CBS Sets ‘Survivor’ Season Finale, ‘Amazing Race’ Premiere Date

By Will Thorne

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – CBS has announced how it will end this season of “Survivor” and begin the next edition of “Amazing Race” amid the programming chaos being caused by the coronavirus.

Season 40 of “Survivor” will end with a three-hour season finale on Wednesday May 13, part of which will consist of the traditional contestant reunion, only this time host Jeff Probst will be connecting with all 20 players via video to discuss season highlights.

The Eye also announced that season 32 of “The Amazing Race,” which was filmed prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, will take “Survivor”‘s Wednesday night time slot the following week. Season 33 of “The Amazing Race”was two weeks into shooting when production was abruptly brought to a halt in late Feb. by the global pandemic, as  Variety reported exclusively. Three episodes had been filmed up until that point, and the contestants had visited England and Scotland prior to the shutdown.

The season 32 premiere on May 20 will be two hours long, before the show returns to a conventional one-hour slot the following week. 

“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,” said Noriko Kelley, executive vice president of program planning and scheduling at CBS in announcing the news.

Prior to its season finale, “Survivor” will air a two-hour penultimate episode on May 6.

This new season of “Amazing Race” will see 11 more teams will begin their journey alongside host Phil Keoghan. This season’s destinations include Trinidad and Tobago, France, Germany, Kazakhstan and Brazil, among others. The team that crosses the finish line first will be crowned the winners and receive the $1 million prize.