Beginning in the middle of February, The Amazing Race‘s 22nd season came to a finish in an intense two-hour season finale on May 5th–crowning professional hockey-playing brothers Bates & Anthony Battaglia as the champions of “the race around the world.” Hosted by Phil Keoghan, the Emmy-winning reality show’s 22nd consecutive season featured some of the best and most diverse group of contestants the show has ever had. The eleven competing pairs included “Hockey Brothers” Bates & Anthony, “Newlyweds” Max & Katie, “Roller Derby Moms” Mona & Beth, “Country Singers” Caroline & Jennifer, “YouTube Hosts” Joey & Meghan, “Married” Chuck & Wynona, “Best Friends” Pam & Winnie, “Father/Son” Dave & Connor, “Dating” Jessica & John, “Twin Doctors” Idries & Jamil, and “Firefighters” Matt & Daniel.
Throughout the twelve legs of the race, the teams began their journey in Los Angeles, California and finished in Washington, D.C. In between, the pairs completed legs of the race in French Polynesia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Botswana, Switzerland, Germany, Scotland, and Ireland, racing against the other teams while having the adventure of a lifetime. Upon being eliminated during the Edinburgh, Scotland leg of the race, YouTube hosts Joey Graceffa & Meghan Camarena finished in a heartbreaking fifth place, being told that they would not be in the final four competing during the finale.
That left the final four to be frontrunner newlyweds Max & Katie Bichler, pro hockey brothers Bates & Anthony Battaglia, bandmates of “Stealing Angels” Caroline Cutbirth & Jennifer Wayne, and roller derby girls Mona Egender & Beth Bandimere. All four remaining teams traveled to Belfast, Ireland, competing in a muddy bog dive. Both all-girl teams faced great difficulty with this roadblock, while the Battaglia brothers and the Bichlers quickly moved onto a detour called “Tray It”.
In this detour, teams had to deliver a five-course dinner to first-class passengers seated under a tent right inside the drydock of the RMS Titanic. Katie and Anthony prepared the silver trays with the correct courses, while Max and Bates carried the trays down several flights of stairs to serve the passengers. Both teams breezed by this detour fairly briskly, while Mona & Beth struggled a bit. Meanwhile, after Caroline & Jennifer finally completed the bog dive after three almost-quitting attempts, they moved onto the other detour choice called “Spray It”. Here, the girls arrived at a skate park and finished a piece of colorful graffiti with ease. However, shortly after this, the country singers were eliminated from the race due to being the last team to arrive at the checkpoint, ending their flirtacious alliance with the Battaglia brothers.
The second hour of the finale then began with the three remaining teams heading from Belfast, Ireland to Liverpool, England, back home in America to Washington, D.C. Each team made their way to where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech: the Lincoln Memorial, where they received a clue directing them towards 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue. Originally being told that they would be meeting and taking pictures with President Barack Obama, the teams were slightly disappointed when they arrived at a gift shop and were photoshopped into pre-made pictures with the President.
Max & Katie were the first team to make it to the roadblock, participating in a switchback, in which Max received a briefcase from an espionage officer in a marked car. The briefcase contained a code phrase that would have to be repeated to every spy Max passed on the Tidal Basin pathway, in order for them to figure out their next destination. Bates & Anthony, arriving shortly after Max & Katie, surprisingly completed the roadblock before them, moving onto Nationals Park. Here, Bates and Max dressed in baseball mascot costumes while Anthony and Katie had to zip line across the stadium, tossing a ball to their teammate–who hopefully would catch it. As Bates & Anthony blew through this challenge in a heartbeat, Max & Katie became frustrated and took a little longer than viewers would have expected. Soon, after the newlyweds finished, Mona & Beth made it to the ballpark.
When Bates & Anthony arrived at the final challenge of the season, all they saw was a huge ball pit filled with inflatable globes. They soon learned that they would have to find each one of the ten countries they visited, circled on ten separate globes. Not knowing the locations of some of the countries they visited, the hockey brothers initially had a little trouble with this roadblock. However, they eventually came through and made their winning strides toward the final checkpoint, “The Home of the First President”: Mount Vernon. Being the first team to reach the destination, Bates & Anthony Battaglia were crowned as the winners of The Amazing Race 22. Max & Katie snagged the runner up spot, coming in soon after the hockey brothers–with Mona & Beth finishing in third place.
