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These things about ''[[{{TOPLEVELPAGE}}]]'' are subjective - not everyone will agree with all of them.
== All Versions ==
* [[Elimination Houdini]]: There's usually one per season.
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** [[Eat That|Eating challenges]]. When it's not [[Foreign Queasine]], it's either eating a ''huge'' amount of it or eating it ''really fast''.
** [[Luck-Based Mission|Luck-based challenges]]; ''especially'' the infamous "Hay Bales". (see the American version)
== American Version ==
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** Cindy was either a neurotic [[Control Freak]] who saw herself as better than everyone else and had to be perfect at everything, or she was just a woman who was [[Freudian Excuse|over-pressurized into repeatedly having to prove herself and her relationship]] to her [[Education Mama]].
* [[Base Breaker]]: Some teams have garnered extremely polarized opinions in the fanbase:
** "Alpha Male" teams in general. As fansite [https://web.archive.org/web/20141231220844/http://www.tarflies.com/article.php?_f=detail&id=835 TARflies Times] put it: "A term of great confusion. Some folks define an "Alpha Male" team as one that is young-ish, fit, relatively intelligent, and aggressive in the way they run the Race. (Rob & Brennan from TAR1, for example, or Chris & Alex from TAR2.) Others use it to refer to any team of young, good-looking males, no matter what their Race attitude (Brian & Greg from TAR7 or BJ & Tyler from TAR9). For some it's simply a descriptor. For others, it's an insult. Some posters believe that a team of Alpha Males is a shoo-in to win, and would be happy if no more of them are ever cast. Others have no problem with them. Some TARflies regard them as eye-candy. Context is your best friend when you come across a reference to Alpha Males." The base breaking nature of these teams has been generally alleviated over time, as "Alpha Males" have only won twice since Season 4, the last one being Tyler & James in Season 10, meaning most modern viewers don't even realize why there is a bias against such teams.
** BJ & Tyler (Season 9) are the biggest example of this. Either you think that they're a quirky, lovable team that's fun to watch or an annoying, self-pretentious team that needs to stop mugging for the camera ASAP. There is no in-between. The majority of viewers fell into the first camp, but the ones that fell into the second camp instead were...[[Vocal Minority|quite vocal about it]].
*** It didn't help that, when they weren't chosen for All-Stars, they started whining about it online, complained about the validity of the teams chosen, and called themselves the most popular team to ever run the race ''and'' the "most winningest winners ever to win." That temper tantrum alone might have cost them their title as the most popular team to ever run the race.
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** The entire Top 4 from Season 14. Tammy & Victor, Jaime & Cara, Margie & Luke, and Kisha & Jen were all so polarizing, they had the fans split into four groups, not so much rooting for one team as they were rooting against the other three.
*** Jaime & Cara even cited themselves as such in the pre-race interviews for Unfinished Business, saying that they were a team people loved or hated, there was no middle ground with them.
** Maria & Tiffany were set up as Season 15's [[Designated Villain]] team from the get go, first when they decided to withhold that they were professional poker players who'd raked in millions in winnings, instead telling the other teams that they worked for a charity [[Half Truth|(which they did)]], then later when they were shown to get into an argument with fan favorites Zev & Justin. However, while the majority of the fanbase naturally disliked them, the [[
** Flight Time & Big Easy (Seasons 15 and 18), like BJ & Tyler, were a popular team with a small group of detractors, those who either thought they were trying, specifically and too hard, to be a fan favorite team, or else felt that "professional athletes" (as much as Harlem Globetrotters can be considered professional athletes) had no place on the Race. Made even worse when they came back for Unfinished Business, as they proceeded to consistently follow and leech information off of all the other teams. Though this strategy did not bother their fans, their detractors took issue with them "not running the race for themselves". Then they U-Turned the Cowboys, which pushed them into full on Base Breakers.
** Midway through Season 19, Andy & Tommy started talking about their Christianity while at a Buddhist temple, and were, to say, a bit narrow-minded in their commentary (as opposed to fellow Christian Jennifer, who said the temple, while not her religion, deserved the same amount of respect). This incident, along with being another [[Stunt Casting]] team (completely embodying what fans hated about Seasons 15 and 16), ''and'' the most blatant [[Expy|Expies]] of BJ & Tyler yet, caused a bit of a rift. And that's not even touching on the explosion caused by their elimination by cabbie collusion, with their fans upset that they were beaten by two teams who never figured out how to get to the Pit Stop on their own, and their detractors [[Call It Karma|calling it Karmic retribution]] for being so cocky when most of their wins had come more from other teams' mistakes and legs being specifically designed towards their strengths rather than their own racing skills.
** Brendon & Rachel, Season 20. While they had some fans migrate over from their stint(s) on ''[[Big Brother]]'', their presence was immediately dreaded by Race fans, and for good reason, too, as Rachel immediately turned into a whiny [[Attention Whore]]. That being said, seeing Rachel getting bullied by Art & JJ throughout the Race took a lot of the hatred off of her and put it squarely on the shoulders of Art & JJ. That and Rachel's constant meltdowns eventually ended up becoming some of the most-entertaining parts of that season's hated final four.
* [[Attention Whore]]: Rachel Reilly (Season 20), is the only woman outside of Flo (Season 3) who seems to cry at the drop of a hat, but unlike Flo, who seemed to be just mentally and physically exhausted, Rachel just seems to cry for the sake of getting attention.
* [[Broken Base]]: There's the [[
** Ask the fans to rank the seasons. Though there seem to be a few seasons that will hit the bottom of most people's lists (the oft forgotten Season 4, the Family Edition, and the [[Stunt Casting]] riddled Seasons 15 and 16), every single Season will hit the top of someone's list. Especially since most fans tend to favor one group of races over all the others:
** Seasons 1-4 have a freshness that the other seasons don't, as the lack of an established [[Metagame]] meant there was a lot more unpredictability than in later seasons, and teams would take bigger gambles without knowing whether they would pay off. Also, the lack of metagame meant there were dozens of racing styles employed by the teams, as opposed to the few that are employed in later seasons. There was more emphasis on teams exploring the game, with teams talking about their moves and strategies and how it affected their placement in the game, and heavy emphasis was put on how the teams interacted with each other. The clues, specifically figuring them out, were often more important than the actual tasks the teams had to do, with the emphasis being on the locations visited instead of what teams had to do at that location. Also, there were Fast Forwards on every leg (theoretically) giving every team one free pass per season, with the strategy of when to use it being a big deal.
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** Nat & Kat, Season 17.
* [[Internet Backdraft]]: Jet & Cord fans still hadn't dropped the whole "Dan & Jordan cutting in line" complaining a year later when the Cowboys returned for Unfinished Business.
* [[Love to Hate]] / [[Creator's Pet]]: Due to the [[Broken Base]] nature of the fandom, most of the [[Designated Villain]] teams will simultaneously fall under both of these categories (with the "[[
** Bill & Joe (1) broke every unwritten rule set up by the other teams on the first season and did everything they could to win, even going so far as to try to prevent three teams from making their flight by blocking security. At the same time, they established the basis for what would become the Race's [[Metagame]], and were by far the most memorable team from Season 1.
** Wil (2) spent the majority of the Race arguing with his separated wife Tara and irritating everyone else he came into contact with. He was also the single biggest driving force behind that season, even over fan favorites Danny & Oswald, and actually became something of a [[Jerkass Woobie]] when it became clear that Tara [[Not So Different|was no better than him (and even *worse* in some aspects)]].
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** Something similar happened to Kent & Vyxsin. They were a very popular team in Season 12, due to their wardrobe, their relationship, and their general quirk of being a pair of [[Perky Goths]], but by Unfinished Business they had turned from "quirky and loveable pair of goths" to "just another fighting dating couple" (which was exacerbated Kent's injury in leg 5), grated on the nerves of many viewers, and the majority of fans were happy to see them fall short of making the Final 4.
* [[Portmanteau Couple Name]] and [[Idiosyncratic Ship Naming]]: Applied to some of the teams either by the fans, or [[In-Universe|by other racers and the fans adopt them]]. Examples of portmanteau names are Momily (Nancy & Emily, the mother/daughter team from season 1), Heave (Heather & Eve from season 3), and Dandrew (Dan & Andrew from season 13). Idiosyncratic nicknames include Team Guido (Bill & Joe from Season 1, self-named after their pet dog), Team Cha Cha Cha (Oswald & Danny from Season 2), the Double-Ds or the Pinks (Dani & Danielle from Season 9; the latter name for their wardrobe, and the former given by another team as a play on their names (but with a dose of If You Know [[Buxom Is Better|What I Mean]])), and Team [[Glee]] (Jonathan and Connor from Season 17, as collegiate a capella singers).
* [[Rescued
** Dustin & Kandice, who went from being the most hated team at the midpoint of Season 10 to being the fan favorite on All-Stars when the editors started showing their "evil acts" were actually them caring more about running the race than socializing with the other teams.
** Ronald became Season 12's most hated team member after Episode 2 showed him acting like a complete [[Jerkass]] toward his daughter Christina, constantly heckling her in front of other teams, and even telling her that she needed to lose weight. He continued to berate Christina later on at times, but eventually pulled himself together enough to regain the respect of a significant portion of the fanbase.
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* [[Wangst]]: There was nothing Flo (3) couldn't manage to complain about and blow out of proportion. She even almost quit the Race on the penultimate leg, when it was already down to the final three teams.
** [[Big Brother|Rachel]] (Season 20). She somehow manages to cry in every ''single'' episode.
* [[What an Idiot!]]: Happens at least once every episode, especially when Killer Fatigue sets in for the teams. Just see Season 1, Episode 9 (or go to [[What an Idiot!/Live-Action TV/The Amazing Race|the
* [[The Woobie]]: Zach, Season 3. He came on the race with his friend Flo [[Relationship Upgrade|to see if they wanted to be more than friends]], but instead she spent the entire race flirting with another racer and verbally abusing him.
** Flo herself has some fans who see her as this, claiming that her periodic nervous breakdowns throughout the show are equal parts hilarious and endearing.
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** Linda (Season 14), especially when she got lost during the Roadblock on leg 2 and wandered way off course, you just wanted to give her a hug when she started crying.
** Vicki (Season 17), though mainly during their penultimate leg, where Nick was at his nastiest towards her and decided to take a nap at the Detour while Vicki (who had pretty much done all the hard work during that leg) continued to try until Nick convinced her to quit too.
== Foreign Versions ==
* [[Base Breaker]]: Marc & Rovilson (Asia Season 2) are possibly the biggest examples of this in any foreign version. They were similar to BJ & Tyler (US Season 9) in that they were either fun and lovable or annoying and needed to stop mugging for the camera. On top of that, with a total of eight first place finishes including seven consecutive wins, some people also began to dislike them for making the season so predictable. Their third place finish was either a depressing end to one of the best teams or a satisfying finale in which one of the most annoying teams got what they deserved.
* [[Designated Villain|Designated Villains]]: Played with and conversed: Jess & Lani became this near the end of Asia Season 4 not by [[Manipulative Editing]] (the team had remained relatively [[Out of Focus]] and obscure until they started leading the pack, not even a single hint that they were "villainous"), but due to fingers pointed by the remaining teams; they theorised that since that they were the only [[
** In Australia 2, it's Paul & Steve, though it's Paul more than Steve who is earning the [[Designated Villain]] tag by trash-talking the other teams (sometimes within earshot of the teams) and deliberately colliding with Dane to keep him from grabbing a pig during the first detour. He outright states in episode 2 that he prefers to let Steve talk to the other teams because Steve is more
* [[Elimination Houdini]]: Terri & Henry, Asia Season 2. They were consistently second-to-last place on several legs. Also, they were spared by two consecutive non-elimination legs despite the huge time deficit between the other racers.
** Tania & Ida, Asia Season 3. They were also spared by two consecutive non-elimination legs. The only difference is that they were able get through the final three.
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* [[That One Level|That One Task]]: Asia Season 1, Episode 3 had a Roadblock where one team member had to dig deep in sand to search for a mini surfboard. This proved so difficult that it took two hours for the ''first'' surfboard to be found, at least an hour and half more for two more surfboards to be found, ''well into the night'' for one especially unlucky racer to find her surfboard, and ''five'' out of nine teams gave up on the Roadblock entirely and went for the 4-hour penalty. (Although it wasn't helped by most team members somehow not thinking to use or ask for shovels until much later on.)
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