The Amazing Race 9

The Amazing Race 9 is the ninth season of the reality television show, The Amazing Race. It premiered on February 28, 2006 and ended on May 17, 2006 on CBS. The entire season was released on DVD on October 23, 2012.^[1]

Synopsis[]

The three-time Emmy Award-winning reality adventure series returns to its international format where teams of two will travel to exotic locations, spanning five continents, with stops in the Middle East, Moscow and Sicily, to name a few. The 11 teams will compete against one another in a race around the world for a $1 million prize.^[2]

Production[]

Applications for this season were due on July 26, 2005 (one day after the original deadline), while interviews were conducted in October 2005. After The Amazing Race: Family Edition deviated from the show's regular format, this season returned to the standard format of eleven teams of two competing in a Race around the world.

Filming began on November 7, 2005 and concluded on December 3, 2005. This season traveled a total of 59,000 miles (95,000 km) across ten countries on five continents.

The show initially aired on Tuesdays at 10 pm but was moved to a new timeslot of Wednesdays at 8 pm starting with the sixth episode to make room for CSI: Miami in the former timeslot.

Travelocity, Duracell, Mercedes-Benz, and T-Mobile were the official sponsors during this season and would provide the prizes awarded to first place teams on certain legs, while the sixth leg featured a cross-promotion with the film The Da Vinci Code.

Twists/Changes[]

• Roadblock Limits: This season featured 12 Roadblocks, leaving for a maximum Roadblock split of 6-6.
• Superleg: Teams encountered a double-length leg in the third 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.
• Yield: Yields are available on certain legs of the Race.
• Surrender Money and Possessions: A team that came in last place on a Non-Elimination Leg would have to relinquish all accumulated money in their possession and would not receive any money at the start of the next leg. In addition, that team would also have to relinquish all their belongings except for their travel documents and the clothes on their backs.
• Rules and Penalties: The following rule and penalty was revealed on this season:
  • A team that takes the form of transportation specified in their clue only partway through, then switches to another form of transportation would incur a 15-minute penalty. The penalty for such an infraction was previously 30 minutes, as of The Amazing Race 1.

Teams[]

1st place  BJ & Tyler Best Friends	2nd place  Eric & Jeremy Friends	3rd place  Ray & Yolanda Dating	4th place  Joseph & Monica Dating	5th place  Fran & Barry Married 40 Years
6th place  Lake & Michelle Married Parents	7th place  Dave & Lori Dating	8th place  Danielle & Dani Childhood Friends	9th place  Wanda & Desiree Mother/Daughter	10th place  Lisa & Joni Sisters
11th place  John & Scott Lifelong Friends

Episodes[]

Leaderboard[]

This chart shows each team's 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	BJ & Tyler	2	1	4	2	1	2	5	5	3	4>	1►	1	1	2.33	6-5
2	Eric & Jeremy	1	2	1	1	2	1	1►	4	1	2	2	2	2	1.75	6-5
3	Ray & Yolanda	7	5	3	7	7	6	3	3	4	1	3	3	3	4.33	6-6
4	Joseph & Monica	6	3	8	6	3	3	2	2	2	3<	4			3.40	5-5
5	Fran & Barry	8	9	5	4	4	4	4	1	5					4.88	4-4
6	Lake & Michelle	5	7	2	3	5>	5	6							5.17	4-2
7	Dave & Lori	4	4	9	5	6	7								5.20	3-2
8	Danielle & Dani	9	8	6	8	8<									8.25	1-3
9	Wanda & Desiree	3	6	7	9										6.00	1-2
10	Lisa & Joni	10	10												10.00	0-1
11	John & Scott	11													11.00	0-0
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 used the Fast Forward pass > The team used the Yield < Recipient of the Yield
Notes: 1: Leg 3 was a double-length leg, 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. 2: Ray & Yolanda (who initially arrived 2nd) and BJ & Tyler (5th) were each issued a 15-minute penalty for taking a bus instead of a train all the way to the Isthmos Train Station. While the penalty resulted in Ray & Yolanda dropping to 3rd, BJ & Tyler's placement was not affected. Lake & Michelle were also subject to the same penalty, but they were the last team to arrive to the Pit Stop, resulting in their elimination without the penalty being applied. 3: While neither Ray nor Yolanda was shown performing the Roadblock on the final leg before arriving at the Finish Line, a montage shown on The Early Show the next day showed Yolanda as the member who had done the Roadblock task. This is included in the Roadblock count. 4: The finishes in the first half of the superleg in Leg 3 is not counted as part of the average. Only the final finish in the leg is counted toward the average.

Trivia[]

Franchise[]

• First-time visits to Greece, Oman, and Japan.
• First season since The Amazing Race 1 to have a gender equality of contestants.
• First season to have two all-male teams to finish in 1st and 2nd place respectively.
• First season that the Finish Line is at the same location as the Starting Line.
• First season to have two teams win 5 legs. 
• First season where no one over the age of 30 crossed the Finish Line.

US[]

• First season in which teams had to drive in every leg.
• Last time that Alaska was used a mid-point US state during the final leg.
• Third season in which the Race began and ended in the same city (after The Amazing Race 1 and The Amazing Race 6).

Reception[]

• Rick Porter at Zap2it (02/27/2006): "Amazing Race Back on Its Game"
• Harry Smith on The Early Show (02/28/2006): "Globe Through 'Race'-Colored Glasses"
• The Denver Post (02/28/2006): "Ready, set, go: Amazing Race goes back to its roots for latest installment"
• David Bianculli at New York Daily News (02/28/2006): "Amazing Race back up to speed"
• Kate Aurthur at New York Times (05/17/2006): "The Toughest Mission Yet for The Amazing Race"

External links[]

• CBS.com - The Amazing Race 9

References[]