The Amazing Race 30


The Amazing Race 30 is the thirtieth installment of the American reality television show The Amazing Race. It features eleven teams of two in a race around the world for a US$1 million grand prize. The season premiered on January 3, 2018, airing in CBS's Wednesday 8:00 pm EST time slot for a month before moving to the 9:00 pm slot from February 7 due to the premiere of Celebrity Big Brother. The 2-hour season finale aired on February 21, 2018.
Dating reality stars Cody Nickson and Jessica Graf were the winners of this season of the Race, making them the first team previously cast on Big Brother to win The Amazing Race.

Production and filming

Development

As seen before in the twenty-fifth and twenty-seventh seasons, the show's website announced they would begin filming on October 1, 2017, at Washington Square Park in New York City, and invited fans to join them as they saw the new teams off.
This season introduced "Head-to-Head" competitions, pitting two teams directly against one another. Such competitions already appeared in several international versions of the show. Additionally for the first time, teams swapped partners with another team and ran most of a leg with them instead.
This season has the fewest episodes than any other American series at eight. For four weeks during the season's eight-week run, two legs each aired on one, 2-hour episode. Normally a 12-leg season has either 12 episodes for each leg, or 11 episodes with only one 2-hour special episode.
This season was the first time The Amazing Race visited Bahrain.
The Express Pass, which has been a feature of every season since its inception in The Amazing Race 17, did not appear in this season.

Casting

While the team of Big Brother houseguests Jessica Graf and Cody Nickson from the recently concluded Season 19 was announced earlier, the full cast of 11 teams of two was revealed on December 7, 2017. Among these include former NBA players Cedric Ceballos and Shawn Marion, IndyCar racers Conor Daly and Alexander Rossi, freestyle skiers Kristi Leskinen and Jen Hudak, Well-Strung members Trevor Wadleigh and Chris Marchant, and competitive eaters Joey Chestnut and Tim Janus.
April Gould from Team Goat Yoga previously competed on Season 7 and Season 9 of American Ninja Warrior but failed to make it past the qualifier for both seasons.
At the Pit Stop of Leg 5, Lucas Bocanegra proposed to Brittany Austin, who accepted, becoming the fourth team to do so after Hayden & Aaron from The Amazing Race 6, Chad & Stephanie from The Amazing Race 17, and Matt & Ashley from The Amazing Race 26.

Results

As announced by CBS, the following teams participated in the Race. Each team is listed with the unique hashtag team name that the show's graphics use to identify them.
  1. Cedric & Shawn initially arrived 8th, but were issued a 30-minute penalty upon reaching the Pit Stop because Cedric provided illegal assistance at the Roadblock. Eric & Daniel checked in during their penalty time, dropping Cedric & Shawn to 9th.
  2. April & Sarah and Dessie & Kayla arrived at the mat nearly simultaneously. Because Dessie was the last person to physically step on the mat, Dessie & Kayla were eliminated.
  3. At the Leg 5 Pit Stop, after coming in first, Lucas proposed to Brittany. She accepted, and they were engaged for the rest of the Race.
  4. Teams had to swap partners for a duration of the leg. Cody paired with Jen, Jessica paired with Kristi, Lucas paired with Conor, Brittany paired with Alex, Henry paired with Eric, and Evan paired with Daniel. Because of this, in order to check in at the Pit Stop, team members had to reunite with their original partner. Cody & Jen arrived 1st, Brittany & Alex arrived 2nd, Lucas & Conor arrived 3rd, Daniel & Evan arrived 4th, Eric & Henry arrived 5th, and Jessica & Kristi arrived last. Teams swapped back to their original partners once both partners checked in.
  5. Lucas realized that he lost his passport while on a connecting flight from Zimbabwe to Bahrain. As a result, Lucas & Brittany did not arrive in Bahrain until many hours after all the other teams had already checked in at the Pit Stop. When they arrived at the Dhow Shipyard, Phil met them to inform them of their elimination.
  6. After all the other teams had already checked in at the Pit Stop, Alex & Conor were still at Lan Kwai Fong, and Phil went to see them to inform them of their elimination.

    Episode title quotes

Episode titles are often taken from quotes made by the racers.
  1. "You're a Champion, Prove It" – Cedric
  2. "You're the Best French Fry Ever" – Trevor
  3. "It's Gonna Be a Fragrant Day" – Trevor
  4. "Gotta Put Your Sole Into it" – Eric
  5. "The Claws Are Out" – Evan
  6. "All's Fair in Love and War" – Brittany
  7. "The First Rule of Amazing Race Club" – Conor
  8. "It's Just a Million Dollars, No Pressure" – Jessica

    Prizes

The prize for each leg was awarded to the first place team for that leg. Trips were provided by Travelocity. The prizes were:

Leg 1 (United States → Iceland)

Airdate: January 3, 2018
For the first Roadblock of the Race, one team member had to ride an off-road buggy driven by a professional driver in the foothills of Mount Esja. Without taking notes, the team member had to memorize 11 Icelandic letters placed along the riverbed, and was left to notice that each letter had a number denoting its order in the solution. They then had to arrange tiles with those letters in the correct order to spell out their next destination, Ingólfstorg, to receive their next clue.
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Airdate: January 10, 2018
In this leg's Roadblock, teams had to make their way to Antwerp's waterfront to find the "SkyClimb," a crane with four suspended rope ladders. There, one team member had to climb to the top of a free hanging ladder while a crane raised teams upwards to retrieve the next clue before the ride ended.
The first Detour of the Race was a choice of Old Print or Diamond Glint. In Old Print, teams made their way to the Plantin-Moretus Museum. Once there, teams had to arrange type pieces following the example of a provided clue keeping in mind that the type pieces needed to be arranged in a mirror image of their clue. They then had to carry their template to be printed using a printing press. If the printed paper's message matched the provided clue exactly, teams would be given the message as their next clue. In Diamond Glint, teams traveled to the ADC Building within the Antwerp diamond district. Once there, teams had to evaluate three diamonds based on their carat, color, and clarity. After weighing and measuring the diamonds and establishing a base rate, teams had to find any imperfections and discolorations and deduct from their values accordingly based on a provided formula. When teams correctly calculated the total value of all three diamonds and added the value to the price of an unfinished necklace, they would receive their next clue.
In the first Head-to-Head of the Race, two teams had to compete against each other in a "Frietrace." After both members of each team donned French fry costumes, each team had to nominate one member to run an obstacle course while pushing a dolly with eight bags of frites. Bags of frites that fell off had to be replaced before continuing. A team could immediately check in at the nearby Pit Stop after winning a heat, while the losing team had to wait until the next team arrived. Unlike Roadblocks, losing teams could alternate racers between heats. The team that lost the final heat was eliminated from the Race.
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Airdate: January 17, 2018
In this leg's Roadblock, one team member had to navigate the streets and rooftops of Tangier, similar to a scene from The Bourne Ultimatum. They first made their way to the roof of the American Legation Museum, where the Travelocity Roaming Gnome would zip-line over the city to another rooftop. Team members had to navigate the city's narrow streets to find the roof where the Roaming Gnome landed. When they found the gnome, they were instructed to travel to the Kasbah Museum, where they would perform the same task. After finding the gnome for a second time, team members were instructed to find a payphone at a Tele Boutique, where they had to use the coins in the gnome's pouch to operate the phone and listen to the Arabic phrase for Good Morning, Sabah al-khair. After reiterating this phrase to the shopkeeper, he would hand them their next clue, which they could only open after reuniting with their partner back in the Kisariate Jbala Souk.
This leg's Detour was a choice between Drop it Off and Shake it Off. In Drop it Off, teams had to travel to a food wholesalers' truck within Grand Socco and pick up crates of squash, chickens, and oranges. Dragging their crates along the ground, they had to deliver specified items to three locations, where they would receive a receipt stamped with one of the three words in the name of the Pit Stop. Once they completed all three deliveries, teams could exchange the receipts for their next clue. In Shake it Off, teams had to travel to the Manounia Palace Restaurant and put on traditional belly dancing attire. They then had to dance among the dancers and musicians in the restaurant while searching for the three words in the name of the Pit Stop. Once teams gave the three correct words to the waiter, he would hand them their next clue.
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Airdate: January 24, 2018
For their Speed Bump, Cedric & Shawn had to stack a set of fifteen Optimist dinghies in numerical order before they could continue racing.
In this leg's Roadblock, one member had to attach a sail to an Optimist dinghy, then sail across the bay without being given any prior lessons and with the boat's rudder removed. Team members had to sail their boat to a set of two buoys, each containing one half of their next clue. If they could grab the two clue halves, they could return to the shore to reunite with their partner and open their next clue.
This leg's Detour was a choice between Bread or Tread. In Bread, teams made their way to La Tarte Tropézienne, where had to form 50 baguettes from of dough to the satisfaction of the baker. In Tread, teams made their way to Sandales Tropéziennes, where each team member had to correctly make a Tropezienne sandal. After either task, teams had to deliver a baked baguette or a finished pair of sandals to a person in a restaurant to receive their next clue.
In this leg's Head-to-Head at Place des Lices, two teams competed in a game of pétanque. With one team using black metal balls and the other white, each team member would roll three boules to try to get it as close as possible to a smaller ball on the field known as a jack. Once all team members had taken their turns, the team whose ball was closest to the jack was the winner and could check in at the Pit Stop. The team that lost the final game was eliminated from the Race.

Leg 5 (France)

Airdate: January 24, 2018
In this leg's Roadblock, one team member had to correctly build a trebuchet from supplied parts following an example and to the satisfaction of a soldier to receive their next clue. For the duration of the task, the non-participating team member would be held in a stockade.
This leg's Detour was a choice between Full of Bull or Colorful. In Full of Bull, teams had to check satchels on 100 artificial bulls scattered around the stands of the Arles Amphitheatre to find a total of three ribbons, one in each of the colors of the French flag: one blue, one white, and one red. Once teams found all three, they could exchange them with the bullfighter in the ring for their next clue. In Colorful, teams traveled to the recreated Pont Van Gogh. There, they found a replica of one of Vincent van Gogh's paintings of the original Langlois Bridge at Arles, which was actually an elaborate sliding puzzle, requiring them to slide elements of the painting in a specific sequence in order to unlock the easel and retrieve their clue inside.
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Airdate: January 31, 2018
This leg's Blind Detour was a choice between This and That, where teams would only learn about the task they chose once they arrived at the task location. In This, teams traveled to the Staropramen Brewery, where they discovered that they had to properly re-stack a pallet of empty beer kegs, searching for the one keg that was full. They then had to tap the keg and properly pour a mug to the satisfaction of the brewmaster. Once approved, they finally had to navigate the streets of Prague transporting the keg on a hand truck to Vltava and find Fidelio, leaving them to figure out that Vltava is the name of the river flowing through Prague and "Fidelio" was the name of a floating vessel docked along Náplavka Riverbank. After successfully delivering the keg, they would receive their next clue from the captain. In That, teams traveled to the astronomy hall at Charles University, where they discovered that they had to listen to two lecturers in English, one debating that the Earth is round and the other that it is flat. Without taking any notes, they had to pass an oral exam by answering these questions: What is the distance in miles that Copernicus calculated between the earth and the sun? ; What is the name of the second lecturer? ; Which planet did Copernicus say was the second farthest from the sun? ; What is the law which causes objects to disappear as they move away from us? ; Question not shown ; Up to how many miles away can a lighthouse be seen? ; What year did Copernicus publish his astronomical model? ; Is the earth round or flat?. Once teams answered every question correctly, the professor would hand them their next clue.
The leg's Roadblock was a Switchback to Season 15, where one team member had to enter a room filled with hundreds of ringing telephones and search for the eight that had a person on the other end of the line. A voice from each phone would give the team member one word of a Franz Kafka quote, "The meaning of life is that it stops". Without taking notes, team members had to memorize the eight words then write them in the correct order on a provided form to receive their next clue.
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Airdate: February 7, 2018
This leg's Detour was a choice between Rhino Track and Bush Whack, each with a limit of three stations. In Rhino Track, teams had to ride horses with a guide along a marked path through the reserve, along the way spotting and collecting eight pieces of evidence left behind by poachers in designated locations. Once all eight were collected, they returned to the starting point to receive a map of the reserve with photographs of the locations and had to correctly place all eight items on the map matching their respective locations to receive their next clue. In Bush Whack, teams had to drive an off-road vehicle along a marked course to pick up supplies, including a full canteen of water, at a designated point. The course then continued through two mud bogs, which they had to wade through to determine the best point at which to cross, then attempt to drive the vehicle through the bogs without getting stuck. Once through, teams would arrive at a ranger station, where they had to dig up an empty canteen and bury the full one they picked up earlier in its place. After returning to the starting point, teams received their next clue.
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Airdate: February 7, 2018
This leg's Detour was a choice between Handle with Care and Just Get it There. In Handle with Care, teams traveled to Eastgate Mall, where they made their way to the mail room. Once there, they received a total of seven large packages to carry and deliver to various businesses around the mall. After delivering each, they were given outgoing mail to return to the mail room. Once all the deliveries were complete, teams would receive their next clue. In Just Get it There, teams had to locate Magaba Tyres to pick up one small tire and one large truck tire. Then, teams had to roll them through the market onto the back of a waiting marked truck parked near Cameron Hardware to receive their next clue.
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Airdate: February 14, 2018
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Airdate: February 14, 2018
This leg's Detour was a choice between Size It or Seize It. In Size It, teams had to travel to Patara Elephant Farm, where they would calculate the height and weight measurements of an elephant while in the presence of her calf. If the veterinarian deemed their measurements to be correct, teams would ride their elephant along a trail and feed it to get their next clue. In Seize It, teams had to catch 20 bullfrogs in a flooded rice paddy to receive their next clue.
In this leg's Roadblock, one team member had to consume three cooked scorpions and a bullfrog to receive their next clue. For the duration of the task, the non-participating team member would have to stand with live scorpions crawling on them.
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Airdate: February 21, 2018
For their Speed Bump, Henry & Evan had to light and place flameless candles into 40 hung paper lanterns before they could continue racing.
This leg's Detour was a choice between Hairy Crab or Grub Grab. In Hairy Crab, teams had to properly wrap and pack 50 live hairy crabs in a basket, while subjected to simulated typhoon conditions, to receive their next clue. In Grub Grab, one team member had to take 8 restaurant orders in Cantonese, then relay it to their partner in the kitchen, who had to find the corresponding dishes, which were labeled phonetically. Once every patron was served correctly, teams received their next clue.
In this leg's Roadblock, one team member had to suit up in protective equipment and smash a pile of old electronics with a baseball bat to find two that contained half of a clue. Once they received both halves, they then splattered a gallon of paint over the pile to create a work of "rage art". Meanwhile, the non-participating team member was handcuffed to a briefcase.
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Airdate: February 21, 2018
In the final Roadblock of the Race, one team member had to use jumars to pull themselves up to the top of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge center anchorage. They then had to enter the structure and put on a harness and covered with bright lights before free falling from a plank to receive their next clue.
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