‘The Amazing Race 24’ finale review: Were David & Connor, Brendon & Rachel, or Caroline & Jennifer winners?

Tonight marked the end of “The Amazing Race 24,” and it was an end that certainly provided a lot of bright lights and a big city in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, it didn’t really provide a whole lot of excitement, and despite a worthy winner, it may be one of the weakest finales that we’ve seen on the show in some time.

The biggest issue surrounding this hour is strictly one of production: What we could see, and what we couldn’t see thanks to a lack of information. Take, for example, the first Roadblock with David Copperfield. How was he able to really stand by all the teams at the right time? The simple answer to that is that he couldn’t, which suggests to us that this entire challenge was timed out, and this means that the second and third-place teams left at least a decent ways behind David & Connor.

Granted, the good news is that there was enough of a margin for error in this leg that we saw someone like Caroline & Jennifer come back and make things interesting. The light challenge was a good one at the top of the Mirage, given that it combined two race tropes: Heights and a tedious task. The skydiving at the end was something that you get on Leg 2, and not the finale. There’s no drama with that, and when you are directing teams to a speedway via GIANT LETTERS, there is little chance for someone to miss where they are going. Compared to memory challenges of the past or things that at least proved a challenge, this was something that was big-budget, but at the same time still lame and not a true test of anything other than that you’re willing to jump out of a plane.

The other problem that this leg and ultimately this season suffered was a lack of clarity on the rules. Clearly, David & Connor followed the rules about Roadblocks, but why weren’t we told what these were this time around given that Connor has done so many more than his father? It just doesn’t make sense, and we know that there are conspiracy theories out there about this and whatever happened on that early leg where the two switched detour and somehow still managed to finish first. (We don’t buy any of that; there is luck in the race, and they got lucky a few times.)

As winners, we think that Dave & Connor are inspirational and great. We wish Dave didn’t complain so much about being old and hate Brendon & Rachel for U-Turning him, but they really deserved to win the season. Caroline & Jennifer had a good showing, and Brenchel crumbled thanks to a series of mistakes. We do find it interesting that when Brendon messes up, it’s the “team’s” fault, while if Rachel makes a mistake it is strictly on her.

This was in the end a cool finale visually, but like some of Las Vegas, it was all style and no substance. Grade: C+.

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Photo: CBS