‘The Amazing Race’ Twist Sparks Outrage After Shocking Elimination

Season 37 of The Amazing Race is officially underway, and the premiere episode introduced some new twists to the reality competition show. First, this season started off in Los Angeles, California with a record 14 teams, as opposed to the 13 teams viewers saw in the last two seasons or the standard 11 teams seen in seasons prior. From Los Angeles, the Season 37 cast raced to Hong Kong where they encountered the second novel twist this season, the Fork in the Road.

The Fork in the Road twist required that teams choose between two parallel routes to the Pit Stop where two teams – one from each side of the Fork – would be eliminated. Before the premiere, the Fork in the Road twist sounded exciting in theory, as fans anticipated they would get to see teams run two different races to the Pit Stop. But the premiere episode proved that, in practice, the Fork in the Road is essentially just a Detour, but with less fair results.

The Fork in the Road Twist Yielded Unfair Results for One Team

The Fork in the Road twist had the Season 37 teams choose between two routes to host Phil Keoghan and the Pit Stop, one labeled “Dance” and the other labeled “Sing.” Only seven teams could compete on each side of the Fork. Best friends Mark Crawford and Larry Graham chose the dancing task, in which they had to learn a Chinese lion dance and perform it in front of the judges. Even though Mark and Larry completed their task and made it to the Pit Stop well before several other teams on the Sing side of the challenge, they were sent home for finishing seventh on the Dance side. Not only did Mark and Larry finish well before the singing task teams, they also set foot on the Pit Stop mat just moments behind other dancing task competitors, Nick and Mike Fiorito and Courtney Ramsey and Jasmin Carey, making the results of the new Fork in the Road twist seem unfair.

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10 Reality Celebrities You Didn’t Know Appeared On ‘The Amazing Race’

Many reality stars took a trip around the world.

As a result, many fans feel that Mark and Larry were eliminated prematurely, given their performance in the first leg of the race, and were cheated out of The Amazing Race experience. For Larry, his race through Hong Kong on Season 37 of The Amazing Race was his first trip out of the country. Some fans have suggested that Mark and Larry be brought back for the next All-Stars season, or even that The Amazing Race should have a “Second Chance” season for competitors who faced elimination sooner than they should have.

The Fork in the Road Twist Was Poorly Executed

Phil Keoghan welcomes the teams at the first check point on 'The Amazing Race' Season 37. — Image via CBS

In addition to yielding unfair results, the Fork in the Road twist felt poorly executed. Many viewers believe the twist should have occurred earlier in the race and contained multiple tasks for teams to complete. This would have helped differentiate the Fork in the Road from a standard Detour and given teams on both sides of the Fork a chance to make up some ground, as opposed to a double elimination coming down to a single task.

Also, Season 37 of The Amazing Race featured 14 teams for the first time in the show’s history, just for two of them to be eliminated in the first episode on behalf of the Fork in the Road. Overall, this new twist feels like a failed attempt at switching things up on the show, and it either needs to be significantly improved or removed altogether in seasons to come. Season 37 of The Amazing Race airs Wednesdays on CBS and is available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.