‘Your life flashes before your eyes’: ‘The Amazing Race’ winners Carson and Jack, runners-up Han and Holden talk Season 37 finale
"It's like your life flashes before your eyes."
So says Carson McCalley of winning The Amazing Race with teammate Jack Dodge on Thursday's Season 37 finale. The best friends and professional gamers defeated siblings Han and Holden Nguyen, and married couple Ana and Jonathan Towns to win the $1 million prize.
"You see your whole race laid out in front of you," Carson says (watch the video interview featuring Carson, Jack, Han, and Holden above). "It was so emotional in so many different ways."
Jack calls it his moment to feel "like a real hero," even though he told himself throughout the race that winning wasn't all that mattered. "It is nice when you also slay the dragon. Getting in touch with our inner heroism was priceless."
Photo credit: Megan Briggs/CBS
The final leg of the race was a water scramble through Miami and included three water-related tasks. While the sailing portion was anything but smooth, Carson and Jack seemingly coasted to victory after quickly completing the flyboard Roadblock and saving a mannequin from "drowning." The only thing that stood in their way was one final memory puzzle.
The duo had prepared all season for that moment, taking meticulous notes about every challenge, greeter, and article of clothing people wore. "The hardest part was that it was a really large 3-D puzzle," Jack says. "The difficult part was putting together the words and figuring out what the letters spelled out."
Carson and Jack also recount the nail-biting moment in Leg 7 when they came dangerously close to elimination. After spending hours hopelessly lost in Bulgaria, they were so far behind that the other teams assumed they had already completed the leg. This misunderstanding worked in their favor when Erika and Melinda Papadeas opted to U-Turn Mike and Nick Fiorito instead of Carson and Jack. The decision gave the gamers just enough time to catch up and eventually overtake the Brooklyn brothers, securing their survival in the race.
"Nick and Mike were one log away from being able to beat Erika and Melinda," Jack explains. "They had to get 200 kilograms of weight and they were off by one log. That log was a million-dollar log. If they had taken that this race would have turned out completely differently."
Jack continues, "That was a moment we were unbelievably lucky to have. It was a lesson to keep the flame lit — never give up. We had accepted that we were going home so we saw how we would react in the face of elimination — with joy, understanding of each other, and still having fun. That helped us in the final leg because we knew how we would react if we didn't win. We were accepting seventh place with a lot of grace. All of the legs after that became way easier because it took the pressure off."
As for Han and Holden, the second-place finishers say they're proud of what they accomplished and that they just wanted an opportunity to complete the entire race.
"The fact that we even beat one team in the final leg is huge," says Holden. "Especially considering how good the teams were. The fact that we were among them and the fact that we had a good day, despite a car accident — we did pretty well."
Photo credit: Megan Briggs/CBS
Han admits she spent months after the race thinking about what they could have done differently, but ultimately remembers why they auditioned for the show in the first place. "The reason we did this race was to spend time with each other and really work on our relationship," she says. "This journey paid us over $1 million. It wasn't about the money for us. We're so grateful we had the experience together."
But about that car accident...
"We were pretty stressed," says Holden as his sister laughs. "A car accident is not an ideal thing in any situation, Amazing Race or not. It took us around 30 to 45 minutes [before we could continue the race]." The unlucky driver they hit spoke no English, did not understand that they were racing for $1 million, and was skeptical of the story they were telling him. Eventually, they were able to convince the man that they would get his car fixed.
"This speaks to our adaptability," Han says. "On the race it can come across that we're so lucky — we have nine lives — but our greatest strength is our ability to adapt and to focus on the task at hand. Getting in a car crash and still getting second place in the finale is insane. It's iconic and I'm proud of us."
Both teams also discuss the moments they wish would have been shown on TV, their favorite locations, and best moments of the race.
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