''Race to the Center of the Earth'' is an American

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...

show that premiered on March 29, 2021. The show was created by

Elise Doganieri Elise Doganieri (born April 21, 1967) is an American co-creator and co-executive producer of the CBS reality show ''The Amazing Race''. Doganieri's other credits include serving as show producer of ABC's ''Profiles From the Front Line'' as well a ...

and

Bertram van Munster Bertram van Munster (born 1940) is a Dutch-born American co-creator and executive producer of ''The Amazing Race''. He is also the creator of ''Profiles from the Front Line'' and was the Executive Producer on ''Oprah's Big Give'' and ''Take the M ...

, who previously had created ''

The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in forei ...

'', of which ''Race to the Center of the Earth'' is fashioned after. The show consists of four teams of three adventurers racing to "the center of the Earth." The four teams start in different corners of the Earth and all race along designated routes to a buoy in the middle of the ocean, designating the center of the Earth. There are no eliminations, but the first team to reach the buoy wins and gets to split the million-dollar prize that goes along with it.

Contestants

Results

Each day, teams received a pre-determined pace time to pass through a series of waypoints until they reach the final waypoint. If they finished at least 30 minutes ahead of the pace time, they would receive 2 points. If they arrived within 30 minutes of the pace time, they would receive 1 point. If they finished behind the pace time, they would receive 0 points. If they fell so far behind that they were swept off the course for safety reasons, they would lose a point. The scores would determine the starting placement of teams in the final stage with the highest scoring team in pole position.

Production

On May 14, 2019, National Geographic Networks ordered the creation of a new show, titled ''Race to the Center of the Earth'', which involved four teams of three competing from different locations in the world and racing to a singular buoy in the mid-

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

. Geoff Daniels, executive VP of unscripted entertainment for National Geographic Networks, stated, "Unlike other competition formats, ''Race to the Center of the Earth'' will combine the grittiness of a survival show with the cinematic style of a feature film action-thriller dropping viewers into the middle of a heart-pounding journey unlike anything ever made for television." Casting for the series began in June 2019, and filming started and ended in October, taking only two and a half weeks to finish. On January 17, 2020, at the TV Critics Association press tour, it was announced that the four teams would be competing from different corners of the Earth, one starting in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, one in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

, one in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

, and one in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

in eastern

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. During the interviewing at the press tour, co-creator

explained that the routes for each team were meticulously planned and tested to be equal and fair. According to

, the production team tested each route three times to ensure fairness. The first season premiered on March 29, 2021, and the season was released in its entirety on

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

on May 14, 2021 during the week of its finale. On January 20, 2022, National Geographic announced that the show would not be renewed for a second season.

Episodes

Notes

References

External links