‘The Amazing Race’ champions are crowned
After making their way through 10 countries, 21 cities and more than 29,000 miles, Jessica Graf and Cody Nickson were crowned the Season 30 champions of “The Amazing Race” Wednesday night on CBS.
Whew, we have jet lag — and we didn’t even leave the couch. With $1 million on the line, the final four teams began the two-hour episode racing through Hong Kong.
From there it was on to San Francisco in the quest to cross the finish line first. As the night began, Indy car drivers Alex Rossi and Conor Daly officially had the lead, ahead of Jessica Graf and Cody Nickson (Team Big Brother).
Meanwhile, Kristi Leskinen and Jen Hudak (Team Extreme) held down third place and Henry Zhang and Evan Lynyak (Team Yale) brought up the rear, hampered by a mandatory Speed Bump challenge.
But this competition can get topsy-turvy. By the time the teams departed Hong Kong, Henry and Evan had finished first and Alex and Conor were eliminated! Cody and Jessica took second, followed by Kristi and Jen. It’s pretty cool that “The Amazing Race” capped things off with a Bay Area flavor and just too bad that San Jose hotdog king Joey Chestnut didn’t make it this far to be able to compete in his backyard.
Giants fans undoubtedly got a kick out of the first challenge, which saw the teams having to pilot kayaks through the frigid waters of McCovey Cove behind AT&T Park at night. There, they were required to find three floating baseballs with the number of Willie Mays’ career home-run total (6, 6 and 0).
Other San Francisco challenges required the teams to do a terrifying free-fall bungee jump inside a hulking anchorage of the Bay Bridge and put together 102 cookies at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory.
From there, it was on to the USS Hornet, an aircraft carrier that survived 59 attacks during World War II. Here, the three teams had to locate parts for, and construct, small wooden airplanes. Cody and Jessica actually were the last duo to arrive at the Hornet, but Jessica put her plane together — after nine misfires — faster than Jen and Henry.