The Amazing Race 7 is the seventh season of the reality television show, The Amazing Race. It premiered on March 1, 2005 and ended on May 10, 2005 on CBS. The entire season was released on DVD on December 20, 2005.[1]
Production[]
Applications for The Amazing Race 7 were closed on August 11, 2004. Semi-finalist interviews were held in September 2004, and final casting interviews were held in Los Angeles between September and October 2004.
Filming began on November 20, 2004 and concluded on December 19, 2004. This season traveled a total of 40,000 miles (64,000 km), across ten countries on five continents.
Travelocity, Toyota, and JVC were the official sponsors during this season and would provide the prizes awarded to first place teams on certain legs.
Twists/Changes[]
- Roadblock Limits: This season featured 12 Roadblocks, leaving for a maximum Roadblock split of 6-6.
- Yield: Yields are available on certain legs of the Race.
- Surrender Money and Possessions: For this season, the penalty for a team coming in last place on a Non-Elimination Leg was modified. In addition to having to relinquish all accumulated money in their possession and not receiving any money at the start of the next leg, that team would now 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 eighth 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.
- Rules and Penalties: The following rules and penalties were revealed on this season:
- Teams may not beg for money in United States airports.
- If a team quits a Roadblock and takes the standard 4-hour penalty but is not forced to leave the Roadblock location due to hours of operation, that team would serve their penalty on-site starting from the arrival of the next team.
- A team that improperly completes a Roadblock would be turned away from the Pit Stop and required to properly complete the task before being allowed to check in. The penalty for such an infraction was previously an unspecified time penalty applied at the start of the next leg, as of The Amazing Race 1.
Teams[]
Uchenna & Joyce
Married |
Rob & Amber
Engaged |
Ron & Kelly
Former POW/Pageant Queen |
Meredith & Gretchen
Married/Retired |
Lynn & Alex
Boyfriends |
Brian & Greg
Brothers |
Ray & Deana
Dating On and Off |
Susan & Patrick
Mother/Son |
Debbie & Bianca
Lifelong Friends |
Megan & Heidi
Roommates |
Ryan & Chuck
Best Friends |
Episodes[]
| Episode | Air Date | Leg | Destination | First Place | Last Place | Finish | Viewership (millions)[2] |
Ratings/Share (18-49)[2] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Courteous? This Is a Race!" | March 1, 2005 | 1 | United States → Peru | Debbie & Bianca | Ryan & Chuck | 1st Eliminated 11th Place |
11.76 | 4.9/12 |
| 2 | "The Whole Country Hates Me" | March 8, 2005 | 2 | Peru → Chile | Rob & Amber | Megan & Heidi | 2nd Eliminated 10th Place |
11.69 | 4.8/12 |
| 3 | "Do You Need Some Mouth-to-Mouth Resuscitation?" | March 15, 2005 | 3 | Chile → Argentina | Lynn & Alex | Debbie & Bianca | 3rd Eliminated 9th Place |
12.71 | 5.0/12 |
| 4 | "What a Gaucho You Are!" | March 22, 2005 | 4 | Argentina | Rob & Amber | Susan & Patrick | 4th Eliminated 8th Place |
12.43 | 4.6/11 |
| 5 | "I've Been Wanting a Face-Lift for a Long Time" | March 29, 2005 | 5 | Argentina → South Africa | Ray & Deana | Meredith & Gretchen | Non-Elimination Leg |
13.18 | 5.5/14 |
| 6 | South Africa → Botswana | Ron & Kelly | Ray & Deana | 5th Eliminated 7th Place | |||||
| 6 | "Houston, We Have an Elephant" | April 5, 2005 | 7 | Botswana | Rob & Amber | Brian & Greg | 6th Eliminated 6th Place |
12.28 | 5.1/13 |
| 7 | "They Saved the Eyeball" | April 6, 2005 | None | Recap Episode | |||||
| 8 | "Mow'em Down Like Grass" | April 12, 2005 | 8 | Botswana → India | Rob & Amber | Meredith & Gretchen | Ordered to Continue Racing |
12.97 | 5.1/12 |
| 9 | "We Have a Bad Elephant" | April 19, 2005 | India | Uchenna & Joyce | Lynn & Alex | 7th Eliminated 5th Place |
12.34 | 5.1/13 | |
| 10 | "We Got a Gnome! We Got a Gnome!" | April 26, 2005 | 9 | India → Turkey | Uchenna & Joyce | Ron & Kelly | Non-Elimination Leg |
13.27 | 5.2/12.5 |
| 11 | "The Devil Made Me Do It" | May 3, 2005 | 10 | Turkey → United Kingdom | Rob & Amber | Meredith & Gretchen | 8th Eliminated 4th Place |
12.84 | 5.2/13 |
| 12 | "Five Continents, 25 Cities, and More Than 40,000 Miles" | May 10, 2005 | 11 | United Kingdom → Jamaica | Ron & Kelly | Uchenna & Joyce | Non-Elimination Leg |
16.01 | 6.8/17 |
| 12 | Jamaica → Puerto Rico → United States | Uchenna & Joyce | Ron & Kelly | 3rd Place | |||||
| Rob & Amber | 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 | 
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Half | 2nd Half | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | Uchenna & Joyce | 8 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1► | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3.17 | 6-5 |
| 2 | Rob & Amber | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1> | 2 | 2 | 2.42 | 6-6 |
| 3 | Ron & Kelly | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2< | 1 | 3 | 3.08 | 6-6 |
| 4 | Meredith & Gretchen | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5.40 | 6-4 | ||
| 5 | Lynn & Alex | 5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4.13 | 4-4 | ||||
| 6 | Brian & Greg | 4 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 4.71 | 3-3 | ||||||
| 7 | Ray & Deana | 7 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 1► | 7 | 5.00 | 2-2 | |||||||
| 8 | Susan & Patrick | 2 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6.50 | 1-2 | |||||||||
| 9 | Debbie & Bianca | 1 | 6 | 9 | 5.33 | 2-0 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Megan & Heidi | 9 | 10 | 9.50 | 1-0 | |||||||||||
| 11 | Ryan & Chuck | 11 | 11.00 | 0-0 | ||||||||||||
| Notes | [1] | [2][3] | [4] | [5] | ||||||||||||
Legend:
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Notes:
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Records[]
Franchise[]
- First season not to circumnavigate the globe.
- First-time visits to Peru, Chile, Botswana, Turkey, Jamaica, and the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico.
- First season to implement the Surrender Money and Possessions penalty for the last team to arrive at a Non-Elimination Leg.
- First season to feature a Virtual Pit Stop as part of a Superleg. Teams met host Phil Keoghan at the mat, only to have him hand them the next clue instead of checking them in.
- First and, so far, only season to have 3 teams with the same last name. Meredith & Gretchen, Brian & Greg, and Bianca all have the last name “Smith”.
- Third consecutive season where all the final three teams are co-ed teams.
- Coincidentally again, all the final three teams were involved in a romantic relationship.
Reception[]
- Maureen Ryan at Chicago Tribune (03/01/2005): "Amazing Race picking up speed"
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 |