The host also talks about having alums on from other CBS reality shows and doing away with non-elimination legs.
“I think it’s inspired all of us to go out and continue to do something unique.
We all wanted to be back.”
Phil Keoghan on ‘The Amazing Race’.Michele Crowe/CBS
And the showisback, withThe Amazing Racereturning for its 34th seasontonight on CBS.
), along with making it all the way to 400 episodes and counting.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First off, 400 episodes.
‘The Amazing Race’ season 34 cast.Sonja Flemming/CBS
And so if you’d said that to me, I would have thought you were crazy.
Because that season 1, we didn’t really know what we were getting into.
It was kind of a mystery.
Rex Ryan and Tim Mann compete on ‘The Amazing Race’.Sonja Flemming/CBS
And I can’t quite believe that we’re this deep into it.
And, in a way, it doesn’t sound like a lot, when you say 400.
In other ways, it’s monumental.
Derek Xiao and Claire Rehfuss on ‘The Amazing Race’.Sonja Flemming/CBS
It’s like, “What?
How did we do that?”
Often, you never knew when it was coming back.
So the fact that it’s still here 21 years later is pretty amazing no pun intended.
So that knocked us around.
And yeah, we’ve moved around different time slots.
And it’s done that consistently for two decades.
You know how you’re going to get into the start of the show.
This was different, because we’re still working with the charter plane.
It felt very fresh and different.
And that ride coming into the middle of Munich was just a wild ride to the start line.
We’re trying to do things differently, trying to keep things fresh.
Jordan was my favorite.
There’s one scene that was set up that looks like something out of a movie.
There were some really exciting moments.
It’s sort of etched in the back of your mind.
It is like a movie set, everywhere you go.
It really is spectacular.
The big headline for me is no non-elimination legs this season.
Again, just trying to do some things new and different.
I think some people have enjoyed them over the years.
They like that you don’t know when people come in.
But I think, again, just to mix it up and make it different and more cutthroat.
So yeah, no more second chances.
It’s just another way to give people another reason to tune in.
New locations, and also just highly competitive, and no second chances.
It’s just another way for us to hook the viewers in.
He is absolutely as you would imagine him.
He is a huge personality.
He definitely makes himself known physically.
you might’t help but notice him physically, but also a big booming voice and a big presence.
I mean, you know when he walks into the room.
He’s definitely makes himself known.
He just commands attention.
it’s possible for you to’t help but notice him.
He’s hysterical and teamed up with Tim as team T-Rex, as they’re calling themselves.
And Tim is no joke either.
He’s a power lifter and very competitive.
I love teams that are really competitive.
I want people to really be fighting to be on the show and never, ever give up.
It’s a trait that I think is essential to be chosen.
You’ve had lots of people fromBig BrotherandSurvivoron the show before.
It’s different, for sure.
There’s a savviness that I guess comes from going on a television show.
They don’t know the pace at which television is shot or the requirements of television.
To me, I love watching people come into that world and they know nothing.
I just love watching that journey.
I think people are always surprised at just how much work it takes to make a television show.
What about Derek and Claire, specifically?
I think they wouldn’t flinch if I used the word maybe a little cocky, coming into it.
Like, “We’ve done this before.
We’ve competed on television shows before.
We know what this is all about.”
In a good way.
And in a humbling way.
It’s very easy to look from the outside.
It’s quite different when you get out, like most things, right?
We look from the outside.
We watch sports on TV and we yell at the screen, “What an idiot!
Why did they throw the ball there?”
But very different when you’re in the thick of it.
You’re not running through a city.
Yeah, it’s very different.
You’re not getting as much rest.
And you’re experiencing a lot of things that you just don’t experience on a lot of shows.
But this thing is, we’re constantly moving.
The charter has definitely changed things.
We’re getting way more sleep than we’ve ever had.
A little more of a routine, I guess you could say.
When you’re relying on commercial, you’re sort of randomly jumping on this flight or that flight.
“Will we make that connection?
Oh, that got canceled.
Let’s jump on the other one.”
Whereas with the charter, it’s sort of like everybody comes together, leaves together, arrives together.
It’s a very different race.
But, that said, it’s still difficult.
