SEASON 17 FINALE

It was a Hollywood ending in La La Land for Season 17 of The Amazing Race, as Nat Strand and Kat Chang overcame Kat's fear of heights in the bungee-jump challenge and took the $1 million first prize.

Thus, history was made, as an all-female team won the race for the first time. Brook of the second place finishing team of Brook and Claire summed the achievement up:

Nat and Kat

“The ideal of being a strong woman either means you’re a grumpy boots or you're a really masculine gnarly chick. No, you can be feminine and still be a very strong woman.”

Nat and Kat are not the only big bucks winners, as their victory sends the $50 first place prize from our pool to Team Showers, who, you may remember, drew first and used their pick on the gal-pal doctors. How's that for perspicacity?

Because Brook and Claire got the runner-up spot, Cindy gets $30. (For the record, she picked fourth.)

Brook and Claire

Even though they didn't win, the Home Shopping duo did get to meet their idol, TV host Bob Eubanks, who watched over the obligatory memory-lane challenge in which the three teams had to recall the people who welcomed them at each of leg of the race.

Jill and Thomas finished third and last in the finale. Why? Bad cab mojo. When they needed to phone a friend and/or link up to Goggle, they found themselves in a taxi with a driver who didn't understand English and hadn't heard of the Internet.

“We get back to the states and we have more of a language barrier than in other countries,” Thomas said.

Bob Wilcox, Jill and Thomas' local backer, wins $20 on the basis of their third place. (For the record, he picked second.)

Overheard:

Nat (post bungee): “I didn't even pee my pants.”

Brook (post bungee): “That’s when I just about lost my bananas.”

Brook: “I've been on a couple of floats in my life, I feel right at home in the float brigade. These are my people.”

.Claire: “We literally laughed our way around the world.”

A Look Back

Thus ended a season that, according to Phil, saw team compete on four continents, visit 30 cities, and travel 32,000 miles.

There were, as always, iconic moments that included:

Claire getting hit in the face with watermelon;

A cappella boys

The a cappella boys breaking into song again and again;

Chad proposing:

Nick throwing in the towel and going to sleep.

The congeniality award goes to Brook and Claire, the odd couple award to Nick and Vicki. I wish we could have seen more of the a cappella boys.

A Look Ahead

Wait a minute, there are second chances in life.

Phil let us know that the next season, which begins in late February, will feature non-winners from seasons past, all of them with UNFINISHED BUSINESS. It looks like their will be encores by a cappella boys, the Globetrotters, Nick and Vicki, Brook and Claire and even Chad and Stephanie. 

SEASON 16 FINALE

BROTHERLY VICTORY

The Pius brothers (yes, that’s actually their last name), were anything but holy.

But their cunning and foresight transposed them from whiners to winners as they edged out the Cowboys and won tonight’s Amazing Race finale.

Dan and Jordan

Thus Dan and Jordan became the first brother-brother duo to emerge victorious in the history of the Race. They won $1 million for themselves and $50 for Eileen and Tom Bushnell.

How fitting, as the brothers, like Tom, are Red Sox fans who will do anything when there’s money on the line.

“You can hate the game all you want, just don’t hate the player,” rationalized Jordan, justifying their cheating ways.

Actually, all the bros did was jump one place in a ticket line and sweet talk their way into first class on the jet to San Francisco.

They really won it with good old-fashioned smarts.

Dan figured out how to slow down the scroll on a computer monitor by sending his brother into a reverse spin.

And Jordan, an Amazing Race buff whose dream for years has been to compete and win, came well-prepared for the finale’s signature  memory challenge.

The second place Cowboys – another brother act and Mark’s team – were their usual cheerful selves, Cord even messing with Dan’s mind during the virtual reality challenge.

Jet and Cord

But at key moments they lost valuable seconds or minutes or whatever.

Jet made a point post-race of saying that they finished with their “character and integrity intact,” a shot at Dan and Jordan, who didn’t really seem to mind as they reveled in their victory.

Caite and Brent (Emily and Drew’s team) finished third out of three teams.

As always, they were slowed by language problems, even though the race finished back in the good old USA in San Francisco.

In their defense, it did appear that at least one of their cabbies may have arrived with them on the same flight from Shanghai; he was lost; they were lost.

Brent and Caite

“Dumb ass,” Caite barked. “I want to punch him in the face.”

Actually, that was just one of what seemed to be several near Jerry Springer moments.

Jet and Cord contemplated taking out Dan and Jordan at the airport.

And during what is the usual post-race group hug, Brandy of Carol and Brandy, the fifth-place finishers, turned on Caite for her part in their elimination.

“I don’t want to hear sorry,” Brandy said, giving Caite the evil eye. “You purposely whacked us…I don’t want to hear sorry from her.”

Actually, Caite was not there to apologize. No, as always, she had been making the case for her own intelligence. But she paused long enough to vanquish her foe.

“Obviously, I’m the one standing here and not you,” she said to Brandy, flashing her best Miss Teen South Carolina smile and keeping her tiara intact.

Going by the numbers, the best team probably didn’t win. The Cowboys had four first-place finishes, the most of any team.

The Brothers finished first just twice, once when they did a scary fast forward, and the other at the end of the season. Just enough.

Overheard:

Jet: “If they want to drop the gloves; I’m gonna drop the gloves.”

Jordan: “People who ride bicycles are smart, that’s a general rule.”

Brent: “Chill out; just don’t even talk now, because all you’re going to

do is cry.”

Phil: “Twenty three days, five continents, 40,000 miles. Dan and Jordan you are the official winners.”