<p>I thought the ending was great. I would have never picked them to win in a million years. I am glad they won, of course I always root for the underdog, but it seemed like the other teams (except maybe the twinnies) genuinely liked them. The Houdini challenge was absolutely insane and it was nice that it didn’t come down to a bad cab driver.</p>
<p>I’m really glad the twins lost. They were getting even more nasty about the others as time went by - especially putting down the farmers who handily beat them at tasks tonight.</p>
<p>I would have rather had the Chippies win. It’s kind of weird the farmers ended up in first since they really were a weak team all along. </p>
<p>One thing I didn’t like about the show tonight was when all the teams were going from point to point together as a mass herd. Also, the extra task the twins had to do was almost nothing - no challenge at all and it clearly barely slowed them down - it was a giveaway. </p>
<p>I hope for the next season they come up with better tasks since I thought most of the tasks this season were pretty disappointing and not that difficult.</p>
<p>Speed bumps in general seemed to have gotten weaker. I wonder if the show realized that a speed bump truly was the death of teams so they have become more lenient. </p>
<p>The Beekmans were not the strongest team, but as happens in many sports, it often doesn’t matter if you were strong all “season” but that you are on top of your game for the final prize - in their case, the finale. </p>
<p>The flag task was also brutal and would have put me under mentally! Beekman guy was right when he finally didn’t treat it as a language task and treated it more as a math task.</p>
<p>When I saw the flag task, I figured the Beekman boys had the best chance to win. They were much better at analytical tasks than the other teams.</p>
<p>I was disappointed the Chippendales didn’t win. They were first to Coney Island, but last to figure out their clue was on one of the signs. That doomed them.</p>
<p>Will rolling bags now become standard equipment for contestants? It would probably be the only way I could handle the race.</p>
<p>Amazing Race is one of the shows I’d love to see a “wrap up” episode where they talk to all the contestants and you get some inside scoop on things we didn’t see, relationships, etc.</p>
<p>Yep, when it came down to the flag task, I figured the Beekmans would win. That was tough because it wasn’t just about the words but about the order. Glad that wasn’t me doing that.</p>
<p>abasket, that’s a great idea. Like After the Final Rose! ;)</p>
<p>I was actually surprised at how well the Chippies did at the flag task.</p>
<p>A wrap up episode would be fun, maybe even showing film footage that didn’t make it onto the show. You should go to TARCON, abasket. A friend of my Ds has been to several.</p>
<p>I enjoyed the finale, and I like it when they combine the final two episodes so it’s two hours long. What surprised me was that no one picked up on the hello and goodbye at the pit stops. Anyone on the show these days knows to keep detailed notes, particularly things like that! They had that long flight to NY where they could have been studying! Was glad to see the Beekman boys win, although I really would have been fine with any of them. One thing I thought was nice about this season is that the teams were almost all nice to each other. Even at the end where the twins were saying that ‘the gays beat us!’, it was clearly in fun because Josh and Brent were laughing about it. A fun season.</p>
<p>I agree. At first, I thought the twins were saying Evil Gaze. Duh. But then the Beekmans said that they were purposely trying to distract the twins, so it’s not like they were all sweetness and light.</p>
<p>The one thing that made me happy for the Beekmans is how the teams they beat conspired to keep them in the race, over Abby and Ryan. I’d love to see a wrapup of how the teams feel NOW about that strategy.</p>
<p>So I didn’t know anything about the Beekman Boys, or their TV show so I googled them and came across their website. They posted a very cute thank-you blog about the show with gingerbread men of each of the teams. [7</a> Billion “Thank You” Notes. | Beekman1802.com](<a href=“http://beekman1802.com/7-billion-thank-you-notes/]7”>Beekman 1802 | There Is Beauty In Kindness)</p>
<p>^^^Everyone who watched the season needs to read “7 Billion Thank You Notes” above - an awesome read and a real look at who these two winners and their competitors are. Very nice.</p>
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<p>This will make you feel better YouDon’tSay - I didn’t realize it was NOT Evil gaze until I read your post!!</p>
<p>I think this was the best ending in a few seasons. Must be the good NYC taxi drivers!</p>
<p>tx5athome, thank you for sharing that. What a beautiful tribute to such a fun season of TAR!</p>
<p>Very classy.</p>
<p>Wow, that made me tear up. Very sweet. What TV show?</p>
<p>The note sounds nice and appropriately heartfelt. However, watch a few minutes of their “real” show (the Fabulous Beekman Boys) and you might find the characters a tad less likeable or … downright annoying. Reality TV is all about drama and it is easy to see that most of what we are presented follows a well-defined script. Those actors play their roles rather well.</p>
<p>PS You might wonder why I “get” to watch more than my share of those reality shows. It is a direct result of trading the right to watch plenty of sports during the weekend with the people I live with who happen to like the so-called reality shows on the communal big screen. :)</p>
<p>“We’ll always remember something one of the producers said right before the race began. She explained that we’d be racing through some very remote places in this world, and for some of the people we meet along the way, simply having a big TV production include them in their show might be one of the most memorable moments of their lives. She reminded us that while we might be focused simply on making it to Phil as fast as we could, that we were representing America every (hurried) step of the way. We hope that we represented you, and America well. Thank you for giving us that chance.”</p>
<p>There are times that you can tell the contestants are remembering these words from the producers and they take just a moment out to savoy the scenery, truly thank a person, or just soak in a moment.</p>
<p>Hmmm. I had no idea that they had their own TV show. And one is a best-selling author??? Now, I’m really sad the Chips or Trey and Lexi didn’t win (though I bet we haven’t seen the last of the Chips).</p>
<p>Just about every season has a “celebrity” couple - be it tv, sports or another form of entertainment. Looks to me like these guys are hard workers and educated people who have done what it takes to get where they are - including that tv show, but also working as a writer, advertising staff member, etc.</p>
<p>And, kudos to them for recognizing the other teams and THEIR financial endeavors be it a tshirt company or helping an ailing family member.</p>
<p>It’s good to know I wasn’t the only one that had no clue that the Beekmans were already celebrities. I think it was a bit dishonest of the show producers to not share that with us at the beginning of the series. We were introduced to them as ‘goat farmers’. </p>
<p>I think it is important to know the true backgrounds of the contestants. We have certainly known which ones were previous Survivor winners, etc.</p>
<p>Or, is that something that they told us in the initial episode and I was too busy knitting? :)</p>