Why ‘The Amazing Race’ Rules Prohibit Teams From Communicating Off-Camera
To ensure a safe and fair competition, CBS producers set forth a set of rules in The Amazing Race. Teams cannot purposefully interfere with the other racers. They need their passports with them at all times. And so on. But there is one peculiar rule that states teams cannot interact outside of challenges.
Rules prevented the teams from mingling in ‘The Amazing Race’ Season 34
After Rex Ryan and Tim Mann were eliminated in The Amazing Race Season 34, they revealed how much communication they had with other teams during an interview with Parade.
“Unfortunately, they don’t allow you to really mingle with the teams until you’re racing,” Ryan explained. “So you’re not allowed to really talk until you’re in a race event. That’s the only time you can talk. Even after the race, they don’t let you talk. So you had to kind of build relationships quickly. And we did!”
When the cameras turned off, the teams in The Amazing Race Season 34 went their separate ways due to the rules.
Fans theorize why teams can’t communicate outside of legs
The Amazing Race fans flocked to Reddit to discuss the various rules contestants have to follow on the show, including not communicating between legs.
“I’m watching this season with my mom, and she started asking me about the rules about who [does] what tasks. (One person could do all the tasks in early TAR),” a fan wrote. “So it got me thinking what else had changed. Because also I noticed that people can’t talk a lot when their partner is doing the tasks.”
A Reddit user commented, “The first 13 seasons had teams mingling with each other after the pit stop. Starting [with] season 14, that was not allowed.”
One person asked, “Is there a reason why?” and a fan answered, “The historians will tell you which season and which teams, but essentially a fight almost/did break out between two feuding teams at the pit stop during the rest period. All of this interaction is off-camera. Same reason Survivor has lockdown periods during transport to tribal/challenges. Anytime the cameras are off, everything is on pause.”
It’s unclear which season and teams the Reddit user is referencing, but that would be a legitimate excuse for The Amazing Race producers to create a new rule.
What other rules do ‘The Amazing Race’ teams have to follow?
Not communicating when the cameras are off is not the only rule contestants have to abide by in The Amazing Race.
“During Roadblocks, teams are allowed to encourage each other but not provide advice or assistance to complete the task,” one Reddit user shared. “You can say things like ‘You can do it,’ or ‘I believe in you.’ You cannot say things like ‘Use that piece’ or ‘Look over there.'”
A fan added, “You used to be able to pay taxis to guide you to your destination while you were driving or walking. I think 17 was the first season where that wasn’t allowed.”
“Forced Roadblock splitting has [been] a thing since season 6, but it has varied a bit,” they continued. “Sometimes it was a limit of six (even if the number of Roadblocks was less than 11), sometimes it was a limit of seven (even if there was less than 13 Roadblocks), and sometimes you had a limit of doing X Roadblocks before leg Y. Usually this would ensure a close-to-even split even with a double Roadblock final leg.”
New episodes of The Amazing Race Season 34 air Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.
