The Amazing Race Season 33: Release Date, Cast, And New Details

"The Amazing Race" is the long-running reality competition show in which teams of two quite literally race around the world in pursuit of a massive $1 million grand prize. Since its inception in 2001, the show has nabbed 15 Primetime Emmy awards, per IMDb, out of a whopping 159 nominations overall. Brainstormed by creators and executive producers Elise Doganieri and Bertram van Munster, "The Amazing Race" has gone from strength to strength with each new iteration. In fact, in 2007, E! News reported it was averaging around 10 million viewers per season.

Considering how long "The Amazing Race" has been on the air, it's pretty impressive that kind of audience is being consistently pulled in. Clearly, there's something about the central premise that hooks viewers in and keeps them coming back for more. As with several other reality shows that were canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus, "The Amazing Race" had to take a break during the filming of its bumper 33^rd season due to cases increasing rapidly around the world, as Variety confirmed in February 2020. They were just three episodes into the shoot at the time.

Now that production has resumed, here's everything we know about Season 33 thus far.

As Variety notes, when production on Season 33 of "The Amazing Race" was halted, they were just a couple weeks in, with contestants having already traveled to England and Scotland. According to TV Insider, filming resumed sometime in September 2021. Of the delay, series co-creator Elise Doganieri told Deadline a few months prior, "We just need to get that mass vaccination happening. Safety is key, you don't want to do a show and have people get sick. That's our priority." 

The Hollywood Reporter subsequently confirmed "The Amazing Race" was set to return, on CBS, in the first quarter of 2022, alongside the likes of "Undercover Boss" and "Celebrity Big Brother." More specifically, Season 33 is slated to kick off with a two-hour premiere on January 5. Per Gold Derby, the show will return to its regular time slot from January 12. 

The last time fans got their "Amazing Race" fix was back in December 2020, resulting in a gap of a little over a year between seasons, which isn't the worst especially with a global pandemic raging. Considering Season 31 wrapped in June 2019 but Season 32 didn't debut until October 2020, we're actually doing pretty well comparatively speaking.

Casting for the 33rd season of "The Amazing Race" began all the way back in 2019, per Twitter. Likewise, just a couple months later longtime host Phil Keoghan responded to a fan noting audition tapes needed to be in "ASAP" (via Twitter). Unsurprisingly, per an interview with TV Insider, Keoghan is back on hosting duties for Season 33. "I think more than ever, 'The Amazing Race' is an important show to be on the air, because we need to start celebrating some of the better things in the world," he enthused. Keoghan added, "'The Amazing Race' is a lot about what's right and opening people's eyes up to some of the more positive things that we should be celebrating, including the human spirit." 

Elsewhere, the International Business Times confirmed in early 2020 that "Love Island" alumni Raymond Gantt and Caroline "Caro" Viehweg were taking part in Season 33. They were spotted being filmed around NYC. Complicating matters, however, Gantt and Viehweg have broken up since leaving the "Love Island" villa, around summer 2020, per Bustle. It's unclear whether they've dropped out of the competition as a result, but at the time of writing it seems the former couple is still a part of "The Amazing Race."

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, "The Amazing Race" looks set to be just as globetrotting as ever. Reality Blurred shared that a charter plane emblazoned with "The Amazing Race" landed in LA in September 2021 before taking off for London, with a quick pitstop in Nova Scotia. According to plane tracking information from Flight Aware, PlaneFinder, and FlightRadar24, the plane also stopped in Zurich, Switzerland that same month. There were also rumors the show would be visiting Greece this season, too. Per Reality Blurred, CBS described the premise for Season 33 simply as: "Teams of two once again embark on a trek around the world, hoping to be the first to arrive at the final destination, winning 'The Amazing Race' and the $1 million prize."

In a September 2021 interview with TV Insider, beloved host Phil Keoghan reassured fans of "The Amazing Race" that the show was moving forward despite the COVID-19 pandemic — even if things looked slightly different behind the scenes. On how they've survived an incredible 33 seasons thus far, Keoghan opined, "I think we've lasted this long because of the tremendous quality of the show we've managed to produce for 20 years." He added, "A lot of hardworking, talented people have poured their heart and soul into it." Even a global health crisis couldn't stop their teams from competing for that killer prize, and we can't wait to see how it all turns out.