How many miles will be traveled on THE AMAZING RACE?
In completing the entire Race, the final three Teams will have traveled a total of 72,000 miles.

How many airplanes will the final three Teams go on?
While traveling across the 72,000-mile course, the final three Teams will take an average of 31 separate flights per Team. However, several thousand miles of the course will be traveled in buses, trains and self-driven cars.

How many people are on the production staff?
In addition to the nearly 100 Hollywood-based staff members, approximately 2,000 people are hired worldwide during the running of the Race. These other people perform jobs as diverse as transportation management, communications, Team tracking, translating, stunt rigging and catering.

Through how many continents will the Teams travel, and how long will it take them?
Teams that complete the Race will travel through six continents in only 29 days: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Australia-Asia.

What do the Teams do at a Pit Stop?
During Pit Stops, the Teams primarily eat and sleep, but soon after arriving at the Pit Stop each Team is interviewed about their experiences on the leg of the Race they just completed. Those interviews are eventually used to add depth or emotion to the edited episodes.

What is Phil Keoghan's secret to staying refreshed and healthy?
Traveling the entire length of the racecourse is demanding enough, but staying ahead of the Teams can be exhausting. Because of this, host Phil Keoghan keeps to a very strict regimen, eating as healthily as the locations allow and abstaining from alcohol for the duration of the Race. Exercise is also very important. If his hotel has a gym, Phil will do a workout there; if not, he will jog. Phil has also been known to convert a train compartment into a personal gymnasium, doing chin-ups while hanging from the luggage racks and push-ups while balancing across the compartment’s two bench seats. To relax, Phil listens to a wide range of music that he’s downloaded into his ever-present iPod.

How do the Teams pay for their airline tickets?
Teams pay for airline tickets with a credit card that may not be used for any other purpose--not even to buy tickets on other forms of transportation, such as buses or trains. The money for those tickets must come from the small amount of cash given to the Teams at the start of each leg.

How safe are the challenges?
All the challenges created for THE AMAZING RACE are tested by producers and safety personnel long before the Teams are asked to do them. Some of the world’s finest stunt coordinators and specialty riggers are employed to make sure that, no matter how scary a challenge may be, the Teams themselves are in no real danger of being hurt. While a few people have gotten the occasional scrape or bruise, no one has ever sustained a meaningful injury while performing a challenge on THE AMAZING RACE.

What happens if a Team runs out of money?
In order to do well on THE AMAZING RACE, a Team has to be clever about many things, and one of the most important is money management. Figuring out how and when to spend their limited cash reserves is a key element of the game, and Teams receive no help from the producers when they mess up. If they find themselves broke, Teams may beg, borrow or earn money, but it is up to the Teams to make sure they do not break any local laws in the process.

Who are the local people that check in the Teams with Phil at each elimination?
The “local greeters,” as they are known, embody some cultural aspect of whatever country we are in. They may be representatives of the country’s native people, or a respected member of the local government, or the person might hold a job commonly associated with the country, such as a fashion model in Italy.

What do you look for when casting the Teams?
THE AMAZING RACE is not just a race around the world; it’s a relationship show, so casting the Teams is extremely important. We look for Teams of dynamic individuals with a relationship that really “sparks” in response to things like stress, fatigue, hunger and fear of the unknown. In addition, because THE AMAZING RACE is totally unscripted, it is important that we cast people who can verbalize their thoughts and emotions easily and honestly. People who can be themselves with the cameras rolling, no matter what they might look or sound like, have the best chance of getting on the show.

Where are the camera crews from? How do they keep up with the Teams?
Our camera crews come from different places around the world. Many of them work in the news industry covering wars in very dangerous countries. Although being a cameraperson or soundperson on THE AMAZING RACE is grueling, compared to the high-stress environment of their normal jobs, working on the Race is almost like a vacation for them.

How do you keep track of the Teams?
Throughout the Race, Teams are tracked by producers and a staff of security specialists who make sure they are safe. In addition, the crews assigned to the Teams are equipped with cell phones and report their location regularly.

Do the Teams ever have time to eat during the Race?
Teams are provided meals at each Pit Stop. Other than that, the Teams decide for themselves when, or even if, they want to eat. Since they must use part of their limited funds to pay for food, many Teams try to eat only what is given to them for free on planes, but if the leg is long enough, they will ultimately have to break down and buy some food. The Teams must always deal with in one dilemma: save money and risk being weak from lack of food, or eat to be strong and risk running out of money?