The Amazing Race Episode Recap: This Is How You Lose a Million Dollars"
The 50th state may be the last stop on the 14th season finale of The Amazing Race but the suspense is definitely non-stop. Will the race finally have an all-female team as its winner? Or will it be the first deaf competitor? When the remaining three teams work simultaneously on the final task it becomes memory over matter to determine a champion. The tension is so high you'll find yourself saying, "Maui wowie!" Read on to learn who won the million-dollar prize.
Heading Home
The teams (finally) leave China and head back to the United States. Tammy and Victor are the first to take off for Maui, Hawaii. Even with close to a five-hour lead over last week's third-place team Jaime and Cara, they have to wait until 6 am with the rest to make a ticket reservation. It's a 5000-mile, 18-hour trip to their final destination. (Unlike in the movies, no one is cheating death, so no need to worry.) With the final leg of the race underway, the playing field is leveled.
Upon arrival, everyone headed to the beach and changed into swimwear. The first task — no Detour this week — is to observe and then repeat the preparation of a pig for a Hawaiian luau. I had to agree with Victor's remark that "this is really nasty." After slapping some oily goo and island seasonings on it, they were to carry the 145-pound pig 200 yards to the luau and then properly cover it. Margie and Luke were the third team to show up but passed the others with pig in tow. Mother seemed just as determined as son. The other women had trouble holding onto the heavy hog. Jaime, trying to encourage a stumbling Cara, calls Tammy a weakling. It doesn't help. She says the episode title to Cara: "Please. Pick up the pig! ... This is how you lose a million dollars." At this point you can't argue with that.
Margie and Luke get the thumbs up and are first to go down the beach and take a one-mile ride on a "watercraft" (presumably not a WaveRunner) to a buoy field and find their next clue among 100 buoys. Mean mama Margie is driving but has had enough of Luke constantly calling out "Mom!" (It did seem excessive this week.) She tells him to "just relax!" They are again the first to finish and to head over to the Surfboard Fence.
Roadblock
Who's ready to build something from memory? One team member had to perform the somewhat traditional task of the race: recall and find 11 past events depicted on more than 300 vintage surfboards and then stand them up in the correct order. Having studied and watched the show, Luke was ready for this challenge. Sort of. He has the lead at this point but his drooping drawers are slowing him down so he just takes them off. Victor was having the same swimsuit problem too and strips down to his Speedo.
Even disbelievers will have to admit that this was the season of cab Karma. On the way to the earlier pig pit challenge, Margie briefly sounded like Jaime telling the cabdriver to go fast. You can't fault his response that it's illegal. At least Margie said "please." Now on their way to Surfboard Fence, Jaime and Cara are in taxicab hell. Annoyed with the request for directions from the cheerleaders, a female voice on the phone responds to the lost driver: "You need to tell your people that I am not their personal concierge, and I don't have the time to be looking for this place for them." Ouch! Without skipping a beat, Jaime follows up with a call to the police department for directions and telling them that they "are in a very important race..." Finally getting the location, the driver then mentions that he has to stop for gas. Ugh!
Back at Memory Lane, Luke is very aware that Victor is smart and catching up on him. I don't know how any of them recognized the obscure picture of the cormorant. Frustrated and with only the last two to locate, Luke appears ready to give up. Victor has found all of the correct boards and grabs his sister and takes off. Jaime, who initially did not make the connections, somehow gains on Luke. Never giving up, at Margie's suggestion, Luke helps Jaime finish, which in turn helps him find his last surfboard. (It was those filthy scorpions on skewers that held him back!)
Finish Line
At the King Kamehameha Golf Club, all of the previously eliminated teams stand with host Phil Keoghan as Tammy and Victor are first to cross the finish line. This part of the show gets me every time. The million dollars is nice to have, but the experience the others have gained certainly has value. Luke appreciates his mom and relates to the rest that a lot of deaf people's parents don't sign or communicate with them. Just after Luke congratulates Victor, the last three teams have a group hug. It's the second year in a row for a brother-sister team to win. Tammy realizes she's grown in that short amount of time, saying: "When I look back at all of the crazy things I've done, I learn that the nerdy little Asian girl who could barely hold up her backpack before can do quite a bit."
We've come a long way since the cheese was rolling down the hill in the first challenge.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by to check out the recap. It was an exciting season and I'm looking forward to another amazing time with you again in the fall. Aloha!
Return Trips
• Victor: "I know they're all going to bring their A game. Hopefully we'll bring our A+ game."
• Tammy: "That hurt like hell — that stupid pig thing."
• As you may know, Phil Keoghan rode his bike over 3500 miles from Los Angeles to New York to benefit the National MS Society. I was all smiles when riding with him in Philadelphia before he started the final leg of his ride. Check out the video of Phil's arrival last Friday morning at the Early Show.
Order of Finish:
1. Tammy and Victor
2. Jaime and Cara
3. Margie and Luke
