This season visited four continents and nine countries and traveled over 35, miles 56, km during thirteen legs. Lawyers and best friends Rob Frisbee and Brennan Swain were the winners, while separated parents Frank and Margarita Mesa finished in second place, and life partners Joe Baldassare and Bill Bartek finished in third place.
Filming concluded on April 8, , at Flushing Meadows Park. Multiple aspects of filming were unique to the first season of the series. The Amazing Race was designed so that the final three teams would all reach the finish line. Eleven teams participated in the first season of The Amazing Race.
The following teams are listed with their placements in each episode. Placements are listed in finishing order. Season 1 was not particularly a ratings success as the series premiered six days prior to the September 11 attacks , after which interest in foreign travel waned and viewership fell correspondingly. The website's critical consensus reads, " The Amazing Race elevates reality television conventions with its globetrotting scale, making for a suspenseful competition and fascinating travelogue.
Following the season's premiere, Tom Shales of The Washington Post wrote "[ The Amazing Race ] brings new energy and respectability to the 'reality' genre popularized by the same network's Survivor -- and surpasses it in spectacle and human drama. Great TV lives. With this thrilling trip around the world, CBS blows away the Summer of Rats — thank you Fear Factor — while creating a terrific companion piece to the net's comparatively tranquil Survivor. But this one actually is so good I am already addicted.
Amazing Race seems to be well-cast with vivid characters. Conversely, following the show's premiere, Terry Kelleher of People called it a "half-decent start". Following the season's conclusion, Linda Holmes of Television Without Pity wrote that she "was flat-out hooked for thirteen weeks, and the ending managed not to disappoint, which almost never happens.
