Sweethearts got engaged in The Amazing Race 30
The pairing of the most competitive teams in The Amazing
Race (TAR) US Season 30 yielded the $1M grand prize to Team Big Brother. Sweethearts Cody Nickson and Jessica Graf, who met in the reality show Big Brother, turned engaged couple after winning TAR 30.
What the pair failed to accomplish in Big Brother last year, they fulfilled in TAR 30, where they were consistently a strong team. They never finished last and were always ahead of the others, even after being U-turned.
The race covered 10 countries and visited 21 cities in 24 days. It officially ended last October, yet, the winners were announced only last Feb. 22. By that time, Cody and Jessica were already engaged. They made public their engagement last Feb. 13, after their hike at the Runyon Canyon Park in Los Angeles.
Management consultants Henry Zhang and Evan Lynyak or Team Yale came in a close second at the final Pit Stop at USS Hornet in San Francisco. Professional skiers Kristy Leskinen and Jen Heudak or Team Extreme placed third.
Team Ring Girls, composed of Instagram models Dessie Mitcheson and Kayla Fitzgerald, was the first to leave the race in Reykjavik, Iceland. Team Extreme was the first to arrive at the Pit
Stop and they won a trip for two to Santorini, Greece.
The second leg saw the first head-to-head challenge between teams. They had to push pounds of French fries in a race to the
Pit Stop in Antwerp, Belgium. Team Goat Yoga, with moms and yoga instructors April Gould and Sarah Williams, made their exit from the race.
The third leg in Tangier, Morocco saved Team Slam Dunk, with retired NBA players Cedric Ceballos and Shawn Marion, from elimination. Perhaps the most exhausting, the leg saw the teams navigating the narrow streets, climbing stairs, exploring the public market and even hawking products around, all accomplished by foot. The familiar locale reminded viewers about scenes in the Hollywood action caper, The Bourne Identity, starring Matt Damon.
The back-to-back episodes in Legs 4 and 5 brought the teams to Saint Tropez, as they explored the picturesque coastline of the French Riviera. Another headto-head challenge ensued, which saw Team Slam Dunk eventually leaving the race.
Team Indy Car with Alex Rossi and Connor Daly each won $5,000 after arriving first at the Pit
Stop in the fourth leg. They again pocketed $7,500 each in the ninth leg and a trip for two to Curacao — “Where is that?,” Alex and Connor smilingly asked — in the 10th leg. However, they exited the race after the 11th leg in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, a marriage proposal happened in the fifth leg in France, where lifeguards Lucas Bocanegra and Brittany Austin of Team Ocean Rescue arrived first on the mat and won a trip for two to Bali, Indonesia, perhaps their eventual honeymoon destination. Competitive eaters Joey Chestnut and Tim Janus or Team Chomp were eliminated.
Classical musicians Trevor Wadleigh and Chris Marchant or Team Well Strung left the race in the sixth leg in Prague, Czech Republic, where Team Extreme Kristi and Jen got their second firstplace finish and won a trip to Perth, Australia.
The first-ever partner swap happened in Leg 7 in Zimbabwe, won by Lucas and Brittany, who extended their winning streak up to the eighth leg. They won another trip, this time to Saint Lucia, a French island in the Caribbean. Twin brothers Eric and Daniel Guifredda or The Firefighters made their exit after the eighth leg.
However, Team Ocean Rescue was sadly ousted in the ninth leg after Lucas lost his passport in the layover in Dubai, their connecting flight from Zimbabwe to Bahrain. They arrived really late in Bahrain and failed to catch up in the race. Alex and Connor finished first consecutively in the ninth and 10th legs.
Thailand and Hong Kong also became the succeeding destinations in the 11th and 12th legs, before the race concluded in San Francisco. The airing of TAR 30 wrapped up in less than two months, since AXN scheduled back-toback episodes last month. Phil Keoghan hosted the award-winning reality show.