HaMerotz LaMillion

The Race

HaMerotz LaMillion is a reality television competition between teams of two, in a race across 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. The last team to arrive 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 ₪1,000,000.

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

Most clues are directly adopted from the original American version:

Obstacles

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 utilise their power to Yield/U-Turn another team at the Yield/U-Turn board only once in the entire race.

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 will 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 the race.

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.

Legs

At the beginning of each leg, teams receive an allowance of cash to cover expenses during the race (except for the purchase of airline tickets, which are paid-for by credit cards provided by the race).

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 from the race 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.

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. There is no single elimination penalty in this version of the show:

Rules and penalties

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.

Seasons

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

Countries and locales visited

As of the fourth season, HaMerotz LaMillion has visited 30 countries and 6 continents.

1. ^Note a : Including Hong Kong and Macau (1).