The Amazing Race 18


The Amazing Race 18 is the eighteenth installment of the American reality television show The Amazing Race. The Amazing Race 18 featured eleven teams of two – each returning from a previous edition for the first time since Season 11 – in a race around the world for a $1 million prize.
The eighteenth cycle started on Sunday, February 20, 2011. It aired on CBS in the United States on Sunday nights at 8:00 pm ET/PT with the two-hour season finale on May 8, 2011. The show is hosted by Phil Keoghan.
Sisters LaKisha "Kisha" and Jennifer "Jen" Hoffman were the winners of this edition of the Race and became the second straight all-female team to win the American edition of The Amazing Race.

Production

Development and filming

The Amazing Race 18 was the first season of the United States series to be broadcast on high-definition television. While most other prime-time television shows had transitioned to high definition, including other reality television shows, previous seasons of The Amazing Race used standard-definition television due to the cost and fragility of high-definition recording equipment. International versions of The Amazing Race, including the fourth Asian and second Latin American seasons, had already transitioned to high-definition. Also, many previous editions of Elimination Station were filmed in high-definition. This season of the Race traveled a little over across 23 cities and five continents.
near Palm Springs, California.
Filming started on November 20, 2010 at the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm near Palm Springs, California where the first task had teams sorting through hundreds of paper airplanes. They were asked to find one that said "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services", which is the full name of Qantas Airways. By finding the correct paper airplane, teams were awarded one of two flights to their first destination: Sydney, Australia. Teams were spotted at Oceanworld in Manly near Sydney, Australia around November 22, 2010 and a day later around the mining town of Broken Hill, New South Wales in the Australian Outback. Other locales cited as destinations are Yokohama, Japan, where teams swam in freezing waters near Mount Fuji, and the series' first visit to Liechtenstein, where a task had teams measure the length of the principality on mopeds. Teams also visited Lijiang and Kunming, China; Kolkata and Varanasi, India; Vienna, Austria; Zermatt, Switzerland; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Snapple served as a sponsor this season of The Amazing Race, with "Snapple Real Facts" introduced during commercial breaks. The sixth leg of the season – taking place in Kolkata, India – featured several tasks involving a papaya-and-mango flavored tea Snapple developed and named after the show. Ford also sponsored the season, with their new Focus serving as the prize car during the eight leg.
The Express Pass, introduced in the previous series, returned, allowing the team that places first in the first leg to skip any later task in the Race. The last team to complete the first task was forced to complete a U-Turn in the next leg, performing both tasks of the leg's Detour. This is the first American season not to feature the Fast Forward, which has been previously featured in first seventeen seasons, and later back again in The Amazing Race 20.
The old double-length legs format found in seasons 6-10, & 14 was changed in this season to legs without a mandatory rest period between them. At the end of the first leg in Sydney, Australia, and the fourth leg in Lijiang, China, teams were told their placements and were then ordered to keep racing with a new Route Info clue. The first team to check in was still awarded a prize and the last team to check in was not eliminated and did not have to perform a Speed Bump in the next leg. This resumed the prior twist but unlike in earlier seasons when Phil not say the number of legs at the Starting Line, he still said that there were 12 legs in this Race. The confusing "This leg is not over" which made teams and the audience think they were on the same leg while really beginning a new leg has been replaced with "The next leg starts right now". This acknowledges that false or virtual Pit stops with the mat indeed divide two legs like rest Pit stops do despite the teams continuing to race. The true double-length leg with no Pit stop mat divider has not happened since Season 10.

Casting

The 18th season of The Amazing Race was subtitled "Unfinished Business" and featured eleven returning teams from previous seasons for a second chance to win the million dollar prize. Keoghan described all the contestants as teams that "came so close to winning but for one reason or another just didn't quite make it over the finish line in first place". Keoghan gave examples of two teams: Zev & Justin from Season 15, who had finished first on a leg, but one of them had lost his passport too late to continue racing; and LaKisha & Jennifer from Season 14, where they took an unfortunately-timed restroom break while racing to the Pit Stop and were eliminated. The prior experience of all the teams in previous seasons allowed the producers to increase the difficulty of the various tasks and challenges they were to face. All of the teams have been from recent seasons of the Race with the earliest season represented is the 12th. According to Bertram Van Munster, they stayed with more recent teams because "if we're digging too far back, people might not even remember who they were". The 14th season is represented by five of the eleven teams; Van Munster called this particular version of the Race "a very unique season" and justified its larger proportion of teams. Though they had considered mother and son fan-favorites Toni and Dallas Imbimbo from the 13th season, Keoghan stated they felt the other selected teams "have the best stories and the best motivation" for casting. During an interview with CBS's The Early Show, Season 17 runner-ups Brook Roberts and Claire Champlin revealed they were asked to take part on the season but couldn't due to the latter's pregnancy.
The returning teams, their prior Race placements, and their "Unfinished Business" are:
Margie & Luke, Flight Time & Big Easy, and Jet & Cord returned a third time to compete on The Amazing Race: All-Stars. Mallory returned on the same season forming a composite team with Mark Jackson as his partner William "Bopper" Minton was unable to be medically cleared to compete.
Outside of The Amazing Race, Mallory appeared on the Discovery Channel reality show Backyard Oil in 2013. On May 25, 2016, Flight Time & Big Easy appeared on an Amazing Race-themed The Price is Right primetime special. Mike White later competed in his third reality TV appearance on the thirty-seventh season of Survivor, entitled , and finished as the first runner-up.

Results

The following teams participated in the Race, each listed along with their placements in each leg and relationships as identified by the program. Note that this table is not necessarily reflective of all content broadcast on television, owing to the inclusion or exclusion of some data. Placements are listed in finishing order:
  1. Amanda & Kris's automatic U-Turn penalty occurred in Leg 2.
  2. Flight Time & Big Easy initially arrived 3rd, but were retroactively issued a 30-minute penalty when Ron & Christina told Phil that Flight Time & Big Easy had taken their fanny pack by accident and did not return it to them as it would have been courtesy to do so. Ron & Christina were moved up to 3rd; Kisha & Jen checked in during the penalty time, dropping Flight Time & Big Easy to 5th.
  3. Mel & Mike were treated for hypothermia while trying to complete the "Frog of Luck" Detour. They were unable to complete the task, and were told by the show's producers to go directly to the Pit Stop for their elimination.
  4. ^ Gary & Mallory used the Express Pass to bypass the Roadblock in Leg 5. Before using the Express Pass, Gary elected to perform the Roadblock, and this is reflected in the total Roadblock count.
  5. When Kent & Vyxsin finished Leg 4, they were issued a 30-minute penalty for not taking the required flight from Tokyo-Narita to Kunming, which would be served at the next Pit Stop in Leg 5; they arrived at the Pit Stop 4th; Kisha & Jen checked in during their penalty time, dropping Kent & Vyxsin to 5th.
  6. Kent & Vyxsin initially arrived 3rd, but were issued a 30-minute penalty for taking a taxi instead of going on foot from the Roadblock to the Pit Stop as the clue had specifically stated. The last two teams trailing them checked-in during their penalty time, dropping Kent & Vyxsin to last place and resulting in their elimination.

    Episode title quotes

Episode titles are often taken from quotes made by the racers.
  1. "Head Down and Hold On" – Jaime & Cara's sailing instructor
  2. "I Never Looked So Foolish in My Whole Entire Life" – Kisha
  3. "We Had a Lot of Evil Spirits Apparently" – Christina
  4. "This is the Most Stupid Day Ever" – Vyxsin
  5. "Don't Ruin the Basketball Game" – Mallory
  6. "I Feel Like a Monkey in a Circus Parade" – Gary
  7. "You Don't Get Paid Unless You Win" – Cord
  8. "I Cannot Deal With Your Psycho Behavior" – Vyxsin
  9. "We're Good American People" – Zev
  10. "Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen" – Zev
  11. "This is Where It Ends" – Justin

    Prizes

The prize for each leg is awarded to the first place team for that leg. All trips are sponsored by Travelocity, the Leg 6 prize is sponsored by Snapple, and the Leg 8 prize is sponsored by Ford.
A new feature to this season is an online show, allowing the viewers to see what happens behind the scenes of the Race, hosted by Keoghan. This feature replaced the "Elimination Station" videos as seen in previous seasons.

Leg 1 (United States → Australia)

Airdate: February 20, 2011
In the first Roadblock of the Race, one team member had to scuba dive in the Oceanworld shark and ray tank and search the tank for a compass. The compass included a guide to decode a message hidden in series of nautical flags outside. The correctly decoded message instructed teams to go to the Manly 16 ft Skiff Sailing Club, find the Commodore, and tell him the password "I am Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" to receive their next clue.
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Airdate: February 27, 2011
The first Detour of the Race at The Living Desert was a choice between Spirit World and Natural World. In Spirit World, teams made a traditional Australian Aboriginal stone mosaic based on a model, and then had to perform a dance that is traditionally done to honor ancestors on top of the mosaic before receiving their clue from an Aboriginal elder. In Natural World, teams made traditional Australian Aboriginal paintings by spraying a mix of water and a clay-like pigment out of their mouths to make four specific silhouette images on a piece of slate, before they could receive their clue from an Aboriginal elder.
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Airdate: March 6, 2011
In this leg's Roadblock, one team member dressed in the traditional clothes of a samurai archer and learned a Yabusame ritual through observation, consisting of a meditative form ritual before a traditional posing with the yumi bow. Once they performed the first two aspects of the ritual to the dojo master's satisfaction, they would then mount a rotating wooden horse and hit a wooden target with an arrow before they could receive their next clue.
This leg's Detour was a choice between Prayer of Purity and Frog of Luck. In Prayer of Purity, teams had to don keikogis and travel to the nearby woods, where they would take part in a Shinto cleansing ritual. First, they had to learn a prayer that consisted of a chant, lighting incense, and then shouting while thrusting a walking stick out in front of them. Once teams completed the prayers, they would stand under the Yuhi Falls and endure being drenched in water cascading down onto them for one minute before receiving their next clue. In Frog of Luck, teams stripped down to their undergarments and put on fundoshi over them before walking out to a mudpit, where they had to search for a toy frog in the mud while having mud thrown at them by locals. Once teams found the frog, they had to present it to the nearby frog master for their next clue.
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Airdate: March 13, 2011
In this leg's Roadblock, one team member had to search through tens of thousands of wooden charms for a set of twelve that corresponded to the symbols of the Chinese zodiac. Once they collected the charms, they had to place them on a mobile in the correct order of the traditional procession of the signs according to myth, Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig, before they could receive their next clue.
The Detour in the Old Town of Lijiang was a choice between Hammer or Horn. In Hammer, teams traveled to a candy shop, where they used wooden mallets to pulverize molten peanut brittle into the right consistency. They then had to cut it into pieces and box them before the candy maker would give them their next clue. In Horn, teams traveled to a square where they had to pick up a large traditional horn and lead a group of Nakhi dancers to Wencheng Palace on the other side of town for their next clue.
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Airdate: March 20, 2011
The Detour was a choice between Honor the Past and Embrace the Future. In Honor the Past, teams had to put on a traditional Tibetan outfit at the Makye Ame Shangri-la Tibetan Palatial Restaurant and then watch a theater troupe. Without taking any notes, teams then had to go off-stage and arrange a series of 15 dolls dressed up like the actors in the order of the procession on stage to receive their clue. In Embrace the Future, teams had to put on safety gear and then bring three heavy boxes up to the roof of the China Great Wall Asset Management Company building. Once there, teams had to help assemble a solar water heating system before they could receive their next clue.
In this leg's Roadblock, one team member had to assemble a life-size long model of a Dilophosaurus. Once the model was properly built, a paleontologist would give them their next clue. If at any point the paleontologist believed that the model was structurally unsafe, the racer would find their mistake before they could continue building.
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Airdate: March 27, 2011
In this leg's Roadblock, one team member had to take part in an Indian tea tasting ceremony. First, they had to bring a papaya, a mango, and the brick of tea teams received before leaving Kunming to the tea auctioneer. Then, they had to search among several hundred tea cups for one that held the same papaya-and-mango-infused tea that they tasted in China to receive their next clue from the tea auctioneer.
The Detour was a choice between Hindu Art and Bengali Literature. In Hindu Art, teams traveled to the Rakhal Paul and Sons Statue Shop, where they had to paint and then dress a statue of the Hindu god Ganesha to receive their next clue. In Bengali Literature, teams traveled to the Dey's Publishing House and picked up eight bundles of the children's book Introduction to the Bengali Alphabet. They then got into a rickshaw school bus and traveled across town to the Victoria Institution High School and College, where they had to search the grounds and deliver the books to the office of the headmistress of the primary school to receive their next clue.
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Airdate: April 10, 2011
In this leg's Roadblock, one team member had to search the streets of Varanasi for six different sadhus, depicted in a series of photographs they were given, who would give out one of six pieces of a phrase described as "the meaning of life": "Once you're over the hill you pick up speed". Once the racer had all six fragments of the phrase, he or she would have to provide the phrase to a seventh sadhu, who would give them their next clue.
This leg's Detour was a choice between Feed the Fire and Feed the Buffalo. In Feed the Fire, teams traveled down the Ganges to Sakka Ghat to the home of a milkman, where they had to make 50 traditional fuel patties made from water buffalo manure and then slap them against a wall to allow them to dry. When the supervisor was satisfied with their work and the patties were not too large or too small, teams had to light a stove with dried fuel patties to boil milk for local children before receiving their clue. In Feed the Buffalo, the teams had to cross the Ganges to collect two bales of hay, with an address attached to them. The teams then had to return over the Ganges to Ksameshwar Ghat and deliver their hay to the provided address to receive their next clue.
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Airdate: April 17, 2011
In this leg's Detour, teams chose between Long Hard Walk and Quick and Easy Meal. In Long Hard Walk, teams traveled to the Sigmund Freud Museum to pick up a psychoanalysis couch, like the ones he used in his sessions, and then had to deliver it to his former office at the University of Vienna approximately away to receive their next clue. In Quick and Easy Meal, teams traveled to the Wiener Riesenrad ferris wheel where they picked up two large servings of the varied forms of traditional Austrian cuisine: Wiener Schnitzel, Sauerkraut, and Sachertorte. They then boarded one of the Riesenrad's dining cars where, while a violinist played some Viennese music, they would have to finish both servings within one 12-minute revolution of the ferris wheel before receiving their next clue. If they could not finish, they would have to start over.
In this leg's Roadblock, one team member had to choose a chimney sweep and then put on the traditional chimney sweep uniform. They then went onto a roof and used a weight with wire mesh on a rope to clean one of the chimneys three times. Once complete, they went to the basement and opened up one of the chimney cleaning doors that held their next clue.
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Airdate: April 24, 2011
For their Speed Bump, Gary & Mallory had to prepare the right mixture of gasoline and oil to power their VéloSoleX motorized bicycle for the Roadblock. They had to measure 25 parts gasoline to 1 part of oil, and had to figure out that of gasoline would fulfill the mixture ratio, before they were allowed to continue racing and do the Roadblock.
For the Roadblock, one team member had to use an odometer and a VéloSoleX to measure the entire length of the country of Liechtenstein, riding from Schaanwald to Balzers. At the Swiss border, they would meet up with six-time Winter Olympian and alpine ski racer Marco Büchel and would give him the distance that they traveled, written on the back of a postcard:. If they were correct, Büchel would direct the racers to Gutenberg Castle where they would meet up with their teammate and read the next clue. If they were incorrect, they would have to travel back to Schaanwald and start over.
This leg's Detour was a choice between Cheese and Wheeze. In Cheese, teams traveled to the Restaurant Walliserkanne Zermatt, where they had to finish an entire pot of cheese fondue. Once the pot was empty, the restaurateur would give them an empty fondue pot with the name of the next location printed on the inside. In Wheeze, teams had to dress up as bellhops and then pick up pieces of luggage from the Zermatt railway station. Then, using a luggage cart, they had to deliver the suitcases to different hotels throughout Zermatt where they would receive receipt tags for each piece of luggage. Once teams had a total of 20 receipt tags from at least five different hotels, they could trade them in to the head porter for their next clue.
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Airdate: May 1, 2011
In this leg's Detour, teams chose between two mountain rescue tasks: Search and Rescue. In Search, teams used a set of avalanche beacons to search the Matterhorn Glacier for a dummy buried in the snow. They then had to dig out the whole dummy before they could receive their next clue. In Rescue, teams had to use a special hoisting device to rescue a mountaineer trapped in a crevasse. One team member had to lower his or her teammate into the crevasse so they could attach a carabiner to the mountaineer. The teammate at the top then had to raise their partner back to the surface and then work together to bring up the rescued mountaineer, who would give them their next clue.
In this leg's Roadblock, one team member had to make a Travelocity Roaming Gnome out of Swiss chocolate. First, they had to decorate a chocolate mold with colored chocolate. Once the mold was properly decorated, the mold would be filled with chocolate and the team member had to bury it in the snow outside for 30 minutes in order to harden the chocolate. They then removed the gnome from the mold and covered up imperfections with more colored chocolate. Once the head chocolatier approved the gnome, teams would receive a real Roaming Gnome and their next clue.
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Airdate: May 8, 2011
In this leg's Roadblock, one team member had to participate in a Rio Carnival parade. After putting on special costumes, teams learned the samba and then led a parade of dancers. If the Carnival Princess approved their dance, teams would receive their next clue; if not, they would be sent back to relearn the dance and try again.
The Detour was a choice between On the Rocks and On the Beach. In On the Rocks, teams traveled to the Espaço OX bar on Avenida Atlântica in the Leme neighborhood, where they learned to make caipirinhas. Once teams made 100 proper caipirinhas, they would receive their next clue. In On the Beach, teams had to pick up an umbrella loaded with bikinis and a mobile changing station and sell the bikinis to people on Copacabana Beach. The buyers then had to change into the bikinis in the mobile changing station. Once teams earned R$100, they would receive their next clue.
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Airdate: May 8, 2011
In the first Roadblock of this leg, one team member had to learn how to operate a heavy load forklift to move a boat into drydock without dropping the boat to receive their next clue from the forklift operator.
In the final Roadblock of the Race, the team member who did not perform the first Roadblock had to use a BOBdive submersible to search the lagoon of the Jules' Undersea Lodge for one of several floating treasure chests that contained their next clue, while being surrounded by distracting mermaid divers who were swimming around them and playing music.
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U.S. Nielsen ratings

Canadian broadcaster CTV also airs The Amazing Race on Sundays at 8 pm, with only two exceptions: Episode two aired an hour earlier than its normal start time due to CTV's broadcast of the 83rd Academy Awards. Episode six aired an hour earlier due to the said network's broadcast of the 2011 Juno Awards.
#AirdateEpisodeViewers
Rank
1February 20, 2011"Head Down and Hold On"2.664#4
2February 27, 2011"I Never Looked So Foolish in My Whole Entire Life"1.621#20
3March 6, 2011"We Had a Lot of Evil Spirits Apparently"2.786#1
4March 13, 2011"This is the Most Stupid Day Ever"2.533#3
5March 20, 2011"Don't Ruin the Basketball Game"2.441#3
6March 27, 2011"I Feel Like a Monkey in a Circus Parade"1.809#12
7April 10, 2011"You Don't Get Paid Unless You Win"2.436#5
8April 17, 2011"I Cannot Deal With Your Psycho Behavior"2.569#1
9April 24, 2011"We're Good American People"2.326#5
10May 1, 2011"Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen"2.742#3
11May 8, 2011"This is Where It Ends"2.700#2