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**Disclaimer: This The Amazing Race article is based on the writer's opinion. Readers' discretion is advised.**
The Amazing Race season 37 premiered on March 5, 2025, featuring 14 teams competing against each other for a $1 million cash prize. With challenging tasks and grueling runs, each tried to put their best foot forward and outperform their competitors. However, the race often proved overwhelming, testing the contestants' limits, resulting in explosive reactions and questionable behavior.
Jonathan Towns, who is currently a participant on the show alongside his wife Ana, is one such contestant, who is often shown having meltdowns and controversial reactions. Since his reactions are mostly directed toward his wife, Jonathan has remained in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. From projecting his tension onto Ana to disregarding her emotions, Jonathan has done it all.
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Consequently, fans have called out his behavior, and rightfully so. However, I believe Jonathan deserves some grace, especially in light of recent revelations. On April 9, 2025, Jonathan and Ana posted a video on their YouTube channel (The Road Less Traveled), where they addressed the negative feedback from fans and revealed that Jonathan is on the autism spectrum.
In the video, Jonathan apologized and explained that his behavior was a consequence of his condition, which he was unaware of at that time. While it did not and should not dilute the intensity of how he conducted himself, it can help viewers understand why he acted the way he did.
In my opinion, since Jonathan was unaware of his diagnosis at that time, it likely added to their discomfort, knowing he experienced emotions he could not explain. I believe it provoked him mentally, leading to heightened emotions.
The Amazing Race season 37 alum Jonathan dumps his frustrations on Ana
While Jonathan's diagnosis cannot become a justification or an excuse for his behavior, it can certainly give viewers a different perspective on his identity. To sum up a person's entire personality and character based on clips from a 90-minute edit seems unfair, especially when their life circumstances are unknown.
However, now that The Amazing Race contestant has opened up about his condition, I believe he is due some grace and understanding. In the video, Jonathan said he was surprised by the "extreme and strange" behavior he had displayed on the show. Consequently, he sought a professional's help and discovered he had ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).
"You're going to be upset, and rightfully so, at the ways that I lash out, oftentimes at, you know, the person who's in closest proximity to me, which is my wife. And you'll be, like I said, rightfully angry and upset at that," he said.
The Amazing Race contestant continued:
But if you can, if you can muster the mental and emotional bandwidth to do this, I would ask that you just try to ask yourself in these moments, 'What else could be going on underneath the surface? What is it that I'm not seeing that can be going on?'"
Jonathan added that it was not an "excuse," but an important context to help explain his onscreen portrayal. Since his condition is now in the open, I believe he deserves some leeway instead of having his character and marriage demeaned online.
On The Amazing Race, Jonathan is shown as an individual who easily gets irritated and vents his frustration on Ana. In the video, he explained that he has a hyperactive brain that prefers routine to regulate emotions. While shooting the show, however, Jonathan had no control over the external factors and could not follow his own routine, which provoked him.
While Jonathan should be shown some grace, I believe Ana should be appreciated more for not misreading Jonathan's behavior and reacting to it. Netizens urged her to speak up and even criticized her for enduring his behavior, but she stood by him.
In the video, Ana explained that she was not a "doormat," but a supporting wife who understood the situation her husband was in. Although she sometimes felt overwhelmed herself, she did not want to add to his anxiety. So, she gave him the "patience that he needed" from her.
I believe that had they been aware of the condition, they would have acted differently. Both Ana and Jonathan confessed that they did not have the "proper tools" to tackle such situations. Moreover, The Amazing Race season 37 is the season of twists, which makes the journey more difficult for someone like Jonathan, who is adverse to unpredictability.
As mentioned before, to judge someone based on an edited version of themselves on screen is unfair because it does not give an honest picture of that person. To explain that, Jonathan recalled an un-aired incident from leg one of The Amazing Race, where he broke down in front of host Phil Keoghan for 15-20 minutes.
While it led viewers to believe Jonathan was upset because he came in second place, the reality was that he felt overwhelmed by how challenging the show would be for him. Keeping these factors in mind, viewers should be more understanding of his situation, knowing he was battling a condition he did not know he had.
The Amazing Race season 37 is available to stream on CBS.
