The Amazing Race 12 is the twelfth season of American reality competition show The Amazing Race. Hosted by Phil Keoghan, it featured eleven teams of two 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 . Starting in Los Angeles, racers traveled through Ireland, the Netherlands, Burkina Faso, Lithuania, Croatia, Italy, India, Japan, and Taiwan before finishing in Anchorage. New twists introduced in this season include the U-Turn, which replaced the Yield and allowed one team to force another team to perform both Detour tasks on a leg, and a new non-elimination leg penalty called the Speed Bump, which is an extra task that the team who finished last had to perform on the subsequent leg. The season premiered on CBS on November 4, 2007, and the finale aired on January 20, 2008.
Newly dating couple TK Erwin and Rachel Rosales were the winners of this season, while father and daughter Ronald and Christina Hsu finished in second place, and grandson and grandfather Nicolas Fulks and Donald Jerousek finished in third.
Production
Development and filming
In May 2007, CBS confirmed The Amazing Race was picked up for a twelfth season. It was originally to be scheduled in the mid-season of the 2007–08 TV season. However, when Viva Laughlin was canceled in October, The Amazing Race 12 debuted early to take the time slot.
The Amazing Race 12 spanned in 21 days. The season covered four continents, visiting ten countries (five of which were not previously visited by the series), while traveling entirely in the Northern Hemisphere. The newly visited countries were Ireland, Burkina Faso, Lithuania, Croatia, and Taiwan. The shortened filming schedule was initially attributed, in part, to the removal of non-elimination legs, which would have been a first on The Amazing Race. However, host Phil Keoghan told Kynt & Vyxsin in the seventh leg that there were two non-elimination legs this season.
This season introduced two new twists to The Amazing Race: the U-Turn and the Speed Bump. Positioned just after a Detour, the U-Turn allowed one team to force another team behind them to complete both sides of the Detour. The Speed Bump was a penalty task for a team that finished last in a non-elimination leg, and had to be completed during the next leg in addition to other tasks. The U-Turn and the Speed Bump each occurred in two episodes of The Amazing Race 12.
Marketing
Two days after the series premiere, CBS launched an Amazing Race page on social networking site Facebook via Facebook Ads. The site contained interactive contents such as maps, trivia, a travel log, and prizes. The site also included a tie-in with the Where I've Been application.
Cast
This season's eleven teams included married lesbian ministers, dating Goths, and siblings. Executive producer Bertram van Munster felt that "it was not intentional" for casting to leave out young-male teams commonly found in past seasons. He also said that it was pure coincidence for 15 of 22 racers to be residents of California.
During The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business, Christina Hsu revealed that she was engaged to Azaria Azene. They married in March 2011.
Future appearances
After the season ended, Kynt & Vyxsin applied for third season of The Amazing Race Asia but were turned down by producer Michael McKay due to their prior Amazing Race experience. Their audition was shown on the "Racers Revealed" episode of the season. Kynt & Vyxsin and Ronald & Christina competed again on The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business, with Kynt having changed his name to Kent.
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, and had to perform a Speed Bump task in the following leg. A indicates that the team won the Fast Forward. A indicates that the team used the U-Turn; a indicates the team on the receiving end of the U-Turn.
Notes
Race summary
Leg 1 (United States → Ireland)