Tonight is the 2-hour season finale of The Amazing Race! Which team will cross the finish line first and claim the $1 million prize? Read the recap below:
The episode kicks off with the Final 4 teams being informed where their next destination is: Tokyo, Japan. Jason and Amy are the first team to depart for the airport, followed by Tim and Marie, Nicole and Travis, and Leo and Jamal. The two cousins are unconcerned about the other three teams teaming up to work against them since they feel they’ve been ganged up on the whole season, especially with two U-Turns used against them. Their assumption is right as Nicole is shown campaigning for exactly that. She and Travis are still angry about Leo and Jamal lying throughout the race.
The final four teams arrive in Singapore, and Leo and Jamal search for earlier flights to Tokyo. They find a connecting flight to Hong Kong, which will arrive in Tokyo ten to fifteen minutes earlier than the other three teams’ flight that will stop at Bangkok instead. Leo and Jamal’s flight change remains unbeknownst to the other three teams as they board their flight to Bangkok.
As planned, Leo and Jamal arrive at Tokyo first. However, the other three teams arrive shortly afterwards and there is a struggle for taxis. They initially wanted to work together, but since it was taking too long for Tim and Marie to get a taxi, Nicole and Travis and Jason and Amy want to leave them behind. But the taxi drivers wanted to work together, so all three teams depart at the same time.
All teams are now on their way to the Detour. Their choices are “Knock It Down” or “Call It Up.” “Knock It Down” requires teams to participate in a Japanese-styled game show human bowling challenge. One team member must push the other down a bumpy slide and get a strike. “Call It Up” requires a team member to dive into an obsolete phone booth transformed into an aquarium filled with goldfish. That team member must call a number and hear a message. Next, they must repeat that message to his or her team member, where that person will have to repeat that message verbatim to the person that will hand them their next clue.
Leo and Jamal choose to play some human bowling, as does the other teams (except for Nicole and Travis). Leo and Jamal arrive at the human bowling Detour, and the game show host is the same host as the one for the human conveyer belt challenge back in season 20. Leo and Jamal try to do the task as real bowling and aim for the sides. However, this approach is unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, the other three teams arrive at the site for the “Call It Up” Detour. Nicole and Travis and Jason and Amy then decide to do this Detour instead since they’re already there. And since only two teams can attempt it at once, they ditch Tim and Marie in the parking lot without letting them know what they were doing. But Tim and Marie don’t want to waste any time, so they get back in their taxi and drive toward the “Knock It Down” detour.
Meanwhile, Leo and Jamal successfully complete the Detour after finally deciding to aim for the middle of the bowling pins. They keep their lead in first place and learn they must now proceed to Shinjuku Chuo Koen.
Over at “Call It Up,” Amy and Travis decide to be the ones to dive down into the phone booth. They listen to the message on the phone and tell their partner what it says. Although the editing didn’t show Nicole say the entire message, both her and Jason say it correctly and get their next clue.
Tim and Marie arrive at the “Knock It Down” Detour, and the host ask about their relationship status. After they revealed they’re exes, the audience boos them. Tim remarks that she was the one who ended it and broke his heart; the game show calls them an “American love story.” But Marie retorts back, “An American Horror Story!” before they attempt to strike down the bowling pins. After they only knock down one, the host shouts, “Only One?!” before picking up the fallen bowling pin and hilariously throwing it at Tim. However, on the next attempt, Tim and Marie are successful in knocking over all the pins, and they get their next clue to the Roadblock.
Before Leo and Jamal can attempt the Roadblock, they must complete their Speed Bump. This task requires them to capture a giant rhino, which is really just a fabricated structure of a rhino, but with the feet of the people holding it up visible at the bottom. Nonetheless, Leo and Jamal must follow the lead of the men carrying the nets to capture the rhino in a very specific manner.
While Leo and Jamal try to capture the rhino, Nicole and Amy agree to help each other in the Roadblock, which requires a team member to assemble a giant robot. Before they make much progress, the two cousins completed the Speed Bump successfully. Leo then starts to work on the roadblock before Tim and Marie arrive at the scene. Marie decides to build the robot and she asks for guidance on what she is supposed to do. She even approaches Amy and Nicole, but they don’t say a word to her. So much for the three teams working together against Leo and Jamal.
However, Marie finally finds the model of the robot she has to build and gets to work on building her own. And she catches up. And soon enough, she’s closer to completing building the robot than the other three teams. Nicole and Amy get worried, but Nicole shouts, “DON’T LOOK AT HER!” But Leo, Amy, and Nicole all get their robots inspected before Marie. However, they do not pass. Leo’s robot’s buttons are mistakenly on his back, and Nicole and Amy’s robots’ shoulders are placed incorrectly. None of them are aware that this was their mistakes as they go back to rebuilding. They get their robots checked a couple more times, and, as a result, are incorrect again. Marie then gets her robot inspected, and she passes on her first attempt! That means Tim and Marie have went from last place to first place. They must now go to Shibuya Crossing and find a roaming vending machine for their next clue. “Thanks for not helping me, guys!” Marie tells the other teams before she and Tim run off to find the vending machine.
Amy finally realizes her and Nicole’s robots’ shoulders are placed incorrectly, but Leo is still completely clueless that his robot’s buttons are on the wrong side. Amy goes to work on her robot, but Nicole is still desperate for her help. After Amy successfully builds her robot, she spends seven to ten minutes helping Nicole before she and Jason leave.
Tim and Marie find the roaming vending machine, which dispenses the clue for them. They must now travel by foot to the Pit Stop: Konno Hachimangu Shrine, an ancient landmark built 1,000 years ago. Tim and Marie arrive at the Pit Stop and are Team #1! They win a trip for two from Travelocity to Aruba. However, the two exes do not plan to go together. Since they won a trip to Hawaii earlier in the race, they agree to draw from a hat to decide who gets to travel to which destination.
Meanwhile, Jason and Amy locate the roaming vending machine and the Pit Stop, and Phil declares them Team #2! This just leaves Nicole and Travis and Leo and Jamal fighting for a spot in the final leg. Nicole finishes her robot first, but the magic of television editing suggests that Leo (after finally realizing his error) completed his robot just a few minutes after Nicole. On the way to the Pit Stop, Nicole has to endure some pretty awful and condescending comments from Travis. He belittles her for having Amy help her. His attitude is pretty appalling; I can’t help but feel sorry for Nicole here. No one deserves that kind of verbal abuse.
So which team is the last one to race in the final leg? That would be Nicole and Travis. Phil congratulates the three of them for making it there, as well as how their plan of being the final three came to fruition after all. The Final Three depart the mat before Leo and Jamal arrive to greet Phil before they learn they have been eliminated from the race. Despite being strongly disliked from pretty much every other team except for Ally and Ashley, Leo and Jamal did do a pretty good job in the race. Perhaps they’ll get a second chance to compete in the race again?
And now we’re onto the final leg! The teams learn that they will be racing in Juneau, Alaska – the final destination where the million dollars awaits. They all get their tickets and take the long plane ride to Alaska.
There is an immediate scramble for taxis, but it is Nicole and Travis slightly in the lead, with Jason and Amy and Tim and Marie following closely behind. They arrive at the Roadblock, which requires one team member to board a plane and drop a supply package onto a target while 150 feet in the air. It is Nicole, Amy, and Marie attempting this Roadblock. None of them hit the target on their first attempt, but Amy hits it on her second try! She and Jason can now proceed to their next task, which is to take a helicopter to an ice expedition. They must cross over a glacier by rappelling down the side, walk across a bridge, and then climb up to reach the other side with the help of ice picks.
Jason and Amy are already attempting the ice expedition task before Nicole or Marie dropped the supply package onto the target. Marie finally hits it on her twelfth attempt, meaning she and Tim and Nicole and Travis are way behind Jason and Amy at this point. Nicole keeps missing and missing after numerous attempts. She can’t have Amy’s help this time.
Tim and Marie arrive at the ice expedition task right when Jason and Amy are about to finish crossing the glacier. As Tim and Marie begin to rappel down, Jason and Amy are navigating a glacial path that will lead them to their next clue. However, the clues are buried under ice (along with several fake clues among them).
Nicole finally hits the target on her twenty-first attempt. Travis is visibly upset, and he is very cold to Nicole. Instead of offering her support, he barely even looks or speaks to her on the helicopter ride to the ice expedition task.
Jason hacks away at the buried clues with an ice pick, but he keeps finding clues with nothing more than “Try again” written on them. However, he finally finds a real clue and learns they must now travel by kayak to a marked island. Tim and Marie are right behind them and get the same clue too.
Back at the glacier, Nicole accidentally drops an ice pick as she was climbing up the glacier. So Nicole is left to climb up with only one ice pick, making the challenge even more difficult. But she successfully climbs up the glacier and she navigates the glacial path to the buried clues with Travis.
Jason and Amy and Tim and Marie then arrive at the marked island at different times and learn they must travel by helicopter to Blueberry Hills Trailhead in the city of Juneau. Once there, they must build totem poles that spell out the names of the currencies they used throughout the race. In addition, the totem poles must be in chronological order. Jason and Amy arrive at the scene first, with Tim and Marie arriving not too long after them. Amy is worried since she claims to have written notes on every detail of the race except for what currencies they used. Marie, on the other hand, is more confident in remembering the names of the currencies used.
Later, Nicole and Travis arrive at the scene, making this the first time all three teams are together since the supply drop Roadblock. But right when Nicole and Travis get to work on the totem poles, Jason and Amy successfully complete the Roadblock and are on their way to the Pit Stop! But Tim and Marie finish the task too, and are on their way as well. Nicole and Travis are left behind with Travis telling her “You lost it already.” Poor Nicole. I’m sure she feels bad enough, so there’s no need to kick her when she’s down.
So that means it is Jason and Amy and Tim and Marie racing to the finish line! But who gets there first?
JASON AND AMY WIN THE AMAZING RACE!
Congrats to the dating couple! The way the episode played out, it was obvious they would win after Amy hit the target on her second try, while it took Marie and Nicole twelve and twenty-one attempts respectively before they hit the target. Jason and Amy were a very consistent team and raced a pretty strong race, so good for them. They were also pretty likable, especially Amy. She was always a sweetheart helping out Nicole when she didn’t need to, so perhaps some good karma played a role here? Either way, Jason and Amy are deserving winners of this season of The Amazing Race.
Tim and Marie arrive at the finish line next. Tim is just happy for the experience; he even admits he signed a contract stating that Marie would’ve been awarded 60% of the million dollars had the two of them won. Although the two of them have no plans of getting back together, they do acknowledge they have a fondness for one another. I know Tim and Marie were a polarizing team this season, but I found them entertaining and they were somewhat root-worthy the latter half of the season.
Nicole and Travis arrive at the finish mat last. They are obviously disappointed, but they hope their kids will still be proud of their efforts. The look on Nicole’s face is very sad and guilt-ridden; I hope Travis will ease up on Nicole and not be so hard on her. Earlier in the season, the two married doctors seem to be the strongest team, but they lost a lot of momentum in the last few legs. But they both should be proud of making it to the Final 3 and the experience the race provided.
Final Results of Episode:
Winners: Jason and Amy
Runners-up: Tim and Marie
3rd place: Nicole and Travis
4th place: Leo and Jamal
So that’s it! Jason and Amy are this season’s winners of The Amazing Race! Thank you so much for reading these recaps! This was my first time writing weekly reviews of anything, which ended up being a lot of fun. What did you think of the episode and the season? Happy with the final result? Post your thoughts in the comments section below.
Thanks again for reading, and come back in February for season 24!
