The Amazing Race: Difference between revisions

 

Not to be confused with [[Amazing Freaking Grace]], though that hasn't stopped some from making that pun [[Malcolm in The Middle|anyway]].

 

== All Versions ==

* [[Drives Like Crazy]]: Some cab drivers, especially in countries where traffic is prone to be like this in general. In US Season 4, Tian & Jaree's driver in India drove on the wrong side of the highway at night with his lights off.

** During US Season 3, while in Portugal, Andre & Damon were this ''without'' a driver:

* [[Eat That]]

** [[Foreign Queasine]]

* [[Graceful Loser]]: It's actually rare for a losing team ''not'' to be graceful in defeat, and many teams in the Final 3 are just happy having gotten to run the whole race.

* [[Hidden in Plain Sight]]: Clues are hidden this way all the time, though most notoriously in US Season 19, when the clue was a giant flashing sign written in Chinese that many of the teams spotted then disregarded at first.

* [[An Insert]]: Showing off clue packets and other items involved in tasks. [[Fan Nickname|Known as "Exposition Hands" by the fans.]]

* [[Jerkass]]: [[Once a Season|There's generally one every season]].

* [[Sadistic Choice]]: The producers learning how to balance Detours means that instead of choosing between a hard Detour and an easy one, there are now times when teams have to choose between two brutally hard ones.

* [[Scenery Porn]]: The world is a ''very'' beautiful place!

* [[Sibling Team]]: There's a couple of them every season.

* [[Standard Snippet]]: When coming across a musical task, expect it to involve one of these.

* [[Trailers Always Spoil]]: Both inverted and played straight, depending on the episode. The safest team on any given leg is ''usually'' the one made to look like they were in danger in the trailers at the end of the previous episode, which makes it all the more shocking when they play it absolutely straight.

* [[Travel Montage]]: Given that traveling is the main premise of the game...

* [[Vomit Discretion Shot]]: A part of most eating tasks. Occasionally a [[Vomit Indiscretion Shot]] (or, at times, as close as it could get without trying to cram the cameraman into the bathroom stall with the racer).

* [[We Wait]]: The producers are famous for subjecting the contestants to a variation of this trope (commonly referred to as "equalizers"). At the beginning of many legs of the race, Phil says "''Racer A'' and ''Racer B'', who arrived first at 1:53 p.m., will now depart at 1:53 a.m." (Actual times vary, of course.) And with the last place team, he says "''Racer M'' and ''Racer N'', who arrived at 4:14 p.m., will now depart at 4:14 a.m." Then the teams race to the airport to find that the first available flight to their destination doesn't leave until noon. Or they race to some local tourist trap that doesn't open until 10 a.m.

* [[I'm Not Here to Make Friends|We're Not Here To Make Friends]]

** In an attempt to make this easier on the viewers, when next to each other, such as on the mat, or in post-leg interviews, teams sit or stand in the same order as their names will appear on the screen. Meaning the racer whose name is first is always on the viewer's left.

* [[Whole Costume Reference]]: All the time with locals and Pit Stop Greeters.

* [[The World Is Just Awesome]]: Racers tend to react like this when the race brings them in the presence of great natural beauty. Of course, there's also the subversion, usually brought on by bad interactions with locals, where racers declare that foreign cultures ''suck''.

 

* [[Breather Episode|Breather Leg]]: Each of the first four seasons had a non-elimination leg between the final elimination leg and the finale. Since there were no penalties given out to teams saved by the non-elimination, most teams considered this a free leg, and on Season 3, Zach even deliberately threw the second-to-last leg just to appease Flo. The non-elimination leg in the Final 3 returned for Seasons 7 and 9, but with penalties in place for non-eliminated teams, it was no longer a [[Breather Episode|Breather Leg]].

** Though the penultimate leg in Season 17 was technically an elimination leg, the 4th place team had fallen 9 hours behind due to a penalty from the previous leg preventing them from making a flight. This basically made the leg a [[Breather Episode|Breather Leg]] for the other 3 teams, who could then treat the leg as a free non-elimination leg.

* [[Bowdlerise]]: Season 4, in most foreign airings there is no mention of Reichen & Chip being "married", plus their kiss at the Finish Line is edited out.

* [[Busmans Vocabulary]]: In Season 19, former NFL player Marcus can always be counted on to pull out a football metaphor.

** Flo Pesenti and Ian Pollack from Season 3, Jonathan Baker from Season 6, and Rob Mariano from Season 7 are all great examples.

* [[Clothes Make the Legend]]: Harlem Globetrotters Flight Time & Big Easy (15 & 18) at least acted as if this applied to them, as their entire race wardrobe consisted entirely of Globetrotter gear.

* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]: By accident (or maybe not), the Final 3 teams on Season 7 all ended up being associated with different color clothing (Uchenna & Joyce: yellow, Rob & Amber: red, Ron & Kelly: light blue). After that, teammates would generally wear same color shirts, if only for the first leg or so. Teams have started referring to each other by the colors of their shirts in the first leg (as teams are not allowed to interact prior to the start of the race), and even calling themselves "The <insert color here> team".

** Prior to this, teams were denoted by both numbers on their backpacks and different colored bandannas. However, the numbers were rarely, if ever seen, and the bandannas, when worn, were not always in a noticeable position, and often times were even completely discarded by the teams.

** Colin & Christie (5) had a streak of eight legs where they were only out of first place at two points (both following eating tasks in which they were passed by [[Big Eater|Chip and his bottomless stomach]]), and they won several legs by over an hour.

* [[Cutting the Knot]]: On Season 11, Danny became frustrated while doing a Roadblock that involved finding and collecting old newspapers from locals in a Malaysian neighborhood, so he just went to a store and bought a bunch of papers to complete the task (though this would cause them further problems later in the race).

* [[Dark Horse Victory]]: Dan & Jordan on Season 16. They did not get much attention preseason, and because Dan was vocal that he did not want to be on the race, and only came on because it was his brother’s dream, most people dismissed them right away, and they were a favorite to be eliminated on the first leg. They were never one of the strongest teams, nor were they one of the weakest. Their only win came while completing a Fast Forward, thus they mostly spent a lot of time in the middle of the pack, rarely thriving, rarely struggling, and were summarily dismissed by both the fans and the other racers. But when it came time for the final leg, they ran a perfect leg to beat "obvious favorites" Jet & Cord and "villains" Brent & Caite, who had finished 1-2 for the previous two legs.

** Kisha & Jen on Season 18. When the teams were announced for Unfinished Business, they were not one of the stronger teams that previously made the Final 3, nor were they one of the other notable fan favorites. In fact, most fans mostly remembered them either for Jen's fight with Luke, or Jen getting them eliminated when she stopped for a bathroom break in Season 14's penultimate leg. Though many considered them a good bet for early elimination, they hung around in the background for most of the Race, not creating any waves, while all of the high-profile teams eliminated themselves, and then made their move in the final leg to win it all.

''(cut to Christie and Nicole breaking down as they try to eat 2 lbs. of caviar)'' }}

*** A similar cut was done with Susan & Patrick (7) on their way to the 4 lbs. of meat Roadblock.

** Season 10, Episode 8:

{{quote| '''Tyler''' (at the Fast Forward): No team is going to finish a Detour and a Roadblock ahead of us.<br />

* [[Epic Fail]]: Dana & Adrian were eliminated from Season 16 without even completing a single task. While they were the third team to be eliminated without completing a leg, the other two were at legitimate elimination points, whereas Adrian was foiled by a Roadblock.

* [[Everyone Knows Morse]]: Averted by Joe & Heidi (16), who were then eliminated.

* [[Evil Gloating]]: Rob, on every episode he was on, on both Seasons 7 and 11.

** Caite in Season 16 obviously qualifies after having an axe to grind against Carol & Brandy since the start of the race, due to an insult she heard, not from the "mean lesbians" themselves, but second-hand through Louie & Michael. She finally got her chance to strike back by successfully U-Turning them, leading to their elimination. She gloated to the other teams at the airport in the very next leg as they waited to board their plane to Shanghai. It was from this point on that she was portrayed as the villain.

* [[Fatal Family Photo]]: Notably subverted on Season 20 with Mark & Bopper. In Episode 4, Bopper starts the leg by talking about his sick daughter back home, throwing up huge red flags that this is their [[Death in The Limelight]] episode. Through the rest of the leg, the trope appears to be being played straight, as they make a mistake that puts them on a flight an hour behind the other teams, and only see another team at one point. They roll into the Pit Stop last, give their final speeches to Phil, even have Art & JJ give them half of their prize money for the leg... only then to have Phil tell them it's a non-elimination leg (the longest he's ''ever'' drawn that announcement out).

* [[Fatal Flaw]]: For Colin (5) it was his ego, and Chip & Kim were able to exploit this to throw him off his game and steal victory away from what was, at the time, the most dominant racer the show had seen.

* [[Faux Action Girl]]: Most of the athletic female teams come off as this, especially when you consider that Kisha & Jen are the only ones to make the Top 4, which they did twice (Seasons 14 & 18). Generally, the strong physical female teams tend to get eliminated earlier than the ones who rely more on their intelligence.

* [[Fiery Redhead]]: Jaime, Seasons 14 & 18, to the point where her own teammate (also a redhead) was wary of setting her off.

** Vanessa & Ralph (20) favored "cheese and crackers" as their exclamation of choice.

* [[Ha Ha Ha No]]: The man holding the clues at the Estates Theater in Season 15 did this when a team gave him the incorrect item.

* [[Half Truth]]: Discussed by Marcus in the Season 19 premiere when talking about keeping that he had been a professional football player a secret. Technically, as a tight end, it was his job to protect the quarterback, so it was not lying to say he was in "protection," and as he was retired at that point, if asked if he was a football player, it was technically correct if he said no.

* [[Hide Your Gays]]: Despite the Race including at least one openly gay racer in most seasons, there are still racers that they never mention are gay, such as Luke (14 & 18), Kisha (14 & 18), Aaron (3), and Ari (13), though in Ari's case it was probably never divulged because he was eliminated in the first leg, as his sexual orientation was openly discussed in the Elimination Station videos.

* [[High School Sweethearts]]: a big part of Meghan & Cheyne's (15) story.

** Charla & Mirna (5 & 11) were a less severe case of this, but that still didn't stop them from condemning the other teams for being untrustworthy and back-stabbing them. Season 5 even saw Mirna rant that all the other teams were jealous of them. Their "feud" with Dustin & Kandice (11) was full of this.

* [[Hollywood Atlas]]: A lot of the challenges are stereotypical of the current location. (eating caviar in [[Glorious Mother Russia|Russia]], climbing the Eiffel Tower in [[Gay Paree|Paris]], throwing a boomerang in [[Land Down Under|Australia]], selling beer in [[Oktoberfest|Germany]], etc.)

** [[Viva Las Vegas]]: Season 15's finale took place in Vegas. It involved traveling from casino to casino, an Elvis impersonator in a wedding chapel, a visit to Cirque de Soleil, Wayne Newton, and counting out a million dollars in poker chips. The season also featured Maria & Tiffany, a pair of professional poker players (however, they were eliminated before the finale).

* [[Holy Backlight]]: In Season 5, used on, of all things, an airport departures board when Brandon & Nicole were talking about their faith. To underline the effect, they also added a sound effect of a heavenly choir. On the next leg, the same sound effect was used, along with a shot of a line of white-robed nuns descending an escalator, when Brandon & Nicole were able to secure seats on an earlier flight that hadn't been available the day before.

* [[If You Can Read This]]: The final challenge of Season 16 required the teams to place psychedelic posters of the eliminated teams in the order of their elimination. They also had to place three posters representing the three non-elimination legs. These posters featured host Phil Keoghan's complete [[Opening Narration]] that was played along with the show's opening theme in Season 1.

* [[Important Haircut]]/[[Bald Women]]: Joyce shaving her head for the Fast Forward in Season 7, which was the point at which Uchenna & Joyce [[Out of Focus|stepped out of the background]] and became serious contenders.

* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: Mel (Seasons 14 & 18) liked to pull these out:

{{quote| '''Mike''': Do you speak any Thai, dad?<br />

** Meghan & Cheyne (15) were played as this, though most fans didn't buy into the "hero" part.

** Season 19's Andy & Tommy were a subversion. Though they did win six of the first ten legs prior to their elimination, and though their dominance was constantly talked about, so was the fact that they were insanely lucky, and that half of their wins were due to the team(s) in front of them incurring penalties.

* [[Ironic Nickname]]: Team Guido (Bill & Joe, Season 1) was a pair of middle-aged, cultured gay men, who nicknamed themselves after their dog.

* [[It Seemed Like a Good Idea At The Time]]: The producers said this about the Family Edition.

* [[Its the Principle of The Thing]]: During Season 5, Colin became furious at a cab driver in Tanzania for making them lose their lead by driving on a spare tire and having a blowout. He refused to pay the full $100 fare, instead offering only $50. Despite the urging of Christie, the other teams, and the airport staff to pay the fare, he continued to refuse, getting the police involved, and coming perilously close to becoming the first contestant to be arrested during the race. He finally paid the fare just because he didn't want to miss his flight.

* [[Just Friends]]: Zach & Flo, Season 3.

** It happened to them again on All-Stars. Even before winning the first three legs, Rob's ego was flying as high as ever, [[Tempting Fate|and he was already declaring them the winners]]. Then every single thing went wrong for them on leg four, and Rob had to watch as Charla & Mirna made up a twenty minute deficit to pass them at the Roadblock.

* [[Laughing Mad]]: Season 8, during a [[Blindfolded Trip|mystery bus trip]] on the third leg, through a combination of exhaustion and frustration, Rebecca Weaver absolutely lost it as she recounted their day. When the bus stopped for them to eat at a Waffle House, she started dancing in the parking lot with her mother while all the other teams looked on in shock. Then they got on the bus and the whole family joined in as she started singing. You know things are bad when the 10-year-old looks afraid for his life.

** Several teams on All-Stars seemed very aware of this, as teams were very cordial towards the beginning of the race (except for teams like Rob & Amber and Dustin & Kandice, who just didn't care, and Mirna, who was so self-righteous she didn't realize how she was coming off). Most teams seemed to forget about this very quickly, however.

* [[Manly Gay]]: Reichen & Chip (Season 4)

* [[The Maze]]: The Season 5 finale.

* [[Meditating Under a Waterfall]]: A Season 18 Detour featured this.

* [[Miracle Rally]]: In leg 10 of Season 14, Jaime & Cara, despite winning the first half of the Super Leg, got lost twice looking for clues on the second half of the leg, almost guaranteeing their elimination. Kisha & Jen got lost themselves, and got U-Turned, but still went into the Roadblock with a huge lead on the cheerleaders. Things looked over until Jen struggled with the [[Foreign Queasine]] Roadblock, then had herself a [[Potty Emergency]]. Meanwhile, Jaime & Cara got an amazing cab driver, Cara blazed through the Roadblock, and they managed to steal the last spot in the Final 3 while Jen was in the bathroom.

** Kelly & Jon started leg 9 of Season 4 in last place, missed the "operating hours" equalizer that evened out all the other teams, got majorly lost while trying to find the first clue, and tried to opt for the Fast Forward only to have to drive all the way back to the Detour location due to Chip & Reichen already having taken it. However, a sleep-deprived Chuck & Millie became so lost that Kelly & Jon ended up arriving at the Roadblock the ''exact same time'' as them, managed to complete the Roadblock just barely ahead of them, and beat them in a footrace to the Pit Stop.

*** Speaking of Season 7, Debbie & Bianca came close, but ultimately failed, in leg 3. They got lost early in the leg, drove two hours in the wrong direction, and then had to drive two more to get back on course. Still, when they got to the four pounds of meat Roadblock, there were still four teams sitting there (three having already quit the challenge, while the fourth was contemplating it). Debbie scarfed down her four pounds of meat (and received the only compliment Rob gave out on the entire season), yet they were ultimately eliminated by a matter of minutes.

*** Yet another example from Season 7: Brian & Greg looked done for in leg 5 after their jeep overturned and left them stranded and their cameraman injured, but Ray & Deana spent so long on the Detour that they were still there when the brothers finally arrived. Brian & Greg wisely went with the Detour choice Ray & Deana ''weren't'' bogged down in, completed it quickly enough to leave right on Ray & Deana's tail, and beat them in a footrace to the mat.

'''Nat''' (in a voice over): For the record, I have an MD, I do not have a PhD. }}

* [[Nothing Can Stop Us Now]]: Rob (7), after the elimination of Lynn & Alex in 5th place, as he saw them as the only real competition left between him and the million dollars. Of course, he, like the audience, [[Out of Focus|overlooked Uchenna & Joyce lurking in the background...]]

** Nary & Jamie had one on leg 7 of Season 20 when they stopped on the side of the road to watch a herd of elephants. They were then non-eliminated.

* [[Obfuscating Disability]]: Lori & Bolo tried this at the beginning of Season 6. Luckily, they dropped it quickly.

** [[Intergenerational Friendship]]: Examples include "wonder twins" Derek & Drew and balding middle-aged brothers Ken & Gerard in Season 3, married African-American couple Chip & Kim and blonde twins Kami & Karli in Season 5, bickering young couple Brent & Caite and middle-aged cops Louie & Michael in Season 16.

* [[Oddly Named Sequel]]: Seasons 8 ("Family Edition"), 11 ("All-Stars"), and 18 ("Unfinished Business").

* [[One Steve Limit]]: Averted, as almost every season has at least two racers with the same name.

** Season 4 had the team Amanda & Chris, while Seasons 14 & 18 featured the team of Amanda & Kris.

** Leg 7 of Season 16 had a "7" theme, including a sponsored prize by 7-Up at the end of the leg.

** Season 18 included a leg in India with a lot of tea-themed tasks, sponsored by Snapple. In a subversion, they resisted the urge to plug Snapple at every opportunity and didn't even explain that the teas used were Snapple-brand until the finish line. Zig-zagged when one clue was a bottle of iced tea, as the bottles were unlabeled but the racers still recognized them; Jen and Kisha even thought they had to find a Snapple factory until they found the real clue under the cap.

** In general, seasons often have Ford loan cars for a leg for the contestants to drive, in exchange for the show going out of its way to point out that the cars were made by Ford (usually once near the beginning when they get to the cars, and again at the Pit Stop) and usually including a challenge designed to show off some aspect of the car model being used.

* [[Promoted Fanboy]]: [[In-Universe|Being a huge fan of the show was a major part of the story lines for both Luke on Season 14, and Jordan (the male one) on Season 16.]] For Jordan, his race knowledge even turned into a [[Chekhov's Skill]] in the finale, when he used it to beat out the dangerous team of Jet & Cord.

* [[Revenge Before Reason]]: Late in Season 6, Freddy & Kendra got to the Yield first, and decided to use it on Adam & Rebecca for U-Turning them earlier in the season, this is despite of also being in front of the much stronger Kris & Jon. Even Kris & Jon pointed out that they should have been the target of the Yield.

** Brent & Caite U-Turning "mean lesbians" Brandy & Carol on Season 16, even though Jet & Cord were also behind them.

* [[Romance On the Set]]: After Season 12, Christina (of "Ronald &") got engaged to Azaria (of "& Hendekea"); this was mentioned during Christina's appearance on Unfinished Business. This belongs here instead of [[Token Romance]] as, though they were allies during the race, their romance was never mentioned.

* [[Rule of Cool]]: The Season 14 premiere had the teams bungee jumping off of the dam from the beginning of ''[[Goldeneye (Film)|Goldeneye]]''. As it was the only task in that part of Switzerland, sandwiched between two train rides, the Roadblock was there simply to allow the racers to emulate [[James Bond]].

** In Season 20, ''[[Big Brother]]'' Rachel due to her constantly throwing fits over the smallest inconveniences and being snide towards the other teams. Of the other four of the final five teams, three hated them and one (Bopper & Mark) was ambivalent. Even ''Phil himself'' tweeted "[https://twitter.com/#!/PhilKeoghan/status/194220979239657473 It just wouldn’t feel right if @RachelEReilly didn’t throw a fit]".

* [[Secret Chaser]]: Around the mid-point of Season 20, Art & JJ figured out that Federal Agents Nary & Jamie were not teachers, like they claimed to be, and started telling all the other teams that they're cops of some sort. When they confronted Nary & Jamie about it, the girls knew their cover was blown, but kept to the lie just to annoy Art & JJ.

** Ken & Gerard (Season 3) did this to each other throughout the race, garnering several memorable quips, like when Ken was repelling down a cliff in Portugal and his brother replied with:

{{quote| '''Gerard''': "Just pretend there's a dozen glazed doughnuts at the bottom!"}}

** In the next leg, Oswald & Danny, while waiting for a booking agency to secure them flights, took time off to shop, refreshing themselves and distancing themselves from the more cutthroat teams. The net result? They got the first flight out, drove in luxury to the airport, and came in an easy first on that leg.

* [[Signature Line]]: Colin's "My ox is ''broken!'' This is bull****!" from Season 5. ''My Ox Is Broken'' even became the name of a tie-in anthology book.

** Dustin & Kandice with Lyn & Karlyn on Season 10, then with Charla & Mirna on Season 11.

** Brandy and Caite on Season 16, though this was a much less enjoyable rivalry.

** Vanessa and "[[Big Brother]]" Rachel on Season 20, with Vanessa being the obvious instigator with her frequent shots at Rachel.

* [[The Slacker]]: Eric (9 and 11) & Jeremy (9) stated that they were this.

** Lance, Season 15, bragging about his [[Informed Ability]], only to fall short very early in the race.

** Laurence (Season 19) liked to constantly let the cameras know how much better he would have done everything than his son, and was shown to be nearly insufferable any time he interacted with the other teams.

* [[Spoiler Opening]]: Season 1's opening titles showed actual locations teams would be going to and tasks they would be doing, making it quite easy to work out whether certain teams were going to make it through to the next leg of the race. It was not until Season 14 that they started to show shots from the season during the credits again, and then they were only ever shots from the current or previous episodes.

** Early seasons included the phrases "Who will be eliminated... tonight?" and "The last team to the Pit Stop will be eliminated," and any deviation was an instant tip-off that it was a non-elimination leg. Production quickly made it standard procedure to use ambiguous language ("Who will be eliminated... ''next''?" and "The last team to the Pit Stop ''may'' be eliminated."). Even the teams picked up on this, and it was pointed out by Tara & Wil in Season 2.

** The first three episodes of Season 2 focused almost entirely on [[Love to Hate|Tara & Wil]] and "Gustsy Grannies" Peggy & Claire (to the point where Danny & Oswald, one of the most popular teams to ever run the Race, [[Out of Focus|had almost no airtime]]). While Tara & Wil, [[Designated Villain|as that season's villains]], was at least understandable, Peggy & Claire spent their three legs time in the back of the pack, and were probably only included as a "feel good story" (they even got a montage of the other teams gushing about them upon their elimination).

** Charla & Mirna at the beginning of Season 5 (though not so much during Season 11). Being the Race's first [[Inspirationally Disadvantaged]] team, they were naturally featured heavily during advertising, and had by far the most airtime in the first several legs (until Colin became the much more interesting racer). They later became the only team to finish lower than fourth to make their season's DVD cover, displacing a team who made the Final 3.

** Bopper & Mark were also good ol' Kentucky boys, and widely considered vastly preferable to the more aggressive personalities of the four teams that outlasted them in Season 20.

** Though more West than South, Jet & Cord gave off a similar vibe in Seasons 16 and 18.

* [[Talkative Loon]]: Ronald (12 and 18), ''especially'' in leg 2 of Season 12, when he told his daughter to be a "happy leaping monkey". Sometimes it was hard to tell if his English was just that bad, or he really was crazy.

{{quote| '''Ronald''': I'm optimistic with that real truth flavor.}}

*** Invoked yet again later in the season by yet another Rachel (this one of Rachel & Dave). Even stranger in that they actually ended up winning the season.

* [[What a Drag]]: Early in Season 10, Kandice was thrown from her horse, and was dragged for several seconds before her foot came free from the stirrup.

** Everything Joe & Bill did on Season 1 (outside of attempting to block security to prevent three teams from making their plane) falls into this. Everything else "evil" they did is now considered basic strategy.

** The Season 16 finale is probably the single biggest example of this trope the Race has ever seen. Specifically, not many had a real strong opinion of brothers Dan & Jordan prior to the finale, that was until they cut in front of fan favorites Jet & Cord at the Shanghai Airport. Most Jet & Cord fans (especially casual fans) let lose the cries of, "Cheaters!" and decried the show for letting two such heinous villains cheat their way to victory, while others simply realized that the cutting in line was of no real benefit to Dan & Jordan outside of throwing the Cowboys off their game (What really won them the game was a combination of taking the initiative to move up to first class during the flight to San Francisco, and Jet & Cord [[Failed a Spot Check|completely falling apart during the Industrial Light & Magic task]]). Some were still complaining about it a year later when Jet & Cord returned for Unfinished Business, not that the show itself helped matters, as "Dan & Jordan cutting in line" was repeatedly cited as the main reason for Jet & Cord losing.

** In Season 20, JJ frequently bitched and moaned about other racers taking certain actions, acting personally offended when they didn't do what he liked. The "high" point has to be when he and Art talked to Rachel & Dave about U-Turning Brendon & Rachel; but when the opportunity came up Rachel & Dave declined on grounds that it would be wasted with Nary & Jamie so far behind. Art & JJ were able to use the U-Turn on Brendon & Rachel themselves, but JJ still acted like Rachel & Dave had broken some sacred contract.

** Mika (15) was afraid of both water and heights, and so she was eliminated when she refused to go down a waterslide.

** Nat & Kat (17) both had to face their fears in the same episode. Nat had to deal with her fear of heights, while vegetarian Kat had to eat half a sheep's head to win the Fast Forward. Nat had to deal with heights again later in the season finale.

* [[Ambiguous Gender]]: AD & Fuzzie, Asia Season 3. At first glance, they look like two male friends competing. But they are actually females.

* [[Anticlimax]]: The finale of Asia's fourth season was one. One of the teams was on a flight that arrived hours after the other two teams, and half-way through the episode the team that was in second quit the Roadblock and took a 4-hour penalty.

* [[Baby Talk]]: Joey (Australia 1) had an annoying habit of talking this way to non-English speakers, as if it would make them understand better. Instead, it came off as demeaning.

* [[Badass Grandpa]]: Jeff (Australia 1), 60 years old, thrived on a very physically intensive season (though not so much on the mental tasks).

* [[Book Ends]]: The Norwegian version began and ended at Holmenkollbakken in Oslo.

* [[The Cameo]]: Paula, a contestant from Asia Season 2 was the greeter of the first leg of ''Amazing Race Asia'' 3.

* [[Hot Amazon]]: In episode 8 of Australia Season 1, Renae got frustrated herding sheep into a pen, so she just picked them up and lifted them over the side of the pen.

* [[Hot Dad]]: Luke of Australia Season 1's Jeff & Luke isn't that bad looking for a 30-year-old father. Sam & Renae seemed to notice this too.

* [[Humiliation Conga]]: In their second-to-last leg in Australia Season 1, Richard & Joey shaved their heads to win a Fast Forward, then in the next leg dropped from first to last after getting their car bogged in a mud pit, Richard hammered his own thumb during a building Detour, they were U-Turned, and finally got a stubborn goat that cost them the race.

* [[Informed Ability]]: Matt's (Australia 1) ability to shoot. Apparently he's been shooting things since the age of four, but he performed poorly on the skeet shooting Detour, and was the only contestant to use all his arrows on the archery Roadblock without completing the task, and had to resort to begging the other teams for their unused arrows.

** Sticky, Australia Season 2, was born without his left forearm.

* [[Intergenerational Friendship]]: In Australia Season 1, Blonde models Renae & Sam and married bikers Dave & Kelly.

** Richard & Joey managed to piss everyone else off in the early legs of Australia Season 1. In South Africa, their four wheel drive got bogged, allowing all the other teams to pass them, and consequently Tyler & Nathan to U-Turn them. Even though they managed to catch up to Mo & Mos, the goat they needed to take to the witch-doctor didn't want to move, resulting in them coming last and being eliminated.

* [[Leitmotif]]: Hannah & Margalit of Israel Season 1 had their own Klezmer-style theme.

** Hannah & Margalit of the Israeli version were forced to quit the race after Margalit suffered a severe abdominal infection in leg 5 and was rushed to hospital. She recovered soon after they were removed from competition, and thus were able to [[Back for The Finale|return for the finale.]]

** Perri & Maristela of the Brazilian version, despite being the strongest team in the season, quit the mandatory eating task in the finale resulting in them being disqualified, reasoning that the cold temperature and number of times they were vomiting wasn't worth it.

* [[One Steve Limit]]: Averted, Asia Season 4 had a team whose names are Richard & Richard, Latin America Season 1 had a mother/daughter team who were both named Casilda, and Latin America Season 2 had a father/son team both named Edison.

* [[Only Known By Their Nickname]]: Sticky (Australia 2).

* [[Shopping Montage]]: Jess & Lani, Asia Season 4. According to the recap episode, Jess & Lani used their begging and flirting skills to get money just to buy wardrobe. Let's just say they have done this pretty much most the legs.

* [[Theme Twin Naming]]: Averted with Nicolás & Cristóbal (Latin America 3), Frank & Ivar (Norge), and Michelle & Jo (Australia 2).

** At the start of the race, Sahran had a list of phobias. He's afraid of snakes, deep water, public bathrooms and finally heights. During the interview, his childhood trauma of being stuck in a coconut tree had scarred him for life. Well, during their entire duration of their race, Sahran rappelled down from an 8-story building mall in Malaysia, grabbed the clue from a cage full of Anacondas in Indonesia and finally he rock-climbed a cliff at Thailand. As a result, lots of crying ensued. But, hey, at least he did the tasks without quitting.