The Amazing Race 35

The Amazing Race 35
Season Information
Version:	United States
Continents Visited:	3
Countries Visited:	8
Cities Visited:	19
Distance Traveled:	23,800 miles
Starting Line:	Hollywood Sign, Los Angeles, California
Finish Line:	Clise Mansion, Redmond, Washington
Filming Dates:	June 13 - July 8, 2023
Season Run	September 27, 2023 - December 13, 2023
Number of Legs:	12
Number of Teams:	13
Winners:	Greg & John
Runners-Up:	Joel & Garrett Rob & Corey
Cast
Season Chronology
Previous:	The Amazing Race 34
Next:	The Amazing Race 36

The Amazing Race 35 is the thirty-fifth installment of the reality television show, The Amazing Race.

Production

On February 21, 2023, two months after the previous season's finale, CBS announced that The Amazing Race was not intended to air in the first half of 2023. Instead, it would air during the 2023–24 television season.

On May 10, 2023, CBS announced The Amazing Race 35 as part of its fall programming schedule; in a first for the series, it was confirmed that The Amazing Race 35 and Survivor 45 will air 90-minute episodes instead of the standard 60-minute episodes, making for a 180-minute primetime block due to the ongoing 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.

Due to the expansion into 90-minute episodes, production of this season began filming on June 13, 2023 in Los Angeles, California in the famous Hollywood Sign, with locations filmed in Jaipur, India on June 22 and 24, and moved on to Europe on June 30, before concluding in Seattle, Washington on July 7th. This was actually the 36th season to be filmed and produced but the first to air, with a route and format intended to fill the expanded time slot instead of trying to re-edit the already-finished the then-unknown season which would eventually become The Amazing Race 36 – the 35th season to be filmed – shot in fall 2022 to pad for time, was pushed back and slated to be as the 36th season to air. The prolonged runtime was heavily attributed to the WGA strike, which resulted in the production of several scripted shows being halted, necessitating in the timeslots they had left to be filled.

This season returned to using commercial flights for the first time since the original run of The Amazing Race 33 in February 2020 prior to that season's suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the pandemic, charter flights had been used from the resumption of production for season 33 in 2021 until The Amazing Race 36, which was filmed in fall 2022.

This season marks the return of the Express Pass and the U-Turn. Much like the previous season, it did not have any Non-Elimination Legs in the race.

Casting

Applications for this season were due on December 5, 2022. Casting began on January 2, 2023, closed on March 22, and was finalized on April 21, 2023.

Teams

1st place  Greg & John Brothers/Computer Scientists	2nd place  Joel & Garrett Best Friends	3rd place  Rob & Corey Father/Son	4th place  Steve & Anna Leigh Father/Daughter	5th place  Todd & Ashlie Married High School Sweethearts
6th place  Robbin & Chelsea Childhood Friends	7th place  Morgan & Lena Sisters	8th place  Andrea & Malaina College Friends	9th place  Liam & Yeremi Brothers	10th place  Joe & Ian Engaged
11th place  Jocelyn & Victor Married Entrepreneurs	12th place  Elizabeth & Iliana Mother/Daughter	13th place  Alexandra & Sheridan Siblings/Roommates

Episodes

Episode		Air Date	Leg	Destination	First Place	Last Place	Finish	Viewership (millions)	Ratings/Share (18-49)
1	"The Amazing Race Is Back!"	September 27, 2023	1	United States → Thailand	Jocelyn & Victor	Alexandra & Sheridan	1st Eliminated 13th place	2.70	0.4/4
2	"You Don't See That at Home"	October 4, 2023	2	Thailand	Jocelyn & Victor	Elizabeth & Iliana	2nd Eliminated 12th place	2.82	0.4/5
3	"No Sleep and a Million Dollar Dream"	October 11, 2023	3	Thailand → Vietnam	Steve & Anna Leigh	Liam & Yeremi	Ordered to Continue Racing	2.87	0.4/4
4	"The Day Keeps Rockin' Here in Vietnam"	October 18, 2023	4	Vietnam	Robbin & Chelsea	Jocelyn & Victor	3rd Eliminated 11th place	2.91	0.4/4
5	"Yessir, the Pink City"	October 25, 2023	5	Vietnam → India	Steve & Anna Leigh	Joe & Ian	4th Eliminated 10th place	2.83	0.4/4
6	"Driving Head On Into Scooters"	November 1, 2023	6	India	Greg & John	Liam & Yeremi	5th Eliminated 9th place	2.60	0.3/3
7	"Like Two Cats Fighting in a Car"	November 8, 2023	7	India → Germany	Greg & John	Andrea & Malaina	6th Eliminated 8th place	2.62	0.4/4
8	"A Planes, Trains and Automobiles Day"	November 15, 2023	8	Germany → Austria → Slovenia	Greg & John	Morgan & Lena	7th Eliminated 7th place	3.03	0.4/5
9	"In the Belly of the Earth"	November 22, 2023	9	Slovenia	Greg & John	Robbin & Chelsea	8th Eliminated 6th place	3.01	0.4/5
10	"Everyone Loves a Comeback Story"	November 29, 2023	10	Slovenia → Sweden	Joel & Garrett	Todd & Ashlie	9th Eliminated 5th place	3.01	0.4/5
11	"We're Finding Our Pot of Gold"	December 6, 2023	11	Sweden → Ireland	Rob & Corey	Steve & Anna Leigh	10th Eliminated 4th place	2.84	0.4/4
12	"A Sunset, Seattle Scramble"	December 13, 2023	12	Ireland → United States	Greg & John	Rob & Corey	3rd place	3.31	0.4/5
						Joel & Garrett	2nd place

Leaderboard

Place	Team	Leg 1	Leg 2	Leg 3	Leg 4	Leg 5	Leg 6	Leg 7	Leg 8	Leg 9	Leg 10	Leg 11	Leg 12	Average
1	Greg & John	3	3	8	8	2	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	2.75	6-6
2	Joel & Garrett	7	9	2	9	3	3	7	4	2	1	3	2	4.33	6-6
3	Rob & Corey	2	2	3	5	6	2	4	3	4	3ϵ	1	3	3.17	6-6
4	Steve & Anna Leigh	6	6	1	2	1	7⊃	5	6	3	4	4		4.09	6-6
5	Todd & Ashlie	5	5	4	3	5	5	3	2	5	5			4.20	5-5
6	Robbin & Chelsea	11	11	5	1	7	8	2	5	6				6.22	4-5
7	Morgan & Lena	4	4	6ϵ	10	9	4	6	7					6.25	3-5
8	Andrea & Malaina	10	10	9	7	4	6	8						7.71	4-2
9	Liam & Yeremi	8	8	11	6	8	9							8.33	3-2
10	Joe & Ian	9	7	7	4	10								7.40	2-2
11	Jocelyn & Victor	1	1	10	11									5.75	1-2
12	Elizabeth & Iliana	12	12											12.00	1-1
13	Alexandra & Sheridan	13												13.00	0-1
Notes:				[1][2]				[3]			[4]
Legend:      The team finished in first place      The team finished in last place and was eliminated from the race      The team finished in last place in a non-elimination leg      The team that won The Amazing Race      The team that crossed the Finish Line second      The team that crossed the Finish Line third ϵ The team used the Express Pass somewhere during the leg ⊂ The team used the U-Turn ⊃ Recipient of the U-Turn
Notes: 1: Morgan & Lena used their Express Pass to bypass the Route Info challenge on Leg 3. 2: Leg 3 had no mandatory rest period between legs, and all teams were ordered to continue racing. The team who checked in last on this leg did not face a penalty in the next leg. 3: Andrea & Malaina fell too far behind the rest of the cast and arrived at Gürzenich Köln after it was already closed. Host Phil Keoghan was present to inform them of their elimination. 4: Rob & Corey used their Express Pass to bypass the Roadblock on Leg 10. Before using the Express Pass, Rob elected to perform the Roadblock, and this is reflected in the total Roadblock count.

Voting History

On the sixth leg, teams anonymously vote in an order selected by random draw. The team with the most votes would be U-Turned.

Leg #:	6
U-Turned:	Steve & Anna Leigh
Vote:	5-4
Greg & John	Steve & Anna Leigh
Joel & Garrett	Steve & Anna Leigh
Rob & Corey	Steve & Anna Leigh
Steve & Anna Leigh	Robbin & Chelsea
Todd & Ashlie	Robbin & Chelsea
Robbin & Chelsea	Steve & Anna Leigh
Morgan & Lena	Robbin & Chelsea
Andrea & Malaina	Steve & Anna Leigh
Liam & Yeremi	Robbin & Chelsea

Trivia

• Due to being the 36th season to be filmed, episode titles such as "The Amazing Race Is Back!" listed as production code 3601.

Franchise

• This is the first season to visit Slovenia.
• This is the second season to visit Ireland (after The Amazing Race 12).
• Most number of sibling teams, 4 (tied with The Amazing Race 32).
• Most number of all-male teams, 5 (tied with The Amazing Race 4, The Amazing Race 23, The Amazing Race 30, and The Amazing Race 32).
• Although this season, likewise to The Amazing Race 34 contained no Non-Elimination Legs, this season contains the longest chain of consecutive Pit Stop eliminations, 8. (Starting with Leg 4, there was a single continuation in Leg 3, there were no extended or Megalegs featured. So therefore, each Pit Stop consisted of an elimination up until Leg 11.)

US

• This is the second consecutive season not to incorporate Non-elimination Legs during the race.
• This is the first season to feature more than 12 concurrently racing teams, with 13.
  • But this was the first by air date, second by film date before The Amazing Race 36 despite filmed after it.
• This is the third season to visit Washington state (after The Amazing Race 3 and The Amazing Race 10).
• This also marks the first season to bring back the Express Pass since The Amazing Race 29 and the U-Turn since The Amazing Race 32.
• This is the second season, to where it was mandatory for teams to U-Turn, which before the leg began, each teams voted for who they wished to U-Turn. Unlike it's first appearance in The Amazing Race 31, the vote was anonymous.
• Second season not to have a team receive any penalty nor told to go back and fix the mistake before checking in after The Amazing Race: Family Edition, and the first pair-team season to do so.
• Most number of all-female teams, 4 (tied with The Amazing Race 17 and The Amazing Race 25).
• There are four contestants among these teams with the surname "Franklin", Greg, John, Morgan and Lena.
• This is the first season to have a same-gender final three (all-male).
  • Thus, this is the first season not to feature a co-ed team in the final three.
• This is the first season in which a Scramble format, was primarily used on the final leg.