HaMerotz LaMillion 9 is the upcoming ninth season of HaMerotz LaMillion (, lit. The Race to the Million), an Israeli reality television game show based on the American series The Amazing Race. The ninth installment of the series and the first installment of Channel 12's iteration of the show will feature teams of two with a pre-existing relationship in a race around the world to win ₪1,000,000.
The season is set to premiere in 2024 and will be hosted by Yehuda Levi, replacing Ron Shahar, who hosted the previous seasons of the show.
Production
Development and filming
During finale press for the previous season, Ron Shahar said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic production for a subsequent season would happen after the countries to which the show would visit had sufficient vaccinated populations. Shahar reiterated that filming for a new season would happen as soon as possible in an interview after his elimination from The Singer in the Mask a year later. In October 2022, Channel 13 announced that it would be producing a local version of Peking Express instead of new seasons of HaMerotz LaMillion due to high production costs.
On 11 November 2022, Channel 12 announced that it had acquired the rights to HaMerotz LaMillion and would be filming a new season in 2023. On 12 March 2023, Yehuda Levi was announced as the new host of HaMerotz LaMillion. Filming began in May 2023. On 14 May 2023, racers were spotted in Málaga, Spain. This season also includes first-time visits to Iceland and the Arab world with Morocco. Filming concluded in Queenstown, New Zealand in early June.
Casting
Casting for the season opened on 24 November 2022. Within a month, over 6,000 people had applied for the show. The cast was finalized in April 2023.
Cast
The cast includes Bnot Brak cast member Esti Socolovski, Tnuva vice chairman Guy Rosen, and Yiftach Ramon, son of Space Shuttle Columbia disaster victim Ilan Ramon.
Race summary
Future legs
Iceland
Morocco
New Zealand
Gibbston (Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge) Queenstown (Kerry Drive Jump Park) Queenstown (Lake Johnson) Queenstown (Queenstown Hill) Queenstown (Village Green) Spain Málaga (Málaga Airport) Málaga (Plaza de la Merced)