Jonathan and Ana TownssuedThe Amazing Race for defamation, alleging that producers edited the show to make Jonathan look extra cruel to his wife.
The Towns' legal team alleges that The Amazing Race producers launched deliberately suppressed use of flattering (or at least neutral) footage of the couple "to substitute in their place a constructed, false, and highly damaging portrayal—one manufactured through the systematic juxtaposition of decontextualized footage, the willful omission of material exculpatory and humanizing content, the disproportionate inclusion of narratively irrelevant but inflammatory content and the sustained and asymmetric application of editorial standards that were applied to no other participant in the production."
In short, the Towns' feel that producers and editors purposely made Jonathan look dismissive, disrespectful and at times even verbally abusive towards Ana, even though that wasn't actually the case—and that the production team had more than enough material and context to work with to present a prettier (or at least more compete and honest) picture of the pair.
Ana and Jonathan, who appeared in The Amazing Race Season 37, also named CBS, Paramount, Jerry Bruckheimer Films and ABC Signature (now under the 20th Television banner owned by Disney) in the suit, which alleges that due to their edits, "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."
The Towns are seeking $8 million plus damages.
Who are Ana and Jonathan Towns, and what exactly are they accusing producers of making it appear happened? Read on to find out the details behind the drama, including what they say cameras didn't show.
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Ana Rivera and Jonathan Towns are a married couple from Pomona, Calif., who competed on The Amazing Race in Season 37 and ultimately came in third place during the season finale. Jonathan is a software developer, while Ana is a stay-at-home mom.
On the show, which was filmed in 2024, Jonathan was often presented as snapping at Ana in frustration, at times demeaning her and calling her names. While some tension obviously would make for extra drama on a reality show, Jonathan was so harsh at times that his behavior could be interpreted as straight-up verbal abuse, and host Phil Keoghan even subtly warned him about his conduct towards his wife.
Further, Ana and Jonathan allege in the lawsuit that The Amazing Race didn't air a "clear emotional anguish" and a "meltdown" Jonathan suffered during the shoot, after which he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
As a result, the couple alleges, The Amazing Race producers made it appear that he engaged in "intentional emotional abuse toward his spouse."
Related: Phil Keoghan Teases The Amazing Race Season 39
Are Jonathan and Ana Towns still together?
Ana and Jonathan Towns are still together. They have a YouTube channel in which they describe themselves as "a husband and wife in a neurodivergent-neurotypical relationship navigating life, love and parenthood one beautiful mess at a time."
Ana previously told Parade following the Season 37 finale, "We’re doing okay. Talking about some of the things that we’ve seen on the show, it is hard to look back on some of the things that we’ve seen. And essentially relive them. But it’s, at the same time, kind of a reminder of how far we’ve come since then."
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The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan told TV Line that the Towns' had "obviously been struggling in their relationship" and that they signed on to the show "to test things."
“It’s always difficult to judge from afar, and I gave up a long, long time ago trying to figure out why people are together and why some relationships work and don’t work,” he added. “I’m certainly no expert in that department, and I think it’s unfair to judge from the outside.”
Related: Izzy Gleicher and Paige Seber Explain How a Personal Moment on The Amazing Race 38 Sparked Their Wedding Plans (Exclusive)
What is Jonathan's diagnosis on The Amazing Race?
After leaving The Amazing Race, Jonathan was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
"How can I describe it? So when I look back at it, what I see, from what I know now, it’s almost as if you don’t know what’s happening in your head," Jonathan explained to Parade after the Season 37 finale. "For a neurotypical person, you have a good sense of the emotions that are coming through your mind at any given time. But for me, it’s almost impossible to make sense of the emotions, because they’re just so powerful in that moment. And so oftentimes I would just unleash that emotion on her. And that was obviously wrong.""It’s so impossible to describe to someone that doesn’t live this experience. And that’s what I think has been so hard for people that did see it," Jonathan told Parade. "You say, 'Okay, he has autism, but what does that have to do with anything?' And I think an important distinction is that I was undiagnosed. And I had no tools. I didn’t know what was happening with me. And I wish I could just put people in my shoes in that moment, so they can understand just how difficult it is to be in that moment. It’s just very hard to do."
He added, "We were able to backtrace almost all of our previous conflicts and trace that back to autism ... It’s so difficult because, when you’re a late-diagnosed autistic person, you have developed by this time in your life a number of adaptations and masking strategies that you’re not even aware of. So it took my doctor some time to kind of go through my history and go through some of my characteristics and really understand, 'Are you actually autistic?' Because I disguise it so well, and I’ve learned to adapt to the neurotypical world around me. Eventually we got there, but it was a journey. It was not straightforward at all."
Related: The Amazing Race 38's Joseph and Adam Abdin Talk Their Heartwarming Response from the Diabetes Community: 'It's Been Surreal' (Exclusive)
Jonathan is a software developer and YouTuber.
Who is the mean husband on The Amazing Race?
And therein, Jonathan and Ana's attorneys may say, lies the problem.
Jonathan was portrayed as a belittling and borderline emotionally abusive spouse on The Amazing Race, a depiction which he and Ana allege was false and defamatory, deliberately created and lacked crucial context.
"Something that you always you saw on the show, I would often blame her for things that she didn’t deserve blame for, and I know what that was now," Jonathan previously explained to Parade. "I mean, I was just trying to make sense of these emotions in my head, and I would just put it on the first thing that I saw, which was her. And every time I did that, I was wrong. But what I understand now is, when you get to that point, when the anger gets to that point, you just want to get it out, and you put it on the first thing you see. That was always my wife. I’m on a team with my wife, so she would often get the brunt of that anger. That’s definitely one of my biggest regrets about my experience."
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Before Keough and the world learned that Jonathan was neurodivergent, he told TV Line that he believed Jonathan was simply over-competitive ... which, let's be honest, is typically not a bad thing to be when you're in a reality competition show with a life-changing amount of money on the line.
"Even when he comes in second, to him it’s a loss," Keoghan explained. "One of the things I discussed with him along the way was, ‘Hey, you’ve got to take it easy on yourself, but also take it easy on your partner.’ Sometimes when you do your best, you don’t necessarily win, and that’s OK. That’s life. Most of the time, we lose, right? I get that he puts all that pressure on himself, but it’s one thing to put that pressure on yourself. It’s another to put it on your partner."
During one particular episode of the show, Keoghan briefly and tactfully confronted Jonathan about the way he spoke to Ana.
"I know when you first came into the race, particularly when things didn't go your way, you were extremely hard on yourself and your team,” Keoghan said pointedly. “What's the most important thing you feel like you've learned on this race?"
A contrite Jonathan replied, "If I could learn to become more resilient and to stay confident, through adversity and through the lows, we could maybe have a good shot at winning."
Related: Phil Keoghan Teases New Twists and a ‘Special Personal Moment’ Coming to The Amazing Race (Exclusive)
Are Jonathan and Ana from The Amazing Race divorced?
Nope! The Towns, though briefly separated briefly before signing up to compete together on The Amazing Race, are still together, though they may well be divorced from reality TV forever.
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