The Amazing Race 8 (also known as The Amazing Race: Family Edition) is the eighth season of the American reality television show The Amazing Race. As opposed to other seasons of this series, which featured pairs of adults with a pre-existing relationship, this season featured ten families of four and allowed the participation of minors as young as eight years old. The season premiered on CBS on Tuesday, September 27, 2005, and concluded on Tuesday, December 13, 2005. Siblings Nick, Alex, Megan, and Tommy Linz were the winners of this season; while father Wally Branson and his three daughters, Beth, Lauren, and Lindsay, finished in second place; and widow Linda Weaver and her three children, Rebecca, Rachel, and Rolly, finished in third. Production Development and filming The eighth season of The Amazing Race spanned . This season placed much less emphasis on international travel as numerous legs were contained within the continental United States, and all locations were in North America, with Panama and Costa Rica visited for the first time. Filming took place between July 7, 2005, and July 31, 2005. Route Markers were colored yellow and white with black lining in contrast to the yellow and red markers used in all other seasons. As with The Amazing Race 7, the winners of this season were revealed in an online betting scandal just before the finale aired. For this season, the supplied credit card covered not only airfare, but also gasoline, which otherwise would have had to be purchased with cash. This rule change was made necessary by the fact that most of the transportation took place in automobiles rather than airplanes. The limits on individual Roadblock attempts, introduced in season six, did not apply for this season. Furthermore, some Roadblocks in this edition required the participation of two team members. During Leg 1, Renee Rogers fell at the starting line and suffered a concussion. She did not realize the severity of the injury until she went to a hospital after being eliminated during the next leg. Kevin O'Connor and Drew Feinberg from season 1 made a cameo appearance during the first leg handing out clues to teams in New York City at a hot dog stand. This season featured a visit to New Orleans in Legs 4 and 5, where filming occurred about a month before Hurricane Katrina struck the region. The episodes aired after the hurricane had