Let me first say that the right people won, but they sure as hell didn’t win the right way. I like Uchenna and Joyce. They are good folks and if the brothers Brian and Greg (the most entertaining pair in the show’s history) couldn’t win I’m glad these two did. However, the last leg of the race was so fixed it isn’t even funny. The first sign something was rotten in Denmark probably wasn’t noticed by people who don’t watch the show a lot. Those who do will now that they never have teams driving to a clue box only to open another clue (with no task) telling them to go somewhere else 87 miles away. In this case, Rob and Amber had enough of a lead that they could have reached the task destination before the 4:00 p.m. closing time and freeze both of the other teams out. Producers couldn’t have that now could they? The second one was a lot more obvious. Everyone knows that once a plane pulls out, that is it. No one else is getting on that plane. Again, with a seventy five minute lead (it actually turned out to be more since the next flight was delayed) Rob and Amber had this thing in the bag, but they let Uchenna and Joyce get on the airplane, something that was never happen for security reasons on a plane entering the United States. Producers might have even prodded them to get on the flight because otherwise there would have been no drama at the finish. I respect the way Uchenna and Joyce played and they were awesome throughout. In fact, after finishing eighth and fourth in the first two legs they never dipped below third and dug out of a penniless hole on the final leg.

Rob and Amber don’t need the money, but they should have won the race. Other than a fifth place showing in leg 3 they were never out of the top three and won five of the previous 10 legs including the two leading up to the finals. Ron and Kelly were actually very good as well, despite almost being eliminated on the opening episode. After that they never dipped below fourth and finished second to Rob and Amber in four different legs.

The pair I have the most respect for are the older couple Gretchen and Meredith Smith, who fought and grinded their way to a fourth place finish which was the highest ever for their age bracket. Only once, a second place finish prior to their elimination, did they finish over fourth but with the three strong groups ahead of them it was an incredible feat for them to stay in the race.

The “Family” edition is on deck, with a potential All-Stars being thrown around for the future. Hopefully if that ever comes to fruition they will give a big boost to the number of teams, even possibly splitting it into two separate races of 12 or 13 teams to start with the bottom two teams being eliminated initially. I would love to see the best of the best battle it out.