‘The Amazing Race 25’ finale review: Someone scores ‘sweet’ victory

It is only appropriate that the finale “The Amazing Race 25” was set in the traffic capital of America that is Los Angeles. Why? It was fittingly traffic on our end that kept this review from going up at its typical time.

Still, there was a whole lot to like in the finale, though we have two very separate opinions on the winner. First and foremost, we feel bad for Jim & Misti. Had the show not done its final non-elimination twist, it seems like they would have won the whole season and Amy & Maiya would have went home; but, the rules are the rules, and it is very possible that they could have been saved in this spot and allowed to run in the final leg, as well.  For Brooke & Robbie, it really didn’t matter; Phil Keoghan may as well have eliminated them at the first Roadblock regardless, given that they were so far behind.

However, at the same time, maybe this was karmic retribution for Jim and the Wrestlers completely discarding the Sweet Scientists as contenders. They almost deserved to win just to laugh in their faces. Amy & Maiya become just the third female / female team in history, and this one reminds us a whole lot of Josh & Brent. They weren’t the best team most of the season, but they fought hard and got lucky at the right time. Most importantly, they were able to complete the final memory-based Roadblock quickly while the other teams had trouble with it.

Regardless of whether or not they should have been in the final leg, we still like to think that this was a victory for an underdog, and it shows that you don’t have to be an archetype team to win the show.

As for Jim & Misti, we do still feel like they are one of the better teams to run the race, but seemed to mostly be done in again by being overconfident. Had they not gotten lost to kick things off in Los Angeles, they probably would have been very close to winning. Maiya did make a mistake in not finishing the Roadblock properly and removing her crash outfit.

Overall, we do feel like this was a pretty solid episode for the show. It didn’t exactly show LA at its most colorful, but hey, this was filmed during the drought. At least we got a surprising winner and this was a heck of a season overall. Grade: B+.

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