Previously on The Amazing Race: Ireland. The Netherlands. Burkina Faso. Lithuania. Croatia. Italy. India. Japan. Taiwan. In the last of 11 legs, The Final Three — which does not include Nathan & Jennifer HOORAY — fly to Anchorage, Alaska, and gut fish, wrangle crabs, climb a glacier, fly in helicopters, and encounter one of the most diabolical brain twisters in the history of the show before crossing the finish line.
Some statistics: In the previous seven legs, Ron & Chris finished in the top three — including three first-place victories — so this position is quite familiar to them. Contrast that with Don & Nick, who were in the bottom three on four legs. However, they did get tattoos to stay in The Race, so they shouldn't be underestimated. TK & Rachel were the most inconsistent team, seesawing from the front of the pack one week to the back of the pack the next, including their plummet from finishing first in Leg 8 to marked for elimination in Leg 9.
Ron & Chris, winners of the Most Improved Edit this season, rip their final clue at 9:47 a.m. Players need to fly more than 4,500 miles to their final destination city of Anchorage, Alaska. Once there, teams will take taxis to 6th Avenue Outfitters to pick up gear and their next clue. Chris claims to be on the strongest and smartest team, and doesn't she know better than to tempt karma like that? At the airport, father and daughter discover there is only one flight from Taiwan to Anchorage, and they book seats. They also ask for and receive a free "upgrade" to use the airline's lounge. I thought they wanted access to better accommodations during the wait — and maybe free peanuts or soft drinks — but it turns out they want Internet access so they can look up the exact address of the outdoorsy store. Good thinking.
TK & Rachel, perhaps the luckiest team in recent history, depart second at 10:30 a.m. They remain mellow and have enjoyed each other's company throughout the Race, even when they thought they were out of it. Seven minutes later, Nick & Don leave the mat in last place for the last time. Aw. Heh. There's a montage of Don's life skills — masonry work, printing business, mining, being around animals — and Nick's willingness to pick up the physical slack for his 68-year-old grandfather. Both teams get on the same flight as Ron & Chris. An Amazing Edit (seriously, in the last few legs, there have been several Auld Skool Stile edits, tasks, descriptions, and clues) has TK & Rachel and Nick & Don sliding by the lounge on an airport walkway as the lounge doors close, implying that the other two teams just missed seeing Ron & Chris. Perfection! Even though it probably didn't happen. Near the gate, TK openly frets because Ron & Chris aren't there. When they show up, he gives a huge sigh of relief. The fact that this is TK "stressed out" makes me like him more. Hee.
In Alaska, Ron & Chris are first out of the airport and first to 6th Street. The clue instructs them to find the Ship Creek Boat Launch and the last Detour of the season: Cut the Cod or Grab the Crab. Cut the Cod requires players to slice open 50-pound Ling Cod and search inside for a small container for their next clue. This is where the equipment from the adventure store will in handy. Phil intones that this is the task for "teams with the guts to dig into their work." In Grab the Crab, teams have to sort through more than 500 live crabs in the hold of a boat and find one with a TAR armband. Phil twinkles a pun about "in a pinch." See? Auld Skool Stile! Ron & Chris decide to filet, with Ron wielding the knife. They find the canister in the first fish (!), and take off for 20-Mile River. However, players don't yet know that after their high-speed boat ride, they'll have to climb 20-Mile Glacier for their next clue. Hooray! A hardcore physical task near the end. I might be getting misty over here.
TK & Rachel have trouble with their cab driver both to and from 6th Street Outfitters, but in worse trouble are Nick & Don, who forget to pick up their gear. Oops. Gramps... and The Boy reach the boat launch mere seconds before TK & Rachel. However, without gear, they're S.O.L. They return to the outfitters, Don tearing Nick up for not fully reading the clue. Well, Don, it's not as if you're illiterate, hmmm? Meanwhile, TK & Rachel opt to get crabby — see, now I'm punning! — and quickly discover that it's terrible. Just as they're about to switch tasks, TK finds the marked crab. He and Rachel leave just as Don & Nick return to start slicing open cod. As TK predicted, Don makes quick work of the fish and are soon on the heels of the dating couple.
Chris & Ron reach the glacier, and after some fussing, Don kicks icy ass. Less fortunate is his "falutin'" offspring, who barely hangs on to the edge with her pick axes. Ron encourages her as she struggles. This delay allows TK & Rachel to catch up, with Don & Nick right behind. Ron & Chris get to the clue box first, and find out they'll be taking a helicopter to Merrill Field and then a taxi to Goose Lake Park.
Sidebar: Man, Alaska looks gorgeous, gutted fish aside.
At the park, the final Roadblock. And it's a doozy. "Who wants to relive your experience on the race?" Er, someone who knows proper subject-verb agreement? No? Okay, here's the mind scrambler: There are 15 recognizable objects from the Race. Players must place 10 specific items on a stage. According to Phil, there are two requirements. First, only one item per leg is allowed. Second, of the 10 items (let me bullet this out because it's that confusing)
- 3 animals or animal by-products
- 1 U-turn
- 2 objects either at or brought to a Pit Stop
- 2 item of transportation with wheels, 1 of which was used at a Detour and 1 item of transportation resembling the shape of a stick
YOWSA. That's hard core. Players aren't allowed to use pens or pencils. The correct answers (also bulleted for your convenience):
- Ireland: tandem bicycle
- The Netherlands: Detour bike
- Burkina Faso (two legs): camel milk and a chicken
- Lithuania: Detour stilts
- Croatia: gun fired at the Pit Stop
- Italy: Product Placed Electronic Device
- India: the U-turn
- Japan: the cleaning man
- Taiwan: tea cup
These items are shown via black-and-white flashback — backed by rockin' music! — highlighted yellow. Leftover items include the donkey from Ireland, the Fierljeppen stick from the Netherlands, the rowboat from Croatia, and the propane tanks and wheeled cart from India. Once the correct 10 items are on the stage, the clue box will pop open. Complicated enough for you?
Ron worries about "senior moments," so Chris decides to do it. The other teams arrive, with Rachel and Nick representing their teams. Men-in-waiting Ron, Don, & TK anxiously shift outside the staging areas, each hoping to see his partner be the first to emerge from behind the wall separating them. At one point, Chris has 9 items out of 10 right, only missing the tandem bike for Ireland; she has the donkey onstage instead. (She forgets that the cleaning man counts as an animal... if not an animal byproduct.) Rachel is, as usual, incredibly calm and collected as she reasons through various combinations. Nick is sweaty and seems to throw things randomly onstage in hopes they'll stick. All three of them talk to themselves. Chris begins to worsen her odds by leaving the donkey and removing several correct items. She also starts praying. Didn't she learn anything from Pat & Kate?
And... Rachel gets it first. She jumps and runs back to TK, but both of them are trying so hard to be quiet. Aw. You know a lot of ELIMINATED teams *cough*Nate-n-Hate*cough* would have screamed obnoxiously and said the word baby a million times. The clue is another figure-it-out-yourself one: "Find Cook's-eye-view of the Sleeping Lady." They need to go to the Captain Cook Statue in Resolution Park. Once again, though, TK & Rachel have bad luck with a cab driver, and it looks as if Chris, who cries as she gets her clue after solving the Roadblock, and her dad have a chance. Again, Ron is supportive. Nick is still sweaty and nowhere close to being finished. I think even if he and Don hadn't forgotten their gear, (SPOILER!) they still wouldn't have won.
Madly racing cabs to Resolution Park. Who gets there first? TK & Rachel. They must travel on foot to downtown Anchorage and find the Salmon Hooker. It defies description. Really. Just click on the link. Trust me. Also, on foot! TK & Rachel! Running! Ron & Chris! And first to the creepy whore fish is...
TK & Rachel! They open their last clue, which reads, "This is it!!! Take a taxi to Girdwood Airport and run to the Finish Line. Hurry!!! GO, GO, GO!!!!!" Yes, the punctuation and caps are verbatim. Ron & Chris are right behind! Gah, the suspense! The intensity! The exclamation points! WHO WILL WIN?! (interrobang)
It's TK & Rachel. Awwww. They run, elated, past the other teams, who always look so silly and cheesy in the lead-up to the Final Three actually arriving. And I know it's because they have to fake enthusiasm for coverage and close-ups, but still... At one point, TK runs backwards in front of Rachel, motioning her to hurry, and it's really cute. On the big Finish Line mat, TK holds his head and wonders, "I can't even believe it. I'm really speechless. None of this even seems real. It's kinda freakin' me out." Their relationship only grew stronger, and for once, I think I believe it!
Ron & Chris run to the platform, finishing second. She wouldn't have run the Race with anyone else, and is proud of her dad for changing. He chokes out, "For once in my life, when I say these words, 'I love you,' I really mean it." I'm hoping that in his emotional state, he mangled his words, because the thought of him not loving his daughter until he came onto a reality TV show is too depressing to contemplate. He is more articulate in an interview, though, so I won't be too hard on him.
Don & Nick, third place. (We never see if Nick completed the Detour.) Don is officially the oldest person to finish the Race. Don interviewed that he knew he "could do this competition, but now I had to a chance to prove it." On the mat, Nick said, "Aside from winning, my main goal was just to come here, be on the mat, and race around the world and have a great time with my grandfather. I got everything I wanted from it and more."
Rachel: "My feelings for TK are very real. He's my best friend. He's my rock and he's just my favorite person and I got to do all this with him."
TK: "Being able to do the entire race, not compromising our relationship in any way and in the process making great friendships just makes winning it that much sweeter. Nice guys can definitely finish first and I think we proved it with this."
And with that, another Race is over. I think this was one of the strongest seasons TAR has had in a while, with a truly satisfying ending, even if they only hit four continents this time around. More South America, please! And as I said last week, I would have been happy for any of the Final Three teams to emerge victorious. Doesn't that make all of us winners?
Thanks for reading!
LEG 11: Taipei, Taiwan, to Anchorage, Alaska
COUNTRIES VISITED (excluding layovers and the United States): Ireland, The Netherlands, Burkina Faso, Lithuania, Croatia, Italy, India, Japan, and Taiwan
FINAL PIT STOP: Girdwood Airport, Anchorage, Alaska
DETOUR:
Cut the Cod (gut large cod to find hidden clue):
Ron & Chris
Don & Nick
Grab the Crab (find one marked crab among hundreds):
TK & Rachel
ROADBLOCK: ("Who wants to relive your experience on the race?")
Rachel
Chris
Nick
FINAL LEADERBOARD FOR TAR12
1st: TK & Rachel
ADDITIONAL PRIZES WON: ten-day trip to Japan and a trip to St. Martin
2nd: Ron & Chris
PRIZES WON: catamarans, electric vehicles, five-day trip to Curaçao
3rd: Don & Nick
PRIZES WON: five-day trip to Cancun, Mexico, and Fast Forward tattoos
4th: Nate & Jennifer
5th: Kynt & Vyxsin
6th: Azaria & Henekea
PRIZES WON: trip to Banff, Alberta, Canada; five-night trip to Bermuda; Yamaha Motor Scooters
7th: Shana & Jennifer
8th: Jason & Lorena
PRIZES WON: sports bikes
9th: Marianna & Julia
10th: Kate & Pat
11th: Ari & Staella
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