Jonathan and Ana Towns, a married couple who competed in season 37, are suing multiple entities associated with the series for defamation.

Amazing Race contestants sue CBS for $8 million in damages, allege ‘false and highly damaging’ editing

Jonathan and Ana Towns, a married couple who competed in season 37, are suing multiple entities associated with the series for defamation.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on *Entertainment Tonight* and Popsugar.

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March 5, 2026 5:34 p.m. ET

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Jonathan Towns and Ana Rivera Towns on 'The Amazing Race'. Credit:

Two former contestants of *The Amazing Race* have filed a lawsuit against CBS and the show's producers, alleging that the series waged a "smear strategy" against them with its editing.

Jonathan and Ana Rivera Towns, a married couple who competed in season 37 of the globetrotting reality competition series, filed their lawsuit Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, according to Deadline. The outlet reports that the pair are representing themselves against named defendants CBS, parent company Paramount, and producers ABC Signature and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

CBS and Paramount did not immediately respond when ** reached out for comment.

As viewers may remember, the couple was often shown bickering during their journey, with Jonathan, a software developer, seemingly unloading his frustrations on Ana, a stay-at-home mom. Jonathan was even reprimanded more than once for his name-calling and demeaning attitude towards Ana. The duo made it all the way to the finale, ultimately finishing in third place.

Jonathan Towns and Ana Rivera Towns on 'The Amazing Race'.

The suit alleges that the defendants presented "a constructed, false, and highly damaging portrayal" of Jonathan, in ways "that were applied to no other participant in the production."

It continues: "The resulting broadcast, disseminated to tens of millions of viewers on a nationally distributed television network, falsely portrayed Jonathan Towns, a private individual with no antecedent public profile, as a morally depraved, brutal and abusive spouse."

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The suit also claims that, following a "meltdown" and "clear emotional anguish" by Jonathan during the 2024 shooting of the Phil Keoghan-hosted series, he was diagnosed as having autism spectrum disorder.

Instead of helping the contestant, the complaint alleges that show producers convinced the couple not to quit the show and assured them there was nothing underhanded occurring with their depiction. The filing claims show producers deliberately painted a portrait of Jonathan as someone engaging in "intentional emotional abuse toward his spouse."

The couple is seeking $8 million in damages, as well as a public apology and a re-edit of their season with "appropriate disclaimers" of Jonathan's diagnosis.

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When EW spoke with Keoghan during season 37's airing, the host emphasized that viewers would witness a lot of "tension" between teammates throughout the season.

"Very rarely do you get a team where it's equal and they have exactly the same aspirations and everything is perfect," Keoghan said at the time. "You see it within any competitive sports team where there's tension — like with Shaq and Kobe on the Lakers. It's that competitive thing. I love that teams want to come on this show and that they're there to have a good time and race around the world and everything, but I want to see that fight in them. I want to see them really want to win. It makes for an interesting race, and we've got a lot of that this season."

"I went online and looked at: What are fans talking about with *The Amazing Race?* What do they like? What are the things they'd like to see more of? What are the things that they don't like? They love airport drama, they love teams that are hungry and want to compete," he added. "I did a whole list of the top 100 favorite moments, and they're not things that have necessarily come from twists and turns as much as they've just come from being put in a really interesting scenario."

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