The Amazing Race 12 spanned 30,000 miles in 21 days, making it the shortest Amazing Race course since Season 8. The race covered four continents, visiting ten countries, five of which were previously unvisited.

The newly visited countries were Ireland, Burkina Faso, Lithuania, Croatia and Taiwan. Also, for the first time, the finish line was not in the contiguous United States. This season also introduced two new twists to the race, the U-Turn and the Speed Bump. The U-Turn allowed racers to force another team behind them to complete the other side of the Detour they did not just previously complete. The Speed Bump required a team that finished last in a non-elimination leg to perform an additional task in the next leg, while other teams are still racing. The U-Turn and the Speed Bump each occurred in two episodes of The Amazing Race 12.

The Alaska finish line is the northernmost point of the finish line in Race history. This season's 11 teams included married ministers, dating Goths, and siblings. The grandson and grandfather team of Nicolas and Donald are, respectively, the son and father-in-law of singer Robbie Fulks. Shana was the on-and-off girlfriend of TV personality Ryan Seacrest, while racers Staella, TK, Rachel and Nathan all went to the same high school in Fountain Valley, California at Fountain Valley High School. Kynt had originally applied for an unknown season of the reality television show Survivor.

Episode 11, 23 Nov
The Final Push

Ronald Hsu & Christina Hsu, TK Erwin & Rachel Rosales and Nicolas Fulks & Donald Jerousek are the three teams racing for the top prize of one million dollars. They take off from their Pit Stop at the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall Plaza in Taipei, Taiwan and receive a clue instructing them to immediately fly to the final destination city of Anchorage, Alaska, over 4,500 miles away.

As teams scramble for flights, all obtain the same flight, but one manages a valuable upgrade. Once in Alaska, teams travel to 6th Avenue Outfitters, an adventure store, to pick up vital gear for tasks and a clue. One team, however, neglects to pick up their gear and does not realize their mistake until reaching the Detour.

This particular Detour, at the Ship Creek Boat Launch, requires teams to choose between tasks involving either cod or crabs. The teams then taxi sixty miles to the Twenty Mile River and then take a high-speed boat ride to the Twenty Mile Glacier, which they scale. Next, teams take a thrilling taxi ride across the Alaskan wilderness to Merrill Field and taxi to Goose Lake Park.

There, they face the final Roadblock, in which one member of each team is required to complete a task that involves the placement of various objects featured throughout the race. Teams then receive two clues instructing them to travel to statues, and then finally are instructed to travel to the Girdwood Airport and run to the finish line. In a near-photo finish, one team just ekes out another to win The Amazing Race 12 and claim the one million dollar prize.