'The Amazing Race' Finale Recap: Anthony And Bates Win

The Amazing Race came to a finish last night, after the competitors have traveled over 30,000 miles across 10 countries on five separate continents. First place and $1 million went to hockey brothers, Anthony and Bates Battaglia. In second place, were the newlywed couple Max Bichler and Katie Kaczor-Bichler. Mona Hinman-Egender and Beth Bandimere, the Roller Derby mothers, took third place and country singers Caroline Cutbirth and Jennifer Kuhle ended up in fourth place.

The finale starts with the four teams heading out of Scotland and catching a ferry to Belfast, Northern Ireland. When the teams start making their way to a park, Max and Katie decide to turn around. Mona and Beth and Caroline and Jennifer keep going, but Bates and Anthony follow Max and Katie's lead. The two teams that turned around made it to the Roadblock first.

Host Phil informs the competitors about bog snorkeling, the latest feat they'll have to undertake. In Ireland's version of snorkeling, they'll have to cannonball into a puddle, climb out, jump onto the path, swim a hundred yards up and back, climb out of the water and touch the finish line all in under four minutes. The country singing pair had the toughest time with the task, as repeat attempts saw them fall far behind the others.

For the next challenge, the four teams would have to serve five-course meals to actors playing 1st class passengers of the Titanic at the dock where the ill-fated ocean liner was built. Using a seating chart, a main menu and specific requests from the "passengers," one teammate had to load up trays and hand them to the other who would run down a bunch of stars to the dry dock and serve the patrons. What was the biggest challenge for the teams? Making chartreuse jelly, as many didn't know what the color looked like. Bates, who was loading the trays, gave his brother red jello instead of the yellow-green color.

Max and Katie are first to get to the Pit Stop, with Bates and Anthony arriving just a minute later. Mona and Beth come in third, which means its the end of the line for Caroline and Jennifer.

The next leg sees the three remaining teams head off for a pint at a Liverpool bar for their next clue. Then they're off to Washington, DC. After being tricked into thinking they'd be getting a photograph with president Obama, they're tasked with a Switchback Roadblock. The game requires one person walking around with a briefcase searching for the right agent by using a secret passphrase. Bates finds his agent first and opens the briefcase by listing the order they finished in New Zealand, Indonesia and Vietnam. Beth comes in second, and Max third.

The teams then head to Nationals Park, home of the Washington Nationals baseball team. There, one person has to zipline across the field dropping a baseball while the other teammate (dressed in an inflatable baseball costume and a giant hat) tries to catch it down below. Arriving there first, Anthony and Bates finish before the other two teams even arrive at the stadium. After a few failed attempts, Katie and Max finish next. And after 17 tries, Beth finally catches the ball so that she and Mona can move on.

The final task involves a giant ball pit filled with inflatable globes with countries circled on them. One team member had to hop into the pit and find the 10 balls that had the countries they visited circled on them. Meanwhile, the other teammate was tasked with arranging the balls in the order they visited the countries circled upon them. Again, Anthony and Bates finish the task before the other teams arrive. Katie and Max finish quickly once they get started, leaving Mona and Beth in third place again.

Since there were no surprises on the journey to the finish line, the final standings of The Amazing Race season 22 were Anthony and Bates in first, Max and Katie in second and Mona and Beth in third.