The Amazing Race -- The Winner Is
It all came down to the strongest teams left
Original Airing: May 5, 2013
It was time for the two hour finale of the Amazing Race to see who would cross the finish line, first. Strangely enough the race played out similar to who I said last week were the two strong teams and the two weak teams. When all is said and done I’m glad who won and who didn’t win. I’ll explain that later.
The first destination on the next to last leg of the race was to take a ferry to Belfast, Ireland. Then pick up a Ford Fiesta and travel to PeatlandsPark.
Bates and Anthony want to get rid of Mona and Beth. And Max can’t wait to rub Mona and Beth’s face in the fact that they thought they were first the last leg and they weren’t. He asks how it made them feel when the found some of the cars missing. I’m sorry, but grow up, Max. He’s had a bug up his butt about Mona and Beth because they were one of the top five teams the first leg and the first five teams formed an alliance. Considering he and the two remaining teams teamed up against them to U-Turn them last leg, you’d think he could give it a rest, already.
The Roadblock is called Bogged Down. Teams have to travel by train to a marsh. A team mate has to dress in a wet suit, dive into a mudhole and then swim through a marsh and do it all within 4 minutes or they have to go back and do it, again.
This tasks becomes the Country Singers Waterloo. While all the teams manage to do it on their first try, Jen can’t do it in the four minutes. After a failed second attempt she wants to give up. They use up a lot of time with Caroline finally getting her to do it again.
After teams finish being Bogged Down they’re told to drive back to Belfast and find The Thing With A Ring which is a metal sculpture statue. After finding that teams have to do a Detour – Tray It Or Spray It.
Most times decide to do Tray It which is to serve a 5 course meal in correct order that was served on the infamous Titanic. The Country Singers decide to do Spray It which involves finishing up a piece of graffiti.
The Titanic task proves challenging for all the teams. The first big problem is they get a menu card to serve their table, but there’s a billboard that tells in which order the courses are served. Max and Katie figure that out quickly, but Mona and Beth waste a lot of time bringing the wrong courses because they don’t go and look at that board. It’s thanks to one of the Hockey Boys that they finally figure it out.
The second biggest challenge is the last course where requires you to serve a chartreuse jello. No team is sure what chartreuse is. Adding to the difficulty of the task is there’s no sign on any of the plates so you have to hope the dish you’re using is the right one.
It’s also a physically draining task as you have to take the tray of dishes down several flights of stairs to where the diners are waiting to be served. You have to make sure you don’t drop any plates, because you’ll have to go back and do it again.
The Pitstop is located at Ulster Hall. Teams check in as follows:
- Max and Katie who win a trip to the Dominican Republic. All I could think was isn’t that the place you get a divorce?
- Bates and Anthony
- Mona and Beth
- Caroline and Jennifer who get eliminated.
It came down a close race between the Roller Derby Moms and the Country Singers. But Mona and Beth beat them to the pit stop. I said last week I thought the Country Singers were the weakest team left and without Bates and Anthony to help them they sunk.
The final leg of the race starts with traveling by ferry across the Irish Sea to Liverpool. Once there they’re to go a pub and get two pints to get their next clue. The next destination is WashingtonD.C. Once there you’re supposed to stand on the steps of the LincolnMonument on the spot Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous, “I Have A Dream,” speech.
Once there, they get their next clue telling them to go to 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue to take a picture with President Obama. All the teams gets psyched about meeting the President and I was like, “Would Obama really appear on The Amazing Race?” The answer is no he wouldn’t. It’s just a fake photo making it appear you’re standing with Obama. Max is actually relieved it isn’t the real Obama, since he’s Mr. Republican and was worried he might have said the wrong thing to him.
Mona and Beth have a hard time finding the way there, because the cab drivers will only take you as far as 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and you have to hot-foot it on your own and they walk in the wrong direction before finding the right way there.
After the picture taking teams are instructed to go to the TidalBasin to search for a marked car and knock three times on it. After which they’re given a phrase to say to men [posing as secret agent men] carrying a briefcase. This is the point the race is decided, because after this task it’s really all over.
Max gets to the task first, but can’t find the right secret agent man, while the Hockey Boys find their secret agent man right off. The clue to opening the briefcase the secret agent man gives you is what place you checked in at the Pit Stop in New Zealand, Indonesia and Vietnam. Both the Hockey Boys and Roller Derby Moms wrote down all the places they went to and what place they came in.
The clue inside directs the team to go to Hains Point. Mona and Beth lose more time as they run by the clue box without seeing it. The clue directs the teams to head to search through a bin of inflated globes and find the globes with a destination from the race circled on the globe. Bates and Anthony finish it first, and it’s a race between the Newlyweds and Roller Derby Moms to finish first.
After that teams have to head to the Nationals baseball team playing park. One team member is suspended on a wire as the other team member is dressed as a baseball down below and has to catch a ball thrown to them by their teammate.
After that the final pit stop is located at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. It’s no surprise when Bates and Anthony come in first. I was hoping Mona and Beth would have beat out Max and Katie for second place, but the Newlyweds make it to second place.
While I would have liked for Mona and Beth to win, they just made too many mistakes. However, I was happy it was Bates and Anthony instead of Max and Katie. Max and Katie were two very nasty pieces of work. They were nasty to each other and their pettiness towards Joey and Meghan and Mona and Beth was just too much. So I was thrilled they didn’t win it all.
But it really came down to who was the strongest team in the end. Bates and Anthony and Max and Katie were the two strongest teams in the end. It really could have been either of them that won; it all came down to Team Hockey finding the secret agent man quicker and getting a lead over the Newlyweds.
