The Amazing Race 31

The Amazing Race 31
Season Information
Version:	United States
Continents Visited:	4
Countries Visited:	10
Cities Visited:	18
Distance Traveled:	25,000 mi
Starting Line:	Hermosa Beach Pier, Hermosa Beach, California
Finish Line:	Fort Wayne, Detroit, Michigan
Filming Dates:	June 10, 2018 - July 3, 2018
Season Run	April 17, 2019 - June 26, 2019
Number of Legs:	12
Number of Teams:	11
Winners:	Colin & Christie
Runners-Up:	Tyler & Korey Leo & Jamal
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous:	The Amazing Race 30
Next:	The Amazing Race 32

The Amazing Race 31 (billed as The Amazing Race: Reality Showdown for promotional marketing) is the thirty-first installment of the reality television show, The Amazing Race.

Production

On June 10, 2018, it was confirmed by host Phil Keoghan from the Starting Line that this season would feature teams who have previously competed on The Amazing Race, Survivor, and Big Brother. Filming began the same day in Los Angeles, with filming reported in Kampen, Netherlands on June 30, and concluded in Detroit, Michigan on July 3, 2018.

Initially slated to premiere on May 22, 2019, on April 5, 2019, it was announced that the premiere would be moved forward to April 17, 2019, replacing the low-rated Million Dollar Mile.

If the original premiere airdate of the season had not changed, the season would not have been eligible for 2019 Primetime Emmy Awards as half of the episodes would not have aired before May 31, 2019.

The twist featured the U-Turn vote that has been previously featured in selected international versions of The Amazing Race.

Casting

On May 4, 2018, a TMZ article reported that former Big Brother houseguests had been asked to compete on the upcoming season of The Amazing Race. Later that day, Andy Dehnart posted that former Amazing Race contestants had also been contacted for the same season. Martin Holmes from Inside Survivor then posted that former Survivor contestants were also in the mix.

These were the teams on the included shortlist:

• Eric Sanchez & Jeremy Ryan—from The Amazing Race 9—were contacted and agreed to participate but ultimately cut when the show decided to include Big Brother and Survivor teams.
• Justin Scheman & Diana Scheman (née Bishop)—from The Amazing Race 27—were originally chosen but declined their invitation due to Diana being pregnant.
• Keith Nale & Wes Nale—from Survivor: San Juan del Sur—were contacted but ultimately didn't make the final cast.
• Kym Perfetto & Alli Forsythe—from The Amazing Race 25—were originally contacted but ultimately cut.
• Two members of the Linz Family—from The Amazing Race: Family Edition—were originally considered but ultimately cut.
• Mark Jansen & Elena Davies—from Big Brother 19—were contacted to compete and agreed to participate but were cut a few days before filming.
• Rob Cesternino—from Survivor: The Amazon and Survivor: All-Stars—& Stephen Fishbach—from Survivor: Tocantins and Survivor: Cambodia—were contacted and expressed to compete but declined due to filming of this season coincided Stephen's wedding.
• Will Kirby & Mike "Boogie" Malin—the winners of Big Brother 2 and Big Brother: All-Stars, respectively—were asked to compete but Kirby declined the offer.
• Sheri LaBrant & Cole LaBrant—from The Amazing Race 28—were contacted but declined the offer.

Twists/Changes

• Teams: For the first time, the teams are competing against CBS reality shows, consisting of Returning Racers from The Amazing Race, and players from Survivor and Big Brother for a million dollar prize.
• U-Turn: A variation of the U-Turn is called U-Turn Vote, teams have to vote who should receive the U-Turn. The team with the most votes is forced to complete both of the Detour tasks upon arriving at the Detour.
• Rules and Penalties:
  • A team member elects to quit the Roadblock, they would incur a 4-hour penalty.

Teams

1st Place  Colin & Christie Life Partners The Amazing Race	2nd Place  Tyler & Korey Best Friends The Amazing Race	3rd Place  Leo & Jamal Cousins The Amazing Race	4th Place  Nicole & Victor Engaged Big Brother	5th place  Becca & Floyd Friends The Amazing Race
6th place  Chris & Bret Friends Survivor	7th place  Rachel & Elissa Sisters Big Brother	8th place  Janelle & Britney Friends Big Brother	9th place  Corinne & Eliza Friends Survivor	10th place  Rupert & Laura Married Survivor
11th place  Art & JJ Best Friends The Amazing Race

From The Amazing Race:

• Art Velez & JJ Carrell competed in The Amazing Race 20
• Becca Droz & Floyd Pierce competed in The Amazing Race 29
• Colin Guinn & Christie Lee Woods competed in The Amazing Race 5
• Leo Temory & Jamal Zadran competed in The Amazing Race 23 and 24
• Tyler Oakley & Korey Kuhl competed in The Amazing Race 28

From Survivor:

• Chris Hammons & Bret LaBelle competed in Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X
• Corinne Kaplan competed in Survivor: Gabon and Survivor: Caramoan
• Eliza Orlins competed in Survivor: Vanuatu and Survivor: Micronesia
• Rupert Boneham competed in Survivor: Pearl Islands, Survivor: All-Stars, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, and Survivor: Blood vs. Water
• Laura Boneham competed in Survivor: Blood vs. Water

From Big Brother:

• Janelle Pierzina competed in Big Brother 6, Big Brother 7, and Big Brother 14
• Britney Hayes competed in Big Brother 12 and Big Brother 14
• Nicole Franzel competed in Big Brother 16 and Big Brother 18
• Victor Arroyo competed in Big Brother 18
• Rachel Reilly competed in Big Brother 12 and Big Brother 13
  • Rachel also competed with her husband Brendon Villegas in The Amazing Race 20 and 24
• Elissa Slater competed in Big Brother 15

Episodes

Episode		Air Date	Leg	Destination	First Place	Last Place	Finish	Viewership (millions)	Ratings/Share (18-49)
1	"You're in Our Race Now"	April 17, 2019	1	United States → Japan	Leo & Jamal	Art & JJ	1st Eliminated 11th Place	5.80	1.2/6
2	"Knock the Newbie Out of Us"	April 24, 2019	2	Japan → Laos	Leo & Jamal	Rupert & Laura	2nd Eliminated 10th Place	4.65	1.0/5
3	"Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy"	May 1, 2019	3	Laos → Vietnam	Becca & Floyd	Chris & Bret	Non-Elimination Leg	4.50	0.9/4
4	"I Took Out a Polar Bear"	May 8, 2019	4	Vietnam	Colin & Christie	Corinne & Eliza	3rd Eliminated 9th Place	4.50	0.8/4
5	"I'm a Bird, I'm a Plane, I'm on The Amazing Race"	May 22, 2019	5	Vietnam → United Arab Emirates	Becca & Floyd	Rachel & Elissa	Non-Elimination Leg	4.47	0.9/5
6	"Who Wants a Rolex?"		6	United Arab Emirates → Uganda	Tyler & Korey	Janelle & Britney	4th Eliminated 8th Place	3.94	0.7/4
7	"Living Fearlessly"	May 29, 2019	7	Uganda → Switzerland	Tyler & Korey	Nicole & Victor	Non-Elimination Leg	4.74	0.8/4
8	"You're the Apple in My Eye"	June 5, 2019	8	Switzerland	Tyler & Korey	Rachel & Elissa	5th Eliminated 7th Place	4.67	0.9/5
9	"Let's Split!"	June 12, 2019	9	Switzerland → Croatia	Tyler & Korey	Chris & Bret	6th Eliminated 6th Place	4.66	0.8/4
10	"Chugga Chugga Choo Choo!"	June 19, 2019	10	Croatia → Netherlands	Colin & Christie	Becca & Floyd	7th Eliminated 5th Place	4.75	0.8/5
11	"This One Is for One Million Dollars"	June 26, 2019	11	Netherlands → United Kingdom	Leo & Jamal	Nicole & Victor	8th Eliminated 4th Place	3.82	0.7/4
			12	United Kingdom → United States	Colin & Christie	Leo & Jamal	3rd Place
						Tyler & Korey	2nd Place

Leaderboard

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
1	Colin & Christie	2	4	3	1	3	2	2	3⊃	4	1	3	1	2.42	6-6
2	Tyler & Korey	3	7⋑	4	5	4	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2.75	6-6
3	Leo & Jamal	1	1	8	6	7	6	4	6	5	3⊂	1	3	4.25	7-5
4	Nicole & Victor	6	2	2	2	5	3	7	5	2	4⊃⋐	4		3.81	5-6
5	Becca & Floyd	5	9⊃⋐	1	4	1	5	3	4	3	5⋑			4.00	5-5
6	Chris & Bret	7	8	9	3	2	4	6	2	6				5.22	5-5
7	Rachel & Elissa	4	3⊂	7	8	8	7	5	7⋑					6.13	4-5
8	Janelle & Britney	8	5	6	7	6	8∇							6.67	5-2
9	Corinne & Eliza	9	6	5	9∇									7.25	2-3
10	Rupert & Laura	10	10											10.00	2-1
11	Art & JJ	11												11.00	1-1
Notes:		[1]			[2]
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 U-Turn ⊃ Recipient of the U-Turn ⋐ The team that used the second slot of the "Double U-Turn" ⋑ Recipient of a second U-Turn due to the "Double U-Turn" twist ∇ The team that lost the Double Battle
Notes: 1: Art elected to quit the second Roadblock, thus Art & JJ were issued a 4-hour penalty at the Roadblock site starting from the arrival of the next team. Rupert & Laura, the only team trailing, finished the Roadblock and checked in at the Pit Stop before their penalty was up, resulting in Art & JJ's elimination. 2: There was unaired Head-to-Head at Tầm Vu Park. The team that lost the final Head-to-Head was eliminated.

Voting History

On the eighth leg, teams verbally voted for who should receive the U-Turn in front of other teams in an order selected by random draw. The two teams who had the most votes had to complete both Detour tasks. The order in which teams voted is listed from top to bottom.

Leg	8
U-Turned	Colin & Christie	Rachel & Elissa
Vote	3–2–1–1
Voter	Vote
Rachel & Elissa	Colin & Christie
Nicole & Victor	Leo & Jamal
Colin & Christie	Rachel & Elissa
Leo & Jamal	Colin & Christie
Becca & Floyd	Colin & Christie
Tyler & Korey	Nicole & Victor
Chris & Bret	Rachel & Elissa

Trivia

• For this season, teams representing The Amazing Race had their chyrons in the standard yellow, teams representing Big Brother had theirs in blue, and teams representing Survivor had theirs in green.
• Only teams representing The Amazing Race won legs this season.

Franchise

• First season to include a mixture of both new and Returning Racers.
• This is the first season to visit Uganda.
• Most U-Turns in a season, with 6.

US

• This season is the first to premiere in the month of April.
• This season marks the first visit to Laos.
• This is the first time since The Amazing Race 12 that the country of Croatia is visited.
• First season to feature the U-Turn Vote.
• This season finale marks the first visit to Detroit, Michigan.
• Least amount female contestants in the final three, 1. (Tied with seasons 1, 4, 9, 16, 21, 32 and 36.)
  • This was the case up until The Amazing Race 35 by air date before The Amazing Race 36 despite filmed after it.

Reception

• Riley Chow at Gold Derby (03/13/2019): "Emmys rename Competition Program category as The Amazing Race sits out"
• Joyce Eng at Gold Derby (03/21/2019): "The Amazing Race is a DNQ at the Emmys for the 1st time, so which show do you want to grab its spot?"
• Benjamin Powell at RealityTVWarriors (April 2019): "Who Are These Teams?"
• Barb Oates at Las Vegas Review-Journal (04/11/2019): "Amazing Race plots reality-TV showdown"
• Joyce Eng at Gold Derby (06/14/2019): "Keoghan on reality showdown and being 'heartbroken' by initial Emmy ineligibility"