Tyler Denk and James Branaman win 'The Amazing Race 10'

Last night's broadcast of The Amazing Race's tenth edition finale ended former drug addicts and models Tyler Denk and James Branaman crossing the finish line first and claiming the competition's $1,000,000 grand prize.


The Amazing Race 10's thirteenth and final episode began with the three remaining teams departing the Palau Nacional of Montjuic, a stunning former 1929 World's Fair structure in Barcelona, Spain that served as the Race's eleventh Pit Stop. As they left the Pit Stop, the teams received clues instructing them to find a Barcelonan church that "has been under construction for 124 years." After finding it, they would have to search a park behind it for their next clue.

All of the teams quickly found locals who identified the church as Sagrada Familia, a large Roman Catholic basilica that began construction in the 1880's. Although dating couple Rob Diaz and Kimberly Chabollao left the Pit Stop more than 30 minutes ahead of single moms Lyn Turk and Karlyn Harris and more than 40 minutes ahead of Tyler and James, all of the teams quickly found the church and were bunched back together when their next clue instructed them to fly to Paris. France and visit the Eiffel Tower.

Since all the teams had left the Pit Stop between 11PM and midnight, they had to wait for the airport's ticket windows to open at 4AM. When they did, Rob and Kimberly's ticket agent managed to book them on the last two seats for a 6AM Paris flight before Tyler and James' agent could, a development forced Tyler and James to book passage on an Air France flight that departed an hour later. Meanwhile, Lyn and Karlyn (the last team to arrive at the airport) booked passage on an Iberia Airlines flight that would depart 20 minutes later than Tyler and James' flight but arrive at Orly Airport (Paris' older and smaller airport) at the same time as Tyler and James' flight would arrive at Charles de Gaulle Airport (Paris' main international airport.) However since Orly was closer to the city than Charles de Gaulle, Lyn and Karlyn hoped to use the closer proximity to close the gap on Rob and Kimberly.

When the teams arrived in Paris, Lyn and Karlyn's strategy paid off perfectly and they arrived at the Eiffel Tower moments ahead of Rob and Kimberly. Since they arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport after Rob and Kimberly, Tyler and James were the last team to arrive at the Eiffel Tower. Once they arrived at the Eiffel Tower, the teams received clues instructing them to take a train 145 miles to the city of Caen. Once there, they would have to make their way to the city's airport and find their next cluebox.


Due to the nature of the train schedule to Caen, all of the teams were once again bunched back together at the St. Lazare train station and ended up on the same 12:25PM train to Caen. Once the teams arrived in Caen and traveled to the airport, they learned that it was time for the leg's Roadblock, a task that required one member of each team to "storm the beach" and do a 13,000 foot tandem skydive onto the sands of Omaha Beach, one of the Allied forces' landing sites in World War II's Battle of Normandy. After landing on the beach, the skydiver would be driven to the Bayeux train station and reunite with their teammate. Kimberly decided that she'd "storm the beach" before realizing that it involved skydiving -- a decision that caused Rob (who unlike Kimberly, had never gone skydiving before) to repeatedly begin whining that skydiving was "the one thing" he'd wanted to do during the race.

After the teams made their jumps and reunited at the train station, they were instructed to take trains 163 miles back to Paris. Once there, they would have to travel to Place de la Concorde, one of the city's major squares, and search for their next cluebox. Although all of the teams booked tickets on the same 5:23PM departure from the Bayeux train station, Tyler and James and Lyn and Karlyn ended up boarding another 5:10PM train that got them to the Caen train station at which they would board their Paris-bound train ahead of Rob and Kimberly. However luckily for Rob and Kimberly, there was no earlier Paris-bound departure from Caen and all three teams still ended up arriving in Paris on the same train.

Once the teams arrived at Place de la Concorde they learned it was time for the leg's Detour options, "Art" and "Fashion." "Art" required the teams to pick up a large painting at a gallery and then carry it through the streets of Paris to an artist. "Fashion" required the teams to travel to Anatomy Fashion Studio. Once there, they would have to do their best Project Runway impression and create a women's jacket using the tools and patterns provided by the jacket's designer.

All three teams picked "Fashion." Although they were the last team to arrive at the cluebox, Tyler and James --- male models who cited the fact that they "have been fitted a million times" -- were the fist team to cut and pin their jacket to their mannequin correctly. Despite being the first team to arrive at the Detour task, Rob and Kimberly were the last team to complete their jacket. After completing the Detour task, the teams received clues instructing them to fly to New York City, the Race's final destination. Once there, they would have to find The News Building, a landmark New York skyscraper that used to house The New York Daily News newspaper and still features a giant globe in its lobby, and retrieve their next clue.

Ignorant of the fact that it didn't have any international flights to New York, Lyn and Karlyn initially took a taxi back to Orly Airport and attempted to fly to New York from there. After being told that the Orly ticket agents couldn't even book Charles de Gaulle Airport tickets for them, Lyn and Karlyn joined the other two teams at the other airport.


Meanwhile, although they had been the second team to arrive at Charles de Gaulle, Rob and Kimberly managed to convince a check-in manager to give them confirmed tickets on the next morning's first sold out 8:25AM flight that Tyler and James had only been able to get wait-listed on. The ticket counters had already closed by the time Lyn and Karlyn finally arrived at Charles de Gaulle, however once they re-opened the next morning, the single moms also added themselves to the wait list for the 8:25AM Air France flight to New York's John K. Kennedy Airport. However when it ultimately came time to board the plane, Tyler and James managed to make the flight's wait list cut while Lyn and Karlyn didn't, turning the reminder of the Race's final leg into a two-team race between Tyler and James and Rob and Kimberly.

When Tyler and James and Rob and Kimberly arrived in New York, both two reached their JFK terminal's taxi stand simultaneously. However Tyler and James happened to get a taxi driver who knew where The News Building was while Rob and Kimberly didn't, setting off a taxi race in which Rob and Kimberly's taxi driver attempted to follow Tyler and James' taxi as Tyler and James' driver tried to lose them by changing lanes. In the end, Tyler and James finally managed to lose Rob and Kimberly when the lack of an E-Z Pass electronic toll collection device forced Rob and Kimberly's taxi to have to wait in a longer cash-only toll booth lane.

Once Tyler and James lost Rob and Kimberly at the toll booth, the rest of the race was largely anti-climatic. After arriving at The News Building the teams received clues instructing them to hoof it two miles to the East Village and then find an outdoor sculpture shown in an enclosed photo. Once they found the sculpture -- an 8-foot wide, 39-year-old cube known as The Alamo -- a woman in a yellow baseball hat would hand them their final clues.

After receiving their final clues, the teams learned that they had to find a New York City taxi driver willing to drive them 56 miles to St. Basil Academy, a Greek Orthodox church facility for needy children in Garrison, New York. The first team to arrive at the academy would win The Amazing Race 10's $1,000,000 grand prize.

When Tyler and James jumped onto the finish mat as the rest of the Race's previously eliminated racers cheered them on, The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan informed them of their win. "Four continents, thirteen countries, and 40,000 miles -- Tyler and James, you are the official winners of The Amazing Race, congratulations! You guys have won the $1,000,000 prize."


After announcing Tyler and James' win, Phil had one final surprise for them -- a rather shameful product placement phone call that allowed them to inform their parents of the good news. Rob and Kimberly took the news of their second place finish surprisingly well and professed the strength of their relationship. Lyn and Karlyn -- who presumably were told to proceed directly to the finish line when they finally arrived in New York a couple of hours after the other two teams -- also received a warm hand for becoming the first all-female team to ever make it into The Amazing Race's final leg.

Prior to The Amazing Race 10's final credits, CBS ran a promo that formally announced The Amazing Race: All-Stars, the currently-filming eleventh edition of the long-running reality show. "Imagine if the toughest The Amazing Race teams of all-time went head-to-head. It's going to happen on The Amazing Race: All-Stars. The teams are still secret but there are new relationships -- some have split up, and what's happened to others will surprise you."

Of course, Reality TV World readers already know that not all the teams are "still secret." According to CBS's on-air promotion, The Amazing Race: All-Stars will premiere in February 2007.