'The Amazing Race' season finale recap: Playing for All the Chips

But one thing Skipper and Ken were able to do in Vegas — and consistently throughout the race (let's just ignore a little hay challenge, shall we?) — was stay calm. And sure enough, though they arrived last, they were the only ones to successfully count $1 million worth of poker chips on their first try. As they scored their cab to the MGM Grand, Cheyne offered to pay a taxi driver ''hundreds'' if the guy got them there quickly. I wonder if that driver was watching and if he cashed in. The brothers left second and our poor underdogs couldn't seem to finish their addition task. ''How does this happen to us every single time?'' Ericka wonders. Um, 'cause you melt down and cry and take too long to do things that other teams can do more efficiently without the histrionics? Oh, wait. Sorry, Ericka. Was that a rhetorical question?

You had to know Wayne Newton would pop up sooner or later and sure enough, there he was handing out a clue in all his cheesy glory. Skipper wanted nothing to do with Mr. Las Vegas other than score a clue, but ol' Wayne went in for the hug and she obliged. As we know, she doesn't want to be rude. Sam and Dan opted for being rude, however, when Sam said, ''How do I not know what your name is?'' I thought Wayne would frown or show annoyance, but for some reason* he kept smiling. (*For some reason = for reasons I won't state for fear of being sued).

At this point, the producers clearly gave up hope that Brian and Ericka were contenders and didn't even bother filming them anymore. Did they even get to meet Mr. Las Vegas or did ol' Wayne storm off with his everlasting smile and rant about how Las Vegas allowed people to visit who couldn't recite his name on demand.

With Team Yellow out of it, it was a race to the finish line for Skipper/Ken and the brothers. I always get choked up when I see the teams from the season, even though I can't ever remember their names. Ooh! There's the fighting couple with the bad accents! There's the token older couple who made kinda-senile decisions! Hi there, poker girls! Nice to see you again, candy apple-red-haired guy and your dad! It was wonderful to see my faves, Flight Time and Big Easy, again, though it made me wonder what would have happened if they'd been running this leg. In the end, everyone politely applauded as Skipper and Ken made their predictable entrance. As I said, Meghan decided to channel 1978 and use the word ''neat'' while Cheyne pointed upwards, apparently assuming that his god was following this season of Amazing Race.

The brothers were chipper and, for one of the first times, genuinely sweet when they checked in. ''We bicker… we kick each other… but at the end of the day we're still brothers… you know you have a great family whenever you look up to your younger brother…I just love him so much,'' Sam said. Awww.

Brian and Ericka were in decent enough spirits too by the time they made it. ''I just hope they fully accept him for who he is,'' she said, referring to her mother who apparently disapproves of Brian. Mrs. Miss America's mom? The fact that Brian is still head-over-heels in love after the way your daughter acted on some of these legs, I think you should probably reconsider.

And so another season is over. It wasn't the best race, but it wasn't the worst. I'm neither happy about the outcome nor angry. I guess all in all, it was pretty neat. What did you all think of the finale? Did Meghan and Cheyne deserve to win?

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