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Recap: 'The Amazing Race' Season 21 Finale - 'Take Down That Million'

Which team made it to Phil first and won the big prize?

By Daniel Fienberg Sunday, Dec 9, 2012 11:52 PM

<p>Phil Keoghan of "The Amazing Race"</p>

Phil Keoghan of "The Amazing Race"

Credit: CBS

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There's something to be said for dominance.
 
The 20th installment of "The Amazing Race," which aired last spring, culminated in bickering married couple Rachel & Dave winning the million dollars and finishing first in an astounding eight of 12 competitive Legs on the Race.
 
They were the New York Yankees of "The Amazing Race." They dominated from start to finish and there was almost no suspense. In fact, they were such an obscenely strong team that they screwed up the final task of the season, ran through the finish line, were corrected, went back and completed the task and ran through the finish line a second time, as if to mock the other teams. 
 
You looked back on Season 20 of "The Amazing Race" and you said, "Well duh. No other team possibly could have won and it was really cute that Rachel & Dave let the other teams travel with them around the world."
 
But the Yankees don't win the World Series every year, no matter how high their payroll happens to be.
 
Some years, the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals or the 1987 Minnesota Twins win the World Series. Sometimes, a team does exactly enough to make the playoffs and then exactly enough to win a series or two and then, on the biggest available stage, that team does exactly enough to come out on top. If you look at the 2006 baseball season, the Cardinals were only the best team in baseball on October 27, but that was the last day of the season, so that's the only day that counts. 
 
There probably wasn't a New York Yankees for the 21st installment of "The Amazing Race." Abbie & Ryan thought they were going to be, but multiple travel gaffes in Germany sent them packing. Several teams won a couple Legs. One team won three Legs. But if you want to talk about the importance of finishing strong, the teams in this season's "Amazing Race" Top 3 finished 10th, 9th and 7th in the season-opening Leg. So maybe the final results on Sunday (December 9) night were appropriate. If no team was going to be able to win "The Amazing Race" and claim unquestioned supremacy, maybe this was exactly the correct result for this season.
 
More after the break...
 
Were Josh & Brent the best team on "The Amazing Race" this season?
 
Ummm... No. I think we can say that with reasonable confidence, right?
 
The Beekman Boys aren't the first team to win "The Amazing Race" without winning a Leg before the end. One need only look back to Season 18, when Kisha & Jen came out in first. But Kisha & Jen won as the climax of an amazingly consistent season that say them finish second in the last three Legs and never finish worse than sixth. And that was against All-Stars competition.
 
Season 21 was not an All-Stars season. It was, in fact, an impressively weak pack. Look back at the six teams that were eliminated first and that's a lot of filler and yet Josh & Brent never finished higher than third until the last Leg and were saved by a Non-Elimination Leg, by a team losing a passport and by a strategically deployed U-Turn. They repeatedly got lucky and capitalized on the poor luck of others. 
 
You can make the argument that they're the weakest team to win "The Amazing Race" and I'm not sure what argument could be made to counter that. 
 
On the other hand, one Leg after another, they overcame adversity EXACTLY enough to survive. They may not have won trips to the Mexican Riviera or Hawaii or won cars, but those are just cutesy little gifts to keep Travelocity and Ford happy. Teams play to win the million dollars and style points don't count. Almost from the beginning, they were in perpetual jeopardy and while I'd like to say they never hung their heads, they hung their heads constantly. As late as the very last Leg, they whined and pouted and placed blame. They must have mentally packed their bags each and every week heading to the Pit Stop and each and every week, they were spared and talked about their underdog status. And as the younger and stronger teams bonded and helped each other, the Beekmans went from being subtly bullied to being actively ostracized and derided by other pairs. No matter how many times Josh & Brent quit on the inside, they never literally quit and ultimately that's what counted.
 
So I guess that's what the Beekmans taught us: Literally, don't quit. You never know what's going to happen around you. And while you'd think that on a 12 Leg race around the world, mathematical probability would prevent fluke wins, it probably stands to reason that if you play two seasons per years over enough decades, eventually you're going to get at least one winner-by-attrition. It's the 1000 monkeys in a room with 1000 typewriters for 1000 years theory: EVENTUALLY you're going to get one season like this one, even if it never happens again.
 
That's my way of saving that it would be absolutely wrong to say that Brent & Josh were "undeserving" winners. They finished not-last every single time it counted. If you do that every Leg, you're guaranteed to finish first or second for the season. Well, unless there's a double-eliminations. But in a Race filled with Equalizers and Non-Elimination Legs, weird things can happen.
 
How did the weird things happen? Let's actually talk about Sunday's episode.
 
The first thing I want to say is that even if "The Amazing Race" got a weird winner this time around, it was a decent season. There were some good challenges in some good cities and as we got to the Final Four, I had at least one team I was rooting for and at least one team I was rooting against.
 
The penultimate Leg, which took up more than half of the episode, was spoiled from the beginning. It was the Ford Presents Ford Has a New Feature Promotional Episode and after learning the glories of the Ford Escape's no-hands automatic trunk, Jaymes & James announced that they hoped they'd win a car and James told the story of his mother, a special needs teacher who lives and works without an automobile of any kind. No other team shared a story about their desire or need for a car. No matter what happened with the editing for the next 60 minutes, I never had an iota of doubt that Jaymes & James were going to win the Leg and that James' mother was going to get her car. 
 
And guess what? They did! Good for them, I suppose.
 
As for the results at the back of the pack, through the episode, the three Non-Beekman were determined to go to the Final Three and they didn't care if the Beekmans saw them conspiring and plotting. 
 
Since the editors weren't going to give us suspense on the team finishing first, they concentrated on the back of the pack, specifically the adversarial relationship between Twins Natalie & Nadiya and the Beekmans. It's bizarre that for 12-ish episodes, The Twins never called the Beekmans "The Gays" once, but suddenly in the last two episodes, every word out of their mouth was about Josh & Brent's sexuality. The first hour of the finale was all about Natalie & Nadiya calling the plucky underdogs "The Evil Gays" and tearing into them for their alleged treachery. Josh's ankle was hurt, but suddenly he could run! What a criminal! [Never mind that James was an invalid in Russia, but sprinting himself.] Josh speaks a tiny bit of French! Oh, the deceit! How dare a team suck up pain or have any sort of basic intelligence? That seemed to be the World According to Natalie & Nadiya, whose Speed-Bump for finishing last last week was tying up a corset, a task that delayed them only long enough for the other three teams to get lost, despite Josh's nefarious French skills.
 
That Leg's Detour was the choice between Plow and Chow. In Plow, teams had to hitch up a horse to a plow and plow four lines. In Chow, teams had to debone and chop up two barrels of meat for a team of French hunting dogs, who apparently eat far better than most of the human population in nearly every country the Racers visited. [Yes, recalling the poverty in Indonesia and Bangladesh, I'm not sure if I approve of a task that asked teams to pour heaping piles of prime cuts of meat onto the ground.] Plow looked like it should have been hard, practically begging for a repeat of the all-time classic "My Ox Is Broken" task. Nope. It was easy and the Chippendales and Team Longhorn finished fast. Chow wasn't much harder, but it gave the Beekmans and Twins the chance for a lot of trash talk, that was cut so that we were only rooting for Josh & Brent. Editing is magic. Or the Twins were just losing their minds.
 
The Roadblock was a good one as well, albeit not a determining factor in any way. One player from each team had to run into a mushroom cave and pick 10 mushrooms from three types. The caves were dark and labyrinthine and there was a lot of fumbling around. Team Longhorn finished ahead of the Chippendales, but they got back directions and James' mother will get her car. And the Twins finished ahead of the Beekmans, but they got back directions and ended up going home.
 
So it was yet another Leg that was decided by vagaries of transportation and direction, rather than by exceptional in-task achievement. But it was that kind of season. Bad cabs, bad boats, bad airline connections and, in this case, bad local directing are part of the game. The Twins took total responsibility and called themselves idiots, etc. It's all just part of the Race.
 
That left the finale, which was simultaneously really fun and really infuriating.
 
Fun included the challenge of making teams first go to a specific location in Coney Island and recognize a fairly camouflaged clue within a Harry Houdini sign. I wish it had been more relevant to the end of the Race.
 
Fun then included the first of two Roadblocks, in which one player had to recreate a Houdini stunt by escaping from a straight-jacket while dangling from a crane at 15 stories, leading to a bungee jump. I'd have loved some more freaking out and drama and I wish it had been more relevant to the end of the Race.
 
Fun even included sending the teams to a pizza parlor and getting them to deliver 10 pies to three different locations, getting the correct orders and destinations. Both Team Longhorn and the Chippendales did the task right the first time, while the Beekmans made two mistakes, which Brent blamed entirely on Josh. I wish it had been more relevant to the end of the Race.
 
So that brings us to the "infuriating."
 
The final task, set at the United Nations, required one player from each team to hoist nine flags with the correct local translations for "Hello" and "Good-Bye" attached. As each player quickly remembered, Phil Keoghan and the local greeters always made a big show of emphasizing that bit of language. But nobody paid attention. "I just thought they were being cordial," Jaymes said. So what we were left with for a million dollars was the need to put 18 words in the correct places on nine flags. Everybody knew Spanish. Everybody knew French. Nobody knew anything else.
 
The way the editing was presented, Josh was given the chance for redemption and, by making a math challenge out of it, he eventually completed the task after three hours. Lexi, meanwhile, had a melt-down and bonked her head on the flags and was a crying wreck. Somehow, James finished the task in nearly the exact same time as Josh did, but it was barely discussed. They had to at least somewhat pretend that Josh had a process that he was going through, so as to validate his win. 
 
Bunk.
 
Josh and James were playing a process-of-elimination guessing game for a million dollars. And you can decide for yourself if you think that's a good ending for "The Amazing Race."
 
To me, it's better than losing because your cabbie didn't have an express pass. And because the task made Lexi cry, it was much more dramatic than some memory based tasks we've had in past seasons.
 
But that doesn't mean that it wouldn't have been much more satisfying if any one of the three players had gotten to the task and said, "Yes! I was paying attention!" and proceeded to astound the competition by nailing a quiz that probably could have been done in 10 minutes.
 
Instead? Process-of-elimination for a million bucks!
 
And Josh finished and The Beekmans won.
 
It was probably exactly the end the season deserved.
 
 
This recap is running long, but some additional thoughts:
 
*** Things couldn't have played out better for the Beekmans with the tasks and languages and geography of the closing Legs. There were intellectual challenges, farming and horticultural challenges, a foreign tongue they spoke and a closing stretch in their hometown. Despite those myriad advantages, I don't think that's why they won, but that may speak even less kindly to their victory. They should have romped to victory and instead, it was a squeaker. 
 
*** The Beekmans said the appropriate heart-felt things at the mat, including an attempt to make their win a win for anybody disenfranchised or disempowered. Fair enough. The degree to which they're underdogs in life is... questionable. They have a reality TV show. Josh has written four best-selling books. Brent's a doctor, a business owner and buddies with Martha Stewart. They've had struggles, but they've also had success and high-profile success. 
 
*** My favorite part of any "Amazing Race" finale is seeing how teams react to the eventual winners. Abbie & Ryan's excitement for the Beekmans as they ran into Gotham Hall was so genuine that it made me want to be happy for them as well.
 
*** Lexi's paranoia about having to potentially eat pizza for a challenge was disturbing. Who hears they're going to the oldest pizzeria in NYC and says, "Oh my gosh, I hope I don't have to eat pizza." Then again, she also selected their horse for the "Plow" Detour in the basis of "prettiness." And the cringe-worthy sign-off with Lexi saying, once again, that she's ready to take things to the next level and Trey avoiding eye contact was just sad.
 
*** Million bucks aside, Jaymes & James came out of this as clear winners. Nearly everybody liked them. They got James' mother a car. People on Twitter were able to pass around this AWESOME video from Jaymes' musical career. And they're virtual locks to get an invite next time "The Amazing Race" goes down an All-Stars path. I do hope that Jaymes' father is OK.
 
Enough rambling from me... What'd you think of the finale? What'd you think of the Beekman win? And what questions do you wanna make sure I ask all four teams tomorrow in exit interviews?
 

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Daniel Fienberg
Executive Editor
A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.
Related Searches: TV, recaps, The Amazing Race, finale, Take Down That Million

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  • Default-avatar

    rugman11

    I really wanted the Beekmans to make the final three. I liked the way Jaymes & James and Lexi & Trey treated the alliance, but the sisters just drove me nuts. They definitely brought the "high school" aspect of the alliance.

    I was a little disappointed the Beekmans won, but when you spend 2 and a half hours at the final task, it really becomes anybody's ballgame.

    I was a little surprised the teams had so much trouble with the final task. I'm not a language person, but even I know "do svidanya" and "ni hao". And their counterparts were pretty easy to pick out as well. I marked the "tot ziens" as being Dutch for goodbye since "tot" means death in German. "Hallo" wouldn't have been tough to get either. Maybe there were a lot more extra flags than it looked like.

    December 10, 2012 at 1:16AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    mgrabois

    Trey and Lexi mentioned that they had taken notes on the places they went in anticipation of a memory-based competition in the last leg. While I assume that they purchased some of that with their "you have X dollars for this leg of the race" money, I was under the impression that they were not allowed to do any note-taking. Maybe that rule has been relaxed; maybe it was just "no electronic gadgets".

    All Racers got on the plane in Paris without their bags. I'm pretty sure there was a rule put in place that they can't sell their equipment for money along the route, but I would have liked to have seen 15 seconds of them giving their bags away or whatever they did with them. You can't just leave bags unattended near a trash can. Or did they check their bags and just not pick them up at baggage claim (intending to do so later)?

    Can you ask one of the teams about what happens at the pit stop after their interviews? It's obvious that they're sequestered but I'm curious to find out what's involved in production.

    December 10, 2012 at 1:22AM EST Reply to Comment
    • Gizmo_bigger_talkback_profile

      dan MGrabois- I believe teams have had elaborate systems of notes in the past, all conducted during down-time and maybe not eligible for use during the race.

      I always/often ask the "Favorite moment we didn't see on the Race" question in my interviews as a way of talking about down-time and bonding and whatnot. But if I asked directly about pit stop logistics, I'm sure that would go under the heading of things they can't talk about...

      -Daniel

      December 10, 2012 at 1:31AM EST
    • Default-avatar

      duncan Teams check their bags on the final flight and leave them at the airport. An exit interview awhile ago by somebody (sorry can't remember) brought that up as that was the only team of the 3 that didn't have their bags because they figured out that there was no need to carry them. Now all teams do it.

      December 10, 2012 at 1:51AM EST
    • Default-avatar

      Ben On the checked-bags note: on TAR5, both Colin & Christie and Brandon & Nicole checked their bags when trying to fly from Calgary to Dallas (via Denver) and that decision kept either team from getting on the best flight that Chip & Kim were on. It was a major factor in Chip & Kim's win and it's not that surprising that every Final 3 team since then has made damn sure that the luggage issue would be nixed when it came to booking the last sets of flights.

      December 10, 2012 at 11:42AM EST
  • Broccoli_talkback_profile

    floretbroccoli

    I remember, when The Race had been in Indonesia just before the tsunami, Phil did an ad for a tsunami-relief charity that week. I wasn't paying close attention tonight. Was there any ad for Hurricane Sandy relief? Most of the Coney Island boardwalk they visited on tonight's show is no longer there.

    December 10, 2012 at 1:22AM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      mgrabois Did Coney Island get washed away? Or are you thinking of a similar amusement park on the Jersey shore? In either case, no Sandy PSA.

      December 10, 2012 at 1:25AM EST
    • Gizmo_bigger_talkback_profile

      dan FloretBroccoli - A good point/question. And no, I saw nothing of the sort.

      -Daniel

      December 10, 2012 at 1:26AM EST
    • Broccoli_talkback_profile

      floretbroccoli No, I grew up in Brooklyn and would never confuse Coney Island with the Jersey shore.

      Breezy Point, in Rockaway, was the most washed-away beachfront. But Coney Island was pretty damaged. Nathan's, for example, is closed and won't open until next spring or summer.

      December 12, 2012 at 1:32PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    HWah

    So, you are saying that someday the Cubs, as Beekman-like that they may be, might win the World Series? I've just decided that this is the message I'm taking from your recap!

    December 10, 2012 at 1:25AM EST Reply to Comment
    • Gizmo_bigger_talkback_profile

      dan HWAH - *Someday*? Absolutely!

      As a Red Sox fan who got to enjoy 2004, hope springs eternal.

      -Daniel

      December 10, 2012 at 1:27AM EST
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    Jeff

    Kinda wish the Chippendales had won, as they seemed like genuinely good guys, but I have no real problem with the Beekmans. As long as it wasn't the twins, I'm good. They were truly despicable.

    December 10, 2012 at 1:49AM EST Reply to Comment
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    Andrew

    One that became very apparent the last two weeks is this year's fourth place winner would have been gone in the first few weeks in early seasons. Because they couldn't read a map, a skill which you would hope would be useful in a race around the world but increasingly is not. This frustrates me. Certain old schools teams (Ken and Gerard, Kris and Jon, in particular) got huge advantages because they could self-navigate and other teams couldn't.

    I think the tasks were largely better this year, but I wish there was more drive yourself and what not. That's what's caused the increase in frustrating luck based eliminations where it's all about taxi luck or what not.

    I'm not particularly happy about the winners as I prefer good teams winning, but as you say, there was no real dominant team. Was rooting for the the Ja(y)meses because they seemed to enjoy everything the most as a bit of a tiebreaker, but whatever.

    Also, I understand the budget issues, but I wish they'd restore the every leg fast forward. That's much more interesting strategy than the needless conflict generator that is the U-Turn.

    December 10, 2012 at 1:52AM EST Reply to Comment
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      Jobin00 The biggest weak spot this season was the lack of driving (usually stick) and self navigation throughout the race. Those are usually TWO HUGE skills racers must have in order to place well during the race, or be eliminated, and it was a complete afterthought.

      It was for what only 2 legs, and at the nearly end besides? Really disappointing.

      December 10, 2012 at 9:24AM EST
  • Jeff_avatar_2_talkback_profile

    Mulderism

    Once those awful twins were eliminated I was going to be satisfied with whoever won. I liked all three teams. And yes Daniel, I still dislike those twins - especially with all their derogatory remarks about the Beekman's. Making comments about their sexuality and how they were coattail riders and didn't deserve to win. They should have been disqualified when they stole the rocker's money and I hope they remember that. They were not entertaining in the slightest and I was so happy when they lost the leg and were eliminated.

    I guess what I learned from TAS this season is that it doesn't matter if you win a leg as long as you don't finish last in an elimination leg. Win the last leg and win the grand prize. Having an early start didn't seem to make any difference and so no team had a disadvantage tonight except for the twins and their speed bump.

    December 10, 2012 at 2:07AM EST Reply to Comment
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      jan I absolutely agree with your first paragraph--especially the part about the money. I was delighted that the twins didn't make the final three.

      December 10, 2012 at 11:03AM EST
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    MrMojo

    I absolutely hated the Twins. I was happy when the evil gays knocked them out of the race. I was even happier because that gave my favorites James and Jaymes or even Lexi and Tex, another likable team, the best chances to win. To say I'm disappointed by the Beekmans win is an understatement.

    The Beekmans were incompetent the entire race except the very last challenge. Even then, with a head start on James and Jaymes, they barely finished first. Congrats to them, they won the Race but it soured my opinion of the whole season.

    December 10, 2012 at 4:54AM EST Reply to Comment
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    nicky

    Are you ever going to interview the hippies?

    December 10, 2012 at 8:01AM EST Reply to Comment
    • Gizmo_bigger_talkback_profile

      dan Nicky - Because that exit interview was the week I was out on vacation, that interview slipped through the cracks. As a vaguely OCD completist, the absence eats at me a little...

      -Daniel

      December 10, 2012 at 12:26PM EST
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    Jack

    I thought it was an entertaining season, but I dislike social 'propaganda' injected into my light entertainment. My opinions about sexual more's are fixed and settled, and I'm disgusted with Hollywood jamming its amoral-moral judgments into shows, as they did at the end of last night's episode.

    December 10, 2012 at 8:54AM EST Reply to Comment
    • Gizmo_bigger_talkback_profile

      dan Jack - I assume you're referring to Lexi's obsession with heterosexual marriage? If so, I agree completely.

      -Daniel

      December 10, 2012 at 12:27PM EST

    • He's probably referring to Monster Truck's realization about gays and lifestyle choices thanks to his time spent with the Beekmans.

      December 10, 2012 at 1:49PM EST
    • Default-avatar

      jan Well played, Dan. Touché.

      December 10, 2012 at 2:06PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    koko

    Thanks for a great season of recaps, Dan!
    i developed this tradition in the last few seasons. i tune in to see the premire and the few first episodes, get the tone and the main characters. then as i get more busy i start missing more and more episodes, but i still read with great pleasure your frustrated recaps. mayhaps next season i will try to do that with just the recaps.

    December 10, 2012 at 9:21AM EST Reply to Comment
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    koko

    the "americans are so ignorant!" is such an obvious and tired joke/complaint, but holy shit, how can you not recognize the UN emblem right away? how?? how come its even considered part of a "challenge" on a game show, not even mentioning it was DURING THE FINAL. grrrr!

    December 10, 2012 at 9:25AM EST Reply to Comment
    • Gizmo_bigger_talkback_profile

      dan Koko - I kinda wanted there to be more advantage to the Beekmans for immediately identifying the symbol, rather than having to ask around like Trey & Lexi did. Unfortunately, that's just not how the show works. Alas...

      -Daniel

      December 10, 2012 at 12:29PM EST
    • Default-avatar

      prettok "Americans are so ignorant"?
      Are the contestants on the international versions of "The Amazing Race" that much brighter?

      December 10, 2012 at 5:53PM EST
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    Octavia

    I was rooting for the Chips, so I was disappointed that the Beekman Boys won. And Dan, I knew about their show, but didn't know the other things about them. Geez, they were making it sound like Josh was schlepping it down to the city to work in the coal mines so Brent could keep the water running up at the farm!
    Do you know if there's any truth to the rumor that the 2nd place team wins $500k? I really hope so for Jaymes/James sake.

    December 10, 2012 at 10:22AM EST Reply to Comment
    • Gizmo_bigger_talkback_profile

      dan Octavia - Just as on "Survivor," I know the second place team gets something, but I don't think it's THAT much. And as for the Beekmans, I don't wanna make it sound like they're living in the lap of luxury. Having to struggle to pay your mortgage is struggling no matter what income bracket you're in. But yeah, Josh definitely wasn't going to the mines...

      -Daniel

      December 10, 2012 at 12:32PM EST

    • Let's be fair... they're struggling with the mortgage on THEIR FARM that they have as part of some dream life they're trying to construct. That's like trying to keep up with the harbor fees for your fishing boat.

      December 10, 2012 at 1:51PM EST
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    Kevin

    I thought it was a good finale in that the tasks did allow for some shuffling. In some past finales, the first team out of the airport won, because there was never an opportunity to catch up. Having said that, my one quibble is, I prefer the racers having to do a bit of running to get to the final mat. This one was just jumping out of a cab and opening the doors. I'm curious how close the finish was.

    December 10, 2012 at 10:46AM EST Reply to Comment
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    jan

    As long as the twins were eliminated, I was happy. That being said, I was also happy about the Beekmans' win (although I didn't know all that other stuff about them that you mentioned, Daniel--I, too, thought they were in fairly dire financial straits from the way they talked). I didn't like the way the other three teams conspired against them--even the Chippendales, whom I liked for the most part. But I really, REALLY didn't want the twins to win. My second choice would have been Jaymes and James. They always seemed to be having a good time, and, except for U-turning Abbie and Ryan, they were always decent to the other teams. At least one of them did seem to agonize about the U-turn even though they still did it. So basically the final three ended up as I would have hoped. I liked Trey and Lexi all right, but they did go along with the stolen money thing, and that kind of turned me on them. Also, she sure cried a lot.

    And I was thoroughly disgusted with the blatant product placement. I realize shows do it all the time, but some do it better than others (Modern Family with the ipad, for example), while others just plunk it into the middle of something (Amazing Race and Bones come to mind). Mentioning it once would have been enough.

    I wish you would ask any team you talk to about the stolen money. From what one team said earlier, it seems like no one except the two teams involved were aware of what happened. And Trey seemed reluctant, but the twins (and Lexi?) convinced him to go along. (No wonder he just sat there avoiding eye contact while Lexi went on and on about “taking things to the next level.” If he has any doubts, he probably wouldn’t act on them anyway.)

    December 10, 2012 at 11:20AM EST Reply to Comment
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    Dezbot

    I was very disappointed with the Beekmans win, and even more so now that I know about all their success. What a couple of lame-ass whiners.

    Poor Jaymes looked so crushed that they didn't win. I hope the Chippers get some endorsement deals out of this because they were so much fun to watch throughout the Race. Could you please ask if they have been approached by any companies for endorsements? For sure they should be doing Ford Escape commercials!

    Definitely ask about the stolen money if you can. Also maybe ask Trey when he's going to marry Lexi (assuming they are still together).

    Overall, a good season of TAR, albeit with an ending that sucked :(

    December 10, 2012 at 12:10PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Gizmo_bigger_talkback_profile

      dan Dezbot - I'll definitely ask the Twins about the money and I'll see how things are progressing with Trey & Lexi when we talk... So many exit interviews...

      -Daniel

      December 10, 2012 at 12:33PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    SaveFarris

    * Even Keisha & Jenn finished 1st a couple of times during their original race. The Beekmans hold the distinction of only Amazing Race winners to never win a single "normal" leg. ... Congrats?

    December 10, 2012 at 12:24PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      rugman11 Technically, Eric & Danielle never won any legs together before the first All-Star finale, though Eric obviously won several in his first season with Jeremy.

      December 10, 2012 at 12:38PM EST
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    paddlepop

    Most BORING TAR EVER. The personality void Beekmans win. The Chippendales should have won.

    December 10, 2012 at 1:16PM EST Reply to Comment
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      prettok If the Chippendales had won last night, how exactly would that have made the entire season suddenly less boring?

      December 10, 2012 at 5:59PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    Tone

    Thanks for the season of recaps Daniel.

    Forgetcancernow.com if you are so inclined to donate to Jaymes' dad.

    December 11, 2012 at 2:09AM EST Reply to Comment
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    zippy

    It looked to me like James, while getting out of the straitjacket,just ripped the strap off the suit!

    December 11, 2012 at 11:36AM EST Reply to Comment
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    Andy

    My tardy comment is basically to just agree with two points Dan raised.

    Never has there been a more obvious All-Star candidates in Jaymes and James. They were affable, funny and strong contenders. For that reason alone it's a shame they didn't win, but I'd love to see them again a season or two down the line.

    I also couldn't help but notice Abbie and Ryan react to the Beekman's arrival and I thought it was brilliant. I've only been watching for about six seasons but it certainly seemed like the most joyous/over the top I'd seem a pair be for the arriving winners... and I loved it. They truly did bond on their long Frankfurtian spiral.

    December 11, 2012 at 7:14PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    James

    Thanks for the recap ! btw way guys. who's yer bet on TAR 22 ? mine is Anthony & Bates. i've done this already. check out frinzee.com make ur prediction official. Godbless

    March 5, 2013 at 9:28PM EST Reply to Comment

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