The Amazing Race Australia 5 is the fifth season of The Amazing Race Australia, an Australian reality competition show based on the American series The Amazing Race and the second installment of Network 10's iteration of the show. Hosted by Beau Ryan, it featured sixteen teams of two, each with a pre-existing relationship, in a race around Australia due to the COVID-19 pandemic to win .
This season visited four states and two territories and travelled over during twenty-four legs. Starting in Newell, Queensland, racers travelled through Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory before finishing atop Mount Kosciuszko. New twists introduced in this season include forcing the first team to arrive at a U-Turn to use it, stowaway teams and the First Class Pass, which was awarded to the winners of non-elimination legs, allowed them to skip the next leg and give a Salvage (an advantage) and a Sabotage (a disadvantage) for the last two teams during the next leg. The season premiered at 7:30 pm on 1 February 2021 and concluded on 28 March 2021.
Cowboys Brendon Crawley and Jackson Dening were the winners of this season, while Gold Coast friends Ashleigh Lawrence and Amanda Blanks finished in second place and Sikh friends Jaskirat Dhingra and Anurag Sobti finished in third place.
Production Development and filming
On 10 October 2019, the show's renewal was announced at the 2020 upfronts prior to the premiere of the previous season with the second season from Network 10 initially set to air in late 2020.
After production of the thirty-third season of the American edition of The Amazing Race was halted in February 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, questions were raised over whether a new Australian edition would be filmed later in the year. A Network 10 spokesperson later stated that the network was seeking advice to create a safe route and establish proper safety measures. Host Beau Ryan stated on The Kyle and Jackie O Show that the season would not be cancelled, but the outbreak had caused producers to change the season's route twice and that the season could film only in Australia if the outbreak worsened. The initially planned international route for this season included visits to India, Brazil and Europe. On 11 March, a Network 10 spokesperson confirmed that the season would film only in Australia. Filming was set to occur between June and July 2020 but was postponed due to interstate travel restrictions. Beverley McGarvey, the chief content officer and executive vice president of ViacomCBS in Australia and New Zealand, stated that the network was committed to filming the season once state borders reopened. In an interview on Studio 10, Beau Ryan stated that the show created COVID safety officers, contestants and crew members would be regularly tested and provided with personal protective equipment and the show would be travelling to areas with lower populations to reduce personal interactions.
According to Beau Ryan, production would take place over eight to nine weeks starting in late September with a two-week quarantine before filming, and Victoria and Western Australia would be hard to include due to border and lockdown restrictions. The planned legs in Western Australia were to be Perth, Rottnest Island and Broome, but were eventually cancelled and replaced by reused legs in Queensland. These Western Australian locations were later visited during the final three legs of the following season.
Following the quarantine period to medically clear the teams and production, filming started in Queensland in early October 2020. During filming, producer Yasmin Kara broke her vertebrae while testing a challenge that involved jumping into the water. Production concluded in mid-November.
Chris Diloreto & Aleisha Groth set a record for most consecutive legs run in a single season at 22 legs. With eight leg wins, Ashleigh Lawrence & Amanda Blanks broke the record for most leg wins by an all-female team, previously held by Natalie & Meaghan from The Amazing Race Canada 2, and tied the record for most leg wins in a single season.
This season's visits to South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory meant that all of Australia's states and territories were featured at least once among the first five seasons of The Amazing Race Australia.
Format changes This season introduced two new game mechanics: the First Class Pass and Stowaway teams. The First Class Pass was awarded to the first-place team of a non-elimination leg. The recipients would be able to skip the next leg, during which they would enjoy a special reward experience. Additionally, the holders would allocate The Salvage (an advantage) and The Sabotage (a disadvantage) to the bottom two teams of the non-elimination leg. At random intervals, new teams would be introduced at the start of specific legs. These teams would be referred to as stowaway teams.
Additionally, unlike other versions of The Amazing Race and previous seasons of The Amazing Race Australia, the first team to arrive at a U-Turn was required to use it. In other versions, this decision was optional for all teams, unless it was used by a team who arrived earlier).
A new twist called the T-Junction was announced in pre-season press but did not appear this season. The T-Junction would have been similar to an Intersection, but with all remaining teams split into two larger teams for the rest of the leg. The first team to arrive at the T-Junction would create both super-teams. The second super-team to arrive at the Pit Stop would then have to choose one team from the group to eliminate. The twist of combining pairs into two larger teams was previously included on Australia vs New Zealand season on the Seven Network's iteration of the series in the "Nation vs Nation" challenges (in which teams joined with their countrypeople for a particular challenge).
Casting Casting for the fifth season of The Amazing Race Australia initially opened during the finale week of the previous season on 2 December 2019. As the number of coronavirus cases began to decline across much of the country and some states started the process of reopening borders, casting resumed on 16 June 2020. Casting was initially set to close on 26 July 2020 but was extended to 2 August 2020.
30,000 people applied for this season. Ultimately only 16 teams were chosen to compete – 14 teams began racing from the first leg with two additional "stowaway teams" entering the competition in the seventh & tenth legs. At 16 teams, this season set the record for the most teams running a season of The Amazing Race, which was only beaten by the following season's cast of 20 teams.
Marketing Telstra, Bundaberg Brewed Drinks, Subway and Disney+ served as sponsors for this season.
Cast
The cast included actress Aleisha Rose, Dancing with the Stars professional dancer Violeta Mugica, footballers Marijana "MJ" Rajčić and Chelsea Randall and professional bodybuilders Stan Turek and Wayne Marino.
ContestantsAgeRelationshipHometownStatus (Returned to competition)Eliminated 1st(in Mossman, Queensland) 23Twin ModelsSydney, New South WalesQuit(in Cairns, Queensland) 23 49Mums Brisbane, QueenslandEliminated 3rd(in Longreach, Queensland) 45 Gold Coast, Queensland 27Childhood FriendsMelbourne, VictoriaEliminated 4th(on Palm Island, Queensland) 26 47ParentsWollongong, New South WalesMedically removed(in Horseshoe Bay, Queensland) 41 29Daughter & DadShepparton, VictoriaEliminated 6th(on Green Island, Queensland) 52 29BestiesSydney, New South WalesEliminated 7th(in Darwin, Northern Territory) 32 32Kimberley Cousins Ardyaloon, Western AustraliaEliminated 8th(in Coober Pedy, South Australia) 31 Broome, Western Australia 23Dancing ExesMelbourne, VictoriaEliminated 9th(in Lincoln National Park, South Australia) 22 36BodybuildersRichmond, New South WalesEliminated 10th(in Brisbane, Queensland) 26 25Power CoupleSydney, New South WalesEliminated 11th(in Hobart, Tasmania) 26 31Footy MatesAdelaide, South AustraliaEliminated 12th(in Launceston, Tasmania) 29 27SiblingsMelbourne, VictoriaEliminated 13th(in Leura, New South Wales) 29 31Geek & PrincessBrisbane, QueenslandEliminated 14th(in Silverton, New South Wales) 30 29Super SikhsSydney, New South WalesThird place 29 32The Gold Coast GirlsGold Coast, QueenslandRunners-up 29 25Cowboys Yass, New South WalesWinners 23 Tamworth, New South Wales
Results The following teams are listed with their placements in each leg. Placements are listed in finishing order.
A placement with a dagger () indicates that the team was eliminated. An placement with a double-dagger () indicates that the team was the last to arrive at a Pit Stop in a non-elimination leg. An italicized and underlined placement indicates that the team was the last to arrive at a Pit Stop, but there was no rest period at the Pit Stop and all teams were instructed to continue racing. A indicates that the team won the Fast Forward. A indicates that the team used the U-Turn and a indicates the team on the receiving end of the U-Turn. A indicates that the team won the First Class Pass in the previous leg and could skip this leg. A indicates that the teams encountered an Intersection. A indicates that the team received the Salvage advantage. An indicates that the team received the Sabotage penalty.
+Team placement (by leg) Team123456789101112Brendon & Jackson12th3rd2nd1st3rd6th5th6th5th4th4thAshleigh & Amanda8th4th3rd3rd1st 6th3rd1st2nd3rd1stJaskirat & Anurag1st1st 8th2nd3rd1st8th7th3rd5th5thChris & Aleisha3rd8th8th7th4th5th4th2nd2nd1st8th6thSkye-Blue & Jake6th10th4th5th5th1st7th7th4th8th6th7thMJ & Chelsea3rd1st 5th1st Holly & Dolor9th11th5th9th6th8th8th4th8th9th4th2ndStan & Wayne6th7th3rdJordan & Violeta4th5th10th11th7th9th5th3rd7th2ndDwes & Katherine9th10th7th4th2nd6th Sefa & Jessica7th9th7th4th8th2nd Jobelle & Rani13th7th6th6th9th Shane & Deb5th2nd1st2nd Malaan & Tina11th6th11th Jude & Shannon10th Alex & Jack2nd +Team placement (by leg) Team131415161718192021222324Brendon & Jackson2nd1st 6th2nd4th3rd1st2nd1st1stAshleigh & Amanda1st3rd5th5th1st 1st1st3rd1st2ndJaskirat & Anurag3rd2nd3rd4th4th1st4th2nd3rd2nd3rdChris & Aleisha5th7th2nd3rd5th4th2nd2nd Skye-Blue & Jake4th4th6th1st2nd3rd3rd MJ & Chelsea7th6th1st2nd3rd Holly & Dolor6th5th4th Stan & Wayne Notes
Race summary
Leg 1 (Queensland)
Episode 1 (1 February 2021) Prize: A holiday to Cairns, Queensland, and the Great Barrier Reef with accommodation at the Daintree Ecolodge (awarded to Jaskirat & Anurag) Eliminated: Dwes & Katherine Locations Newell, Queensland (Newell Beach) (Starting Line) Mossman (Drumsara Station) Mossman (Exchange Hotel) Mossman (Mossman Sugar Mill) Mossman (Mossman River) Mossman (Daintree Rainforest) Episode summary Teams set off from Newell Beach and had to decide whether to run up the beach or travel upriver in a slow tinny to find a car that would serve as their transportation for this leg. As only seven cars were available at the end of each route and seven tinnies available on the river, only seven teams could take each of the two options. Teams were then directed to drive to Drumsara Station in Mossman. There, one team member had to don a classic flight suit and swing in the air to toss four balls thrown to them by their partner into a target within five minutes to retrieve their next clue, which directed teams to the Exchange Hotel. Only four teams could complete this task at a time. This season's first Detour was a choice between Food or Bev. In Food, teams had to properly peel of prawns to receive their next clue. In Bev, both team members had to deliver one tray each carrying seven schooners of beer without spilling them to receive their next clue.