The Amazing Race Episode 22.11 Beacon of Hope

BATES & ANTHONY WIN IT ALL

Hockey brothers Bates & Anthony won The Amazing Race and the one million dollar prize in Washington D.C., where newlyweds Max & Katie finished second and roller derby moms Mona & Beth trailed in third.

"IT-S A GAME, DUDE" Departing the Pit Stop in first place at 4:07pm, newlyweds Max & Katie ripped open their first clue instructing them to travel by train to Stranraer, Scotland, where they would catch a ferry across the Irish Sea to Belfast, Northern Ireland. Then, they had to pick up a Ford Fiesta from a nearby warehouse and drive to Peatlands Park to get their next clue. The final four teams met up at the ferry station in Stranraer, Scotland, where they waited to catch a 7:30am ferry to Belfast, Northern Ireland. Max asked Mona & Beth how they reacted when they realized that they were trailing the front of the pack despite thinking they had a three-hour lead in the last leg. Max did apologize for laughing at their situation, but he didn-t apologize for U-Turning the roller derby moms. Beth told him, "It-s a game, dude. We would-ve done the same thing." Although later, Beth wondered why Max & Katie and Caroline & Jennifer continued to help Bates & Anthony, the team she considered to be the strongest left.

BOGGED DOWN After crossing the Irish Sea and using the time to get directions to Peatlands Park, the four teams ran from the ferry in Belfast to a nearby warehouse where they jumped into Ford Fiestas. They drove in a pack outside the city limits of Belfast until they reached a point where they had to make a crucial decision. Max & Katie and Bates & Anthony turned right while Caroline & Jennifer and Mona & Beth turned left. Max-s instincts proved correct when he and Katie led Bates & Anthony to the parking lot of Peatlands Park where they found a Roadblock. In it, one team member had to participate in a bog snorkeling competition, a quirky sport conceived over a pint of beer. After riding a train to the bogs, team members had to put on a mask and snorkel, a wetsuit, and flippers, cannonball into a pit of mud, and then complete a hundred yard lap through the bog in less than four minutes. After donning a skintight wetsuit, Anthony waddled to the bog followed closely behind by an unenthused Katie. When the whistle blew, Anthony took a running jump before cannonballing into viscous, muddy water. After getting help out of the pit from Bates, Anthony ran onto the dock, stepped off the edge into the bog, and began swimming with abandon. While his stroke moved him through the water with ease, Anthony later remarked that the biggest difficulty was breathing because his mask and snorkel filled up with mud and water. This didn-t hinder Anthony much as he finished his lap in 2:18, well under the 4:00 maximum. Ripping open the next clue, Bates & Anthony now had to return to Belfast and find the Thing with the Ring. Jumping in the murky water second, Katie got off to a fast start like Anthony, but she soon slowed to a crawl when her mask fogged up giving her no visibility. Having no sense of how far she still needed to swim, she used Max-s voice as a beacon as he counted down how much time she had left. Katie blindly swam the remaining distance, pulled herself onto the dock, and walked over to the timer that she knocked over as it hit 3:09. Katie later said, "There was no way I was doing that again."

MUDDY MADNESS In third place, Mona had to perform the Roadblock because Beth had already done the maximum of six. Uneasy about being cold in dirty water, Mona dreaded the task ahead of her, saying, "I don-t know that I have ever been that scared." From the moment she jumped in, Mona appeared rattled and downright panicked as she flailed and swam through the muddy water. Letting out groans and wails, a disoriented Mona asked, "Where am I?" Beth later admitted she didn-t think Mona could pull this out, but Mona kept swimming even as she began sobbing. After finishing at 2:53, a traumatized Mona begged Beth to rip the wetsuit off of her and later described herself as acting "crazy." In last place, Jennifer got off to a solid start and reached the halfway point with plenty of time to spare. However, instead of turning around and heading back to complete her lap, Jennifer got out of the water, walked on the dock, and fell into deep mud on the other side. By the time she extracted herself from the mud, got back in the water, and returned to Caroline standing at the original dock, her time far exceeded 4:00. With mud covering her mouth, Jennifer said, "I don-t think I can do this." After Caroline gave a small pep talk, Jennifer jumped in the water for a second time and began swimming as Caroline walked alongside cheering her on. This time, Jennifer only made it partway down the swimming lane before stopping and resting in the weeds of the bog. Pulling herself out of the water, an exhausted Jennifer told Caroline, "I can-t breathe."

DETOUR DECISION Because Bates & Anthony stopped for directions in congested downtown Belfast, Max & Katie and Mona & Beth, who asked a local in Peatlands Park, reached the Thing with a Ring, a giant metal sculpture, in first and second places, respectively, to find a Detour. Tray It required teams to descend into the dry dock where one of the most famous ocean liners was built, the RMS Titanic. Using a menu and seating chart for reference, teams had to serve five courses of actual dishes served on the Titanic. With one team member prepping the dishes in the kitchen and the other running them over to the dining room, teams had to serve the five dishes in the correct order to a table of first class passengers while making sure each passenger received the correct dish. Spray It required teams to visit a popular urban sports and art center and finish one side of a piece of graffiti art using a picture for reference.

SAY A PRAYER While all three teams set off for the Titanic dry dock to deliver dinner, Jennifer sat in a tent trying to get warm and dry and once again apologized to Caroline telling her she couldn-t finish the task. Determined not to let Jennifer quit, Caroline led Jennifer in a prayer asking for strength from God to keep her positive and not give up. After the prayer, Jennifer knew she needed to finish the task both for herself and for Caroline. Jumping into the water for a third time, Jennifer approached the swim differently by concentrating on keeping her breathing calm, something she failed to do previously. With Caroline next to her every step of the way, Jennifer made her lap and reached the timer at 3:47. Caroline told Jennifer, "I-m so proud of you! You didn-t quit."

DINNER IS SERVED Arriving at the dry dock in first place, newlyweds Max & Katie took a moment to marvel at the massive "hole in the ground" where the Titanic was built over one hundred years ago. Next, they ran to the tented kitchen where a chef and staff were in full swing cooking dinner. Picking up a seating chart, the newlyweds noted that it listed the passengers along with two courses – soup and dessert. Using the chart for reference, Katie wondered how they would serve five courses when only two were listed. After preparing a tray of soups and desserts, Katie finally noticed the large cardboard menu placed just outside the tent that listed all five courses, the first being oysters. Max later said, "The light bulb went off." The couple realized that for the soup and dessert courses, passengers had two choices, so their seating chart would tell them what soup and dessert the passengers chose. For the other three courses, all passengers chose oysters, roasted squab, and asparagus, so they could simply use the main menu for the correct order. After Katie correctly delivered the first course, oysters, to the passengers at their table, she and Max decided to switch roles. She would stay in the kitchen and prep the serving plate and Max would deliver the remaining four courses to the hungry guests. With Max & Katie and Bates & Anthony both figuring out the complicated menu and advancing though courses, roller derby moms Mona & Beth reached the dry dock and intently studied their seating chart. Each time Mona walked out of the tent, she failed to notice the giant menu, so she handed Beth different combinations of cream of barley soup, consomme, and desserts when they needed to deliver their first course of oysters instead. Each time Beth delivered the dishes, the waiter informed her that they were incorrect, leaving the duo confused.

PEACH PROBLEMS Still leading the way, newlyweds Max & Katie reached the final course, dessert, where passengers had a choice of sliced peaches or waldorf pudding. However, Katie faced a dilemma in the kitchen because the spiced peaches plate came paired with a chartreuse jelly. On the table of plates, she saw two choices, a red jelly and a green jelly. Thinking chartreuse was a shade of red, she handed Max a tray with peaches and red jelly, but when the waiter rejected Max-s order, Katie realized chartreuse must be green. After making the switch, Max & Katie ripped open their clue instructing them to find the next Pit Stop at Ulster Hall. Choosing to prep the dishes for his brother, Anthony hit rough waters at the Titanic dry dock. After dropping the tray loaded with the third course, Anthony then encountered the same problem as Katie when prepping the dessert. Bates grew frustrated with his brother because he had to run back and forth from the dining room delivering the wrong jelly with spiced peaches. Exhausted from running and furious with Anthony, Bates grumbled, "One thing he has to do. I-m going to kill him. Worst partner ever." After finally guessing that chartreuse might be green, Anthony handed Bates the correct tray so they could finish in second place, closely behind Max & Katie.

IN THE FINALS In a tight race that came down to mere moments, Max & Katie edged out Bates & Anthony at Ulster Hall to win their third leg in a row and a trip for two from Travelocity to the Dominican Republic. With both teams securing spots in the final three, Max said, "Now we just gotta win this thing. We-re not going to be intimidated by a couple of professional athletes." When Max told Phil about his recurring dream of running to the final mat in first place, Bates joked, "I have that same one, but I run in front of them."

WRONG RING As Mona & Beth continued to struggle at the dry dock, a shop owner gave Caroline & Jennifer directions to the wrong ring. After returning to the city and finding the correct metal statue, the country singers decided to take a shot at graffiti art, but then had problems finding the urban sports and arts center. Putting her hands to her head, a frustrated Caroline began to cry, telling Jennifer, "I-m so tired of driving. I don-t know where I-m going." However, once they found the center, the country singers channeled their inner artistic talent and began to tackle the intricate pattern they had to recreate using only spray paint cans. In a better mood, Caroline said, "I-ve never been into street art, but I guess I am now."

"WE-RE IDIOTS" While Caroline & Jennifer made strides creating their artwork, Mona kept handing soups and desserts to an increasingly frustrated Beth who said in near tears, "I-m so tired. I hope this isn-t our destiny to go down like the Titanic." Instead of entirely falling apart, Beth collected her thoughts and remembered something Anthony told her before he left about "a list." When Beth instructed Mona to go back to kitchen and look again, Mona finally noticed the gigantic menu outside the front of the tent and exclaimed, "I figured it out! We-re idiots!" Now with the proper menu before her, Mona successfully prepped the oysters, soups, squab, asparagus, and desserts while Beth delivered them hoping their mistake wouldn-t cost them a chance to race for a million dollars. Having lost precious time, Beth set down the last plate of spiced peaches just before Caroline & Jennifer completed their graffiti art masterpiece.

FINAL ELIMINATION After a tense drive to Ulster Hall, where both teams kept their fading hope alive, roller derby moms Mona & Beth stepped onto the mat in third place. When Phil told the relieved moms, they thought he was joking as they hugged each other in tears. Beth exclaimed, "Who would-ve ever thought we would be here?" Stepping onto the mat in last place, country singers Caroline & Jennifer fell just short of the final three becoming the last team eliminated from the Race. Caroline remarked, "We-ve enjoyed every bit of this experience. We saw so much of the world." Jennifer added, "Our friendship is stronger now than it ever has been. It-s a gift. It-s such a beautiful gift that we were given. We-re going to go home and write a lot of songs about things we went through."

THE LAST LEG BEGINS... Departing the Pit Stop in first place at 5:04am, newlyweds Max & Katie ripped open their clue instructing them to travel by ferry across the Irish Sea to Liverpool and then make their way to London, England. Once there, they would have to find the Euston Tap and order a pint to receive their next clue. Now with their sights set on a million dollars, the final three teams, Max & Katie, Bates & Anthony, and Mona & Beth boarded an 8-hour ferry ride from Belfast to Liverpool. During the ride, the teams took a moment to walk out on deck and marvel at the massive swells that the ferry cut through on the tumultuous sea. Beth exclaimed, "Look at the size of these waves!" Even with a brief timeout from the Race, the teams still had the finish line on their minds. Max called this, "The calm before the storm." Bates intended to end Max & Katie-s three-leg winning streak adding that, after losing in the Stanley Cup finals, he didn-t want to lose again.

WASHINGTON BOUND In London, Max & Katie and Mona & Beth ran into the Euston Tap together, toasted their pints of beer, and opened their clue sending them to our nation-s capital, Washington D.C. When they landed, they had to figure out that their next clue was on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. Landing in Washington D.C., the three teams sprinted from the airport and into taxis, all knowing they needed to head to the Lincoln Memorial. When Bates called Dr. King-s speech "iconic", Anthony looked surprised to hear his brother utter such a word, prompting Bates to joke, "That might be the first time I ever used that word." Max & Katie led the way up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with Mona & Beth and Bates & Anthony close behind. When the newlyweds reached the top step, they noticed the inscription of King-s speech in the marble beneath their feet. When a gentleman approached the couple and told them that this was exactly where King stood when he delivered his speech, Max called it an "emotional and humbling moment." After the newlyweds took a moment to reflect, the gentleman handed them their next clue instructing them to make their way to 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue. Once there, a secret service agent would escort them to have their picture taken with President Barack Obama.

PRESIDENTIAL MOMENT All three teams were speculating in their taxis whether they were actually about to meet President Obama. Max & Katie reached 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue in first place while Mona & Beth instructed their driver to take them to the White House (1600 Pennsylvania Ave). After picking a secret service agent and walking through metal detectors, Max & Katie walked down a set of stairs into what appeared to be a shopping mall. Unsure of what was about to unfold, Max soon realized he wouldn-t be meeting the President after all when he and Katie were escorted into a small shop that specialized in presidential memorabilia. Separately, Max & Katie turned to their right and stood still as the photographer took their picture. Then, in the final product, their heads were "photoshopped" into a picture that made it look like the pair actually shook hands with President Obama in person. Max later confessed, "It was a bit of a relief...I respect the office but I-m an unapologetic Republican." On the back of their photos, Max & Katie learned that they had to find the marked car near the paddleboat dock at the Tidal Basin. Once there, they had to knock on the rear passenger window three times to receive a briefcase and their next clue. With Mona & Beth reaching the White House and realizing their mistake, Bates & Anthony prepared to meet the President as an excited Anthony said, "I can-t believe this." Bates respectfully removed his hat in anticipation of the important meeting. When the brothers saw the photo booth that would serve as the "meeting", Anthony admitted, "We were a little gullible." Finally, arriving at the shopping mall in last place, Mona & Beth, the most excited to meet President Obama, took the joke well, laughing at their folly.

SPY GAMES Arriving at the Tidal Basin in first place, Max & Katie spotted the black car, knocked three times on the window, accepted a briefcase from a mysterious man in the backseat of the car, and opened the clue inside the briefcase to find a Roadblock. In it, teams would encounter an Amazing Race Switchback that required them to play the role of spymasters. Searching around the iconic Tidal Basin, the centerpiece to Washington-s famous memorials, teams had to determine which one of fifty agents was carrying their next clue. Using a secret password, they had to solicit the correct response from one of the spies. When they did, they would exchange briefcases and get a hint on how to unlocked the new one that contained their next clue. Using the password "Where can I get a good half smoke with chili", Max began running around the massive Tidal Basin asking every spy he crossed paths with, but each operative either shut him down or simply ignored him. With Bates now running around the basin telling spies, "I did not dress warm enough for this weather", the race for first place heated up. Asking spy after spy, neither Bates nor Max could find their matching operative as observer Katie told Anthony, "This is so stressful." Finally, after crossing the bridge, Bates told a spy his password prompting the spy to respond, "Perhaps you would like to borrow my gloves?" After exchanging briefcases, the spy told Bates they combination to open the case was the order he finished in New Zealand, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Running past, Max said, "It was brutal to see Bates get the handoff and get his briefcase right away." Having taken good notes throughout the Race, Bates whipped out his trusty notebook and identified that he and his brother finished New Zealand, Indonesia, and Vietnam 3rd, 7th, and 4th places, respectively. Upon entering these numbers, the case popped open and revealed their next clue. After running back to Anthony, the brothers opened the clue instructing them to make their way to Nationals Park. Arriving at the Tidal Basin just as Bates & Anthony left, Beth began telling spies, "The cheery blossoms are beautiful here in April" as Max continued to search in vain for his contact. Frustrated at seeing Bates & Anthony leave, Katie said, "If he hasn-t found it by now, he doesn-t know what he-s doing." After running far around the basin, Max didn-t see any more spies, so he turned around and started running back. Meanwhile, Beth darted from agent to agent until she got a response to her password when an agent said, "I-ll have to bring my mother next spring." Only moments later, Max finally found his agent who told him, "I-ve heard there-s a great place on U Street." Opening their briefcases within seconds of each other, Max & Katie and Mona & Beth jumped into taxis deadlocked in second place. Now having lost their lead, Katie said, "We just have to be perfect from here on out."

PLAY BALL! Arriving at Nationals Park in first place, Bates & Anthony found out it was time to play ball. While one team member was suspended high above the stadium, the other would be dressed as a giant baseball. The high-wired teammate would zip across the stadium throwing a ball to their partner below. If they dropped or missed the ball altogether, they had to reset and try again. When teams successfully made the catch, they would have their next clue. As Anthony donned a harness to soar across the stadium, Bates put on the giant baseball costume that severely limited his vision and catching ability. On the first try, Anthony later called the zip line experience "cool" and said he wasn-t nervous because he was focused on how best to toss the ball to his awkwardly dressed brother below. Letting the ball go, Anthony watched as it dropped and landed perfectly inside Bates- glove only to pop right out. Bates called the task "trying to catch with one eye closed" having "no depth perception." On Anthony-s second attempt, he lobbed a perfect toss that this time landed in Bates- glove. After getting out of the baseball costume and down from the harness, Bates & Anthony looked at their baseball instructing them to find Hains Point. In a battle for second place at Nationals Park, Max & Katie and Mona & Beth each made their share of entertaining bloopers while trying to throw and catch the baseball. While Katie gently lobbed the ball from above, on the second try, Max not only missed it, but also fell down near second base. After Max missed a third time, Katie shouted, "You suck!" After a few more failures and motivated seeing Mona & Beth next to them, Max finally caught the ball to remain in second place as Katie cheered. However, after Max & Katie left the stadium, the roller derby moms would need 17 attempts before Mona finally tossed the ball into Beth-s mitt below.

AROUND THE WORLD Arriving at Hains Point in first place, Bates & Anthony first noticed enormous globes alongside a giant Plexiglas cube filled with smaller globes and asked, "What the hell is that?" Opening their clue, the brothers discovered that after traveling through 10 counties and racing more than 30,000 miles, they had a final challenge before heading to the finish line. One team member had to search through an enormous collection of globes that each showed a highlighted country. They had to find globes that highlighted the 10 countries they visited during the Race and then toss the globes to their partner who had to put them in the correct order. Anthony jumped into the massive pit of globes saying this felt like "Chuck E Cheese-s all over again." Having difficulty moving through the maze of balls, Anthony checked the globes before tossing them aside when they didn-t have a correct country highlighted. Anthony later remarked, "The hardest part was just having patience because there were so many of the countries that were the same or a lot of the countries that we-ve never even been to." However, once Anthony started spotting a couple of correct globes, he began a rhythm as he tossed Bates Bora Bora and Vietnam quickly. Having used time on planes to study maps, Anthony had no problem identifying the correct countries, but Bates admitted that before the Race, he wouldn-t have been able to do so. Soon, Bates & Anthony had nine out of ten globes, but Anthony couldn-t find Indonesia in the sea that surrounded him. Diving all the way to the very bottom of the tank in the dead center, Anthony disappeared for a minute and then resurfaced with the globe that had Indonesia highlighted. After tossing it to Bates, who placed it in its proper place next to the other nine globes, the hockey brothers received their last clue instructing them to find the finish line at the home of the first President, George Washington-s Mount Vernon. As Bates & Anthony worried that their taxi driver wouldn-t take them to the right place, Max & Katie and Mona & Beth began sifting through the massive pile of globes. Initially, Max volunteered for duty in the ball pit, but after throwing out some bad guesses from countries in South America, Katie asked, "Do you want to switch if you don-t know what you-re doing?" Max agreed to let Katie take control, and she found the remaining globes in short order while roller derby moms Mona & Beth got stuck in a rut.

THE WINNERS All of the worrying in their taxi was for naught when Bates & Anthony arrived at Mount Vernon in first place. Running past the eight eliminated teams, the hockey brothers reached the finish line where Phil crowned them the winners of The Amazing Race and the one million dollar prize. Bates told Phil, "I can-t remember the last time I felt like this. It hasn-t come from hockey in a long time. It-s pretty amazing." He added that there wasn-t anyone else he would rather race with than Anthony and no one that he could have done better with. He also called the entire experience of seeing the world "priceless." Coming in second place, newlyweds Max & Katie still has reason to celebrate. Katie told Phil, "We-re still married. We made it around the world." Max later added, "The Race really reinforced that we are a really, really solid power couple. When we put our minds to it we can do some great things together." Finishing in third place, Mona called the Race "life changing" while Beth added, "the chance to do something like this, to travel all over the world, this Race is a prize." Father and son Dave & Connor gave an update on Dave-s leg. Dave went home, got the surgery he needed, and now wore a boot before starting rehab in a week. Connor added that returning to the Race was "bittersweet" because of what "could have been." Country singers Caroline & Jennifer expressed their happiness and excitement over Bates & Anthony-s win, and added, "it-s so overwhelming these relationships we-ve created all over the world. It-s really special."

2211 ROUTE MARKERS

Roadblock: A Roadblock in a task that only one team member can perform. In this Roadblock, that person had to participate in a bog snorkeling competition, a quirky sport conceived over a pint of beer. After riding a train to the bogs, team members had to put on a mask and snorkel, a wetsuit, and flippers, cannonball into a pit of mud, and then complete a hundred yard lap through the bog in less than four minutes. Performed Roadblock: Anthony, Katie, Mona, Jennifer

Detour: A Detour is a choice between two tasks. In this Detour, teams had the choice of Tray It or Spray It. Tray It required teams to descend into the dry dock where one of the most famous ocean liners was built, the RMS Titanic. Using a menu and seating chart for reference, teams had to serve five courses of actual dishes served on the Titanic. With one team member prepping the dishes in the kitchen and the other running them over to the dining room, teams had to serve the five dishes in the correct order to a table of first class passengers while making sure each passenger received the correct dish. Spray It required teams to visit a popular urban sports and art center and finish one side of a piece of graffiti art using a picture for reference.

Tray It: Max/Katie, Bates/Anthony, Mona/Beth Spray It: Caroline/Jennifer

Order of Finish: 1. Max & Katie 2. Bates & Anthony 3. Mona & Beth 4. Caroline & Jennifer

2212 ROUTE MARKERS

Roadblock: A Roadblock in a task that only one team member can perform. In this Roadblock, teams would encounter an Amazing Race Switchback that required them to play the role of spymasters. Searching around the iconic Tidal Basin, the centerpiece to Washington-s famous memorials, teams had to determine which one of fifty agents was carrying their next clue. Using a secret password, they had to solicit the correct response from one of the spies. When they did, they would exchange briefcases and get a hint on how to unlocked the new one that contained their next clue.

Performed Roadblock: Max, Bates, Beth

Order of Finish: 1. Bates & Anthony 2. Max & Katie 3. Mona & Beth