The teams are:

Mark and Bill (Friends)
Kelly and Christy (Best Friends)
Stephanie and Anthony (Dating)
Ken and Tina (Married but Separated)
Terence and Sarah (Dating)
Marisa and Brooke (Friends)
Andrew and Dan (Friends)
Aja and Ty (Long Distance Dating)
Anita and Arthur (Married)
Dallas and Toni (Mother & Son)
Nick and Starr (Brother & Sister)

Watch for results each week here, or go to the CBS website where you can watch complete episodes!

WEEK 1 (September 28): Nick and Starr charge to the front as the race heads to Brazil, finishing first in this leg. Bringing up the rear, and being eliminated were Anita & Arthur (the senior citizen married couple).

WEEK 2 (October 5): This week's lesson: Read Your Clue carefully and closely so you don't make mistakes! Two teams lost a lot of time by not paying attention to their clues, but fortunately for them, it didn't cause them to be eliminated from the race. Ken and Tina won this leg (thanks to a little help from Mark & Bill at the road block), and Stephanie and Anthony were eliminated.

This is just a sampling of the Amazing Race merchandise available from the CBS Store:

Shop now!





Amazing Race Fanny Pack - Navy


Amazing Race Pocket Kit


Amazing Race Baseball Cap - Navy


Amazing Race Long Sleeve T-Shirt - Navy


Amazing Race Montezuma Messenger Bag


Travelocity Roaming Gnome Stress Reliever


Amazing Race Map T-Shirt - Blue


The Amazing Race Limited Edition Apple iPod Shuffle 2GB - Map


The Amazing Race Limited Edition Apple iPod Touch 8GB - Passport Stamps


The Amazing Race Limited Edition Apple iPod Nano 8GB - Passport Stamps


The Amazing Race Limited Edition Apple iPod Classic 160GB - Passport Stamps


The Amazing Race Limited Edition Apple iPod Touch 32GB - Passport Stamps


The Amazing Race Dog Tag Necklace - Map

You can visit the CBS Website for official updates, commentary and forums to discuss your favorite (or least favorite) teams.

Here are the 11 teams participating in no particular order:

Kynt & Vyxsin : Dating Goths (My daughter's favorite team just from the previews!)
Jennifer & Nathan : Dating
Ronald & Christina : Father/Daughter - who are selling their Amazing Race clothing on eBay for charity, check out their About Me Page!
Shana & Jennifer : Friends (aka The Blondes)
Azaria & Hendekea : Brother/Sister
Lorena & Jason : Dating
Nicolas & Donald : Grandson/Grandfather
Ari & Staella : Best Friends
Marianna & Julia : Sisters
Rachel & TK : Dating for almost one year
Kate & Pat : Married Ministers

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RESULTS:

11/4/07: Finishing in 11th place is Ari & Staella after losing an argument with a donkey. Azaria & Hendekea won the first leg of the race, along with a trip to a Canadian resort from Travelocity.

11/11/07: The theme of this week's episode seemed to be missing things - missing planes, missing buses, missing Phil and the drop off point, and missing the mark with challenges. Finishing in 10th place is Kate & Pat. Lorena and Jason won the second leg of the race, along with some three-wheeled bikes, in part because they FLEW through the Detour challenge of hauling furniture up to an upper floor of a building using a rope & pulley system.

11/18/07: This leg was won by Azaria & Hendekea, who won a trip to Bermuda, primarily because they took a very logical approach to the Detour. Finishing in 9th place was Marianna & Julia, who had trouble milking a camel. Lorena (from the Lorena and Jason team) also had problems milking the camel, literally having a breakdown in the middle of the African desert.

11/25/07: This leg involved chickens, dancing, mining for gold, making deliveries, and the first U-Turn of the race (where a team can force another team to go back and complete the other option from a Road Block). The Blondes used it on Lorena and Jason to slow them down. Azaria & Hendekea won another leg, but only by a second or two, and each got Yamaha motor scooters. The last team to arrive at the mat was Lorena and Jason (and I must say, Jason's attitude through the whole episode was amazing), and they finished in 8th place.

12/2/07: An episode filled with close calls - include a near miss with a bus and falling off of stilts. The bad karma from the previous leg caught up with Shana & Jennifer, who finished in 7th place. Rachel & TK had a great leg, going from next-to-last to first place!

12/9/07: Plane problems shuffled the teams around, and throwing the strong team of Azaria & Hendekea to the back of the pack due to a ticket mix-up. Nate and Jen fell to pieces multiple times during the leg, continuing the issues they had in the previous leg. They're still in the race, but it doesn't bode well when Jen talks about not wanting to be in the race any more. Anyway, Ronald and Christina won this leg, a catamarran, and improved their teamwork skills. Azaria & Hendekea finished last in the leg and finished in 6th place. This will really mix up the race, as they were the dominant team early on.

12/16/07: No episode this week, as CBS airs the Survivor: China 2 hour finale and the Reunion Show. Check back next week for the details of the next leg in The Amazing Race!

12/23/07: This leg featured the one and only Fast Forward for the whole races, and Nicolas & Donald got matching "FF" tattoos to win the leg of the race and another nice trip. After several bag turns, Kynt and Vyxen finished last - BUT it was a non-elimination leg! The first one for the race. The twist this year - the team finishing last on the non-elimination leg must deal with a "Speed Bump" during the next leg - a special task that only they must accomplish and that can happen at any time. So stay tuned to the next episode to see if the Goths stay in the race!

12/30/07: The last episode of 2007 bids Kynt and Vyxen goodbye. Their Speed Bump turned out to be a Yoga lesson, but it didn't knock them out the race. They lost their chance to stay in the race when they came in 4th to the U Turn and picked the wrong team to use the U turn on - they chose a team that had already made it past that point, instead of the one team behind them. TK and Rachel won the leg (but I didn't hear the prize because I was away from the TV when they finished). We're down to the Final Four now, the racing should really get intense!

1/6/08: TK & Rachel bumbled by getting a flight that got into the next destination, Osaka Japan, several hours after the rest of the remaining teams. Watching them try to drive taxis in the crowded and confusing Osaka streets was funny - Christina had an advantage in that she speaks Japanese, but she doesn't drive well. Jen and Nate led most of the leg, but their inability to get a taxi to the pit stop gave the win to Ron and Christina, who each won an electric car! TK and Rachel finished last, over 3 hours behind the other teams, but this is a non-elimination leg. They will have their work cut out for them next week making up 3 hours PLUS having to do whatever the Speed Bump challenge entails. Next week's episode should give us our final three for the finale!

1/13/08: In the next to last leg, TK and Rachel battled the odds to stay in the race - 3 hours + behind the other 3 teams, plus facing a speed bump along the way. Off to Taiwan, Ron and Christina take an early lead, while the other 3 teams meet up at the Taiwan airport. It's a very close race! TK and Rachel survived the speed bump and stayed with the other 2 teams in the back of the pack. The Detour may be the turning point.

Teams have to drink tea to reveal their clues at the bottom of the cups and then choose between Fire & Earth. Send 20 lanterns into the sky or walk a path of jadded stones with bare feet.

All of the teams choose Earth, but Jen drags Nate to the subway instead of grabbing a cab, which puts them behind the rest of the teams.

The final three are:

Ron & Christina (who win a trip to the Nether Antillies)
TK & Rachel (who overcame so much that leg!)
Nick & Don

With Jen & Nate eliminated on Jen's birthday.... with all their argueing and fighting, its amazing they made it this far.

Next week - the season finale and the winner is revealed!

1/20/08: It's the finale! Mistakes hurt now more than ever. The first mistake was Don & Nick forgetting to pick up their bag of gear along with the clue. They had to turn around to go back to get it - and lost a HUGE amount of time, which they were lucky to make up by getting through the detour quickly. The three teams had to climb up an ice wall of a glacier. Ron & Christina's lead disappeared when Ron climbed right up despite his fear of heights, but Christina struggled to make it over the first lip and start moving upwards. This allowed TK & Rachel and Nick & Don to catch up to them.

The final road block is a puzzle where you must pick 10 out of 15 items that match certain descriptive statements. WOW - you have to have a really good memory and be able to figure things out.

Christina works the puzzle for their team.
Rachel works the puzzle for their team.
Nick works the puzzle for their team.

All three teams are working this road block at the same time!! It's so close!! It might be one of the most complicated road blocks they've had - it reminds me of the flag challenge during the race where the Hippies won in a close race.

The first to get it right is: RACHEL! They take the lead and are heading to the next clue.

The second to get it right is: CHRISTINA! They move into second place and are heading to the next clue - no idea how far behind TK & Rachel are.

These two teams are neck and neck heading to the pit stop leaving Nick and Don behind at the road block.

TK & RACHEL win the Amazing Race!
RON & CHRISTINA come in Second Place.
NICK & DON come in Third Place.

What another AMAZING RACE it was...
Thanks for following the show with me - and watch for information on the next race when the next season starts up!!!

First of all, I love that it is not a popularity contest like Big Brother or Survivor, where rubbing people the wrong way can get you eliminated from the game. That's not to say that it can't hurt your chances in the game, but its not going to get you out by itself.

The challenges are breathtaking and scary at times - like bungee jumps. I'd NEVER be able to do that. Some are sickening - like eating an Ostrich Egg Omelette (that's a lot of egg!). I especially like how they tailor the challenges for the country and culture they are currently visiting.

And the travelling - OMG I've never left the United States, so I've only experienced these other places through TV and movies. I can't imagine the splendour and the awe of visiting some of these places in person. There have been things like visiting a concentration camp, or a place used to transport slaves to the American colonies, or an orphanage struggling to provide for their charges.

There have been times I've cheered when a team has been eliminated, and times when I've cried because I was cheering for them to do well. I get emotionally attached to teams usually very early on in the show - it doesn't make me long to realize who I like and who I don't like.

Sometimes a team will get stuck on a clue and I'll think to myself "But that is so obvious, the answer is _____." Then I'll think to myself, its probably not as obvious when you're pressed for time, in a race for a million dollars, and your brain goes blank on you. I know I would never be able to accomplish some of the tasks and challenges they've used in the show - and yet they manage to keep coming up with even more fantastic adventures each season (OK, except for The Amazing Race Family edition where it was simplified a great deal to accommodate the young children on some of the teams).

They once again won the Emmy for best reality TV show in 2007 - so hopefully we'll have a new installment to enjoy very soon!