Seventh season where all the final three teams are co-ed teams.

Reception

• Andy Dehnart at realityblurred (01/20/2015): "Amazing Race really is becoming The Bachelor"
• Jessica Liese at RHAP (02/05/2015): "Five Broken Game Twists, and how to Improve Them"

External links

• CBS.com - The Amazing Race