The Amazing Race 33

The Amazing Race 33 is the thirty-third installment of the reality television show, The Amazing Race.

Production[]

Applications for this season were originally due on March 2019 but was postponed to August of that year. Casting began in late September 2019,^[3] and casting finals occurred during the end of December 2019.^[4]

Filming began on February 22, 2020 and ended on December 3, 2018. Much like The Amazing Race 28, instead of a traditional Starting Line, the teams began the Race in their homes around the United States. Unlike that season, however, this season did not feature a live stream of any portion of the first leg. On February 28, nearly a week on its scheduled three-week production run, filming was suspended for the first time in the show's history after three legs were completed with the contestants and production crew sent home as a precaution due to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic.^[5]

According to Executive Producer Bertram van Munster, after seeing the dangers of the pandemic, he contacted CBS and advised them to halt filming. van Munster was already in Lapland in Sweden, where the fourth leg was originally intended to take place. The rest of the original route included locations such as Nepal and Thailand, but after hearing rumblings of the rising number of cases in Asia and before production was suspended, van Munster put together an alternate route that would have instead traveled to South America.^[6][7]

After production was suspended, host Phil Keoghan stated production intended to resume filming where they had left off, but that filming could not resume until viral transmissions declined.^[8] In May 2020, CBS Entertainment President Kelly Kahl said the show would film "as soon as we can safely get back into production" with the producers working to "plot out a race that sticks to countries that are safe" but acknowledged the difficulties of "literally [having] to navigate some international waters."^[9] He stated that he was not aware of any contestant would dropping out.^[10] A year later, Keoghan said that he could not guarantee that every team would be able to return once filming could resume.^[11]

In May 2021, Co-Executive Producer Elise Doganieri stated that they have plans to resume filming the season once they can assure safety with mass vaccinations and global immunity in target travel locations.^[12][13] In June, Keoghan stated that a plan to resume production safely had been established.^[14] In September, CBS Entertainment Senior Executive Vice President, Programming Thom Sherman announced that the show was in pre-production and would return for the 2021–22 television season.^[15]

Filming resumed on September 19, 2021 in Switzerland after a year and a half of additional planning and rerouting the rest of the originally planned routes prior to the suspension. Production rented an Amazing Race-branded Titan Airways Boeing 757 charter plane for the remainder of the Race, traveling to locations where COVID-19 rates were lowest. Production also employed four different COVID-19 testing teams to reduce infection risk.^[16] According to Keoghan, the use of a charter plane was an idea considered by production for previous seasons.^[17] Tasks were developed with social distancing in mind, a greater emphasis on self-driving, and teams, crew members, and local judges for tasks were all vaccinated and tested.^[18][19] Filming ended on October 6, 2021. This season traveled a total of 22,000 miles (35,000 km) across six countries on two continents.

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

Twists/Changes[]

• Virtual Starting Line: Teams began the Race in their homes rather than at a centralized location. They received a video message from host Phil Keoghan informing them that the Race had started before taking a production-provided taxi to a designated airport. Teams assigned to the same airport were able to socialize before being flown to their first destination. Once all teams arrived at Heathrow Airport, they were released by production at the same time and began racing in earnest.
• No-Rest Leg: Upon checking in at the Pit Stop at the end of the second 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.
• COVID Protocols: After production resumed, a number of safety protocols were put in place as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic:
  • Re-Entering Teams: As four of the remaining nine teams were unable to return due to extenuating circumstances, the first two eliminated teams were invited back to the competition to replace them.
  • 11 Legs: Because only seven teams were able to take part once production resumed, only eight legs were added to the original three, for a total of 11 single-length legs.
  • Restarting Line: Instead of departing in the order they finished the third leg, teams began the fourth leg at the same time.
  • Roadblock Limits: This season featured 11 Roadblocks, with teams encountering 2 Roadblocks before production was suspended. Upon resuming the Race, team members were limited to performing a maximum of 5 Roadblocks, leaving for a maximum Roadblock split of 7-4.^[20]
  • Speed Bump: The two teams that re-entered the Race would encounter an additional task in the fourth leg that only they would have to perform. Ultimately, the Speed Bump was unaired.
  • Chartered Flights: Teams would be transported by production on charter flights instead of traveling on commercial flights.
  • Departure Groups: To account for the lack of commercial travel, teams were released from the Pit Start in a location in the general area of the upcoming leg in staggered groups of one to four teams — depending on the number of teams racing in that leg — 15 minutes apart in the order they placed in the previous leg.^[21]
  • Departure Time Penalty: For this season, the penalty for a team coming in last place on a Non-Elimination Leg was changed. That team would start the following leg in the last departure group on their own.

Teams[]

1st place  Kim & Penn Internet Personalities	2nd place  Raquel & Cayla Flight Attendants	3rd place  Ryan & Dusty Best Friends	4th place  Arun & Natalia Father/Daughter	5th place  Lulu & Lala Twins/Radio Hosts
6th place  Akbar & Sheri Married Educators	7th place  Michael & Moe Singing Police Officers	8th place  Anthony & Spencer Childhood Friends	9th place  Connie & Sam Married	10th place  Caro & Ray Dating
11th place  Taylor & Isaiah YouTube Sensations	Placement of the teams unable to return to the Race is unofficial. They are sorted by the order they finished in Leg 3.

Episodes[]

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	Average	[1]
1	Kim & Penn	4	5	1		2	3	1	1	1	2	2	1	2.09	5-6
2	Raquel & Cayla	3	4	6		3	4	2	2	2	1	1	2	2.72	7-4
3	Ryan & Dusty	2	1	2		1	1	3	3	3	4	3	3	2.36	6-5
4	Arun & Natalia	9	3	10		6	6	4	5	4	3	4		5.40	6-5
5	Lulu & Lala	10	10	7		4	2	5	4	5				5.87	4-4
6	Akbar & Sheri	6	8	9		5	5	6						6.50	2-3
7	Michael & Moe	11				7								9.00	0-1
8	Anthony & Spencer	1	7	3		Dis								3.66	1-1
9	Connie & Sam	7	2	4		Dis								4.33	1-1
10	Caro & Ray	5	6	5		Dis								5.33	1-1
11	Taylor & Isaiah	8	9	8		Dis								8.33	1-1
Notes:		[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
Notes: 1: The Roadblock count was officially reset to zero when filming resumed. The count listed on this wiki includes all Roadblocks, including those from the first three legs. 2: Connie & Sam were given a time credit, which was not shown in the episode, after their film crew was kicked out of the Piccadilly Circus tube station by station security and were held up waiting for the police. 3: Leg 2 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. 4: Anthony & Spencer, Caro & Ray, Connie & Sam, and Taylor & Isaiah were unable to return to The Amazing Race when filming resumed due to extenuating circumstances. 5: Michael & Moe and Arun & Natalia rejoined the cast following the hiatus. 6: Lulu & Lala initially arrived 1st after accidentally coming across the Pit Stop while searching for the souvlaki vendor. They had to backtrack and perform the other tasks. By the time they finished, all the other teams had reached the Pit Stop, resulting in their elimination.

Trivia[]

• Due to the filming suspension caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this season is chronologically the longest, lasting around 19 months.

Franchise[]

• This season's premiere date is the longest gap aired 23 months after filming had begun (tied with The Amazing Race 32).
• First season to be filmed across two calendar years.
• First season to bring back eliminated teams. This was due to some of the remaining teams unable to return when filming resumed.
• First season to have multiple teams perform a Speed Bump in the same leg.
  • The Speed Bump itself was unaired, though this was the first season to penalize teams with a Speed Bump for reasons other than finishing last in a Non-Elimination Leg.
• First (and only) season to have a Restarting Line.
• First season to use an Amazing Race charter plane rather than commercial flights. Production rented a Titan Airways Boeing 757 for use when filming resumed.
• This season is the first time to prohibit using public transportation to avoid interacting with people due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
• First season to have teams released from the Pit Start in Departure Groups.
• First season to not feature the U-Turn since its introduction in The Amazing Race 12.
• Counting the four teams unable to return to the Race, Leg 4 holds the record for the most teams eliminated in a single leg, with 5 teams eliminated.

US[]

• First season with a majority of person of color contestants: 14.
  • African-Americans have the highest number of contestants: 8 (tied with The Amazing Race 34).
• Second season to feature a Virtual Starting Line, with the teams starting the Race in their homes after The Amazing Race 28.
• This was the first season to be filmed in separate filming periods.
• This was the first season to feature a previously eliminated team returning to the Race.
• This was also the first season to visit only two continents, the fewest overall in standard format.
• This was the sixth season overall with no new countries visited (after seasons 21, 22, 23, 24 and 29).
• First season to have a non-elimination point of some kind in Leg 2.
• First season to implement the Departure Time Penalty as the penalty for the last team to arrive at a Non-Elimination Leg.
• First season to not visit Asia, excluding The Amazing Race: Family Edition, which never left North America.
• Fewest countries visited in standard format, 6.
• First season since The Amazing Race 26 to have four Non-Elimination Legs.
• This is currently the last season to feature a traditional Non-Elimination Leg.
• Last season to feature 11 teams.
• First season since The Amazing Race 13 to feature only 11 single-length legs.
• First season where no one under the age of 30 crossed the Finish Line.

Reception[]

Gallery[]

Videos[]

References[]