The Amazing Race 7 is the seventh season of the reality television show, The Amazing Race. It premiered on March 1, 2005 with a two-hour premiere and ended on May 10, 2005 on CBS.
Synopsis
"Eleven new teams await the starting gun as the next the race is about to the begin.
In September 2004, The Amazing Race was awarded the Emmy Award for Best Reality program for the second consecutive year."[1]
Development
The seventh season of The Amazing Race was filmed between November and December 2004 for which they traveled 40,000 miles (64,000 km), spanning 10 different countries in 5 continents.
Travelocity, Toyota, and JVC were the official sponsors of the seasons and would provide the prizes awarded to first place teams on certain legs.
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) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 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 | 
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uchenna & Joyce | 8 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1► | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3.08 | 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:
| ||||||||||||||||
Notes
1: Rob, Meredith and Deana decided to forfeit the Roadblock; their teams were all issued 4-hour penalties at the Roadblock site starting from the arrival of the next team.
2: Uchenna & Joyce initially arrived 3rd, but they didn't complete the Roadblock correctly and were forced to finish it. This did not affect their placement.
3: Meredith & Gretchen initially arrived 4th, but they missed their final clue at the end of the Roadblock, Lynn & Alex checked in during that time period, dropping them to 5th.
4: Leg 8 was double-length with two Detours and two Roadblocks shown over two episodes. The placements listed in the first column reflect the order teams arrived at the leg's halfway point. The leg's Fast Forward was offered after the halfway point, and thus permitted Uchenna & Joyce to skip only the second set of challenges. The Yield appeared before the first Roadblock.
5: The finishes in the first half of the superleg in Leg 8 are not counted as part of the average. Only the final finish in the leg is counted toward the average.
Memorable Moments
Good Situations
- Meredith & Gretchen overcoming the non-elimination penalty from the Leg 5 and getting 5th place in the subsequent leg.
- Brian & Greg overcoming a car accident and beating Ray & Deana in a footrace to the pit stop.
Bad Situations
- Debbie & Bianca going two hours in the wrong direction.
- Gretchen gashing her head at the Detour in Leg 5.
- Brian & Greg flipping over their car in Leg 6, injuring their cameraman.
- Lynn & Alex's cab driver drove them to the wrong palace in search of the pit stop in Leg 8.
Records
Franchise
- First season not to circumnavigate the globe.
- First time visits to Peru, Chile, Botswana, Turkey, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico.
- First season to implement the penalty for the last team to arrive at the non-elimination leg were forced to surrender all of their possessions (except for their passports and the clothes they were wearing, for the remainder of the race).
- This was in addition to already being stripped of all their accumulated money and not receive any money on the next leg.
- Teams were also not allowed to beg for money prior to the start of the next leg.
- This was in addition to already being stripped of all their accumulated money and not receive any money on the next leg.
- Second season that the final three teams were all co-ed teams.
- Third season where all the final three teams are co-ed teams.
- Coincidentally again, all the final three teams were involved in a love relationship.
Pit Stop Greeters
- Click here for this season's Greeters
Reception
- Maureen Ryan at Chicago Tribune (03/01/2005): "Amazing Race picking up speed"
External links
| 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 |
| Asia | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 |
| Australia | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 |
| Brazil | 1 |
| Canada | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 |
| Central Europe | Cancelled |
| China | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 |
| China Rush | 1 · 2 · 3 |
| Finland | 1 |
| 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 |