Hippies Take the Race

Mon., Jan. 21, 2008 2:34 PM PST by

It was a groovy finish.

Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin, the crunchy couple from Huntington Beach, California, breathlessly battled the elements and outpaced their competitors to take home the $1 million grand prize during Sunday night's finale of CBS' The Amazing Race.

The 12th installment of the Eye's hit reality series wrapped up with a mad dash through the frigid Alaskan wilderness after the contestants hopped a flight in Taiwan bound for Anchorage.

Only three pairs remained: 23-year-old Rosales, a florist, and 22-year-old Erwin, a dreadlocked substitute teacher; father-daughter duo, Ronald and Christina Hsu; and grandfather-grandson tandem, Donald Jerousek and Nicholas Fulks

The three teams engaged in head-to-head fish-filleting/crab wrangling, scaled a glacier and then were helicoptered to the final challenge: solving a complex Road Block puzzle in which they had to use their memories and painstakingly place a souvenir from each city they visited during their whirlwind trek in a specific order.

"I knew it was going to be crucial to stay calm," Rosales said concerning the difficult mental challenge.

The Hsus had a comfortable lead going into the puzzle, but Christina struggled, allowing the other teams to catch up. Rosales managed to decipher the brainteaser first and she and Erwin outsprinted the Hsus to the final finish line, where they were congratulated by all the eliminated teams.

"Being able to do the entire race, not compromising our relationship in any way and in the process making great friendships just makes winning it that much sweeter. Nice guys can definitely finish first and I think we proved it with this," said Erwin.

It wasn't all about money. Staying true to their easy-going nature, the twosome also reflected back on how their 21-day journey crisscrossing 10 countries over four continents brought them closer together.

Said Rosales: "My feelings for TK are very real. He's my best friend. He's my rock and he's just my favorite person and I got to do all this with him."

The other teams weren't without consolation prizes. The Hsus said that they grew closer than they had even been, and Jerousek, at  69, was the oldest Amazing Race competitor ever to cross the finish line.

Critics have always lavished praise on The Amazing Race for putting excitement into reality TV—the series has bested higher rated rivals American Idol and Survivor to win the Reality Competition every year since the category was created in 2003—and the 12th edition was no exception.

This season's cycle saw racers traipsing across the green hills of Ireland, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Croatia as well as visit such far-flung places as the African village of Burkina Faso, India, Japan, and Taiwan.

 

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