HaMerotz LaMillion (Hebrew: המירוץ למיליון, lit. The Race to the Million) is an Israeli reality competition show based on the American series The Amazing Race. Following the premise of other versions in the Amazing Race franchise, the show follows teams of two as they race around the world. Each season is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in foreign areas, interact with locals, perform physical and mental challenges, and travel by air, boat, car, taxi, and other modes of transport. Teams are progressively eliminated at the end of most legs for being the last to arrive at designated Pit Stops. The first team to arrive at the Finish Line wins a grand prize of ₪1,000,000.
On 8 April 2008, Israeli TV network Reshet announced plans to produce a local version of the show. It premiered on 5 February 2009, on Channel 2. The show was produced by Reshet and, during its first four seasons, activeTV, which also produced the first four seasons of The Amazing Race Asia and the first two seasons of The Amazing Race Australia, in association with Disney-ABC and ESPN Television. It was originally hosted by Raz Meirman in the first season.
In April 2009, during the airing of the show, Reshet had begun preparations for a second season. They considered producing a celebrity edition of the show that would have raised the price of producing the show.[1] Reshet had consulted with CBS and agreed it would film two more seasons at the same time to save expenses, a celebrity and non-celebrity editions.[2] Despite this, on 20 December, Reshet announced that due to the overall high costs the show would not continue.[3] However, on 20 September 2010, Reshet reconsidered and announced a new season.[4] On 11 February 2011, Ron Shahar was announced as the new host, replacing Raz Meirman.[5]
In October 2021, Shahar stated that a new season would be filmed as soon as it is safely possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6] The show was later cancelled by Reshet in September 2022 in favour of a local version of Peking Express, a similar travel reality competition show.[7] However, in October 2022, it was reported that a new season produced by Keshet Media Group would be filmed in 2023 and aired on Channel 12 in 2024 with Yehuda Levi serving as the new host.[8][9][10]
HaMerotz LaMillion is a reality television competition between two teams, in a race worldwide. Each season is divided into a number of legs wherein teams travel and complete various tasks to obtain clues to help them progress to a Pit Stop, where teams are given a chance to rest and recover before starting the next leg. The last team to arrive is normally eliminated (except in non-elimination legs, where the last team to arrive may be penalized in the following leg). The final leg is run by the last three remaining teams, and the first to arrive at the final destination wins ₪1,000,000.
Each of the teams is composed of two individuals who have some type of relationship to each other.
Route Markers are yellow and red flags that mark the places where teams must go. Most Route Markers are attached to the boxes that contain clue envelopes, but some may mark the place where the teams must go in order to complete tasks, or may be used to line a course that the teams must follow. Route markers were, however, colored yellow and white in the third and fourth legs of Season 1, which took place in Vietnam, to avoid confusion with the flag of South Vietnam. During the Vietnamese leg in Season 5, the regular Route Marker was used.
Most clues are directly adopted from the original American version:
In addition to performing tasks, teams may encounter the following that could potentially slow them down:
In Season 1, the Yield and U-Turn rules were similar to the original rules in the American version; The Yield and U-Turn only appeared sporadically and a single team can utilize their power to Yield/U-Turn another team at the Yield/U-Turn board only once.
In Season 2, a new rule regarding the Yield and U-turn was introduced. The Yield and U-Turn now appeared more often (almost every leg) and instead of a single team using their power to affect another team, all teams are now required to vote for the team they wish to Yield or U-turn (depending on the leg). Sometime during the leg, teams will encounter a board with their pictures. Here, they could choose from photographs of the teams and place the one they want to Yield/U-Turn below their pictures faced backwards. Sometime later in the leg, they would encounter another board where they would have to pull down their pictures on the board to reveal if they have been Yielded or U-Turned. The team/s with the most votes will receive the penalty. Teams that pull down their picture and get a red will get the penalty and the pictures of the teams that Yielded/U-Turned them. Those that get a green are free to continue racing.
In Season 3, the Double U-Turn was introduced. In addition to the rules above, the team that gets U-Turned is free to U-Turn another team of their choosing.
At the beginning of each leg, teams receive an allowance of cash to cover expenses during the legs (except for the purchase of airline tickets, which are paid-for by provided credit cards).
Teams then have to follow clues and Route Markers that will lead them to the various destinations and tasks they will face. Modes of travel between these destinations include commercial and chartered airplanes, boats, trains, taxis, buses, and rented vehicles provided by the show, or the teams may simply travel by foot. Each leg ends with a twelve-hour Pit Stop where teams are able to rest and where teams that arrive last are progressively eliminated until only three teams remain..
Differing from most of the other franchises of the series, the season finale is filmed as the program is being broadcast.
Each season has a number of pre-determined non-elimination legs, in which the last team to arrive at the Pit Stop is not eliminated and is allowed to continue. There is no single elimination penalty in this version of the show:
Most of the rules and penalties are adopted directly from the American edition, but in some cases, this version has been seen to have a unique set of additional rules.
As of 2024[update], HaMerotz LaMillion has visited 51 countries and 6 continents.
