The final leg of the race takes the teams to Hawaii for a zipline ride and trip behind the waterfall. Then, it’s off to Seattle, WA for a race from park to park before heading for the finish line at Gas Works Park. And the most undeserving team makes it there first. I’m disappointed in the outcome. The race heads back to the US via Hawaii. After a Detour in Kuaui, the teams fly to Seattle and race through the city from one park to another finally ending in GasWorks park as Flo & Zach arrive first and win the 1 Million dollars.

Here we are at the end of the race. Who will make it to the finish line first? Will justice prevail? Or will the luck of the Evil raise its ugly head one last time?

As the leg starts, Flo is looking obviously refreshed and back to her usual self. No more of her “woe is me” pity party. No sir-ee. Flo’s back to her usual “what’s wrong with you, Zach?” mode. Ah, if only Zach had left her stranded in the middle of the river. Anyways, the teams head to Hanoi to catch flights out to Hawaii.

The zip line looks like a lot of fun, and its great to see both Ian and Flo put aside their fears and take the run down the line. I’ll have to check that out of I ever get to Kauai. I must admit that the scenery on this show rocks. Much better than seeing the same beach for 13 weeks on Survivor.

From Hawaii, the teams head to Seattle The city formerly known on the Amazing Race as “The Gateway to Alaska” finally gets its 30 minutes in the spotlight. And according to that spotlight, Seattle consists of the Space Needle, the International Fountain, and a bunch of city parks.

While I understand why they used the parks as route markers, I’m still disappointed. I live up here in Seattle, and there is so much more they could have done. Unfortunately, anything other than the parks would have risked exposing who the final 3 racers were and quite possibly who won.

I just wish that they had given the racers a few spoon fed vehicles and made them drive from Kerry Park to the finish line. It would have given the teams a lot more opportunity to get lost and certainly have given the better navigators like Ken & Gerard a better chance of winning. Besides, then we could have gotten footage of Flo & Zach stuck in traffic on I-5 with Flo screeching at Zach about how this is all his fault!

Ah well, things that could have been. In reality though, the race is ultimately decided by who is able to get a cab first at Seattle Center. And that puts Ken & Gerard behind for good.

Do I like the results of this race? Not at all. I would much rather that Ken & Gerard had won. They had run a cleaner race and never once mentioned quitting. Second choice was Teri & Ian. Ian only mentioned quitting way back when he thought they were last getting into England. Since that point, they had run strong to keep themselves in the running.

But, what is done is done. Congrats to Flo & Zach. And major kudos to Teri & Ian and Ken & Gerard for their hard work! You’re all winners in my book.

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