Brother-Sister Team Wins "Amazing Race"

Harvard-Educated Lawyers Take Home $1 Million

(AP)  Some quick thinking at the end won $1 million for a Chinese-American brother-sister team of Harvard-educated lawyers on CBS television's round-the-world competition "Amazing Race."

But it was a heartbreaking finish for the competition's first deaf contestant.

The winner, Victor Jih, 35, and his sister Tammy, 26, explored a sometimes contentious relationship during their journey. The 14th edition of the game concluded in Maui, Hawaii, and was televised Sunday.

"I just tried to enjoy the race for what it was and just be true to my emotions, the highs and lows," Victor Jih said after the victory. They're both practicing lawyers in California.

Three teams traveled from Beijing to Hawaii for the game's final set of competitions, which involved preparing pigs for luaus and racing on personal watercrafts to find clues floating on the water.

Luke Adams, 22, just graduated as the valedictorian of the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind, and raced with his mother Margie, 50. They were in the lead heading into the last competition, which involved picking out surfboards with insignias representing every leg of their trip. Luke started fast but could not get the last one right.

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The winners picked up their winnings on The Early Show Monday:

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As he was frustrated, Victor Jih completed his task and headed into a taxi for the finish line. So did the third team, two former National Football League cheerleaders who were trying to be the first all-female team to win the race. Cara Rosenthal, 26, of Boca Raton, Florida, and pal Jaime Edmondson, 29, of Fort Lauderdale, finished second, hampered at the end by a clueless cab driver.

Margie Adams tried to console her son during the final cab ride to the finish line after 40,000 miles.

"I'm very lucky to have you as my mom," Luke said to her in the shorthand sign language they had developed together.

[mommyx33]

This was the most biased Amazing Race ever. The teams stayed too long in China, giving the winning team an edge over all the others, as they spoke the language and were familiar with the customs and food. Also, the team with the disability were a sad representation for disabled deaf people. Margie was so protective that Luke appeared to be an adult child...she needs to leave him alone. Also, if anyone noticed that Luke also has a learning processing problem, in addition to his disability. He is a special needs child in more ways than one. I hope they do better next time.

[HSMum]

I read with dismay your comments. Your comment referring to "disabled deaf people" - they may be disadvantaged in life perhaps. I would like to know your qualifications to give such a rediculous statement as Luke has a learning processing problem?? He appeared to react and sign quickly to most things. Perhaps they did not teach Russian literature at his Uni therefore he would have obviously had trouble with that task. I found Margie and Luke to be a fantastic team and wish more mother/son relationships were that close!

[TripleGemini]

The trip is planned before the contestants are chosen. There was no way for the producers to know that there would be two American-born Chinese speaking people in the final 3.

And didn't Margie and Luke speak American Sign Language? Or did they really speak a "shorthand sign language" that they created?

[Happywarrior2]

Victor and Tammy were nice people but had an extreme advantage over the other teams because of the great amount of time spent in China and their ability to speak Chinese. It would be the same as having more the one episode at Galludet University or Colorado School for the Deaf, which would give Luke and his mother an unfair advantage. I hope in the future that the Amazing Race returns to previous formats where it is more evenly distributed around the world and not concentrate on one area that gives one team an unfair advantage over all the other teams.

[Traval09]

I was disappointed also in the ADVANTAGE that Victor and Tammy had in China. It was not fair play. With 2 episodes in China of course they had the advantage over the others.
I love the show, and will continue to watch.
Please stay away from a natural conflict of interest.

[isabellaneff]

I was very disappointed in the advantage Victor and Tammy had in China. They would have been out of the race if they did not speak the language. I do not need to be angered over such an otherwise enjoyable program.

[caldwellptr]

And I was going to log on to the internet and find out the winners before I watched the finale. Thankfully, it was not a nerve racking ending. I should have figured Margie and Luke lost by the amount of time they gave them giving commentary during the episode. And now on to my favorite ...

BIG BROTHER

[joe197119]

WHY DOES CBS POST THE WINNER IN THE HEADLINE??!! Thanks for ruining the show for me. Wouldn't it be just as easy to post a headline that does NOT reveal the winner?

[joe197119]

WHY DOES CBS POST THE WINNER IN THE HEADLINE??!! Thanks for ruining the show for me. Wouldn't it be just as easy to post a headline that does NOT reveal the winner?

[joe197119]

WHY DOES CBS POST THE WINNER IN THE HEADLINE??!! Thanks for ruining the show for me. Wouldn't it be just as easy to post a headline that does NOT reveal the winner?

[joe197119]

WHY DOES CBS POST THE WINNER IN THE HEADLINE??!! Thanks for ruining the show for me. Wouldn't it be just as easy to post a headline that does NOT reveal the winner?

[jayelle5]

"Enjoyable race, except the idea of having 2 episodes in China, which gave the distinct advantage to the brother and sister pair since they could speak the language."
Posted by excoachken

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I thought that Victor and Tammy would have gained a lot more time with their ability to speak Chinese but in the end it didn't really help them to put much distance between themselves and the other teams. The race came down to the puzzle at the end, which is often the case. I would have thought that Margie would have done the puzzle because Luke had gotten so frustrated trying to do the puzzle during the leg in Russia (unscrambling letters to spell Chekov). Anyway, it was a good race and I'm mostly glad that the cheerleaders didn't win given their rudeness to the locals throughout the show.

[whatsup49]

i really wanted margie and luke to win, but i'm happy for the brother/sister team. i'm glad the all girl team didn't win, i thought of them as witches, until they helped luke on the surfboard fence thingy.

[excoachken]

Enjoyable race, except the idea of having 2 episodes in China, which gave the distinct advantage to the brother and sister pair since they could speak the language. This was either horrible planning or a deliberate move to "fix" the result. Next time, please stay away from such a natural conflict of interest when designing the competition. And, what's with adding disgusting eating to the contest------------we had to "fast forward" through that section.

[rixmix98]

hahaha. I agree 100% with you ZombieJeebus. I too wanted Margie & Luke to win and the arrogant cheerleaders needed to be put in their place.

[ZombieJeebus]

Ah well. Really wanted Luke & Margie to win... I feel bad that his otherwise epic run was undone by a small lapse of memory.

And I would preferred the clueless taxi driver to drive the cheerleaders off the side of the planet. The one girl was soooooo ignorant for the entire span of the race, treating anyone who didn't speak perfect english as subhuman.