The Amazing Race 33 is the thirty-third season of the American reality competition show The Amazing Race. Hosted by Phil Keoghan, it featured eleven teams of two, each with a pre-existing relationship, competing in a race around Europe to win US$1,000,000. Though filming started in February 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused production to be placed on hold for over a year and a half. The race resumed in September 2021 with most of the original teams and a modified route. This season visited two continents and seven countries and traveled over during eleven legs. Starting from the racers' homes in the United States, racers traveled through England and Scotland before production was suspended. After reuniting in St. Gallen, racers traveled through Switzerland, France, Greece, and Portugal before returning to the United States and finishing in Greater Los Angeles. An element of the show that returned for this season was having teams start from their homes instead of a centralized location. The season premiered on CBS on January 5, 2022, and concluded on March 2, 2022.
Married internet personalities Kim and Penn Holderness were the winners of this season, while flight attendants Raquel Moore and Cayla Platt finished in second place, and best friends Ryan Ferguson and Dusty Harris finished in third place.
Production Development and filming
In January 2020, during the winter press tour for the Television Critics Association in Pasadena, California, Amazing Race co-creators and executive producers Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri, who were promoting their new National Geographic show Race to the Center of the Earth, confirmed to Andy Dehnart of Reality Blurred that they would be filming a thirty-third season of The Amazing Race later in the year.
Filming began on February 22, 2020, as usual, after host Phil Keoghan finished filming the first season of Tough as Nails. This season of The Amazing Race started with Keoghan contacting teams at their homes, instructing them to travel to London, and it was expected to conclude in mid-March. However, filming was suspended on February 28 after three legs had been completed in England and Scotland with the contestants and production crew sent home as a precaution due to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic. According to van Munster, he contacted CBS after he and his crew arrived in Sweden to film in Lapland, where the fourth leg was to take place, to halt the season due to the dangers of the emerging pandemic. In addition to Sweden, the remainder of the original racecourse prior to production shutdown would have visited Austria, Italy, Vietnam, Thailand, South America, and a first-time visit to Nepal.
COVID-19 shutdown After the season was suspended, Phil Keoghan stated that the show intended to resume filming where it had left off, but he also acknowledged that filming could not resume until viral transmissions declined. Kelly Kahl, the President of CBS Entertainment, stated that the show would film "as soon as we can safely get back into production" with the producers working to "plot out a race that sticks to countries that are safe" but acknowledged the difficulties of "literally [having] to navigate some international waters." Kahl also stated that he wasn't aware of any contestants that had dropped out of the season. Keoghan stated a year later that he could not guarantee that every team would be able to return once filming restarted. In April 2021, Mitch Graham, SVP of Alternative Programming, stated that production looked at the option of going to COVID-light countries but that it was unlikely as it would not lead to the same experience of traveling the globe. The following month, the creators of the show stated that they have plans to resume filming the season once they can assure team safety with mass vaccinations in target travel locations. Kahl stated that he hoped to have the season air in the midseason of the 2021–22 television season provided that enough countries open up in the coming months to film the remaining legs. In an interview with Gold Derby in June 2021, Keoghan stated that a plan to film safely had been established.
Resumption of filming
In September 2021, Thom Sherman, the Senior Executive Vice President, Programming, CBS Entertainment, announced at the Television Critics Association that the show was in pre-production and would return for the 2021–22 television season. In order to restart the season, production chartered an Amazing Race-branded Titan Airways Boeing 757 for subsequent travel by teams and crew, which included four COVID testing teams, to reduce infection risk. To account for common travel on the chartered jet, teams were released from the charter plane in a number of groups, with those who had checked in at the previous Pit Stop earlier able to start the next leg earlier. Keoghan said that the use of a chartered jet was something they had considered previously as it would have eliminated problems with airports, and in this season, they at times did not inform the racers where their next destination was until they landed. New tasks were developed with social distancing in mind, with preference for outdoor activities rather than crowded indoor ones. Teams were still made to rely on either their own driving or using public transportation where production affirmed that drivers took COVID precautions.
Racers traveled to Switzerland and resumed racing on September 19, 2021, after (nearly nineteen months). The remaining legs after Scotland were altered to have travel proceed through locations with the lowest COVID-19 rates: Zürich, Lugano, Corsica, Halkidiki, Thessaloniki, and Lisbon before returning to Los Angeles. However, four teams were unable to return after production resumed due to extenuating circumstances: Anthony was unable to return due to a recent promotion at his place of work; Caro & Ray had broken up during the hiatus and Caro's work visa had expired, meaning she was unable to return to the United States due to travel restrictions against non-U.S. citizens; Connie and Sam were expecting a child when the restart was planned; and Taylor was on bereavement following the death of his brother from COVID-19 which had occurred shortly before the planned restart. Two teams that had been originally eliminated before the production shutdown, Michael & Moe and Arun & Natalia, were brought back to the competition. Filming of the season wrapped in October.
Casting This season saw Jesse Tannenbaum, who was recently promoted to casting director of Survivor starting with Island of the Idols, become the show's new casting director, a role he previously held during season 29 and season 30, after Lynne Spillman's contract with CBS expired in 2018.
Contestants
The cast was announced by CBS on December 10, 2021. The cast included Love Island season 1 couple Caro Viehweg and Ray Gantt; married internet personalities Kim and Penn Holderness; Buffalo Singing Cops duo Michael Norwood and Moe Badger; 2015 Thalys train attack heroes Anthony Sadler and Spencer Stone; and Ryan Ferguson, who spent ten years in prison after being wrongfully convicted. ContestantsAgeRelationshipHometownStatus Returned to competitionEliminated 1st(in London, England) Eliminated 2nd(in Glasgow, Scotland) 38Married Fort Worth, TexasUnable to returnto competition 31 Portland, Oregon 23Dating Los Angeles, California 25 Lakewood, New Jersey 37Married Newport News, Virginia 39 Charlotte, North Carolina 29Childhood FriendsSacramento, California 29 36Singing Police OfficersBuffalo, New YorkEliminated 3rd(in Altstätten, Switzerland) 42 45Married Educators Newark, New JerseyEliminated 4th(in Giuncaggio, France) 44 Havana, Florida 37Twins & Radio HostsNorth Bergen, New JerseyEliminated 5th(in Nea Kallikrateia, Greece) 37 56Father & DaughterDetroit, MichiganEliminated 6th(in Cabo Espichel, Portugal) 28 37Best Friends Manhattan, New YorkThird place 38 Columbia, Missouri 31Flight Attendants Chicago, IllinoisRunners-up 30 Gulf Breeze, Florida 45Married Sarasota, FloridaWinners 47 Durham, North Carolina
Future appearances Kim and Penn appeared on The Amazing Race: 25 Years Around the World.
In 2022, Caro Viehweg and Ray Gantt appeared on the fifth season of MTV's Ex on the Beach. Cayla Platt competed on the first season of The Challenge: USA. Dusty Harris competed on the second season of The Challenge: USA. In 2023, Gantt competed on Love Island Games. Lulu and Lala Gonzalez competed on Raid the Cage. In 2025, Gantt appeared on the third season of Perfect Match. In 2026, Arun Kumar competed on the second season of 99 to Beat.
Results The following teams are listed with their placements in each leg. Placements are listed in finishing order. Note that the race was suspended at the end of leg 3 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resumed a year-and-a-half later.
A placement with a dagger () indicates that the team was eliminated. An italicized and underlined placement indicates that the team was the last to arrive, but there was no rest period at the Pit Stop and all teams were instructed to continue racing. There was no required Speed Bump task in the next leg. An placement with a double-dagger () indicates that the team was the last to arrive at a Pit Stop in a non-elimination leg, and was the only team to begin the subsequent leg in the final departure group. +Team placement (by leg) Team1234567891011Kim & Penn4th5th1st2nd3rd1st1st1st2nd2nd1stRaquel & Cayla 3rd4th6th3rd4th2nd2nd2nd1st1st2ndRyan & Dusty 2nd1st2nd1st1st3rd3rd3rd3rd3rdArun & Natalia9th3rd6th4th4th3rd Lulu & Lala10th10th7th 4th2nd5th4th Akbar & Sheri6th8th9th5th5th Michael & Moe Anthony & Spencer1st7th3rd Connie & Sam7th2nd4thCaro & Ray5th6th5thTaylor & Isaiah8th9th8th Notes
Race summary
Leg 1 (United States → England)
Episode 1: "We're Back!" (January 5, 2022) Prize: A trip for two to the Turks and Caicos Islands (awarded to Anthony & Spencer) Eliminated: Michael & Moe Locations Assorted Cities (Teams' Homes) (Start) New York City, New York Los Angeles, California Charlotte, North Carolina Chicago, Illinois → London, England London (Trafalgar Square) London (Buckingham Palace – Canada Gate) London (South Molton Street – Mess Hall at Immersive LDN Parliament Square, Little Ben & Piccadilly Station) London (Soho – The Chipping Forecast) London (Natural History Museum) Episode summary Instead of a traditional starting line, teams received a video message from Phil Keoghan at their homes informing them of the start of race. Teams had to fly from their local airports to London, England, travel to Trafalgar Square, and find one of four men dressed as a red telephone box with their first clue. They were then instructed to travel by foot down The Mall to Buckingham Palace, where they found their next clue. This season's first Detour was a choice between Artist Den or Digiben. In Artist Den, teams had to properly paste a 36-piece Banksy-style poster to a wall in order to receive their next clue. In Digiben, teams had to find a bobby in Parliament Square by Big Ben, then find a promoter by Little Ben, who sent them to DJ Digiben in Piccadilly Circus tube station, who had their next clue. After the Detour, teams had to find "The Queen and Boris Johnson having a nosh" (a pair of impersonators) at The Chipping Forecast in order to receive their next clue, which directed them to the Pit Stop beneath the blue whale skeleton at the Natural History Museum.
Leg 2 (England)
Episode 2: "It Can't Be That Easy" (January 5, 2022) Locations London (Postal Museum – Mail Rail) London (Leicester Square) London (Flight Club Shoreditch Mange) London (Russell Square Metro Station – Double-Decker Bus) Episode summary At the start of this leg, teams had to travel to the Postal Museum in London in order to find their next clue.