Season 32 of 'The Amazing Race' Was Filmed Way Before the Lockdowns

Season 32 of The Amazing Race is finally on the air, with 11 new teams racing from country to country in the hopes of winning the $1 million prize. Host Phil Keoghan returns to the show along with a diverse set of contestants that include former NFL stars, Olympic hurdlers, pro-volleyball players, and everyday adventurers.

But with nearly a two-year wait between Seasons 31 and 32, many fans are wondering what the hold up has been for the release.

While many speculated that the COVID-19-related shutdowns had affected production, it turns out this wasn’t the case for The Amazing Race. So just why did audiences have to wait for the new season for so long and when was Season 32 even filmed? 

Keep scrolling to find out everything you need to know about this new season.

Fans can finally look forward to watching The Amazing Race competitors hop around the world in pursuit of the grand prize of $1 million. This season, the teams start off at the iconic Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and head to the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago for the first leg of the exhilarating journey.

With almost two years since the last season of The Amazing Race, many fans assumed that the delay for Season 32 was due to the worldwide lockdowns that went into effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But it turns out that The Amazing Race had already filmed all of Season 32 back in November and December of 2018.

The 32nd season was originally set to start with a two-hour premiere in May of this year. But because of the pandemic, many other shows that hadn’t yet filmed had to be postponed. Since CBS knew that there was a high probability of having to fill empty time slots during the fall because of these delays, the network decided to halt the springtime release of The Amazing Race’s 32nd season. 

And it turns out that was a really good idea. The global lockdowns have delayed production for a number of shows and movies, one of them being CBS’s Survivor, which still hasn’t been able to film its 41st season. 

Production was originally slated to begin in March in Fiji, but executives pulled the plug on filming just weeks before contestants were due to arrive on the island. Since Survivor's filming was delayed, The Amazing Race’s Season 32 will be taking over Survivor’s Wednesday night time slot for the fall.

Fans are advised to savor the current season of The Amazing Race, not only because it’s unclear when we ourselves will be able to travel again, but also because it’s unclear when the next season will come out. 

Season 33 was in the middle of production, with three episodes shot when the pandemic first hit and the show was forced to stop filming. CBS has yet to release any information about when production for The Amazing Race will resume. 

Season 32 of The Amazing Race premieres Oct. 14 at 9 p.m. ET on CBS and CBS All Access.