The Amazing Race is over and we have seen the end. My self-imposed Internet blackout is now over. Read on for my thoughts on the winners. (Aussies: Don’t read any further unless you want to be spoiled! And try to avoid the “Recent Comments” list over there on the right.)As I said earlier, I didn’t have any serious problems with the final three teams. None of them were even remotely Flo-like. That said, my hope going into the last two episodes was that Chip and Reichen would pull it off, if only for the politics of having the gay couple be first. They’re not guys that I like a lot personally, but I thought it was more important for a gay team to win than a girl (this time). They were acting like such jerks in the Australian legs though that I completely reversed my opinion. I started cheering for David and Jeff. Sure, they’re dumb and boring, but it suddenly occurred to me that they’d never whined or bitched at each other or took out their frustrations on a service person. That’s the kind of behaviour the show should award. Of course, since I have a terrible track record at picking these things, as soon as I switched mental alliances the “Goats” made their fatal Sydney maneuver. Ouch, boys.

I’ve been thinking about what they did (taking the immediate flight to Sydney in the hopes of getting a good flight from there). I almost think I would’ve done the same. There’s always a risk in leaving the pack, but it just as easily could’ve given them a huge lead going to the finish line. It was a gamble I probably would’ve taken.

So Chip and Reichen made it. Good for them. I was really hoping for a kiss, though. (What’s up with that, CBS? They did it on Dawson’s.) It’s funny to think of a victory on a game show as being a civil rights achievement, but we’ll take what we can get, I guess. Good on ya, Chippendales.