The Amazing Race 18 is the eighteenth season of the American reality competition show The Amazing Race. Hosted by Phil Keoghan, it featured eleven teams of two, each returning from a previous edition of the series, competing in a race around the world in order to win US$1,000,000. This season visited five continents and nine countries and traveled over 40,000 miles (64,000 km). Starting in Palm Springs, California, racers traveled through Australia, Japan, China, India, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Brazil before returning to the United States and finishing in the Florida Keys. New twists introduced in this season include the no-rest leg, where teams immediately began the subsequent leg after finishing the previous leg, and an automatic U-Turn for the last team to finish the first task. This season was also the first to be filmed and broadcast for high-definition television. The season premiered on CBS on Sunday, February 20, 2011, and the finale aired on May 8, 2011.