"The Amazing Race" finale: And the winners are...

Josh and Brent are crowned the winners on the finale of the 21st season of "The Amazing Race." / CBS

After three continents, nine countries and more than 25,000 miles, it was time for teams to head for the finish line on this season of "The Amazing Race."

But who won the million dollar prize? (Spoiler alert!)

It was Josh and Brent, a.k.a. the Beekman Boys. Yes, you read that right -- the team that hadn't won a single challenge all season and struggled at points just to stay in the race, stayed calm and steady, as the other teams got frazzled, and were able to finish first.

Here's how it happened:

When Sunday's two-hour finale began, Chippendales Jaymes and James, Texans Trey and Lexie, goat farmers Josh and Brent and twins Natalie and Nadiya (who escaped elimination last week but had a Speed Bump awaiting them) were the only teams remaining.

11 Photos

"The Amazing Race" 21

All four teams took the same flight from Mallorca, Spain, to Barcelona, where they switched to a train that took them to France's Loire Valley. The Texans, twins and Chippendales continued with their alliance, which made no sense now that their strongest competition -- Abbie and Ryan -- were out of the race. Their new agenda: Eliminate the Beekman Boys. Natalie and Nadiya, feeling the pressure of being in last place, were particularly keen to see them go, and made comments about the Beekmans "hanging around for no reason," "coasting through" and "hanging on coattails."

Once in France, the teams loaded a couple of crates into their cars and head to a chateau to find a stone dog that contained their next clue. The next destination was Leonardo da Vinci's final resting place, Chateau d'Amboise, but the twins first had to complete their Speed Bump -- lacing a woman into an 18th-century corset. It didn't take them long, but they still lost precious time. And once they were behind the other teams, the alliance unraveled fast.

The Detour required teams to choose between Chow (cutting up and deboning raw meet to feed hunting hounds) or Plow (using a horse and a traditional plow to make rows in a field).

The twins and Beekmans went for the dogs, and engaged in a lot of trash talking while preparing the dog food. The twins accused Josh of faking his ankle injury (to be fair, he didn't seem to have much trouble running around this week) and the Beekmans kept up the banter once they realized it was distracting the girls, who watched in disbelief as "the gays," as they called them, finished first and sped away.

Teams then went to Bourre to La Cave Des Roches, where mushrooms were on the menu for the Road Block. One team member had to descend into the caves, search for three specific kinds of mushrooms and bring back 10 of each. It was dark in the subterranean cavern and many of the mushrooms looked alike. Some team members got uneasy when the lights went out (Can you blame them?).

The Chippendales and Texans finished and made it to the Pit Stop at Ch?teau de Chenonceau in first and second place, respectively. The twins finished the mushroom challenge before the Beekmans and it looked as if their place in the finale was secure, but then they ran into navigation issues and Josh and Brent were able to take the third-place spot. The girls came in fourth and were eliminated, looking sober and quiet as they were told they wouldn't be continuing.

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[wannabracer]

frankly to all of you...do you honestly think God cares who wins the race...dont you think he has more important matters on his mind...

[beekgeek]

I know Josh and Brent and of course was rooting for them. They couldn't tell anyone that they had won and we are all so excited for them! I only had previously watched one episode of the Amazing Race and found it tedious. I don't think I would ever watch it unless I knew someone. They only show people fighting and very little of the countries they are in. As a world traveller, I am very disappointed in this aspect of the show. I know its a challenge/race, but it could be more interesting than people calling each other names.

[townhouse107]

Have the twins never watched the Amazing Race. Kama, you girls stole money from another team, Amazing Race Kama gets you every time. Besides you were just plain mean..not to mention annoying

[CAROLANNIELOU]

I absolutely cheered when the Beekman boys came in first. Under-dogs, under-valued, under-appreciated, and totally dismissed by the others made them my heroes! Incidentally, do these people realize we can hear what they are saying and the other teams will eventually hear it as well? The twins were funny and resiliant but their comments about the Beeman's were nasty and uncalled for

[AlexxNg]

The twins are from Sri Lanka and not Bangladesh. They are loud, obnoxious and rude people. I am glad they were not in the top 3. They got the same bad karma they had by conniving to oust Abbie and Ryan ie. they were ousted too. However, their bad karma of stealing have not caught up with them yet.

[Sean85248]

Congrats to the Beekmans... all I know is that if "the twins" had won, I might not have watched again next season. When they STOLE the money from the music-brothers instead of giving it to them, I was horrified! It's one thing to be competitive; it's another thing to be a dirty criminal. I'm so happy they didn't make the final. Now the show has aired, I hope they are prosecuted. As for the Chippendales, I really do hope they are able to help their families with medical bills... I was alternately cheering for them and for the Beekmans -- although the Beekmans need to stop whining so @#$% much.

[News2012]

The Beekmans already are on a TV series! A regular TV series!

And I was ALREADY tired of them before they hit TAR, and I've only seen one episode of their show.

Talk about creative editing. Their series is the SAME - poor downtrodden underdog Beekmans triumph over adversity.

(Does CBS own the network that airs "The Fabulous Beekman Boys"?)

Please, TAR, please. No more reality stars on TAR - including no more Survivors (Rob and Amber? Give me a break), no more Big Brothers.

I love this show but sometimes I have to wonder.

[raflin1]

Sometines, we wonder about people like YOU NEWS2012.........get a clue?

[beekgeek]

They had 2 seasons on Planet Green and have now been picked up by the Cooking Channel, jealous much?

[sakicjade]

How can anyone think this was fair? The boys were 8-12 hours behind, but due to a 12 hour catch up, they get to win the race? Its stupid and ridiculous.

[raflin1]

The girls went the WRONG WAY. THEIR decision. Duh??????

[parsonii]

This show is not about fairness (none of the gaming shows are). People get screwed over by clueless taxi drivers, or just happened to ask the wrong person on the street all the time. And at least a few legs of the race they will be on the same flight again (almost always the last leg) and it's like reshuffling. Otherwise, the strongest team and/or the team(s) that were leading at the beginning will always win the game. The show will become boring and viewership will go down. :p

[ChrisBaron123]

Ha, I like how you pointed out how down and quiet the twins were on being eliminated because it think it was the first time that they stopped talking all season. I wanted the Chipps to win, but having the Twins lose is good enough for me. I was talking to a coworker at DISH about the result, and she thought that it was some karmic justice for stealing from the Rockers earlier in the season. I nearly missed the show because I was helping my son with his homework, but thankfully my DISH Hopper recorded it with Primetime Anytime. I love how it records everything during primetime on the four major networks and saves it for a week, so I never miss any of my shows. I am glad that I caught it because the most genuine team won, and it is great to see how you don't have to be an ultra-competitive jerk to win on this show.

[doubledoubler]

Yep! Those girls were thieving hateful you know whats and it was the first time I was ever happy to see anyone lose.

[grandmalama]

Wow, you never miss a chance to plug DISH, do you? I am thankful every week for my Tivo which lets me record all the shows I watch but I don't post a shameless commercial on comment boards about it.

[JosyC101]

Congratulations to the Beekman Boys and to the Amazing Race. It was so exciting to watch the Beekmans go from 4th place to first place. It was great to see everyone congratulate them after they won! Were they the best racers this season? I'm not sure. I know that they won the race.. and they seemed to be the most considerate of all of the racers. I look forward to the next season of the Amazing race and seeing the Beekman's on their show!

Josy

[doubledoubler]

I wasn't aware these guys had their own show but I am going to go and do a search on DirecTV to see when and where it is on.