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Sadly, The Amazing Race fans have a long wait ahead of them for season 35. Following the euphoric high of Derek Xiao and Claire Rehfuss’s win during the finale of The Amazing Race Season 34 in December 2022, viewers were looking forward to meeting a new group of racers in the spring of 2023. But hopes for the upcoming season considerably dwindled as time passed without CBS announcing its premiere.

Phil Keoghan, the host of 'The Amazing Race' Season 35, wears a dark gray coat.
Phil Keoghan | Photo by Kit Karzen/CBS via Getty Images

When will ‘The Amazing Race’ Season 35 premiere?

In late February 2023, CBS announced that its executives had renewed The Amazing Race for season 35. Although this was old news since the cast and crew had already filmed the upcoming season in late 2022, it was nice to finally hear it was “officially” in the works at CBS.

The kicker is that the network’s announcement was for the 2023-2024 television season, which means that the next race won’t premiere until the fall of 2023 or the spring of 2024.

If we had to make a prediction, we would say that The Amazing Race Season 35 will premiere in the fall. CBS will likely want it to air alongside Survivor Season 45 on Wednesdays starting in September. However, we won’t get official premiere dates until later this year.

Why is CBS pushing back the new season?

The Amazing Race fans were baffled to learn that CBS wouldn’t air season 35 in the spring of 2023 even though filming had already finished. But we may have discovered the reason for the upcoming race’s delay.

Another writers strike is looming in 2023 as the existing Writers Guild of America contract with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers expires on May 1. Negotiations to renew the contract will begin on March 20, but if they fail to come to an agreement, work on hundreds of productions will pause. And according to multiple sources, studio executives are readying themselves for the worst-case scenario.

The last WGA strike was during the 2007-2008 season, which resulted in a 100-day work stoppage. Numerous television shows, including The Office and One Tree Hill, took month-long hiatuses. And to account for their lack of programming, networks ordered extra seasons of unscripted shows. For example, CBS greenlit The Amazing Race Season 13 in December 2007 to replace shows affected by the strike.

CBS may be preparing for another strike, which is why The Amazing Race Season 35 won’t air until the fall of 2023 or the spring of 2024. Network executives would hold off on releasing it because they might need something to fill in empty space if production pauses on scripted shows.

Related

‘The Amazing Race’ Fans Unhappy After Season 34 — Do They Have a Point?

Everything we know about ‘The Amazing Race’ Season 35

Although the premiere date for The Amazing Race Season 35 is still unknown, we do have some information about the competition.

Thanks to eyewitness accounts worldwide, we know a handful of the cities and countries the teams are racing in. They are:

  • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
  • Guatapé, Colombia
  • Medellín, Colombia
  • Santiago, Chile
  • Córdoba, Argentina
  • Montevideo, Uruguay
  • Bridgetown, Barbados
  • Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
  • Río Yásica, Dominican Republic
  • Philadelphia, USA

All seasons of The Amazing Race are available to stream on Paramount+.

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