When good guys finish first

MANILA, Philippines - Good guys finish first. In the case of the adventure-reality show, The Amazing Race 23, a good couple won the grand prize of $1M. Dating pair Jason Case and Amy Diaz, who charted six, second-place finishes and only one Pit Stop win, ended up as the winning team in the show.

With nary any argument, fight, bickering, complaint and misunderstanding throughout the entire race, “Boston strong” Jason and Amy peacefully and successfully completed all their Detours, Roadblocks and Intersections, finishing the race in Juneau, Alaska.

They attempted in doing the Fast Forward in Vienna, Austria (Leg 6), but because of strong winds, they were not allowed to bungee jump from Vienna’s tallest tower, the Donauturm.

They were not the strongest team in the race, but they won in the final leg, which mattered the most after traveling through four continents, nine countries and 35,000 miles.

Amy, a former Miss Rhode Island, can probably even take home the Miss Helpful award if there is such a thing. In the Indonesia leg, she helped Nicole who struggled in assembling the traditional Indonesian musical instrument, the angklung even if Amy is already finished with her Roadblock task. She teamed up with Nicole again in Tokyo, Japan, where they had to assemble a robot made of cardboard.

The entire race made some memorable and unforgettable tasks for the 11 teams. They paraglided in Iquique, Chile; assembled a life-size puzzle using porcelain tiles in Lisbon, Portugal; bungee-jumped off the Henningsvaer Bridge in Norway.

They sang with the world-famous Vienna Boys Choir in Austria; rapelled off 250 feet to the ground in Abu Dhabi, rode in a race car in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and dressed up a camel in United Arab Emirates; cooked hard-boiled eggs in a crater in Indonesia; crossed a glacier and went through an ice tunnel in Juneau, Alaska.

First to be eliminated during the pilot episode in Iquique, Chile were father and daughter Hoskote and Naina, followed by theater actors Rowan and Shane in Santiago, Chile. Former National Football League teammates Chester and Ephraim, who didn’t even get a chance to go out of the airport in Lisbon, Portugal, were the third team to exit.

Childhood friends Brandon and Adam left the race after the leg in Gdansk, Poland, followed by best friends and field oil operators Tim and Danny in Bodo, Norway, baseball wives Kim and Nicky in Vienna, Austria and hockey ice crew girls Ally and Ashley in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

 Cousins Leo and Jamal or the “Afghanimals,” were saved by the non-elimination leg in Indonesia. Even if they did the Speed Bump the next leg of the race in Tokyo, they caught up with the other three teams in doing the Roadblock. However, Leo was the last to finish that’s why they were eliminated.

The three other teams were successful in making Leo and Jamal leave the race. That’s why in the finale, three couples raced to the finish line. Aside from Jason and Amy, there were ex-lovers Tim and Marie from New Jersey who ended up in second place and married emergency room doctors Travis and Nicole Jasper from Atlanta, Georgia who finished third.

For its 24th season next year, The Amazing Race promises to explore places which have not been featured before in the show. It will be an all-star race to enlist teams who previously joined. The reality show is hosted by Phil Keoghan and airs on AXN.