SEASON 18 ENDS

A few after-the-fact thoughts on the Amazing Race finish, but first congratulations to Allison, who saw her team, LaKisha and Jennifer, come in first and collect the $1million. For her clairvoyance, Allison gets $50.

Phil, Flight Time, Big Easy

The globetrotting Globetrotters came in second, winning $30 for the Bushnells. Dennis Doell picked up $20 for backing Gary and Mallory, the third-place team that was undone, as one team has to be, by a cabbie with no sense of direction.

Zev and Justin

Alas for Mark, Zev and Justin, the fourth team to start the finale, were eliminated at the half-way point, done in by Zev’s inability to samba – “I’ve got white boy rhythm,” he explained. In one of the most painful moments in Race history, Zev and Justin also screamed and lost time as technicians took the full 15 minutes waxing off their ample body hair. It wasn’t pretty.

So what do we make of it all?

The finale – which was wonderful television – first of all reminded me how self-contained The Amazing Race is.

In actuality, we know very little about the cast outside of the roles (sisters, cowboys, dating Goths) they’ve been assigned by the race editors. Some of their personality traits emerge (Luke's a cry baby, Kent's a whiner, that Ron sure likes to eat), but there's always a sense that we're getting a highly selective glimpse of who they really are.

Unlike a show like American Idol, the Race never goes to the contestant's homes to fill in their stories – at least I don’t remember this happening. Indeed, the racers could be in a witness protection program, as we aren’t even told on air what their last names are.

And surprisingly little was done during the course of Season 18 to establish any kind of back story for Kisha and Jen, whose last name is Hoffman, by the way.

We weren’t told, for example, that each are former Division I athletes (Kisha basketball, Jen volleyball), a fact that helps explain their solid performances in the skill challenges.

Lakisha and Jen

At the last minute, the victorious sisters revealed that they wanted to win to honor the single mom who raised them, certainly a worthy goal, though one not mentioned in their Amazing Race bios.

Of course, the sisters had a score to settle as they, like all of this episode’s contestants, were out to make up for their previous loss on Amazing Race. Thus, the finale spliced in scenes of their earlier defeats, again reinforcing the self-contained nature of the show.

The last episode reminded me, too, of the Amazing Race’s eager and cheerful embracing of stereotypes. It's a travel show (five continents, 23 countries, 40,000 miles) that takes us to exotic or ordinary places and consistently shows us what we expected to see. It sure is cold in Siberia; it sure is crowded in India; those Swiss love their chocolate.

The challenge set in a Florida Keys trailer park featured, surprise, plastic flamingos on rock-hard dirt, a smiling big-haired woman named Rose, and a guy wearing a T-shirt featuring the phrase, “So Many Cats: So few Good Recipes.”

All of this could, through another lens, be portrayed in a cruel, or at least mocking, tone, but on the Race it seems to be rendered more kindly, simply as part of life in all its familiar strangeness.

In the end, the business of Unfinished Business, A.K.A. Season 18, was to affirm that nice people can finish first, as any one of the final four duos would have reinforced this idea.

Nothing was revealed about Season 19, but, as much as I liked the weeks of watching familiar and generally friendly duos compete, I find myself hoping for some nastier contestants, some double-dealers, a little more edge.

Until then, here’s some some memorable phrases from Sunday night:

Overheard:

Justin about Zev: I’ve seen him dance, but not sober.

Gary about Mallory: She’s kind of a Tom boy, but she can dance.

Big Easy: All of a sudden Hurricane Andrew hit, and we were in trouble.

Jen: Stop with the wind, come on God stop with the wind.

Flight Time: We got beat out by a couple of girls, but that’s OK.

Big Easy: I had on a Speedo.

Order of Finish:

Lakisha and Jennifer (Allison)

Herb and Nate (Bushnells)

Gary and Mallory (Dennis)

Zev and Justin (Mari)

Order of draw next time:

Jim

Team Showers

Emily and Drew

Julia

Bob

Cindy

Mark

Dennis

Bushnells

Allison