Finally, it's all come down to this.

Ten weeks and eleven legs ago, twelve teams set off from Los Angeles, California, on a race around the world for one-million dollars, although one team never even left the starting line. The many Detours, Roadblocks, and other tasks challenged the teams, and along the way, nine teams fell by the wayside -- Eric and Lisa, Garrett and Jessica, Marcy and Ron, Zev and Justin, Lance and Keri, Mika and Canaan, Maria and Tiffany, Gary and Matt, and Flight Time and Big Easy. This left Brian and Ericka, Sam and Dan, and Meghan and Cheyne as the final three teams going into the season finale of The Amazing Race. The episode began with those final three teams, fresh off Flight Time and Big Easy's tragic (but admittedly deserved) elimination, departing from Prague in the Czech Republic and traveling to their final destination city, Las Vegas, Nevada! Meghan and Cheyne, now that they were officially in the final three, were going to go for the gold now. Sam and Dan, having achieved their goal of getting Flight Time and Big Easy out of the race (even though, really, the Globetrotters eliminated themselves -- or Big Easy did, at least, due to quitting at that Roadblock), now hoped to beat Meghan and Cheyne and stop yelling at each other (but . . . well . . . you read the title, I'm sure, where the former goal is concerned). Brian and Ericka were gunning for Sam and Dan after what they did to them two legs ago, and they were hoping to prove to Ericka's mother that they were a couple, no matter what. At the airport, they surprised Meghan and Cheyne and Sam and Dan with their arrival, as those two teams quite expected to see Flight Time and Big Easy still in the race instead.

Once in Vegas, the teams had to head for the Graceland Wedding Chapel, where they got a clue from someone dressed up as Elvis. After that, they were to head to Mandalay Bay, a luxury hotel in Vegas. Of course, en route, Sam and Dan complained that Meghan was about to grab a clue from Sam, when really, they got the clue at the same time. Meghan just happened to let him have it. (See why I hate them so much?) Anyway, once at Mandalay Bay, the teams were tasked with the race's final Roadblock. It saw one member of each team rappelling face-first down the side of the building. Cheyne, Sam, and Ericka all took the task for their teams.

The next stop was the Mirage, another luxury hotel in Vegas. There, the teams would have to join Cirque du Soleil's Love. In doing so, one team member would have to work a human slingshot and use it to launch his or her teammate, who'd be rigged up in a bungee cord, up toward a bouquet of flowers suspended from a wire in the air. Once the entire bouquet was snagged, the team could trade it in for their next clue, which a flower child held. While Sam and Dan easily blew through the task, Dan successfully launching Sam up to get the bouquet on his first try, Cheyne struggled with launching Meghan, and Brian struggled with launching Ericka, who, after several fruitless (but oftentimes close) attempts, had a childlike temper tantrum while in her bungee cord that probably rivaled Flo's basket boat meltdown in The Amazing Race 3 and Nicole's bicycle meltdown in The Amazing Race 5, both of which also happened in the final three. Still, she composed and got the task task done, so they got on their way, though they left the task in last place, behind Sam and Dan, who were behind Meghan and Cheyne.

The teams' next task was figuring out the name of the richest casino in the country of Monaco and going to it. That turned out to be the Monte Carlo, and Sam and Dan and Brian and Ericka figured it out fairly quickly. However, Meghan and Cheyne did not. In fact, when they tried to get a cab driver's assistance, he flat-out told them the name of the wrong place (the Venetian), and their own cab driver was completely clueless. As they drove toward the Venetian, they asked for help from locals they saw on the street, and one called to them that they were actually looking for the Bellagio, which was also incorrect. Sam and Dan, however, had their drive call the Mandalay Bay for them, and from someone there, they found out that their destination was the Monte Carlo, so off they went, now in the lead. Meanwhile, Meghan and Cheyne were still stuck trying to find out the right destination. It took them a very long time -- until a member of the Venetian's concierge told them the name of the right place, in fact -- before they finally got on the right track and made it there. Brian and Ericka managed to get there quickly because Brian already knew the answer to the riddle.

At the Monte Carlo, the teams were given the most difficult task of the race -- counting one-million-dollars in poker chips. They'd have to sort through a table of 8,400 poker chips of various denominations and gather them up until they have enough chips whose amounts added up to a million. Sam and Dan got to the task and started out solidly enough, with Brian and Ericka close behind them. Due to their trouble figuring out the riddle, Meghan and Cheyne got there last and needed to fight extra hard to catch back up. And thanks to staying calm in sorting and counting up the chips (especially compared to Sam and Dan, the latter of whom got them fighting again when they panicked while trying to sort and count their chips, as it took a lot of patience, which Dan didn't have, and Brian and Ericka, the latter of whom also lost her cool, this time irrevocably, as Brian had no way to calm her down), that's exactly what they did! They counted up the amount they needed and were out of the task first -- which was amazing, considering they'd arrived at the task in last place!

For the teams' final task, they were to head to the MGM Grand Hotel's High Roller Suite, where Mr. Las Vegas (aka Wayne Newton) would tell them the location of the finish line. Meghan and Cheyne got there first and, after sharing a group hug with him, were only told to go to his house, while Sam and Dan were unfailry flat-out told by Wayne himself who he was (because they had no clue who what his name was, although they both recognized his face). Brian and Ericka, I'm not sure about, as their meeting with Wayne wasn't shown. (Turns out, according to what they told someone at TARcon, Television Without Pity's end-of-season party for this show, they did meet Wayne, and he did tell them where to go.)

The finish line turned out to be at the home of Wayne Newton, just as he'd said, and there, Phil waited with eight of the nine eliminated teams -- Garrett and Jessica, Marcy and Ron, Zev and Justin, Lance and Keri, Mika and Canaan, Maria and Tiffany, Gary and Matt, and Flight Time and Big Easy. (Eric and Lisa, after their starting-line elimination, opted to not go to the finish line -- hell, they didn't even get sequestered with the other eliminated teams! -- and just spent the entire duration of this season's taping time vacationing in India before going straight home.) And the teams applauded as the first team arrived. After twelve very tense legs . . . Meghan and Cheyne were declared the official winners of The Amazing Race! They'd officially won the one-million dollars! Both hugged each other happily and told Phil and the other teams just how proud they were of one another and happy to be one-million dollars richer! And try not to gloat, but Sam and Dan came in second place, disappointed (which I loved!), but each proud to be the other's brother. Meh. Whatever. Finally, Brian and Ericka finished the race in what was a clearly-distant third place.

This ending? Fine by me! I didn't love any of the final three teams, but I liked Meghan and Cheyne a lot -- in fact, they were the only team in the final three I liked -- so I was thrilled to see them win! And they deserved it, too. They'd dominated the race practically from the start, winning seven of the twelve legs, including the final one (and tying with the odious Nick and Starr's record, as they, too, won seven legs in The Amazing Race 13)! They also seemed to get along better than any of the other teams in the final three and kept cool heads when needed. They were also virtually drama-free, which was refreshing in a winning team. They were, by far, the strongest team in the final three, and they were the most deserving of the final victory, so I'm glad they took it in the end. Congratulations, Meghan and Cheyne!

As for our second-place-finishers, I loathed Sam and Dan from the get-go. At first, it was just for being a boring alpha-male team. But as the race wore on, their true, douchebag colors slowly began to emerge, most notably after Maria and Tiffany were eliminated. So I had even more reason to loathe them. They screamed at each other, and sometimes at other teams, like whiny, spoiled babies, and they were total hypocrites. They were unquestionably evil, just as the show portrayed them. I so wanted them to lose, and I'm so glad they did. I'd rather have seen them take third place, but finishing the race as the first losers is good, too. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving couple of guys. Suck it, Sam and Dan!

And now, our third-place-finishers. I'd always been kind of "meh" on Brian and Ericka. Didn't like them, didn't hate them. You'd think I'd garner instant like for the race's first interracial married couple, but they just didn't send me. And I think I know why. That angle was pushed on viewers so often throughout the season, and Ericka turned out to be a b*tch on wheels, as we found out later on in the race. Her panicky moments are what cost them everything in the end, and Brian's inability to rein her in also contributed to it. So it's fair enough that they fell way out of it at the poker chip counting task and finished third. Sorry about that, Brian and Ericka, but you have no one to blame but yourselves for this.

In other news, I'll once again have to repeat something I've said in past posts. This was definitely not one of the better seasons. Too many young couples cast, only one women's team cast, and an overall bland crop of teams. It's only redeemed by the great tasks and locations we've seen. But other than that? This season probably ranks as a middle-of-the-pack season when stacking it up against the prior fourteen seasons. I'm more than ready for the sixteenth season.

Speaking of that, this may or may not make you all happy. One of the teams spotted on the now-filming sixteenth season is none other than Big Brother 11 houseguests Jeff Shroeder and Jordan Lloyd (he finished in fifth place, she won the whole season). I'm thrilled for Jordan being on the show, but I hate Jeff, so I'm hoping they go early or at least in the middle of the season.

And so, The Amazing Race 15 ends. Boring cast, good locations, excellent tasks, and a very, very deserving winner in Meghan and Cheyne. I can only hope The Amazing Race 16, which begins either in late February or, more likely because of the Winter Olympics, early March, is much better than this season. Will it be? We'll see then!