Tammy & Victor Win the Million!

Last night’s finale had lead changes, sure winners turned losers, and a dead pig. What more could you ask for the last episode of Amazing Race? Tammy & Victor pull out the victory for the million dollars, leaving Jamie & Cara in second and Margie & Luke to get third (although the Mom and Son were in first place throughout this whole leg of the Race, till the last challenge). Let's get on with it....

The teams get directions to go to their final destination of Maui, Hawaii. There is only one flight from China to Hawaii at 9:30 a.m. the following day and all teams are on it. There’s the mad dash out of the airport, and Margie & Luke plead with their cabbie to go fast - and he answers "That’s illegal, ma’am, we can’t do that." I’m thinking this is a hint of things to come - cab trouble for everyone where there is no language barrier. Cosmic justice, maybe?

The clue has directed them to go to Beach Access 118 and "prep a pig for a traditional Hawaiian by seasoning it with island flavoring. Then, they would have to carry the 145-pound pig 200 yards across the beach to the luau. Finally, using an example for reference, they had to properly cover the pig to be cooked." Cara & Jamie thrilled their cabbie by changing into their bathing suits in the back of the cab, telling him he’d get a big tip if he went fast. (I think his tip was watching them change into their bikinis!) Tammy & Victor were in first place, prepping their pig as the Redheads showed up. However, both Tammy and Cara had major problems carrying their end of the load, dropping the pig several times on the beach. The difference was the teams’ approaches: Victor kept shouting encouragement to his sister, saying "You can do it! You’re better than you think! Just three more steps!" Jamie, ever empathetic, shouted at Cara too, but like she yelled at the oh-so-many cab drivers throughout the Race: "This is the way to lose a million dollars. You’re frickin’ killing me! I don’t understand what the problem is!" (Did you know Jamie will be a motivational speaker? Her lectures will be entitled "Coddle Your Kids No More, Success Through Intimidation!")

Margie & Luke showed up at the beach and prepped their pig, put the pole through its legs, and lifted the pig up onto their shoulders and started after the two teams ahead of them. While you know their shoulders were in pain, that’s the only way to carry something really heavy and they passed both teams pretty easily. (And while my fondness for Luke waned as the season went on, my admiration for Margie kept going up. That woman is 51 years old! She dashed all over the world, pulled rickshaws in stifling heat, and carried her load of a 145-pound dead-weight pig, among other things. I’m her age and I got tired just watching her!) They buried the pig properly and got their next clue, which told them to go to McGregor Point Beach and swim out to a jet ski, take a one-mile trip to a cluster of 100 buoys, and find the one with their next clue attached to it. Luke annoyed me to no end, sitting behind his Mom and constantly yammering at her, being a backseat driver. Margie was getting pretty irritated too, to the point where I thought she may actually smack him upside the head into the water and finish the task on her own. They ended up falling off their jet ski but the other teams were just getting to the beach and it didn’t really hurt their lead. Both Tammy & Victor and Cara & Jamie had covered their pig the wrong way, putting the palm fronds on top of the pig and then covering it with a cloth and sand, when the fronds were supposed to be on the very top of the pig, cloth and sand. (I love roast pig, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have wanted to eat one of those, after it was dropped in the sand and surf multiple times, and covered, uncovered and covered again.) We even got the shot of the locals laughing at the way they screwed up covering the pigs.

Tammy & Victor, with Cara & Jamie behind them, passed Margie & Luke coming back from the buoys. Cara & Jamie found their clue first but Tammy & Victor were close behind.

Margie & Luke opened their clue, finding out they had to drive down the Hana Highway and find a fence made of used surfboards, where their next clue would be. Their cab driver knew exactly where it was, and lengthened their lead. Their clue was the final Roadblock of the Race: "In it, one team member had to overcome three weeks worth of physical and mental fatigue and remember everything they had done on the race. Teams had to search through a pile of over 300 vintage surfboards to find 11 that have pictures related to the things they’ve encountered on the prior 11 legs of the race. Then, they had to create a surfboard fence by standing the boards up in the correct order according to their pictures." Since this task, in some form, has been used in every season of The Amazing Race, Luke had been reviewing their destinations and memorizing where they’d been. Margie said Luke had a great memory, and along with his studies along the way, he should have a fairly easy time with this task. (Kiss of Death!) Running back and forth, Luke’s shorts kept falling down, so he kicked them off and continued working on the task in his underwear. Luke quickly found boards and propped them up, seeming to have this task in the bag. Margie kept yelling, "Go Luke! Good!" as if he could hear her, which I found amusing.

In the meantime, the other two teams were having cab problems on their way to the surfboard fence. Tammy & Victor got stuck behind a slow-moving Jeep and their cab driver just puttered along behind him, not passing the Jeep. Cara & Jamie’s cab driver first took them to the wrong location, and calling his dispatcher for help didn’t work. Hearing Jamie doing her usual nasty berating, the dispatcher said "You need to tell your people I am not their personal concierge and cannot find the place for her." The Redheads borrowed their driver’s phone and called the police department to ask where the location was and surprisingly got directions (obviously it was a pretty slow crime day in Maui!) To make matters worse, their cab needed to stop for gas.

Victor volunteers for this Roadblock and ends up kicking his pants off too, saying he still has his Speedo on (I guess he wanted to make sure that people knew it wasn’t his underwear. Maybe his parents would be shamed beyond repair if their son ran around in his underwear on TV). As Victor started the task, Luke put his last boards in place and had the girl check his work - but board numbers 10 and 11 were wrong. (Of course, all the girl could tell him was that it was incorrect, not which ones were incorrect.) He searched through the boards as Victor slowly caught up. By this time, Jaime had joined the others and had started her fence. Luke got #10 right but couldn’t find the proper board for the 11th spot (and how he could remember all the legs that easily, in their proper order, but not the very last one amazed me). He started getting frustrated which gave Victor the chance to pull ahead and get their clue, telling them to go to the King Kamehameha Golf Club and the finish line.

Jamie and Luke were pretty much in the same boat, with Jamie not finding #1 and Luke still having problems with #11. Margie suggested they work together, and on the surface it seemed that doing so may cost them dearly if they helped the other team get ahead, depending on the cab ride. However, considering Tammy & Victor were already gone, it only made sense to get it over with and give one of the remaining teams a chance to beat them. Luke told Jamie what she was missing and Jamie then turned her boards over one by one showing Luke what she had. Cara & Jamie then got their clue and took off, with Margie & Luke right behind them. The cab rides were no fun, with Jamie berating herself for not remembering the church at the beginning, and Luke feeling bad to have lost his lead. Cara was too sweet to Jamie (after all the screeching Jamie did at Cara with the pig) and it was very touching to see Margie reassure Luke as only a mother can!

Tammy & Victor ran through the cheering eliminated teams to the Mat and first place. Victor got teary-eyed, hugging his sister, and Tammy just looked shell-shocked. Phil asked her what she was thinking, and all Tammy could say was "I have no pants on!" When Cara & Jamie got to the Mat in second, Jamie cried that she messed up but Cara told her that she was proud of Jamie and "proud of us. We finished The Amazing Race!" Luke told Phil that he was lucky to have Margie as his Mom.

So there goes another season! Are you happy the siblings won? Were you rooting for the first female team to win, finally, or did Jamie's attitude blow any fans who might root for them? Did Luke irritate you too?

The show has been picked up by CBS for another run, and we’ll look forward to it in the fall! Have a great summer, everyone!