The Amazing Race 19 is the nineteenth season of the 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 nine countries and traveled over . Starting in Hacienda Heights, California, racers traveled through Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Malawi, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, and Panama before finishing in Atlanta. New twists introduced in this season include the Hazard, an extra task for the last team to finish the first task, and a double elimination leg. The season premiered on CBS on September 25, 2011, and the finale aired on December 11, 2011.
Engaged couple Ernie Halvorsen and Cindy Chiang were the winners of this season, while dating couple Jeremy Cline and Sandy Draghi finished in second place, and married couple Amani and Marcus Pollard finished in third.
Production
Development and filming
This season traveled a little over to 20 cities across four continents. This season included first-time visits to Denmark, Indonesia, Malawi, and Belgium. Filming started on June 18, 2011, with teams seen leaving Los Angeles International Airport and heading to Taiwan. As with the previous season, racers had a task they had to perform before receiving tickets to their first destination. American film crews were also spotted in Hillerød, Denmark.
Two new game elements were introduced in this season. Leg 1 introduced the Hazard: a penalty that one team incurred for being the last team to finish the starting line task. According to Phil Keoghan, the Hazard was added to "test people's mental strength out of the gate", and claimed that it had a "rolling effect" throughout the rest of the season. Leg 2 was the first time in which two teams were eliminated at the Pit Stop.
During the first leg, Kaylani Paliotta lost her passport at a gas station while en route from Hsi Lai Temple to Los Angeles International Airport. Kaylani & Lisa returned to the gas station to search for the passport, but could not find it and opted to proceed to the airport, hoping that another racer had picked it up. The camera crew accompanying the team had seen the dropped passport, but could not act on it, and instead informed production of the situation. Production prepared to conduct an impromptu elimination and Phil Keoghan rushed to the airport. The passport was found by two bystanders who had previously helped another team at the gas station. After posting about the incident on Twitter, a fan of the show advised them to take the passport to the airport, and they were able to return it to Kaylani before her scheduled flight.
Leg 5 was supposed to take place in Laos. However, a monsoon caused heavy flooding in the country and forced the production team to construct an additional leg in Thailand instead. Laos would eventually be visited later in The Amazing Race 31.
Marketing
Discover gift card returned as one of the sponsors. Travelocity continued to sponsor the show, while Ford also returned as one of the sponsors, with their fifth generation Ford Mustang appearing as a prize car in the 10th leg, customized by the winner.
Cast
Some of the more prominent members of the cast included Survivor: Africa winner Ethan Zohn and Survivor: The Amazon winner Jenna Morasca, former sailor Zac Sunderland, professional snowboarders Andy Finch and Tommy Czeschin and former NFL tight end Marcus Pollard.
Future appearances
Ernie & Cindy appeared on the final episode of The Amazing Race 29 where they handed tickets to the final three teams entering Wrigley Field in their hometown of Chicago.
Ethan Zohn returned to compete on Survivor: Winners at War.
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. An italicized and underlined placement indicates that the team was the last to arrive at a Pit Stop, but there was no rest period at the Pit Stop and all teams were instructed to continue racing. There was no required Speed Bump task in the next leg. A indicates that the team used an Express Pass on that leg to bypass one of their tasks. A indicates that the team used the U-Turn and a indicates the team on the receiving end of the U-Turn.
Notes
Race summary
Leg 1 (United States → Taiwan)