The Amazing Race 7

''The Amazing Race 7'' is the seventh season of the American reality television show ''The Amazing Race''. It featured eleven teams of two competing in a race around the world.

The season premiered on CBS March 1, 2005, and concluded on May 10, 2005.

Married couple Uchenna and Joyce Agu were the winners of this season, while engaged couple Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich (of ''Survivor'' fame) finished in second place, and dating couple Ron Young, Jr. and Kelly McCorkle finished in third.

Production

Development and filming

''The Amazing Race 7'' took place over 29 days and traveled nearly . Filming began on November 20, 2004, and finished on December 19, 2004. The teams raced in ten countries, five of which were not previously visited on the series: Peru, Chile, Botswana, Turkey, and Jamaica. Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory in the Caribbean, was also visited for the first time.

This was the first edition of ''The Amazing Race'' to not circumnavigate the world by traveling continuously either west or east while crossing each meridian. Once teams traveled as far east as India, they returned to the United States by traveling westward through Europe and the Caribbean.

In this season, a change was made to the non-elimination leg penalty. In addition to being stripped of all their money and receiving no allowance for the next leg, teams were forced to surrender all of their possessions, except for their passports and the clothes they were wearing, for the remainder of the season. They were also no longer allowed to beg for money prior to the start of the next leg. The racers could receive or buy clothing or toiletries from the other teams.

Leg 3 featured a difficult Roadblock in which players had to eat of meat and organs. Three players quit this food-eating task: Rob, Meredith, and Deana; the most to ever quit a task in a single leg at the time.

Host Phil Keoghan greeted teams at the check-in mat midway through Leg 8 to hand them their next clue, marking the first time on ''The Amazing Race'' that teams stepped on the check in mat only to be handed their next clue, or to have their next clue handed to them by Keoghan.

Controversy surrounded the final leg of the season when Rob & Amber and Uchenna & Joyce arrived at the airport in San Juan. They were both sold tickets for a flight leaving later than one whose gate was about to close. While Rob & Amber managed to get on this earlier departing flight, Uchenna & Joyce were shown through the gate as the boarding corridor between the gate and airplane began to shut. After a commercial break, the boarding corridor reopened to the gate to pick up Uchenna & Joyce. No explanation was given as to why the gate reopened, which has led to widespread speculation about intervention by the production staff. In the "Revisiting the Race" special feature on the Season 7 DVD, Uchenna, Rob, and host Phil Keoghan denied the accusations of intervention by the production crew. Uchenna described his experience of finding the same airline agent at the gate who had previously informed him that there was no earlier available flight. Rob described Uchenna running around frantically trying to get onto the flight, which the final edited version of the show did not portray. Phil cited the fact that the decision to reopen the door rested solely with the pilot, and that intervention by the production crew would have resulted in someone leaking such information out.

Awards

In September 2005, ''The Amazing Race 7'' won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program, the third consecutive award for the television series. Although seasons 5 and 6 were also eligible, producers chose season 7 since it was the most recent installment of the show.

Cast

Joyce Agu (credited as Joyce Robinson) previously appeared on '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' in a recurring role as Ensign Gates. Ron Young was a former Apache helicopter pilot who was shot down in Iraq and held as a prisoner of war for 22 days, and Kelly McCorkle was a former Miss South Carolina. Brian Thomas Smith previously competed on '' Christmas Fear Factor''. Amber Brkich originally appeared on '' Survivor: The Australian Outback'' and Rob Mariano appeared on '' Survivor: Marquesas''. Both also competed on '' Survivor: All-Stars'' where they got engaged at the live finale.

;Future appearances
Rob & Amber and Uchenna & Joyce were selected for '' The Amazing Race: All-Stars''.

On May 25, 2005, CBS aired Rob & Amber's wedding at Atlantis Paradise Island in Nassau, The Bahamas, a trip they won during the season, during a special entitled '' Rob and Amber Get Married''. After competing on ''The Amazing Race'', Rob later competed on '' Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains'', '' Survivor: Redemption Island'', and served as a non-playing mentor on '' Survivor: Island of the Idols''. Rob & Amber also both returned to compete on '' Survivor: Winners at War''. On May 23, 2016, Rob also appeared on a ''Survivor''-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.
*A placement with a dagger () indicates that the team was eliminated.
*An placement with a double-dagger () indicates that the team was the last to arrive at a pit stop in a non-elimination leg. As a penalty, they were stripped of their money, bags, and possessions other than their passports and the clothes they had on upon checking in, and they received no money at the start of the next leg.
*A indicates that the team won the Fast Forward.
* An ''italicized'' placement means it is a team's placement at the midpoint of a double leg.
*A indicates that the team used the Yield and a indicates the team on the receiving end of the Yield.

;Notes

Race summary

Leg 1 (United States → Peru)

*Episode 1: "Courteous? This Is a Race!" (March 1, 2005)
*Prize: US$10,000 cash for each racer (awarded to Debbie & Bianca)
*Eliminated: Ryan & Chuck
;Locations
*Long Beach, California ( Shoreline Aquatic Park) (Starting Line)
* Los Angeles → Lima, Peru
* Lima (Plaza de Armas)
* Lima ( Ancón)
* Ancón (Playa Hermosa)
* Lima → Cusco
*Cusco (Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport)
*Huambutio (Virgen del Carmen Kiosk)
*Huambutio (Gorge)
*Huambutio (Police Station)
*Písac ( Písac Market)
*Cusco (Convento de la Merced)
;Episode summary
*At the beginning of the race, teams set off from Long Beach, California, and made their way to Los Angeles International Airport, where they had to book one of two flights to Lima, Peru. The six teams on the American Airlines flight arrived 85 minutes before the remaining five teams on the United Airlines flight. Once in Lima, teams had to travel by bus to Plaza de Armas in order to find their next clue, which directed teams to travel by bus to Ancón.
*After arriving in Ancón, teams rode a rickshaw to Playa Hermosa. On the beach, teams had to search through three sand piles for a set of LAN airline tickets leaving the next morning to Cusco. The second flight to Cusco was delayed due to technical difficulties and the four teams with tickets on that flight were booked onto the third flight, which departed 1:40 hours after the first.
*Once in Cusco, teams found their next clue outside the airport, which instructed them to travel via taxi to Huambutio and receive another clue from the owner of a marked kiosk. From there, teams continued to the top of a gorge, where they rode two zip-lines to the bottom of the gorge in order to receive their next clue.
* This season's first Detour was a choice between Rope a Llama or Rope a Basket. In Rope a Llama, teams had to rope two llamas and lead them to a nearby pen in order to receive their next clue. In Rope a Basket, each team member had to carry a basket of alfalfa two-thirds of a mile (1.1 km) to a store in order to receive their next clue.
*After completing the Detour, teams went to the Huambutio Police Station and boarded delivery trucks, which departed every 20 minutes and could transport no more than three teams per truck. When the trucks arrived in Písac, teams had to search the local market to find their next clue, which directed them to the pit stop: the Convento de la Merced in Cusco.

Leg 2 (Peru → Chile)

*Episode 2: "The Whole Country Hates Me" (March 8, 2005)
*Prize: A trip to Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas (awarded to Rob & Amber)
*Eliminated: Megan & Heidi
;Locations
* Cusco (Convento de La Merced)
* Cusco → Arequipa
*Arequipa (Sindicato Único de Lustradores de Calzado)
* Arequipa → Santiago, Chile
* Santiago (San Cristóbal Hill – Virgin Mary Statue)
*Santiago ( Mercado Central Libreria Chilena and Library of Congress of Chile)
*Santiago (Cerro Santa Lucía – Neptune Fountain ')
;Episode summary
*At the beginning of this leg, teams were instructed to travel by bus to Arequipa. Once in Arequipa, teams had to search for the Sindicato Único de Lustradores de Calzado in order to find their next clue.
* In this season's first Roadblock, one team member had to work as a shoeshiner and polish five pairs of shoes on the street for a fee of one Peruvian sol per pair. After earning five sols, racers had to find their partner at the shoeshine union headquarters in order to receive their next clue.
*Based on the order that team members finished the Roadblock, teams were given plane tickets for one of two flights to Santiago, Chile, each of which carried five teams and departed forty-five minutes apart. Once in Santiago, teams had to travel to San Cristóbal Hill and ride the funicular to the Virgin Mary Statue in order to find their next clue.
* This leg's Detour was a choice between Shop or Schlep. In Shop, teams had to travel to the Mercado Central and find the Donde Augusto restaurant, where the chef gave them a shopping list. Teams then had to buy the proper quantities of five ingredients on the shopping list in order to receive their next clue from the chef. In Schlep, teams had to travel to the Libreria Chilena, load 180 books onto a hand truck, deliver the books eight blocks to the Library of Congress of Chile inside the Former National Congress Building, and then place the books on a designated shelf in order to receive their next clue.
*Teams had to check in at the pit stop: the Neptune Fountain at Cerro Santa Lucía in Santiago.
;Additional notes
*Chilean model Pamela Díaz appeared as the pit stop greeter in this leg.

Leg 3 (Chile → Argentina)

*Episode 3: "Do You Need Some Mouth-to-Mouth Resuscitation?" (March 15, 2005)
*Eliminated: Debbie & Bianca
;Locations
*Santiago (Cerro Santa Lucía – Neptune Fountain ')
*Santiago (Paseo Bulnes)
*Uspallata, Argentina (Puente Viejo)
* El Challao (Camping Suizo)
*Las Heras Department (Estancia San Isidro)
;Episode summary
*At the start of this leg, teams found their next clue at the Paseo Bulnes in Santiago, which instructed them to drive themselves through the Andes Mountains to Argentina, and find their next clue at Puente Viejo.
* This leg's Detour was a choice between Paddle or Pedal. In Paddle, teams had to whitewater raft down the Mendoza River

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