‘The Amazing Race 26’ finale spoilers: Could Mike & Rochelle or Hayley & Blair win it all?

Next week, “The Amazing Race” is ending season 26 (and shockingly, possibly the series) with four teams, and with a leg in Dallas that looks to feature everything from rodeo (well, more of a Fort Worth thing) to the Dallas Cowboys (which is technically in Arlington). Clearly, this tells you already that we know more about the Texas city than almost anywhere else the show has traveled to recently.

We are also gearing up for a competitive end, since we do think any of the four teams can win it all. While Mike & Rochelle, for example, have been in danger and were nearly eliminated tonight, we saw last season that underdogs can get it together at the very last second. The reason we’re worried for them is that we’re not sure entirely what their strength is going to be over some of the other teams, and they are going to need that to compensate for them not being as strong physically.

To us, the favorites to win right now are oddly Hayley & Blair. Despite the frequent bickering, they’ve won three legs this season and seem to be peaking at the right time whereas Jenny & Jelani perhaps peaked too early. They’ve also had the most interesting edit as the team that hated then tolerated then hated and then tolerated and then kind of liked each other. While Jenny & Jelani and Tyler & Laura would be solid winners, we’ve also had many similar winners over the years. We also wonder whether or not some past little hints in the edit are suggestions that they don’t win, such as either dismissing Mike & Rochelle as a “weak team” or proclamations that a blind date team is for sure winning.

Mike & Rochelle do have the emotional story, given that they could use the money a lot, she wants to provide for her young daughter, and they can use the money to build a life together. That narrative is important, but we have seen before that emotional stories do not always win the show. As much as we love to read the edit here, it’s tough; it’s really all about who gets the right taxi and understands the challenges in the right amount of time. There’s a little skill mixed with a little luck.

Who do you think is going to win this season? Vote in the attached poll, and head over here if you missed our review of tonight’s episode! Also, race over to this link to get some other TV news sent right to you, courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)