I don’t think anyone would argue the last season of The Amazing Race was a fairly big departure from previous seasons. This mostly had to do with the format, which featured teams of Big Brother players and a loved one competing against one another for the winning million dollar prize. The previous CBS stars were all very aware of the cameras and how they wanted to come off, but mostly, it was really interesting to see reality stars from one game play another, and to see those fandoms collide. So, why doesn’t the show mix things up more often?
Apparently, There Is A Reason
I'd love to see a season of The Amazing Race that mimics what The Traitors has done for those with a Peacock subscription. While we've gotten some celebs on the reality competition series, I’ve honestly always wondered why it hasn't brought in more famous or semi-famous people. I do know it can be hard to get celebrities on the show in general, as Will Forte and Val Kilmer long wanted to team up for the show before his death in 2025. Scheduling was the major issue for the pair.
In an interview with Page Six, host Phil Keoghan basically confirmed scheduling was also the main problem with an all-celebrity season.
I think one of the hard parts of it would be aligning everybody’s schedules, because so many celebrities are so booked up and their schedules are so tight.
However, there would be several ways to remedy that. I can notably think of two:
- Do a shorter season (tighter windows would mean greater availability).
- Do fewer locations (this goes along with a shorter season and could be like the family season of the series, which took place in North America only, requiring less lengthy travel).
As it turns out, Phil is no dummy and has thought of this. He also explained what would need to happen if there would be a bigger, bolder celebrity lineup down the line.
It would have to be a limited run, maybe reducing the number of episodes and maybe running a shorter distance. I just don’t know about getting celebrities that people would want to watch on Amazing Race away for that long, and traveling that far and going through the challenges of what’s involved.
I mean, c’mon Phil, Sydney Sweeney and Mike White want to team up. Let’s make that happen.
We Have Seen Some Celebrities On The Amazing Race Before
The Amazing Race has always been a place for semi-famous names to crop up. The White Lotus creator Mike White’s popped up. Fellow Survivor alum Boston Rob and Amber Mariano have showed up. Professional athletes have appeared from NFL teams, hockey teams and more, including paired teams like Cedric Ceballos and Shawn Marion or DeAngelo Williams and Gary Barnidge. There was also a whole season of influencers before the show tried the Big Brother season.
There’s also been a faction of people who are famous now who broke out on TAR. That includes names like Stassi Schroeder, who competed with her family back in Season 8. Or Natalie and Nadiya Anderson, who competed on the Phil Koeghan-led show before transitioning to Jeff Probst’s Survivor. Contestants flipping from Survivor to Race and vice versa feels pretty natural at this point.
Phil did also mention the “real people” seasons have anecdotally seemed more popular, but I’d argue a mix of a little bit of everything is better. It can be helpful to have some known faces during early episodes of shows. It’s easier to get to know teams in some ways. Mostly, though, I like it when TAR changes things up. I wish we had more seasons with All-Star or other returning characters. I’d also maybe like to see a mash-up where former teammates compete, but with a new partner from another team. Phil has said a season where the first-elimated teams came back would be the “worst” disaster, so we probably shouldn’t go that route.
Still, variety is the spice of life, and I wouldn’t mind giving some famous faces a go at a race around the world. Or, if Phil Keoghan is right, a race around one easy-to-navigate-in-a-short-amount-of-time continent.
