Father and son win Amazing Race 24

MANILA, Philippines - After nine countries across the globe, 22 cities and 23,000 miles, father and son Dave and Connor O’Leary charted a successful comeback to win the recently-concluded The Amazing Race 24.

“I can’t believe we’re here,” said Dave, who didn’t even think they could join the race again after quitting pre-maturely in Season 22, where Dave suffered a leg injury and even had to undergo surgery. The first father and son to win The Amazing Race, Dave and Connor are also both cancer survivors.

In The Amazing Race 24, the third race that featured an all-star cast, Dave and Connor bagged the $1M grand prize, plus a slew of many other special prizes, which they won in the other legs where they arrived first at the Pit Stop.

In the third leg, Dave and Connor won a trip to Budapest. In the fifth leg, they bagged $5,000 each. From the ninth leg to the finish, which they successfully dominated, they took home a pair of 2015 Ford Mustangs, a trip to Saint Croix (US Virgin Islands), a trip to Fiji and finally, the million dollars.

Dave, who was the oldest person to win the race (he’s 59 years old), performed the final task, which was to skydive from a helicopter and parachute into the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where Connor excitedly ran to meet him. Together, they approached host Phil Keoghan, who declared them as official winners of the big-budget The Amazing Race 24.

Meanwhile, friends and country singers Caroline Cutbirth and Jennifer Wayne came in second. They earlier survived two non-elimination legs — in Rome, Italy and Lucerne, Switzerland. They were also able to sweet talk brothers Jet and Cord McCoy to give them the Express Pass for a task in the second leg.

Newlyweds Brendon Villegas and Rachel Reilly, who really wanted to win so badly, were the last to arrive at the final Pit Stop in Las Vegas. Originally from Season 20, Brendon and Rachel fought hard to land in the finals and survive the race. They became unpopular with the other teams for U-turning Dave and Connor.

In the 12th leg, master illusionist David Copperfield made a special appearance and designed the challenge, which was the final Roadblock. First completed by Dave and Connor, the team from Salt Lake City, Utah never looked back throughout the last leg.

The race kicked off in Santa Clarita, California. Brothers Jet and Cord were the first to arrive at the Pit Stop in Guangzhou, China and they won two Express Passes.

First to be eliminated in China were twin sisters Natalie and Nadiya Anderson, followed by the last-minute pairing of Mark Jackson and Mallory Ervin. Best friends Joey Graceffa and Meghan Camarena were booted out in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

 The mother-and-son tandem of Margie O’Donnell and Luke Adams exited in Colombo, Sri Lanka, followed by engaged couple Jessica Hoel and John Erck who left the race in Rome. Harlem Globetrotters Flight Time (Herbert Lang) and Big Easy (Nathaniel Lofton) were the last to arrive in Bagnoregio, Italy.

Brothers and rodeo cowboys Jet and Cord were eliminated in Seville, Spain, while cousins Leo Temory and Jamal Zadran, popularly known as “Afghanimals,” experienced déjà vu when they left the race in United Kingdom. In Season 23, Leo and Jamal were also the last team eliminated before the finals.