The Amazing Race

The Amazing Race is a reality game show normally broadcast in one-hour episodes in which teams of two or four race around the world in competition with other teams. The CBS program has been on-air since 2001 and is currently in its eighth season. It is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer for CBS and Touchstone Television (technically making it partially a Disney show) and hosted by Phil Keoghan. It was created by Bertram van Munster.

Related Topics:
Reality - Game show - Race - World - CBS - 2001 - Eighth season - Jerry Bruckheimer - Touchstone Television - Disney - Phil Keoghan - Bertram van Munster

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The race itself combines the progressive elimination of Survivor, but instead of a voting-based elimination, the last team to arrive at designated checkpoints leaves the game. The race resembles a treasure hunt in amateur rally racing. The race starts in a US city. Teams must then follow clues and instructions and make their way to checkpoints in places around the world, eventually racing back to the finish line in the US.

Related Topics:
Survivor - Treasure hunt - Rally racing - US

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For three consecutive years, (2003 to 2005), The Amazing Race was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality/Competition Program. It has defeated competitors including CBS' Survivor (which was the first reality show to win an Emmy), Fox's American Idol, and NBC's The Apprentice.

Related Topics:
2003 - 2005 - Emmy Award - Reality show - Fox's - American Idol - NBC's - The Apprentice

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Amazing Race is notable in that it is one of the few reality shows to grow substantially more popular in subsequent seasons. Even with extensive critical praise the show faced low Nielsen Ratings for the first several seasons, facing cancelation a number of times. Reportedly, it was saved by calls to CBS President Les Moonves from celebrity fans including Sarah Jessica Parker. Thanks to word-of-mouth and the Emmy wins, popularity of The Amazing Race has recently surged, and is now one of the most-watched reality shows on the air.

Related Topics:
Nielsen Ratings - CBS - Les Moonves - Sarah Jessica Parker

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cable network GSN recently acquired the rerun rights to The Amazing Race, and is currently airing episodes every night (except Tuesday, as this is when the current season is airing on CBS) at 9:00 PM Eastern Time.

Related Topics:
GSN - Current season - CBS - Eastern Time

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~