Hosted by Phil Keoghan, it featured eleven teams of two, each with a pre-existing relationship, competing in a race around the world in order to win US$1,000,000.
Starting in Los Alamitos, California, racers traveled through Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Romania, Russia, India, Thailand, and China before returning to the United States and finishing in Maui.
In an interview, executive producer Bertram van Munster revealed that the teams took a 13-hour train ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway and got into a Siberian snowstorm with below-zero temperatures.
In addition, CBS revealed the season included the world's second tallest bungee jump, suffocating heat in India, and an Olympic-themed challenge that left the teams "gasping for air.
[7] Mike White had originally been chosen to participate on The Amazing Race 13 with director Jon Kasdan, but the latter dropped out before filming.
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.
'"[20] Michael Russnow of The Huffington Post criticized this season's route as the show "didn’t travel in as diversified a fashion, and wherever the teams wound up they stayed in the immediate region a lot longer than in earlier years.
"[21] Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger wrote that his "interest in the season dropped rapidly after Mel and Mike were eliminated" and that he "lacked either an emotional investment in another team or an admiration for them as pure Racers.