The Amazing Race 17 is the seventeenth season of the American reality competition show The Amazing Race. Hosted by Phil Keoghan, it featured eleven teams of two, each with a pre-existing relationship, competing in a race around the world in order to win US$1,000,000. This season visited four continents and ten countries and traveled over 32000 mi. Starting in Gloucester, Massachusetts, racers traveled through England, Ghana, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Oman, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, and South Korea before returning to the United States and finishing in Greater Los Angeles. New twists introduced in this season include the Express Pass, which was awarded to the winners of the first leg and allowed them to skip the task of their choosing, and the Double U-Turn. The season premiered on CBS on September 26, 2010, with a special 90-minute premiere, and the season finale aired on December 12, 2010. Anesthesiologists Natalie Strand and Katherine Chang were the winners of this season, while home shopping hosts Brook Roberts and Claire Champlin finished in second place, and dating couple Jill Haney and Thomas Wolfard finished in third place.

Production

Development and filming

CBS renewed the 17th season of The Amazing Race on January 25, 2010. The season spanned 32000 mi while racing across four continents with first-time visits to Ghana and Bangladesh. Teams also crossed the Arctic Circle for the first time in the show's history. Filming began on May 26, 2010, with the starting line at the Eastern Point Yacht Club in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and finished on June 15, 2010, in Los Angeles, California. Prior to the season's broadcast, CBS posted a short preview video clip from an episode on the Internet, showing Brook & Claire competing at a watermelon launching challenge using an elastic slingshot. The clip showed Claire being hit in the face full-on with a watermelon after it failed to launch correctly from the slingshot, leaving her momentarily stunned but otherwise not seriously injured. The clip spread virally on the Internet. Two new game elements were introduced in season 17. The first was the Express Pass, which was awarded to the team who finished first on the first Leg. The Express Pass allowed the team to skip any one task before Leg 8. The other new element was the Double U-Turn, where two teams were able to use U-Turns in a single leg.

Cast

The cast included a team of home shopping hosts; Internet entertainer Kevin Wu (popularly known as "KevJumba") and his father, Michael; Cirque du Soleil director and choreographer Ron Kellum; Ivy League a cappella singers, and a birth mother and daughter who recently reunited following an adoption twenty years earlier. There were also three beauty queens competing: Mallory Ervin, who competed in Miss America 2010; Brook Roberts, who competed in Miss America 2005; and Stephanie Smith, who was Miss South Carolina USA 2009. Chad Waltrip proposed to Stephanie Smith during the eighth leg, and she accepted. They were married on November 20, 2010. Gary & Mallory raced again in The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business. Mallory also returned on the second All-Star edition, racing with Mark Jackson from season 20 as a last-minute replacement when his original partner, Bopper Minton, was deemed too sick to compete. Outside of The Amazing Race, Mallory appeared on the Discovery Channel reality show Backyard Oil in 2013. On May 25, 2016, Nat & Kat and Brook & Claire appeared on an Amazing Race-themed primetime special of The Price Is Right.

Results

The following teams are listed with their placements in each leg. Placements are listed in finishing order.

Race summary

Leg 1 (United States → England)

Leg 2 (England → Ghana)

Leg 3 (Ghana)

Leg 4 (Ghana → Sweden)

Leg 5 (Sweden → Norway)

Leg 6 (Norway → Sweden → Russia)

Leg 7 (Russia)

Leg 8 (Russia → Oman)

Leg 9 (Oman → Bangladesh)

Leg 10 (Bangladesh → Hong Kong)

Leg 11 (Hong Kong → South Korea)

Leg 12 (South Korea → United States)

Elimination Station

After elimination, the first five eliminated teams were sequestered at a villa in Cancún, Mexico, to await the finale. CBS posted short videos on its website after each episode aired in the Pacific Time Zone to show the eliminated teams interacting at the villa.

Reception

Critical response

The Amazing Race 17 received mixed-to-positive reviews. Andy Dehnart of reality blurred wrote that it was "an average (at best) season, one plagued by a consistent lack of surprise, few actually challenging challenges, and a lot of stupidity." Scott Von Doviak of The A.V. Club wrote that "the season has been somewhat less than amazing, exhibiting the same flaws that have plagued the last several editions of the long-running series: lackluster challenges, repetitive airport and taxicab drama, too many unlikeable teams, too many equalizing points along the route, and a distinct lack of suspense at the end of too many legs." Luke Dwyer of TV Fanatic wrote that this season had "an unusually likable cast. Only a handful of contestants were the kind you actively root against and even those were tamed by The Amazing Race standards. Instead we were treated to a cast without a dominant group, but one that was easy to root for." In 2016, this season was ranked 3rd out of the first 27 seasons by the Rob Has a Podcast Amazing Race correspondents. Likewise in 2021, Jane Andrews of Gossip Cop also ranked this season as the show's 3rd best season. Val Barone of TheThings ranked this season as the show's 2nd best season. In 2022, Jason Shomer of Collider ranked this season among the show's top seven seasons. In 2022, Rhenn Taguiam of Game Rant ranked this season as the eighth-best season. In 2024, Taguiam's ranking was updated with this season ranked 13th out of 36.

Ratings

U.S. Nielsen ratings

Canadian ratings

Canadian broadcaster CTV also aired The Amazing Race on Sundays at 8pm Eastern, Central, & Atlantic (9pm Pacific & Mountain).