The Amazing Race 30

The Amazing Race 30
Season Information
Version:	United States
Continents Visited:	4
Countries Visited:	11
Cities Visited:	21
Distance Traveled:	29,000 mi (47,000 km)
Starting Line:	Washington Square Park, New York City, New York
Finish Line:	USS Hornet, Alameda, California
Filming Dates:	October 1, 2017 - October 24, 2017
Season Run	January 3, 2018 - February 21, 2018
Number of Legs:	12
Number of Teams:	11
Winners:	Cody & Jessica
Runners-Up:	Henry & Evan Kristi & Jen
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous:	The Amazing Race 29
Next:	The Amazing Race 31

The Amazing Race 30 is the thirtieth season of the reality television show, The Amazing Race. It premiered on January 3, 2018 and ended on February 21, 2018 on CBS. The entire season was released on DVD on May 10, 2019.

Production

Applications for this season were originally due on September 15, 2016, but were postponed nearly a year to July 2017. Host Phil Keoghan stated that production sought the "most competitive and accomplished teams to ever take on the Race", as well as those who are "the best of the best in their chosen fields". Production billed this as the "most competitive season ever".

Filming began on October 1, 2017 and concluded on October 24, 2017. This season traveled a total of 29,000 miles (47,000 km), across eleven countries on four continents. For the third time in series history, the Starting Line was opened to the public, with fans invited to attend. To entice fans to attend the public start, CBS announced that Cody Nickson and Jessica Graf from the recently concluded Big Brother 19 would be competing on the season.

To go with the "most competitive season ever" billing, this season introduced two new twists: the Head-to-Head, first seen in The Amazing Race (Latin America) and subsequently in other international versions before its introduction to the flagship US version, as well as the Partner Swap.

The show moved to a new timeslot of Wednesdays at 8 pm. Beginning with the sixth episode, the show aired on Wednesdays at 9 pm to make room for Celebrity Big Brother 1 in the former timeslot.

Travelocity was the only official sponsor of the season and would provide the prizes awarded to first place teams on certain legs.

Twists/Changes

• Roadblock Limits: This season featured 9 Roadblocks, leaving for a maximum Roadblock split of 6-3.
• Head-to-Head: The second and fourth legs featured a Head-to-Head as the final task of the leg. Teams would face off against another team in the order they arrived at the designated Route Marker, selecting one member to compete in the task. The winning team would be allowed to check in to the nearby Pit Stop, while the losing team must compete against the next team in line. Teams may switch members in between Head-to-Heads and the non-participating team member may offer their partner verbal assistance. The team that loses the last Head-to-Head would be eliminated.
• 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.
• Double U-Turn: Double U-Turns are available on certain legs of the Race.
• Partner Swap: For the first time, teams swapped partners with another team for part of a leg. In the seventh leg, teams competed in a Route Info task, with the order that teams completed this challenge determining the order for a schoolyard pick in which the highest-ranked team would choose any remaining team to swap teammates with, with the process continuing until all six teams are formed. The higher-ranked team would choose which individual members of the lower-ranked team they would like to partner with. However, they would not be allowed to check in to the Pit Stop until they were joined by their original partners, at which point they resumed racing in their original teams.
• No-Rest Leg: Upon checking in at the Pit Stop at the end of the seventh leg, teams were given their next clue by host Phil Keoghan and immediately began the next leg. The last place team did not face a penalty.

Teams

Cody & Jessica  1st place  Cody & Jessica Dating	Henry & Evan  2nd place  Henry & Evan Dating Debaters	Kristi & Jen  3rd place  Kristi & Jen Professional Skiers	Alex & Conor  4th place  Alex & Conor IndyCar Drivers	Lucas & Brittany  5th place  Lucas & Brittany Dating → Engaged Lifeguards
Eric & Daniel  6th place  Eric & Daniel Twin Brothers	Trevor & Chris  7th place  Trevor & Chris Dating Violinists	Joey & Tim  8th place  Joey & Tim Competitive Eaters	Cedric & Shawn  9th place  Cedric & Shawn Retired NBA Players	April & Sarah  10th place  April & Sarah Goat Yoga Moms
Dessie & Kayla  11th place  Dessie & Kayla Models

Episodes

Episode		Air Date	Leg	Destination	First Place	Last Place	Finish	Viewership (millions)	Ratings/Share (18-49)
1	"You're a Champion, Prove It"	January 3, 2018	1	United States → Iceland	Kristi & Jen	Dessie & Kayla	1st Eliminated 11th Place	7.31	1.6/6
2	"You're the Best French Fry Ever"	January 10, 2018	2	Iceland → Netherlands → Belgium	Cody & Jessica	April & Sarah	2nd Eliminated 10th Place	6.98	1.4/5
3	"It's Gonna Be a Fragrant Day"	January 17, 2018	3	Belgium → Morocco	Henry & Evan	Cedric & Shawn	Non-Elimination Leg	6.84	1.5/6
4	"Gotta Put Your Sole into It"	January 24, 2018	4	Morocco → France	Alex & Conor	Cedric & Shawn	3rd Eliminated 9th Place	6.17	1.2/5
			5	France	Lucas & Brittany	Joey & Tim	4th Eliminated 8th Place
5	"The Claws Are Out"	January 31, 2018	6	France → Czech Republic	Kristi & Jen	Trevor & Chris	5th Eliminated 7th Place	6.54	1.3/5
6	"All's Fair in Love and War"	February 7, 2018	7	Czech Republic → Zimbabwe	Alex & Connor	Cody & Jessica	Ordered to Continue Racing	5.07	1.1/4
					Lucas & Brittany	Kristi & Jen
			8	Zimbabwe	Lucas & Brittany	Eric & Daniel	6th Eliminated 6th Place
7	"The First Rule of Amazing Race Club"	February 14, 2018	9	Zimbabwe → Bahrain	Alex & Conor	Lucas & Brittany	7th Eliminated 5th Place	4.12	0.9/3
			10	Bahrain → Thailand	Alex & Conor	Henry & Evan	Non-Elimination Leg
8	"It's Just a Million Dollars, No Pressure"	February 21, 2018	11	Thailand → Hong Kong	Henry & Evan	Alex & Conor	8th Eliminated 4th Place	4.27	0.9/3
			12	Hong Kong → United States	Cody & Jessica	Kristi & Jen	3rd Place
						Henry & Evan	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	Cody & Jessica	2	1	5	2	6	6⊂	5	5⊃	4	2	2	1	3.27	6-3
2	Henry & Evan	3	8	1	6	4	3	3	4⋑	3	4	1	2	3.55	4-5
3	Kristi & Jen	1	3	3	3	2	1	5	2	2	3	3	3	2.36	5-4
4	Alex & Conor	5	5	2	1	5	4	1	3⋐	1	1	4		3.10	4-4
5	Lucas & Brittany	7	6	8	8	1	5	1	1⊂	5				5.13	3-3
6	Eric & Daniel	8	9	7	7	3	2	3	6					6.00	3-3
7	Trevor & Chris	4	4	4	5	7	7⊃							5.17	3-3
8	Joey & Tim	6	7	6	4	8								6.20	2-3
9	Cedric & Shawn	9	2	9	9∇									7.25	2-2
10	April & Sarah	10	10∇											10.00	0-2
11	Dessie & Kayla	11												11.00	1-0
Notes		[1]						[2]		[3]		[4]
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 that lost the Double Battle ⊂ 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: Cedric & Shawn initially arrived 8th, but received a 30-minute penalty due to Cedric verbally helping Shawn at the Roadblock. Eric & Daniel checked in during this time, dropping them to 9th. 2: Teams had to swap partners for part of the leg, but would have to wait for the actual partner in order to check in. Cody paired with Jen, Jessica paired with Kristi, Lucas paired with Conor, Brittany paired with Alex, Henry paired with Eric, and Evan paired with Daniel. The finishes on Leg 7 are not averaged in with the other legs teams raced due to the twist. 3: By the time Lucas & Brittany arrived at the Dhow Shipyard in Muharraq, all teams had already checked in at the Pit Stop. Host Phil Keoghan came out to their location in order to inform them of their elimination. 4: After all the other teams checked in, host Phil went to Lan Kwai Fong to meet with Alex & Conor to inform them of their elimination.

Trivia

Franchise

• First time visit to Bahrain.
• Most number of all-male teams, 5 (tied with The Amazing Race 4, The Amazing Race 23, The Amazing Race 32, The Amazing Race 35, and The Amazing Race 37).
• First season to feature a Partner Swap, albeit only for a single leg.

US

• This marks the first time that a season premieres in January.
• At a total of eight weeks, The Amazing Race 30 has the shortest run of any season.
• This is the first US season to feature the Double Battle, known in this version as the "Head-to-Head".
• First season to not feature the Express Pass since its introduction in The Amazing Race 17.
• First season to not visit Greater Los Angeles since The Amazing Race: All-Stars.

Reception

• Andy Dehnart at realityblurred (02/22/2018): "Amazing Race 30 concludes, having extended Big Brother's storyline"

Gallery

Videos

The Amazing Race - Meet The Racers! "The Amazing Race" Returns Wednesday, Jan. 3 on CBS

THE AMAZING RACE 30 COMMERCIAL 12 13