The Amazing Race 11

Season of television series

The Amazing Race 11 (also known as The Amazing Race: All Stars) is the eleventh season of the American reality competition show The Amazing Race. Hosted by Phil Keoghan, it featured eleven teams of two, ten returning teams from previous editions and a dating couple with members from two teams that had competed against each other, competing in a race around the world in order to win US$1,000,000. This season visited six continents and nine countries and traveled over 45000 mile (72420 km). Starting in Palmetto Bay, Florida, outside of Miami, racers traveled through Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Mozambique, Tanzania, Poland, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, Guam, and Hawaii before finishing in San Francisco. The season premiered on CBS on February 18, 2007, and the season finale aired on May 6, 2007. Dating couple Eric Sanchez and Danielle Turner, who had competed on opposing teams on The Amazing Race 9, were the winners of this season, while beauty queens Dustin Seltzer and Kandice Pelletier from The Amazing Race 10 finished in second place, and cousins Charla Faddoul and Mirna Hindoyan from The Amazing Race 5 finished in third place.

As early as 2004, there had been talk about an all star edition of The Amazing Race, with speculation that it would occur during the eighth season, just as it had with Survivor. These rumors were fueled by reports that season 4 winner Reichen Lehmkuhl had been invited to appear in a future all star race. Speculation continued for the next few years, particularly after CBS aired all star editions of their two other reality competition series, Survivor and Big Brother. On September 28, 2006, CBS ordered an 11th season of The Amazing Race. In November 2006, the network officially acknowledged that an all star edition was in production. Host Phil Keoghan was originally skeptical that an all star edition was feasible. Over time, Keoghan felt that "as we got more and more really good teams, it just seemed like it had to happen." This season traveled a little over 45000 mile (72420 km), across thirty cities and six continents and was the second season (after season 5) to visit every habitable continent. The new locales visited in this season were Ecuador, Mozambique, Poland, Macau, and Guam. This was the last season to feature the Yield until The Amazing Race 32.

Phil Keoghan personally submitted a list of fifteen teams that he thought should return. Ten of them were chosen. The team he didn't choose was Eric & Danielle, who did not previously race together. Keoghan said, "I didn't think of that new combination, which actually is a really good one." He also added that the production team's goal for the race "wasn't to pick the best racers," but "to pick the teams that have earned the most attention over the last 10 seasons." Colin Guinn and Christie Woods from season 5 were invited to participate, but declined due to Christie's pregnancy. They would eventually participate on The Amazing Race 31. Flo Pesenti and Drew Riker, who began dating after meeting during season 3, were invited to participate, but Flo reportedly declined because she felt the first race had brought out the worst in her, and her season 3 winning partner, Zach Behr, was not invited to join her. Rob and Amber Mariano (née Brkich) had gotten married after competing on season 7.

This season introduced the Elimination Station, featured on the official website. A series of thirteen web episodes presented the eliminated contestants living together in a common house in their sequester location in Acapulco, Mexico. The series was viewable only in the United States and was available on the Innertube video streaming service on the CBS website, with a new episode debuting immediately following the airing of each new Amazing Race episode in the Pacific Time Zone.

The first five teams eliminated were sequestered at a villa in Acapulco, Mexico to await the finale. Subsequently, eliminated teams telephoned the villa to inform those teams at the villa of their elimination, but continued to run as decoys to throw off spoilers to the final outcome of the season. The sequestered teams met with the decoy teams in the final destination city to cheer on the final three teams as they crossed the Finish Line. CBS posted short videos on its website after each episode aired in the Pacific time zone to show the eliminated teams interacting at the villa. After Leg 1, John Vito & Jill were the first eliminated and sent to the villa. While there, they were guessing who would be eliminated next. They thought it would either be Charla & Mirna or Kevin & Drew. After Leg 2, Kevin & Drew were the second team eliminated and sent to the villa. While there, Kevin, Drew, and John Vito were arguing over what a stoop was. Later, they guessed Charla & Mirna would be eliminated next. After Leg 3, David & Mary were the third team eliminated and sent to the villa. David recounted over breakfast how he was misdirected by several Chilean locals. Later, Jill shows David & Mary the master suite they saved for the first married couple. Later, Drew guessed Teri & Ian might be eliminated next. After Leg 4, Rob & Amber became the fourth team eliminated and sent to the villa. Rob and Amber were welcomed very nicely; John Vito and Jill said they were a strong team. Later, they guessed that the next elimination would be Eric & Danielle. Leg 5 was a non elimination leg. The four eliminated teams sat around waiting for another team, only to hear John Vito and Kevin figure out that it must be a non elimination leg. They spent time on a beach overlook; back at the villa, Rob dragged Mary into the pool. After Leg 6, Teri & Ian were the fifth team eliminated and sent to the villa. Drew put on a displeased face for the camera when they arrived. A disgruntled Ian revealed that he believed Oswald & Danny are ruthless racers with no character, saying that when he worked with them in Ushuaia to book flights, they deliberately booked him a different flight and did not confirm it. He said that the same thing happened when Eric & Danielle worked with Oswald and Danny. He also predicted that either Dustin & Kandice or Uchenna & Joyce would win. Leg 7 was a non elimination leg. John Vito and Jill pondered about this non elimination round. Ian expressed how he and Teri bonded with Joe & Bill and Eric & Danielle as a result of their spending consecutive days together in airports. Amber did tattoos for entertainment. After Leg 8, Joe & Bill were the sixth team eliminated. The eliminated teams got a call from them and were sad to hear that Joe & Bill were eliminated. Mary asked Joe & Bill who they think should win. Bill said that he would love to see Uchenna & Joyce or Charla & Mirna win. The guests talked about the call the next morning. In a confessional, Kevin & Drew said that since they were so close to the Finish Line, they would see Joe & Bill where the season finished. After Leg 9, Uchenna & Joyce were the seventh team eliminated. They called the villa and told the eliminated teams about their flight problem that led to their elimination. The teams at the villa expressed disappointment at Uchenna & Joyce's elimination, and Amber tells them they would meet up at the Finish Line. Prior to the call, Drew questioned why Dustin & Kandice need to participate in The Amazing Race when they had already won beauty pageants. Amber took exception to this, having won Survivor: All Stars prior to her original season of The Amazing Race. Leg 10 was a non elimination leg. The eliminated teams waited for another team, only to discover that the leg was non elimination. Amber taught Mary how to swim, allowing her to overcome her long held fear of swimming. Leg 11 was a non elimination leg. The eliminated teams waited for a phone call from the next eliminated team, but give up after several days. John Vito came up with the idea of throwing an awards party to commemorate the end of their stay at the villa. Each racer drew another racer's name and presented him or her with funny and sometimes touching gifts. After Leg 12, Oswald & Danny were the eighth and final team eliminated. The five teams at the villa departed for the "end city" in order to cheer the remaining teams at the finish line. They reunited with Joe & Bill, Uchenna & Joyce, and newly eliminated Oswald & Danny. Oswald and Danny said they would like to see Charla & Mirna win the competition, while some of the other teams reiterated who they would like to see win. Leg 13 was the final leg of The Amazing Race: All Stars. Some of the eliminated teams shared their opinions on the winners and the runners up. The final three admitted to their joys and disappointments.

The Amazing Race 11 received mixed reviews. Linda Holmes of Television Without Pity was critical of this season's cast writing that "there weren't that many teams that didn't halfway suck to begin with, and we still had about a 75 percent chance of a better ending than this. We're all cursed." Simon Brew of Den of Geek wrote that "the procession of camera hoggers in this season ultimately, come the final round, left the audience with a real problem: there was nobody to root for." Roger Holland of PopMatters wrote that "TAR 11 started poorly, stuttered and staggered around the globe like the zombified remains of its former self, and finished on an absolute all time low." Leslie Seaton of BuddyTV wrote that even though "the season definitely had some exciting moments, I still maintain that I'm not sure an All Star season is a great idea for this show." Sarah Kickler Kelber of The Baltimore Sun wrote that "all in all, it was a fun season, even if it's not a result I would have predicted." Heather Havrilesky of Salon wrote "this season's challenges were some of the most frustrating and difficult ever". In 2016, this season was ranked 8th out of the first 27 seasons by the Rob Has a Podcast Amazing Race correspondents.