The Amazing Race's Jonathan Towns Reveals Autism Diagnosis, Reveals How His Behavior On the Show Led to Discovery

Jonathan Towns became one of the more controversial contestants on The Amazing Race in recent memory and he’s opening up about how being on the show changed his life.

Fans of the CBS reality competition series criticized Jonathan for the way he treated his wife Ana on the show, exhibiting distressing behavior towards her and even calling her a “terrible partner” at one point.

Jonathan recently revealed that he was diagnosed with autism after finishing the race.

Keep reading to find out more…

“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. 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,” Jonathan told Parade. “And that was obviously wrong.”

He continued, “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. 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.”

Ana opened up about what it has been like adapting to the discovery.

“It took me so long, even going through therapy and even just doing tons of research and reading, just for me to fully understand. I mean, I still don’t fully understand. And there’s so much more communication now because he’s able to use his words. He has a method,” she said. “But now that I am learning, again, it’s just like the fog was lifted. And so many things made sense. Even conflicts that we’ve had in the past. Even when we separated, it was always misunderstandings, miscommunications.”

Jonathan talked about what led to the diagnosis. When they got home from filming in June 2024, Ana “bought me Nonviolent Communication and said, ‘Here, you need to read this.’ And that’s how it started. It was very interesting.”

“His family has always had a suspicion. It was just never addressed. They never bothered,” Ana said. Jonathan added, “We almost had it as an inside joke that I was autistic. So I never took that seriously, because that’s just my family’s sense of humor. So I think at this point we start to say, ‘Maybe there’s something to this.’ And so I go online, and I do some reading. And I take this test. It’s called The AQ, and that stands for ‘autism quotient.’ And I take the test. It tells me, ‘Okay, you have trade sit aligned with autism.’ And so I’m like, ‘Okay, that’s weird. Let me go ahead and get a doctor to confirm this.’”

Jonathan and Ana said it was difficult to find a doctor who would diagnose him as an adult.

Read the full interview on Parade.com.

The winners of the current season have revealed what was edited in the finale and how things actually happened in real life.