It’s hard to believe The Amazing Race has been on the air for over 25 years at this point. Long considered to be one of the best reality TV series on the air, it has garnered one of network TV's most loyal fanbases through myriad twists and turns, and even CBS switching from two seasons to one per year. A lot has changed over the years on Race, but one thing that has stayed pretty steady is the amount the contestants take home at the end of the season.
Yet, How much do general Race contestants as well as the winners make? Let's unpack the stats, as there's a lot going on any given Race season, but especially this year. Let’s take a look at what could happen if CBS loves your audition tape one day, too.
The Big Prize On The Amazing Race
Pretty much every single team who makes it onto the final leg of TAR has done reasonably well with navigation, and has conquered at least a few obstacles that were outside of their wheelhouses. They all deserve to be winners, but only one team will make it through the final challenge first. That team gets to race to the finish line and face Phil amidst a slew of familiar faces: the other contestants that had been eliminated previously. It’s usually a cheerful moment, but one that is extremely emotional, and it’s not just about the money. Racing on CBS is hard.
Obviously, the money is important, too. Each season, the first team to see both participants reach Phil and touch the mat earn a $1 million dollar prize. This number is oft-repeated throughout the season by Phil himself. It's one of the only constants on the series, as the locations the show films, how the teams travel, and even number of teams are consistently in flux.
While the big prize has stuck at the $1 million mark, a lot has changed on the show over time. In Season 34, there were no non-elimination legs for the first time, so someone went home every single episode, while in Season 38 the non-elimination leg came back. In another recent example, the Season 37 cast was shocked when they showed up to the mat and saw they'd have to outlast more teams than ever before. Last season, we saw a lot of similarities with teams, as Big Brother contestants are already familiar with how to act when there are cameras around.
In Season 39, Phil broke the news that every. single. team will be getting an Express Pass. That sounds like complete chaos (I love it though). With Season 40 around the corner, I almost wonder if we might get some bigger and bolder changes, maybe even to the prizes, but Phil and the gang have not spoken out about this yet.
During most past seasons, the show has featured teams of two competing (with the exception of a very memorable family season featuring a young Stassi Schroeder, who later starred in and was fired from Vanderpump Rules.) This is an important distinction because not every twosome that competes is a married couple, which means prize winnings are typically split in half, with $500,000 (pre-tax) going to each contestant.
Taxes are a big thing to factor in. So how much does one individual winner take home on Race? Experts in varying states estimate the government pulls a cool 300, 000 to 350,000 from the original winnings for taxes. Split that in half, and that’s still not too shabby, though, as winning contestants (likely) take home around $350,000 apiece or so in cold, hard cash.
Seemingly confirming this, the Holderness family admitted a few years ago in a podcast that after taxes they took "a little over half" of the prize money home. Though they also noted in the same interview that it "took a while" to get paid by the show.
In more recent seasons, a few teams have been dominant leg after leg. Ricky Rotandi and César Aldrete took home the big prize, but they also won so many of the challenges .The couple actually won 7 of the 11 total legs in their season, and six of those were before the finale. Similarly, frontrunners Jas and Jag took home the majority of the leg wins before winning overall. Sometimes the prizes are spread out more fairly among teams, however. Anyone could win a leg, they just need the right set of circumstances.
This brings me to how non-winners can nab some additional compensation.
How Does Additional Compensation Work For Contestants On The Amazing Race?
Additional compensation can also be important to teams with varying skill sets that are able to set themselves apart from the pack. Season 39 of The Amazing Race was a little weird in that there were a lot of competitive teams but only two teams that were really taking home prizes, as noted previously.
During most seasons, the competition is usually a bit more spread out, and the race leg prizes offer teams a nice way to earn even if they don't ultimately take home the big prize. In general, there are two additional routes to money and prizes on The Amazing Race. The first is to - and I'll borrow a phrase from my other favorite reality TV series Survivor - outwit, outlast and outplay the other contestants in the race. How does this work? The longer you make it on the show, the higher the cash payout from CBS. Yes, you get money just for appearing.
Early on in the series during Season 6, one outlet found the 11th place contestants only took home $1500 as a duo, which is admittedly not a lot to split between two people and have taxes taken out. The money continues to climb from there though the longer contestants are on the show. In that same season (via Men's Health), the second place team took home about $25,000 in additional money while the third place team took home $10,000.
Last season was a celebrity edition of the series, and there was every reason to think CBS was shelling out a bit more for Big Brother players to appear with beloved family members. Unlike Survivor contestant salaries or other CBS shows like Big Brother itself, TAR tends to keep the numbers way under wraps. We do know Dee, Devens and Angela were also paid more as "icons" on Big Brother during the summer of 2026.
An Australian version of the show in 2024 did note that prize packages for that version of the series varied wildly, with Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe allegedly taking home around $350,000 while additional contestants took home between $50-$75k for their appearances. It's worth noting this was a celebrity edition of the show in another country, and not the famous version hosted by Phil here in the U.S., but it does show how salaries can vary.
Another way to "make money" on The Amazing Race? The show often has prize packages ranging from cash amounts to free trips and even cars that can extend the goodies contestants can take home if they win specific legs. Of course, those prizes also come with a caveat; like The Price is Right and other prize-specific shows before them, contestants must pay taxes on these prizes.
One of the most unique prizes the show gave out came in Season 8, when the Branson family won "free gas for life." Patriarch Wally later clarified that actually meant $1,200 in gas for 50 years, and to make it less of a hassle, BP and Arco actually let the family cash out after one year.
Contestants Are Paid In Exposure (And A Trip Around The Globe)
Like Season 39's Big Brother cast, some famous names have chosen to participate in TAR over the years, including The White Lotus' Mike White, Big Brothers' Rachel, Alison, Survivor's Rob and Amber and so many more. Some athletes have competed as well, including Alexander Rossi and Conor Daly, pro eater Joey Chestnut and a slew of former NFL and NBA stars, among others. Some additional Survivor names and more have been bandied about, as well.
Heading into the Season 38 finale, Izzy Gleicher, Jag Bains, Joseph Abdin, and their respective partners, plus Kyland Young and his partner Taylor Hale all were left to compete for the big prize. Jag and his brother consistently were formidable throughout the season, and came through in the final moments, landing the big prize. We’ll have to wait and see if one team ends up being a dominant force in Season 39, which hits the 2026 TV schedule on September 30th.
Additionally, fan favorites can sometimes build followings on social media or land outside opportunities after their time on the show. Then, of course, there's the whole point of The Amazing Race: the unique opportunity to travel around the world with someone you love (or at least hopefully can stand). The real prize has to be the priceless experience.
