Who Won Season 34 of 'The Amazing Race'?

After a bumpy Season 33, we were excited when Season 34 of The Amazing Race finally arrived. The show kicked off in September 2022 with 12 couples in Munich, Germany — the first time the show has ever started outside the U.S. But as all fans of The Amazing Race know, not every team could make it to the end of the competition.

In fact, as host Phil Keoghan announced at the start of the season, there would be no non-elimination legs. If a team came in last, they were headed home. End of story.

So, which teams were eliminated on The Amazing Race, and which couple made it all the way to end to win the $1 million grand prize?

Season 34's finale episode saw the three remaining teams race through Nashville, Tenn., and the competition was closer than ever before. The final three teams were only a matter of minutes apart at some points, but in the end, one team was able to conquer the leg and win $1 million: Derek Xiao and Claire Rehfuss!

The former Big Brother contestants were in second place following the Jack Daniels labeling challenge, and they got lucky when leaders Emily and Molly made some navigational errors. After that, Derek and Claire maintained a lead throughout the guitar delivery challenge and the giant piano challenge (which was made especially easy for them thanks to Derek’s many years of playing the piano!).

During the finale, Derek and Claire said they would use the prize money to start their life together, and it looks as though they’re well on their way! They recently got an apartment together in L.A. and have been posting tons of adorable content on Instagram. They also have a YouTube series where they break down their experience filming each episode of The Amazing Race. Congrats to Derek and Claire! Now we’re just wondering whether they’ll go on Survivor and complete the CBS hat trick!

Although twins Molly Sinert and Emily Bushnell had an early lead in the finale episode, a couple small mistakes compounded to take them out of first place. Luis Colón and Michelle Burgos also had a great showing in the finale, but were simply unable to catch up to their competitors.

Although these teams didn’t take home the $1-million prize, they didn’t go home empty handed! There’s a second-place prize on The Amazing Race of $25,000, and the third-place team receives $10,000.

Now that we know who won Season 34 of The Amazing Race, let's take a look back at the other teams who were eliminated earlier in the season.

Aastha Lal and Nina Duong are a newly engaged couple from Marina Del Ray, Calif. Aastha had dreamed of being on The Amazing Race for a long time, and Nina was excited to make the journey with her! Unfortunately, that journey didn't last long.

On the Season 34 premiere, the teams were challenged with tasks such as rolling a keg of beer through a series of obstacles, sawing through a log in order to get a clue, and smashing through a huge block of ice with a chisel. The last team to complete their tasks and meet Phil at Munich's Friedensengal monument would be the first team to go home. Sadly, that was Aastha and Nina.

We were really rooting for "Team T-Rex" but sadly, this leg was not their strong suit. Even though Quinton and Mattie got so lost that they thought they had to go to Munich for this leg, they were able to squeak ahead of golf buddies Tim and Rex. This leg took teams to Innsbruck, Austria, where they had some very musical challenges.

The first was a roadblock, in which one team member had to yodel correctly with some simple dance moves. Rex went into the roadblock, but he shared that his dyslexia made it difficult to grasp the lyrics. Then, Rex and Tim decided to do the bells detour instead of the partner dance, but in doing so, they fell even more behind.

Episode 3 of The Amazing Race ended with a dreaded "To Be Continued." However, there was a team clearly in last place. Things did not look good for Glenda and Lumumba Roberts, who were trailing far behind everyone else as they made their way through Italy.

However, this is reality TV, so anything is possible!

Motivational speakers Rich and Dom from Huntington Beach, Calif., were celebrating their third anniversary during this megaleg. Rich’s method of “using [his] senses to head toward the general direction” of the next challenge in Florence, Italy resulted in them lagging behind their competitors.

Dom struggled to stay positive during a sculpture carving challenge and almost immediately wanted to quit and take a 4-hour penalty. After she eventually revealed the sculpture, the couple chose to take the “Eye for Fashion” Detour. They were required to assemble a lookbook of models, outfits, and locations they saw around Florence. Unfortunately, they struggled in this challenge and wound up being the last team on the Pit Stop mat at the Piazza Ognissanti.

After coming in second-to-last place and nearly quitting in Episode 4, the father-daughter duo’s bad luck continued into the next round of challenges. They were in the last group to arrive at the Wadi Rum Desert in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and were the last team to complete the metal-detecting challenge and find their clue sending them to Petra.

At Al-Khazneh in Petra, Sharik and Linton chose the more physical “Camel Caravan” Detour, which only increased the gap between them and Aubrey and David. Ultimately, they were the last team to arrive at the Pit Stop mat at The Great Temple and were eliminated from the race.

Last week’s promo revealed that someone on the show had tested positive for COVID-19, so viewers already had a good idea of what to expect in Episode 6. The episode opened with eight teams waiting to hear from Phil, and with Abby and Will nowhere in sight. Unfortunately, they were the team that tested positive for the virus, and were thus eliminated from the race.

That meant that there was no threat of an additional elimination for the next leg of the race, but the remaining teams were still motivated to finish as quickly as possible. While all eight remaining teams were safe, Glenda and Lumumba Roberts struggled with the “Step by Step” dancing Detour and ended up coming in last place at the Pit Stop mat at the Nymphaeum at Amman. They’ll have to overcome a 45-minute time penalty in the next leg.

Glenda and Lumumba were in good spirits throughout this leg of the race in the The Dordogne département of France despite starting off with a 45-minute time penalty … and then driving directly into a ditch as soon as they got on the road. Thanks to a friendly neighbor and her tractor, they were back on the road in short order.

For a bit, it looked as though Aubrey and David’s navigation difficulties might knock them out of the race instead, but they were able to make it to the Pit Stop mat at the Panorama of Domme before Glenda and Lumumba, resulting in the latter team’s elimination.

Quinton and Mattie started this leg in the final departure group and found themselves struggling to keep up throughout the entire episode. They were once again plagued by navigation issues and ended up arriving at the Roadblock at the Stade Toulousain after every other team had already moved on to the Detour.

Quinton made up a ton of time by completing the Rugby challenge on his first attempt, but it unfortunately wasn’t enough. After yet another navigational challenge, Mattie and Quinton were the last to arrive at the Pit Stop mat at the Canal du Midi.

Episode 9 featured the beginning of this season’s second megaleg, so we won’t know who was sent packing until next week. That being said, things have definitely taken a turn for two teams that have been pack leaders for several weeks now: Marcus and Michael Craig, and Emily Bushnell and Molly Sinert.

Marcus fell way behind trying to recreate a Picasso painting in the first Road Block, and Emily and Molly were plagued by both Emily’s knee injury and a navigational snafu. By the end of the episode, these teams were the final two battling it out at the Fish Fry Detour, but we don’t yet know who will move on to the next part of the megaleg first. Whoever it is will definitely have their work cut out for them!

Although Emily and Molly continued to struggle with navigation and Emily’s injured leg, it was Marcus and Michael who ended up in last place at the Pit Stop this episode. They were the only team who chose the “Bend Over Backward” Detour in Andalusia, and it took them two attempts before their brick-and-stone archway was deemed stable. Although Michael blazed through the final Roadblock in a single try, it wasn’t enough to secure the brothers’ place in the final four.

Despite starting off in the first group of contestants this episode, Aubrey and David struggled with one challenge after another. After David shared that he hates being in the water, he was hit with back-to-back swimming challenges — first, a Road Block that required him to swim through an Icelandic cave and slide down a waterfall, then a challenge that required teams to swim a route between two tectonic plates while memorizing volcanic eruption dates. (Seriously, how do they come up with these?)

After Aubrey and David failed the second challenge twice, they elected to take a two-hour penalty and wound up in last place.