The Reporters winning tonight could have been the biggest upset in The Amazing Race history.
From the beginning, it was the Green Team that was the team to beat. They played well and hard, and led from the beginning. They won the majority of the legs and prizes — enough prizes to cover their wedding, honeymoon and babymoon. But they weren’t well-liked (at all!), and while they won a lot of people over throughout the race, one could only take a look at Twitter and realize that most people still couldn’t stand Justin’s cockiness.
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Then you have The Reporters. They played a great game but never could show up on the mat first. They were the second-place team the entire time. It frustrated them, but they never let it bring them down or dampen their enthusiasm.
When I first watched The Reporters, I prayed that they wouldn’t spend the whole race talking in that newsroom commentary voice. I’m not sure when they dropped it, but once they did it wasn’t hard to fall in love with them. They have a relationship that is awesome — they supported each other, they lifted each other up, and they were so focused on being the best they could be — regardless of coming in second time after time after time.
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They were smart in their moves during the last leg of the race and made one move that put them ahead of the other two teams — they convinced their cabbie to stay put while they executed the firehouse task. Ultimately, the winner vs. loser of this season’s race came down to who had the cabbie. The Green Team insanely decided to let their cabbie go because they didn’t want to pony up the cash to keep him here (who does this?!), and The Paparazzi’s cabbie decided to go home.
What set The Reporters apart from the other two teams and ultimately led them to their one big win?
Respect.
They respected the game. They respected the process. They respected each other. It didn’t matter how stressed they got or how many times they came in second, they never let the game get in front of them as a team. When they showed up on the mat — time after time in second — they were OK with it because they knew that only one check-in mattered.
The last one.
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Congrats to The Reporters. I wasn’t expecting you to win, but man am I glad you did because in the end, you really deserved it.
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