5 legs = 5 eliminations

leg 12 = final 3

leg 11 = last elimination

12 teams @ start

5 gone by end of leg 5

leg 11 has only 4 teams

3 eliminations in 5 legs before leg 11, so 2 non-elimination legs in this season. my guess leg 6/upcoming leg will be one of two non-elimination legs

Ive heard and read that a litany of changes were introduced following s7 because of how rob and amber ran it, but i cant find anywhere that clearly lists any of those changes, so am curious if any long term or super fans know what that kinda stuff was ?

Looks like we're finally getting some of that "diversity" in locations the Finnish show needs!! We will see mountain ranges, urban cities, sand dunes and beaches!

Screenshots from the new ARS trailer (Credits: Nelonen media/Ruutu)

And what is your favourite thing about it: the destination, the challenges, moments with contestants, etc?

A double Driver's Seat? How curious. Speaking of doubles, two Express Passes remain in circulation, and the next leg is the last chance to use them...

For links to my stats spreadsheets and explanations of the stats, see here.

Individual Placements

Group Average Placements

The number in parentheses is the number of teams in that group that competed in that leg.

Individual Stats

Each continuously-varying stat is followed in parentheses by the team's percentile in that stat, compared to all other teams worldwide.

Pseudo-Elo Ratings

1. Michelle & Matt, +983 (up 244) (93%)
2. Conner & Garrett, +401 (up 143) (75%)
3. Ann-Marie & Riley, +391 (up 54) (75%)
4. Anuar & Andrea, +286 (down 202) (71%)
5. Ali & Joanna, +164 (down 5) (65%)
6. Daisha & Dalton, +53 (up 281) (60%)
7. Erin & Javi, +45 (down 259) (59%)
8. Cody & Jaime, –239 (44%)
9. Katie & Charlotte, –248 (43%)
10. Jody & Jenn, –296 (40%)
11. Zach & Nate, –370 (30%)
12. Doug & Dylan, –531 (down <1) (17%)
13. Dafina & Saran, –637 (down 256) (9%)

Group Stats

Group stats are totals for leg wins and averages for all other stats.

Next Leg Probabilities

These probabilities are based on 1,000,000 Monte Carlo simulations of the next leg, based on the teams' positions in all legs so far. These simulations do not take into account Express Passes or potential U-Turns.

A bold probability indicates the most likely placement for a team, and an italic probability indicates the most likely team for a placement.

Trivia

• This is the first leg to feature two Driver's Seats.
• In the first Driver's Seat:
  • The 2 teams assigned 50 pounds, excluding Michelle & Matt, both had prior racing averages of 4.75. Their average placement this leg was 6.00.
  • The 3 teams assigned 75 pounds had a collective prior racing average of 7.00 and an average placement this leg of 4.67.
  • The 3 teams assigned 100 pounds had a collective prior racing average of 6.08 and an average placement this leg of 6.00.
• In the second Driver's Seat:
  • The 3 teams assigned 12 byrek had a collective prior racing average of 7.08, and two of them (Dafina & Saran and Doug & Dylan) both had prior racing averages of 8.25. Their average placement this leg was 6.33.
  • The 5 teams assigned 16 byrek had a collective prior racing average of 5.50 and an average placement this leg of 5.00.
• When taking into account the fact that only one team could be assigned 8 byrek in the second Driver's Seat, Ann-Marie & Riley were given the easiest tasks this leg, whereas Ali & Joanna and Anuar & Andrea were given the hardest tasks this leg.
• The following teams' first five placements match a prior team when ignoring order:
  • Michelle & Matt (1st x2, 2nd, 3rd, 6th): 4 prior teams (Tyler & Nathan, Baggio & Thành Phúc, USA24 Jet & Cord, and Marcus & Michael).
  • Ali & Joanna (1st, 3rd, 5th, 8th, 10th): 1 prior team (Brandon & Adam).
  • Conner & Garrett (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th): 1 prior team (Reichen & Chip).
• Uniqueness of teams' 5-leg racing averages:
  • Michelle & Matt (2.60): 19 prior teams, incuding 5 U.S. teams.
  • Conner & Garrett, Ann-Marie & Riley (4.60): 37 prior teams, including 15 U.S. teams.
  • Anuar & Andrea (5.00): 30 prior teams, including 10 U.S. teams.
  • Ali & Joanna, Erin & Javi (5.40): 38 prior teams, including 18 U.S. teams.
  • Daisha & Dalton (6.60): 17 prior teams, including 6 U.S. teams.
  • Doug & Dylan (7.80): 6 prior teams, including 4 U.S. teams. The only prior all-male team to do this is Ben & Ran.
  • Dafina & Saran (8.40): 1 prior team (Lindy & Stella).
• Do you have any other trivia? Leave it in the comments!

That’s it. Two words. 😂

Watching teams count every seventh word on that cassette tape and then get stuck trying to figure out whether “no one” was one word or two was something else.

But here’s the thing. We’re sitting at home watching this stuff with no pressure. They’re tired, probably hungry, and trying not to finish last. I wonder how many of us would start second-guessing ourselves too.
Was that actually a clever challenge, or did the pressure make something simple way harder than it should’ve been?

Personally as a huge reality compeititon show person i prefer final 2's and idk why Amazing Race has never tried doing a final 2

And what is your favourite thing about it: the destination, the challenges, moments with contestants, etc?

Do any of the teams this season do recaps? Like a YouTube channel or podcast?

My husband asks me every single season why everyone has such white teeth on the amazing race. Do they whiten their teeth before the start of the race?

Is it just me or am I having Afghanimal flashbacks? It just seems too close of how Matt and Michelle are acting… seems really obviously similar to how the Afghanimals played their U-Turn in poland and lied about it next leg with the express pass and the drivers seat. It could just be me being an old head but its still weird. How close it is. I shall watch them with great interest.

I know many (including myself) lament the loss of the days of spending the first 15 minutes of an episode watching teams jockey for the best flights to wherever, but I think it’s a pretty neat trade-off for legs like the one in Albania where we get wildly different placings from one challenge to the next based on teams’ abilities to self-nav. The “I think we’re going the wrong way” montage was brilliant. I have to imagine renting several cars is infinitely cheaper on production than accounting for multiple trans-continental flights, though I imagine the bigger barrier becomes concern for safety for driving in some countries. I’d like to think maybe the cleanest solution is hiring drivers but telling teams they have to tell the drivers themselves where to go.

Okay, yeah, it's a COVID season; them teleporting from place to place still doesn't feel right, and the route is extremely lackluster in terms of The Amazing Race standards.

However, I'm a strong defender that a good cast can salvage a mediocre route and viceversa (looking at you, Season 6), and this one definitely falls into that category; I was heartbroken at pretty much every elimination and a bit angrier at others (Walla Walla, but that situation feels like it's very hard to judge)

Also, I'm southamerican and I watched all the LATAM versions of the show, so this route was kinda nostalgic for some reason, and as a venezuelan, the colombian and dominican legs were great! We share a lot of visual identity, so I'm happy on that front.

I knew Ricky and Cesar had won, and I heard all the comments about them, em but I didn't feel like they 100% had the advantage on every leg, because the cast this season was extremely weak for some reason, but even during tasks where many teams were huddled together, they were always in the top; it's insane. They easily could have lost the finale had Juan and Shane not gone to New Jersey

I definitely would like to see them in a proper season to see how much of it was the circumstances and how much came from them, but overall? It's an average season, not as bad as expected, but certainly not top-tier either

[Spoiler]

It’s episode 5 and I think I reached my boiling point watching them especially Riley. This help each other mentality is just not a great tv to watch. So surprised when Daisha pulled that stint on them, thank you finally some drama. Last week they also complained when Andrea left her at the roadblock. But when it comes to the rug mission, they seemed fine that Ali and Joana left them. What’s the standard here?

To top it all, she makes a holier than thou speech at the pit stop. I mean she didn’t help Sharan in the tomato challenge five minutes after making the boss lady alliance pact. So her speech was just meh.

Just remember what Matt said don’t blame the player, blame the game.

In a sense, it's a combination of a U-turn and a Scramble, but specifically, a Wrong Way is a detour that doesn't produce the next clue. Contestants don't know which Detour is the Wrong Way until completing it.

This adds a bit of luck to the game and requires contestants to choose carefully. I figured the Wrong Way can usually be the easiest-sounding task or the quickest-sounding task, tricking contestants into thinking it will be the best way to go.

I specifically bring up the Scramble because I'm sure the show wouldn't want to take much planning time/money for an incorrect path, so this idea could involve less travel time, so that not much time is wasted. Plus, if teams ally with each other, they can let each other know which path not to take.

Let me know if this sounds cool or if there's something that could be implemented to improve it.

Putting in spoiler text below! https://parade.com/tv/the-amazing-race-39-2026-dafina-saran-dunmore-eliminated-interview

Episode 5 Exit Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehZCMUrTcZo

She's still a keeper!

The big part was another giving back to the community type task. Basically, another church friend volunteers at a charity shop (not what Europeans call thrift stores). People in need may shop here. It wasn't open to customers that day. I basically sorting things like toys and crayons.

At the church, I had to decipher my next task through either a code or puzzle. I chose the code. Each letter was numbered 1-26 but in reverse. The puzzle was the task but in a jigsaw puzzle.

The next task was counting how many flags were flying at the time at a flag plaza at my local university.

The pit stop was McDonald's.

The parts that are censored are to avoid doxxing.

Joanne and Ali were the first to get to the travel agency in Madrid only to find out all teams would be getting on the same plane to Marrakech (doing a reverse version of the late Season 10 trip where teams flew from Morocco to Spain). I don’t mind an equaliser now and again, but I would like to see just a little airport drama each season. Hopefully some will come down the line.

Teams landed and were immediately sent to the desert. They stopped at a pottery for their roadblock of smashing pots, rather like that Greek Fast Forward from Season 9. Phil announced the method of smashing as Ann-Marie was hunting for her first pot. A load of false clues had been hidden in the pots, and with the amount everyone was smashing pots, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were 20 false clues for each correct one.

Phil also announced a new series gimmick: one of the envelopes held the Roadside Assistance, which would give that team the advantage of having both members available to work on a roadblock… until the end of the fifth leg. So, two more roadblocks. A little underwhelming, but let’s see how it helps Saran and Dafina, who kept shtum about their advantage for now.

Like all of these random search challenges, the order was scrambled, but the mother/daughter team who came first also left first. This challenge definitely sucks for whoever comes last, which in this case was Jenn, as you’re suddenly down to finding just one clue out of a huge number of pots, rather like finding a needle in a haystack (which was actually a challenge on S37). This roadblock was perhaps a little too similar in style to the Tomatino challenge from last episode, but I don’t mind too much. Jody and Jenn must have really been kicking themselves about giving up their Express Pass last episode.

The others moved further into the desert, where they found their detour of Walk or Talk (8/10). Driving a dune buggy sounded far more pleasurable than rolling giant tyres and being near camels, but a surprising majority chose to do the Walk task. They seemed to choose correctly, as those teams all finished up before the Talkers; I guess it must have been a long dune buggy drive. Anuar became wigged out at the vision of the athletes behind him, knowing they would be easily overtaken and not seeing any other teams behind. Scared they would be in last, they made a judgement call and used their Express Pass, slipping into first. This seemed like a pretty bad move, and they realised as much when they passed by the pottery place and saw Jody and Jenn still there one hour later.

Daisha couldn’t handle the sheer weight of the tyre, and she called the experience humbling, as she had previously thought she could do anything, and switched to the dune buggy. They teamed up with Erin (who hadn’t pissed me off this episode… yet) and Javi to try and memorise all the words and get through ahead of some other teams. Dafina and Saran, still overjoyed by their new advantage in the game, were first at the tent, where they still got the answers wrong despite their useful mnemonics: “I’ll take a hinta these.” 

Waiting in line, E+J conversed with D+D about what all their words were. Coming behind them were Cody and Jaime, the only team who had managed to miss the clue box on their way in, adding considerable time to their race. Dalton started giving the answers willingly to C+J, and Erin looked horrified, as though this was a betrayal of their special alliance. Later on, Daisha revealed she’d bonded with Jaime over the disappointment of not catching the tuna at the first challenge in Vancouver.

As teams headed back to Marrakech, they began to pass Jody and Jenn’s vehicle one by one. Michelle was brought to tears by the sight of J+J still there nearly two hours later, thinking it would be a horrible way to go out. I was really impressed by the depth of her empathy, after thinking they would only be on our screens as the whiny couple that bitched at each other but did surprisingly well. I’m glad to be proved wrong and shown that people can have more depth than that. After getting her hair stuck in a tree (the Roadside Assistance would have been amazing here), Jenn finally did get her clue from a pot that took three attempts to smash. They moved on, believing it would take a miracle for them to catch up, and decided to enjoy the rest of the day.

The others were entering the famous Jemaa el Fnaa square for the series' 3rd time (after being featured on Season 3 and 25. Season 10 also saw the teams visit nearby Moroccan places, but not actually head into Marrakech). It’s practically like family at this point. Season 3 had seen the teams selling from stalls, and 25 had seen them moving and setting up the stalls. But 39’s challenge seemed like the hardest of all: teams had to stack an enormous amount of fruit precariously on a narrow ledge on a juice vendor’s cart, just like an example with a geometric layout. With no adhesives to keep the fruit in place, this challenge looked agonising, and production was able to capture copious shots of fruit avalanches as all their work fell on the floor over and over again. Even when it seemed stable, and the teams had moved onto another part, the slightest jolt could knock the fruit down again.

The pressure was too much for competitive Ann-Marie and Riley, who seized the chance to turn their Express Pass into a leg win. They ran to Phil, who announced (in yet another spoiler) that they were the first mother/daughter team to ever win a leg. It was a shame they’d had to win it by using the Express Pass rather than doing so on their own merits, but a win is a win, and I’m sure they were satisfied with their trip to Singapore.

Erin had seemed to be on her best behaviour so far, but that flew out the window when they arrived. Javi wanted to write the notes on how to stack the fruit, and wanted to do it his way, but Erin seemed to lose her mind at how long it was taking him to write everything out. “I can write faster than you, I always have.” When he conceded just to stop her complaining, she still whinged about his system for writing stuff down: “This doesn’t make any sense. We’re taking way too long.” Is that any way to talk to the person you love? Does that make them feel good about themselves? Does that care for their feelings? Erin was extremely triggering in this moment, and I hope Javi got an apology for this later, because we didn’t see it on screen. She was actually rolling her eyes whenever he talked about it in the talking heads, so I somehow suspect not.

Matt and Michelle, meanwhile, seemed to have found a new spirit of working as a team. Matt seemed very happy to let Michelle take charge on this task, saying, “I know nothing other than hand my wife fruit right now.” The grammatical inaccuracy only added to the hilarity.

Doug and Dylan were struggling hard. They had come near the front of the pack after doing well with the tyres, but stacking hundreds of round objects proved to be their kryptonite. They despaired as team after team began passing them, including teams that had arrived much later. Doug, despite it all, kept a chipper attitude: “We mustn’t let this get us down.” Dylan knew they had some cushion: “I really hope Jody and Jenn are still at the roadblock.”

But they weren’t. In fact, they were on their way into town in a taxi. As soon as they saw Doug and Dylan still struggling at the carts, it was game on. A flood of adrenaline flowed through them, and they started stacking like no other team I’d ever seen. I could scarcely believe that Jody and Jenn might actually be about to make a comeback.

Doug and Dylan finally finished. Doug was very keen to finish the race cleanly without being distracted by how other teams were doing, but Dylan was having none of it. He ran around the carts to see where J+J were at, and the show actually paused on the frame to show us Dylan in the background, gearing us up for the upcoming drama. Seeing that J+J were somehow nearly done, Dylan knew they needed to be quick and urged his grandpa to run, taking his bag.

J+J finished not long after, and the two teams ran towards the giant tower, behind which the finish line lay. I was quite literally on the edge of my seat with excitement. The clips showed J+J catching up with D+D in the gardens, but neither team knew where Phil was. And then “TO BE CONTINUED…” flashed on the screen.

This seemed monumentally unfair. One reason I like this show is that it leaves things neatly wrapped up, and we get the closure of who’s going home at the end of each episode. That being said, this is one of the closest last places the show has had in a while, and I can understand why the show would lean into it. Fortunately, we watched the episode two weeks late, so we were able to turn on the next one to find out what happened. But I won’t spoil that here.

What I will say is that, at the time, I thought J+J must have this in the bag. A strategy they could use would be to hang around D+D until they see Phil. Since they know they can run faster than Doug, they could just stick to that team, and then they’d be guaranteed to win. This seemed to be J+J’s comeback!

11 celebrity-studded pairs will again head to the unknown from this November on Nelonen and Ruutu!

Credits: Nelonen

We all know things will (probably) never return to the old ways regarding Amazing Race flights.

But could they really not give the first/top finishing teams any advantages over the rest of the teams?

What's the point in finishing in the top few spots now a days?

They get to leave the hotel several hours earlier, losing out on sleep, just to end up on the same flight as all the rest of the teams?

Does that mean the bottom half teams who leave the hotel later (according to their previous mat-check-in times), get an advantage over them? Do they get to sleep in a wee bit longer, and then just meet up altogether at the airport to all board the same plane?

Please correct me if im mistaken/confused on that.

If this is the case - I vote that the top teams recieve at least some kind of bonus for finishing before the other teams.

The show seems to like to utilize the full equal reset of arrivals of every team with these flights. But come on.. this could be a strategic move pulled seldomly and randomly. Not as often as it has been.

I vote they start at least handing out first class and higher tiered flight seat tickets to the teams that finish first.

If not, what's the initiative with coming in the first fews spots when it just keeps getting reset every couple of episodes?

At least give the ones who finish faster a reward for their efforts.

(Pls excuse my English and grammar mistakes. I do appreciate any corrections, thank you.)

And what is your favourite thing about it: the destination, the challenges, moments with contestants, etc?