Amazing Race cash rules

[Sonic Whammy]

If we're not supposed to discuss reality, I'm sorry, but I have no where else to turn on this one.

For those of you who watch The Amazing Race, we saw a first Tuesday night as Debbie and Bianca won the first leg, and received a combined $20,000 as their prize!

Seeing this leads me to ask a question that is never answered on air. We know that the winners of the Race get the million. But what about *dun dun DUN!* everyone else? Are there any smaller cash prizes for finishing in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc overall? This is the first time I've ever seen any other mention of cash on the show, so I'm wondering exactly what the pay ladder is.

Would certainly motivate my family a bit more to try out with me if they knew it wasn't an all-or-nothing effort...

Guys, it's all yours. Enlighten me.

[Little Big Brother]

Since after 6 series there has been no mention of any sort of consolation prize for any of the contestants (save for the trips teams win for being first at a pit stop), I would guess that the answer would be nothing (unless teams get to keep the remainder of their money allowances from the beginning of each leg).

However, if you were to quantify the actual expenses of a trip around the world with many activities off the beaten path, that would be one expensive vacation.  I think the theory is that the show is primarily about the adventure and the million dollars is just icing on the cake.

[wschmrdr]

I think I heard somewhere that on Survivor, though it's not announced, you are paid for your appearance even if 3 days, though it is a very small amount. The Amazing Race may also flow down the same river.

Remember that the players use their own credit card to pay for airline tickets. So, either they are given a small cash consolation prize, or they are reimbursed for the tickets.

Don't know for sure, but that's my guess.

[goongas]

[quote name=\'wschmrdr\' date=\'Mar 3 2005, 06:55 PM\']I think I heard somewhere that on Survivor, though it's not announced, you are paid for your appearance even if 3 days, though it is a very small amount. The Amazing Race may also flow down the same river.

Remember that the players use their own credit card to pay for airline tickets. So, either they are given a small cash consolation prize, or they are reimbursed for the tickets.

Don't know for sure, but that's my guess.

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They must use an Amazing Race sponsored credit card.  They wouldn't require contestant's to have a credit limit in upwards of $10,000.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'wschmrdr\' date=\'Mar 3 2005, 04:55 PM\']Remember that the players use their own credit card to pay for airline tickets. So, either they are given a small cash consolation prize, or they are reimbursed for the tickets.
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What? Not hardly. It is made abundantly clear at the start of each Race that they in fact DO NOT have to pay for airplane tickets, each team has a show credit card for those.

[weaklink75]

They've never given out any specific totals, but interviews with some of the contestants and other information have put 2nd place at between $25,000-$50,000 for the team. The teams that are in Sequesterville (term for the place, usually in Europe, where they keep the eliminated teams until the finish) get to stay in a nice hotel or resort all-expenses paid with a generous per diem while waiting to go cheer on the winning team at the finish line.

And the airline tickets are paid for by the production company, and it's by far the biggest expense (in Season 1, there was apparently no rule like there is now that you have to fly coach when you have to travel by plane, and one of the final 3 teams racked up over $200,000 in plane fares--I do hope their credit cards have airline miles or some sort of reward program attached to it)

[Vgmastr]

The consolation prizes in the Amazing Race are much smaller than Survivor's.  2nd place on Survivor gets $100,000 while last place got $2,500, at least on seasons with 16 contestants, not sure about the last couple seasons.  In the Amazing Race, 2nd place only gets $10,000, and Aaron has said that for 4th place last season, he and Hayden only got $3,500.  I'm guessing that the cost of sending all those teams on a trip around the world rather than just throwing them on an island somewhere has something to do with the low payouts.  That said, the Amazing Race looks 1,000 times more fun.  I'd jump at the chance to go on the Race, while you couldn't pay me enough to go on Survivor.

[dmota104]

I've read the first place team splits the million, second place team splits $50K and third splits $25K.

Kudos to the folks at TAR for throwing in cash prizes this time around for checking in first at a checkpoint.  

Understand I first tuned in about midway through the 5th series of episodes.  I've gone on the record dismissing TAR as another typical, run-of-the-mill, eat enough animal guts or insects and you win big show.  Then, I started dating a big TAR fan, who'll be my wife in 85 days, and now I'm hooked.

I don't know if any team's won three or four trips in one race.   But if so, I hate to think it would result in another "Dealer's Choice/52-day Mediterranean cruise" situation.

[davewalls]

[quote name=\'dmota104\' date=\'Mar 4 2005, 09:54 AM\']
I don't know if any team's won three or four trips in one race.   But if so, I hate to think it would result in another "Dealer's Choice/52-day Mediterranean cruise" situation.

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David and Jeff in season 4 won four legs of the race (legs 6, 7, 11, and 12), winning two cruises, and vacations to Europe and Mexico. That made up for totally blowing the last leg of the race and being stuck in the Sydney airport forever.

[vtown7]

At least they did away with the Kodak Easy Share Cameras after version four (IIRC?).  It was pretty bizarre to find that one team would get a trip and the next would get a camera...

Ryan

[uncamark]

I'm assuming that trips may show up as Pit Stop prizes eventually, since Travelocity.com is a sponsor this season.

It's always seemed to me that when they have sponsors where they have to squeeze in product placements, it's always a little awkward, like the AOL plug last series where they sent everyone to an Internet cafe to log in and watch Phil on a streaming video give them their next clue.  I also seem to recall a task the season that Kodak sponsored involving those EasyShare cameras that just seemed contrived.  Giving out trips as prizes is a lot more natural.