HaMerotz LaMillion

HaMerotz LaMillion (המירוץ למיליון)
Also known as	המירוץ למיליון
Genre	Reality Game show
Created by	Elise Doganieri Bertram van Munster
Presented by	Raz Meirman (Season 1) Ron Shahar (Season 2)
Theme music composer	John M. Keane
Country of origin	Israel
Language(s)	Hebrew
No. of seasons	2 (1, 2)
Production
Location(s)	See below
Production company(s)	Reshet ActiveTV
Broadcast
Original channel	Channel 2

HaMerotz LaMillion (Hebrew: המירוץ למיליון‎; English: The Race to the Million) is a reality game show based on the American series, The Amazing Race.

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 is produced by Reshet and ActiveTV (producer of The Amazing Race Asia and The Amazing Race Australia) and was originally hosted by Raz Meirman in the first season.

On 20 December 2009, Reshet originally announced it had cancelled the show and that a second season would not be made. However, on September 2010, Reshet reconsidered, and announced a new season. On 11 February 2011, Ron Shahar was announced as the new host of the race, replacing Raz Meirman.

The grand prize for the winning team is ₪1,000,000.

The Race

HaMerotz LaMillion is a reality television competition between teams of two, in a race around the world. The race 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 twelve hours later. The first team to arrive at a Pit Stop is often awarded a prize, while the last team is normally eliminated from the race (except in non-elimination legs, where the last team to arrive may be penalized in the following leg). The final leg of each race is run by the last three remaining teams, and the first to arrive at the final destination wins the show's prize.

Teams

Each of the teams are composed of two individuals who have some type of relationship to each other.

Route Markers

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.

Clues

All route information and clues are adopted from the original American version:

• Route Info (סימן דרך): A general clue that may include a task to be completed by the team before they can receive their next clue.
• Detour (צומת): A choice of two tasks. Teams are free to choose either task or swap tasks if they find one option too difficult. There is generally one Detour present on each leg of the race.
• Roadblock (מחסום): A task only one team member can complete. Teams must choose which member will complete the task based on a brief clue about the task before fully revealing the details of the task. Most races limit the number of Roadblocks one team member can perform. There is generally one Roadblock present on each leg of the race.
• Fast Forward (קיצור דרך): A task that only one team may complete, allowing that team to skip all remaining tasks and head directly for the next Pit Stop. Teams may only claim one Fast Forward during the entire race.
• Double Battle: Two teams competing against each other.
• Yield (עצור): A station where a team can force another trailing team to wait a pre-determined amount of time before continuing the race.
• U-Turn (סיבוב פרסה): A station, located after a Detour, where a team can force another trailing team to return and complete the other option of the Detour they did not select.
• Speed Bump (פס האטה): A task that only the team saved from elimination on the previous leg must complete before continuing on.

Legs

Each team receives an allowance of cash with their first clue at the beginning of a leg, with the cash usually in U.S. dollars, to cover expenses during the race, except for the purchase of airline tickets. Any money left over after a leg of the race can be used on subsequent legs.  Penalised teams due to being last in certain non-elimination legs must surrender all of their money and will not receive any cash on the next leg. Teams then have to follow Route Markers and clues 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 that arrive last are eliminated, progressively, from the race, until only three teams remain. It is at the Pit Stop where teams rest.

Differing from most of the other franchises of the series, the season finale is filmed after the program has been broadcast.

Non-elimination legs

Each race 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 on the race.

Rules and penalties

Most of the rules and penalties are adopted directly from the American edition; but in some of cases, this version has been seen to have a unique set of additional rules.

Seasons

On 20 December 2009, Reshet originally announced it had cancelled the show and that a second season would not be made. However, on September 2010, Reshet reconsidered, and announced a new season.

Season	Year	Air Date	Winners
1	2009	5 February 2009 – 11 June 2009	Guy Osadon & Shay Kahana
2	2011 - 2012	25 October 2011 – 11 February 2012	Bar Ben-Vakil & Inna Broder
3	TBA	TBA	TBA

Countries and locales visited

As of the second season, HaMerotz LaMillion has visited 14 countries and has visited 4 continents but not the Americas. Countries in bold have not been visited in the original US edition as of time of filming. In addition, bold and italicised purple indicates that the country was visited by the American version after first being featured here.

Countries that HaMerotz LaMillion has visited are shown in color.

Asia	Africa	Europe	Oceania
Chinaa Israel Japan Singapore Sri Lanka Thailand Vietnam	South Africa	Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Czech Republic Hungary Poland	Australia New Zealand

^Note a : Including Hong Kong and Macau.

Number of times visited

Rank	Country	Flag	Season Visited	Number of Pitstops
1	China		1, 2	4
1	Israel		1, 2	0
3	Australia		1	1
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina		2	0
3	Croatia		2	1
3	Czech Republic		2	1
3	Hungary		2	2
3	Japan		1	1
3	New Zealand		1	2
3	Poland		2	1
3	Singapore		2	2
3	South Africa		1	2
3	Sri Lanka		2	2
3	Thailand		2	2
3	Vietnam		1	2

1. ^^{a b} Includes 1 finish line each.