Andy DehnartThe Amazing Race 32 will finally air, more than a year and a half after it was filmed, CBS announced today. The show will take over for Survivor, airing Wednesdays at 8, starting after Survivor season 40’s finale.
CBS also scheduled the finale for Survivor: Winners at War, which will end with its usual three-hour finale and reunion combo—except with a major change.
In a press release, CBS Entertainment’s executive in charge of scheduling, Noriko Kelley, said, “When Survivor wraps one of its best seasons ever in May, we’re excited to schedule another signature reality series, The Amazing Race, to step seamlessly into the time period.”
The Amazing Race season 32—which was originally filmed in November of 2018—will premiere May 20, with a two-hour episode, and then air Wednesdays at 8.
Previously, CBS had scheduled Love Island season two to premiere May 21, and air every weekday at 8. That means TAR 32 is taking over one of its timeslots, as it’s unlikely to return this summer. (Big Brother 22’s future is still uncertain; it typically wouldn’t premiere until late June or even July.)
TAR 32’s cast has all-new teams, but perhaps some familiar faces, including Olympians and former NFL players.
CBS said that the season, which starts at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, will travel to “Trinidad and Tobago, France, Germany, Kazakhstan and Brazil.”
The season concluded Dec. 3, 2018, in New Orleans’ French Quarter.
Survivor: Winners at War’s finale date and reunion plans
Survivor finales used to take two hours, and were followed by a one-hour reunion, which included Jeff Probst reading the votes live to determine who wins.
Over the past 10 years, the reunion has taken up less and less of that time, and the reunion will change completely this year because of the inability of its contestants to travel and be in the same space.
There’s no mention of an actual reunion, so CBS isn’t using that term. Instead, the network said that, “[d]uring the finale, Jeff will also virtually connect by video with all 20 players to discuss the highlights of the season.”
That sounds to me like they’re not just replacing the reunion with a virtual one, but instead checking in with players during breaks in what will now be a three-hour episode. What will we do without Probst’s check-ins with fans in the audience? Will Sia still give money to the people she likes best?
The Survivor season 40 finale will air Wednesday, May 13, from 8 to 11 p.m. ET. CBS also said that the penultimate episode, which airs May 6, will be two hours long.