The Amazing Race is back Season 13 of the Emmy-award winning reality series will be shown in Australia on Channel Seven from Thursday, October 16, three weeks after it goes to air in the US. It’s the first time in Australian TV history that three seasons of TAR will be shown in a calendar year, with season 10 and 12 having been broadcast in the first eight months of 2008. It’s also the second time Seven attempts to “fasttrack” the series. (In 2007, Seven initially aired the “All Stars” version of TAR in the same week as the US. However, due to the Easter non-ratings break, the series was pushed back by two weeks)
The race starts in Los Angeles (as was the case in TAR12) in the Memorial Coliseum, the site of the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games, and finishes in Portland, Oregon.
Competitors for the new season will include an ex-NFL player and his estranged wife, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and her actor brother, recent divorcees, ageing hippies, a pair of Southern belles and frat brothers.
Executive Producer Bertram Van Munster, who is currently scouting locations in Asia for the 14th season, promised the 13th season will include a series of firsts for the reality competition, including a mistake that ultimately prohibited one team from joining their fellow racers at the finish line.
An all-female team has never won The Amazing Race. Will the girls succeed this time?

TAR13 will air on Channel Seven and its affiliates at 8.30pm Thursdays from October 16:
*Prime Television in NSW, ACT and VIC
*Seven Queensland
*Golden West Network WA
*Southern Cross Darwin, Spencer Gulf, South East South Australia, Broken Hill and Tasmania
*Southern Cross Central (8pm Thursdays)

SPECIAL NOTE!
From December 4 until the race finishes, the program will be shown at 9.30pm Thursdays.
Source: tvtonight.com.au and Yahoo7 TV Guide (for broadcast times)

Read about the profiles of the 11 teams here and here

Results
Episode 1 (Los Angeles to San Salvador, Brazil): Anita and Arthur eliminated
Episode 2 (San Salvador to Portaleza, Brazil): Anthony and Stephanie eliminated
Episode 3 (Portaleza to La Paz, Bolivia): Kelly and Christy arrived last at the pitstop after Mark and Bill, but Mark and Bill suffered a 30-minute penalty because they misread the clue. As Kelly and Christy arrived with the 30-minute timeframe, Mark and Bill were declared last and were eliminated
Episode 4 (La Paz to Auckland, New Zealand): Marisa and Brooke eliminated
Episode 5 (Auckland to Siem Reap, Cambodia): Aja and Ty eliminated
Episode 6 (Siem Reap to Delhi, India - non-elimination): Ken and Tina finished last and would have to complete the speed bump task next leg
Episode 7 (Delhi, India): Kelly and Christy eliminated
Episode 8 (Delhi to Almaty, Kazakhstan): Terence and Sarah eliminated
Episode 9 (Almaty to Moscow, Russia): Andrew and Dan finished last and would have to complete the speed bump task next leg
Episode 10 (Moscow, Russia): Toni and Dallas eliminated
Final (Moscow to Portland, Oregon, USA): Nick and Starr finished first

Yay! I can't wait!

This show becomes very boring really quickly.

oh thats awesome cool
gonna be getting my 2 fav shows - amazing race and survivor both at the same time now

omg awesome! that is so cool!

i love the amazing race, and watched season 12 i think it was at 2am everynight it was on this year

i downloaded the first s13 episode though last week i love it.. i dont know which team i want to win yet

but for season 12 i loved tk and rachel and they won so that was awesome.. they were so good cause they never fought like the other teams!

pretty much straight after season 12 which finished on July 31, they showed season 7 every morning at 2am and that finished on August 25
and now they're going to be showing season 13 less than 2 months later!

I saw a promo for season 13 tonight while going out for dinner and it looks like the show will be shown in widescreen for the first time. (Previous 12 seasons were shown in 4:3 screen format)

oh yep thats right i remember now cause sometimes i fell asleep through it but it didnt matter cause season 12 was the best! what was really funny in season 12 when they were going to taiwan nate and jen said how they thought they were the smartest team, and nate said he was excited for taiwan and how he had some thai friends and he thai food.. but thai = thailand.. and taiwan would be taiwanese.. right?

You are right How did Nate mix up Taiwan with Thailand ?

it was even funnier cause he was saying how smart they were... and they werent.. they never stopped fighting it was soo annoying!!!! jen whined allllll the time!

There is a double page article on the contestants in this week's issue of TV Week, for those who are interested.

Interesting article from today's The Australian newspaper, in the media section.

Aussies take Amazing Race to Israel, and maybe home
by Lara Sinclair

THE key obstacles to global format sales of US reality show The Amazing Race have been the sheer cost and logistics of sending a dozen couples to perform a series of strange tasks in 10 or more countries within a month and to film it.
But the Seven Network is understood to be reconsidering an Australian version after local production company activeTV filmed three Asian-based series on much less than the multi-million-dollar budget needed for the US version.
A Seven source said an Australian version was "on our development slate", but no deals were imminent, activeTV managing director Michael McKay said.
The 12th season of the US series averaged 830,000 viewers this year.
ActiveTV, which produces the Asian series through a Singapore joint venture with the US program's co-creator Bertram van Munster, is about to begin producing a new Israeli format, much of which will be filmed in Asia.
The company, which employs 18 people in its Melbourne head office and about 12 in Asia, has morphed from a sports and entertainment company into a reality specialist after producing the Australian legs of the US Race in series two and four.
The new version, to be filmed in Hebrew, will be the first non-English international series.
It will be called Ha'Merotz La'Million (The Race to the Million), referring to the prize of a million shekels that will go to the last couple standing.
McKay will say only that the series will launch "soon" with between 10 and 12 teams and an unnamed Israeli director.
"It's like the Greta Garbo of TV shows because so much of it is secret," McKay said.
"Even the crews don't know where they're going and they don't know where they're starting from."
Producing a series of The Amazing Race sounds almost as nightmarish as competing in it.
Potential locations are selected and scouted in about 40 days, and a string of local production teams are contracted to organise their legs of the race.
Senior production staff test most challenges, but McKay draws the line at bungee jumping.
"In the Asian version when we had the contestants eating bugs, we tried them," he said.
"There were crickets, -roaches, a scorpion or two and a water bug: they were a bit chewy. We want to make sure that it's safe."
The most important element is selecting the teams, whoch are often couples but may be friends or family members.
Contrary to perceptions that the show chooses teams whose relationships will implode spectacularly under race conditions in front of the cameras, McKay looked for diversity and depth.
"The main ingredient is good chemistry," he said.
"You want light and shade and sweetness. Teams spit the dummy and walk out, or you'll see teams that become remarkably close.
"I love it when that happens but there are times when that pressure cooker situation highlights the things that you're not that keen on in your partner. Those emotions are very real."
Each team travels with a personal crew of two or three, charged with capturing such outbursts.
"We typically travel with a total crew of 100 as we move," McKay said.
"We pick up a lot of people on the ground. As the teams get eliminated, the crew becomes smaller." McKay said costs would be contained in the Israeli version by choosing "pre-existing" challenges, rather than building them.
There will be a few other differences.
Some countries, such as those that don't recognise Israeli passports, will be off-limits, and McKay is expecting cultural differences to play a big part.
"I'm expecting more open, honest, blunt and frank conversations between the teams," McKay said.
"I don't think they'll hold back in that respect."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...52-7582,00.html

thanks johnson!!!!!!!!


2nd episode is really funny!!!!!! THINK IM GOING FOR NICK AND STARR

Here are brief profiles of the teams with comments from executive producer Bertram Van Munster.


"Friends" Marisa Axelrod and Brooke Jackson ELIMINATED
Marisa is a 22 year-old University of South Carolina broadcast journalism student from Spartanburg, SC. Brooke is a 24 year-old graphic designer from Columbia, SC.
van Munster: "They've been friends for four years and they are very cute and funny. Brook is a salesperson and a camp counselor and she has kind of a take charge attitude. The two of them are very determined."


"Separated Couple" Ken and Tina Greene SECOND
Ken is a 51 year-old home-builder and ex-NFL player from Tampa, Florida. Tina is the 48 year-old president of BioPharmMed from San Diego, California.
van Munster: "He's a (former) NFL star and she owns a business. They have to really mask it to get along together. They're both Type-A (personalities). (Tina's) more Type-A than he is, I think, but she's pretty domineering, I would say, and he's really a really terrific guy. But they're in love with each other and they'd love to reconnect and would love to fix their marriage."


"Divorcees" Kelly Crabb and Christy Cook ELIMINATED
Kelly is a 26 year-old pharmaceutical sales representative from Houston, Texas. Christy is a 26 year-old business developer from Austin, TX.
van Munster: "I love them. I mean these two are very, very feisty. Both were married to controlling husbands and they want to start on their own and they were left with a large financial debt and really worked hard and both have successful careers now. But they are feisty -- two feisty girls. They are terrific. Kelly is a pharmaceutical representative and Christy is in business development and both are very successful."


"Newly Dating Couple" Terence Gerchberg and Sarah Leshner ELIMINATED
Terence is a 35-year-old running coach and Sarah is a 31-year-old investment analyst. Both reside in New York City.
van Munster: "(Sarah) is really smart. she works on Wall Street. Well, today maybe the people on Wall Street don't look so smart -- maybe they look more greedy than smart. But she is a terrific woman and has been dating Terrence for about a year and they have major issues about compatibility. I think Terrence kind of moved in with [Sarah] and lives with her, or something like that, and it looks like she is the main breadwinner. But they have compatibility issues as a result of that."


"Fraternity Brothers" Andrew Lappitt and Dan Honig THIRD
Andrew is a 22-year-old student from Tucson, Arizona. Dan is a 23-year-old hotel manager trainee from Wilmington, Delaware.
van Munster: "Andrew and Dan are just fantastic. They're really fantastic. I mean, first of all, they are huge fans of (The Amazing Race) and they are good talkers. They can talk their way in and out of anything. People think that they are these two bumbling guys, but they have tremendous wit and tremendous charm. They are just two smart guys and do very, very well."

Continues in next post...

Continuing brief profiles of the teams with comments from executive producer Bertram Van Munster:


"Long Distance Dating Couple" Aja Benton and Ty White ELIMINATED
Aja is a 25-year-old aspiring actress from Los Angeles, CA. Ty is a 25-year-old banker from West Bloomfield, Michigan.
van Munster: "They're terrific people. They are really terrific. Very competitive. They are really in love, these two. They really love each other. They are crazy about each other and they have a very harmonious relationship. She's a makeup artist and he's a banker. They're a good couple, very strong."


"Best Friends" Mark Yturralde and Bill Hahler ELIMINATED
Mark is a 41-year-old Comic-Con treasurer and Bill is a 42-year-old student aid administrator. Both reside in San Diego, California.
van Munster: "Fantastic. These are the biggest gamers we've ever had on the show. They met in a science-fiction club 23 years ago and quickly became best friends, bonding over their love of Comic-Con -- the largest comic book convention in the world -- and games of all genres. (Their press materials say) 'whether it's video or board games, puzzles or even The Race, the manipulative masterminds will always be mentally ahead of the competition,' and that's pretty much who they are. Very smart guys. Very, very high IQ for both of these guys."


"Mother and Son" Toni and Dallas Imbimbo ELIMINATED
Toni is a 51-year-old accounting consultant and Dallas is a 22-year-old student. Both reside in Woodside, California.
van Munster: "Dallas is the 'hot guy' and he's constantly flirting and sarcastic. (Toni) has a great personality. They are a very dynamic team and very entertaining. They are really, really a very, very strong team in the game. He considers himself the life of the party and the mother is a terrific woman."


"Brother and Sister" Nick and Starr Spangler WINNER
Nick is a 22-year-old actor from New York City. Starr is a 21-year-old former NFL cheerleader from Fort Worth, Texas.
van Munster: "(The) Spanglers... they are competitive. There is a little bit of a romance thing going on down the road there from Starr going somewhere and looking at another guy, it's gonna be pretty good. They are a bunch of overachievers. Nick is a Broadway actor in New York City and Starr is a cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys. So they are living their lifelong dreams and their last dream is that they want to go on a race around the world. Love them or hate them, they will be entertaining to watch."


"Married Beekeepers" Anita and Arthur Jones ELIMINATED
Anita is a 63-year-old retired paralegal and Arthur is a 61-year-old in playground maintenance. Both reside in Eugene, Oregon.
van Munster: "They are more out of the 60's than anyone I have seen in a long time. They are the 60's. They are really wonderful, wonderful people. It's all about hugging (with them.) All they do is stop everywhere and hug people and (tell folks) 'peace.' For people who are not from their generation... (they're like) 'Where are these people coming from?' They maintain their own land. They chop wood and love the bees and the bee hives. They just look amazing (with their) snow white hair. They are very young at heart and have a very fun-loving nature but they're wonderful people. They're terrific people and I got a lot of free honey from them."


"Dating Couple" Anthony Marotta and Stephanie Kacandes ELIMINATED
Anthony is a 32-year-old mortgage broker and Stephanie is a 32-year-old financial saleswoman. Both reside in Los Angeles, CA.
van Munster: "Anthony is a 100% headstrong Italian male with a know-it-all, strict Greek Orthodox female. It's a potential recipe for disaster. They are back together again after a year-long breakup. They called it 'therapy,' who knows what they were doing in the meantime. But she wants a ring and if he doesn't want to get that ring than he's outta there. So, as a result, there is a lot of bickering and it looks like it could be a doomed relationship. But it's their way of communicating, I guess."

Sources: realitytvworld.com and CBS

Yay for Channel 7!!! I've watched the first ep already and <3ed it!! Nick and Starr would have to be my favs.

^ Thanks Johnson!

I only just found out Yesterday lol i dun come on the forum much so yer..... cant effing wait <3 Survivor AND The Amazing Race will both be on once a week im soooo hyped about that! Plus its on primetime @ 8:30 YAY

go nick and starr!

The new race starts tonight in Australia
Season 13 has 11 pitstops. Like the previous series, teams travelled from east to west and the trip lasted 23 days. South America has replaced Africa in the itinerary.

YAY! cant wait for it to be on tonight....providing i finsih my assigmetn.

Im so excited to watch it 2night, im enjoy amazing race more than survivor at the mo!

Just watched the first episode. Will give my views tomorrow.

well from the first episode there are already some teams I like and some others I'm not liking.
Go Nick and Starr coming first! they are definitely one of my fav. teams atm and I hope they go far. but one thing is I dont really like is their "loose" alliance with Ken and Tina... they seem to be a team who are going to be arguing a lot
same with Terence and Sarah..
Mark and Bill seem like a smart team and I think they work well together

An interesting season opener last night.
Luck played in the first leg from Los Angeles to Brazil. The American Airlines terminal in LAX is so big that - has check-in counters at both ends of the building, so some teams lost their way and missed out on the first flight. However, the five teams who took that flight was forced to endure a delay in Rio de Janeiro, meaning they actually arrived in Salvador after the other six teams.
Who would ever thought that people in Salvador use narrow trolleys, which look like toy trucks, to sell candy?
Mark and Bill took the risk and climbed up the steps to the church on all fours and actually arrived at the pitstops before three other teams.

if this is the one for the US version, i heard it wasn't as good this year ive been missing a lot too cuz i'm out sundays training.. where have they been so far?

This is the US version. One episode has aired in Australia so far, the teams arrived in Brazil. Next episode the 10 teams travel to another part of Brazil.

dun have any favs or theres no teams i dun like yet.

damn... I was really hope Mark and Bill would come first not Ken and Tina..
still really not liking Terrence and Tina
wow.. Kelly and Christy really do not know how to read/follow the clues do they?
and I so would not have thought Anthony and Stephanie would be gone so early in the game!

Mark and Bill should have won the leg, how Ken and Tina came first puzzled me.
How did Kelly and Christy misread the clue so the girls had to do the moving boat task instead of the container search task?
Terence and Sarah also misread the clue so they missed their taxi. They were lucky not to finish last.

What a surprise ending to this week's episode
Mark and Bill mis-read the clue and paid the ultimate price. They took the taxi when they should have walked from the hat shop to the detour task. Mark then struggled on the wrestling roadblock, meaning when the guys arrived at the pitstop they were just in front of Kelly and Christy before the 30-minute penalty was imposed.
Terence and Sarah took the taxi too, but once they realised the mistake they walked back to the shop and started again, and escaped the 30-minute penalty.
How about the Bolivian wrestling roadblock - it was so funny

so can't believe Mark and Bill of all teams didn't read the clue properly and got themselves eliminated

Kelly and Christy are lucky as hell to survive another day in the race..
Terence and Sarah were definitely lucky also that they picked up their mistake early.

Marisa and Brooke did awesomely in that leg jumping from last place to 4th!
Toni and Dallas also did really well coming in 2nd!

I don't think they even talked much before so I don't get why Starr would go throw Kelly/Christy's bra out the window for no reason so I thought it was stupid of them to accuse her of doing so just because she was in the hallway?
but it was stupid of Starr to ask Aya and Ty to use their u-turn on them

It must be winter in NZ when last night's episode took place, because the leg started in early morning and finished in the evening.
How did Dallas not know where New Zealand was ?
And why did Ken and Tina choose to do the fast forward (climbing up the Sky Tower in Auckland)? Finishing hours ahead of other teams often means nothing when it comes to flights.
These Americans must not have seen the Maori warriors before. Look at their faces when they approached the Maoris
Sorry to see Marisa and Brooke gone.

ohh... so bummed at this weeks end result
after doing so well in the previous leg, Marisa and Brooke fell behind quickly in the drive to the first clue and never recovered but was it sure was a tight race to the end! I was hoping Aya and Ty would be last.. they are starting to annoy me with their arguing

I can't believe how easily Kelly and Christy did that Kiwi fruit challenge! especially how 3 teams ahead of them decided to quit and do the cart challenge..
Starr definitely wasn't having fun with the carts and it was sad to see her hurt

why Ken and Tina did the fast forward? well the result of that choice paid off didn't it?
still can't believe they have come in 1st 3 times already!

I almost forget to say that the teams got to see Phil's dad, which was so cool

The seven remaining teams had a 24-hour stopover in Auckland due to flight schedule.
Ken and Tina finished so far ahead in the last leg because they completed fast forward (climbing up the Sky Tower) that Toni and Dallas did not arrive at the NZ pitstop two hours after Ken and Tina. In all the top seven teams were separated by 9 hours.
More comments tomorrow.

Aja and Ty were no great loss. Since they started so far behind the other six teams, and caught the last flight to Cambodia, they were always on the back foot.
The speeding fine Terence and Sarah received on the motorway to Auckland Airport means they would start the next leg to India 12 hours AND 30 minutes after they arrived at the Cambodian pitstop. It also remainds me of an excerpt from the TAR13 preview at tvtonight.com.au:

Could this be the mistake, or would the teams commit a serious mistake further into the race?

firstly I'm just glad Ken and Tina finally didn't come first again! and I'm extra happy that Nick and Starr did!
definitely wasn't a good episode for Terence/Sarah with the speeding and boat breakdown.
and ummm.... Andrew/Dan at that petrol pumping challenge...

I am puzzled how Andrew and Dan failed to pump petrol when other teams managed to do it.
Terence and Sarah would be relieved the leg was over, especially given their boat broke down just before the boathouse.
And the run to Siem Reap harbour was exciting between Terence and Sarah, Ken and Tina, and Nick and Starr.

That episode was also a free plug for Flight Centre and Jetstar. Who would have thought you could find a travel agency inside the airport termainal?

bah ken and Tina survive another day, Tina has the be the biggest -!! No wonder he cheated on her i would have cheated on her too!

Ken and Tina were very lucky to survive because they and competing teams lost their way in the streets of Delhi, meaning the time spent on detour and roadblock tasks were crucial in the placings. Ken and Tina would also have to complete the speed bump task.
One team will go in next week's episode, still in India.

Yay for another 1st by Nick and Starr!
wow.. that most definitely was the worst leg ever for Kelly and Christy
first they didn't read the clue properly and Kelly/Christy got absolutely trashed at that dye throwing task.
they didn't much better at the road block task either and Dan and Andrew were very lucky they got some help from Ken and Tina and managed to finish just ahead of the girls.

^ Yeah both Kelly and Christy, and Dan and Andrew wasted so much time at the detour. But how about Ken and Tina, who managed to finish 4th after completing a speed bump task on top of detour and roadblock?
The dye throwing task was dirty to say the least.
Nick and Starr have certainly dominated competition!
Next stop is Kazakhstan, no doubt included due to the popularity of the movie Borat.

Kelly and Christy, and Dan and Andrew are so effing stupid!! lol

Judging from past results, Toni and Dallas and Nick and Starr should be in the top spots for victory. However, Ken and Tina seem to be more intelligent and can make up time well. If they didn't argue so much, they could be better.

^^^ i agree

I want dallas n his mom to win. They r so cute

yer they seem nice too, dallas is kinda hott too lol