Racing around the world

MANILA, Philippines – Internet celebrities were taken offline from the social media for three weeks, as they went on a race around the world in the recently-concluded 28th season of The Amazing Race (TAR), which airs on AXN.

The intense, grueling and perhaps nerve-wracking race covered 18 cities, 10 countries and spanned four continents. The itinerary for TAR 28 included Mexico, Switzerland, France, China, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates and first-time visits to Armenia, Colombia and Georgia.

Three teams raced to the finish this season, unlike in the previous two races where a fourth team was added to the finals, but was eliminated mid-way into the last leg.

Engaged choreographers Matt Steffanina and Dana Borriello were the first to arrive at the Pit Stop for the final leg of TAR 28 and won the much-coveted $1M prize. The pair from Brooklyn, New York also led the pack in the first leg of the race and consistently finished strongly in succeeding legs.

Despite fighting, arguing, shouting and disagreeing in some legs, Matt and Dana apparently reassessed their strategy to avoid committing mistakes and eventually win the final leg, the one that mattered the most.

Mother and son team Sheri and Cole LaBrant from Enterprise, Alabama placed second, much to the admiration of TAR host Phil Keoghan and the other racers. Best friends Tyler Oakley and Korey Kuhl from Jackson, Michigan were on third place.

A trip for two to Boracay was awarded to Tyler and Korey when they won the fifth leg. The pair won four other first-place finishes throughout the entire race and bagged a trip for two to Saint Thomas in US Virgin Islands, an Alaskan cruise and $5,000 each.

Professional Frisbee players Kurt Gibson and Brodie Smith, touted earlier as the strongest team in the race with four, first-place finishes, were booted out in the 10th leg after they failed to complete a double U-Turn courtesy of Tyler and Korey. They won the Express Pass in the sixth leg, which allowed them to skip a task.

No one was eliminated in the first leg, but on the second leg, the mother-daughter team of Marty Cobb and Hagan Parkman from McKinney, Texas was the first to be booted out, followed by brothers Darius and Cameron Benson from Memphis, Tennessee.

Models Jessica Versteeg and Brittany Oldehoff from Oskaloosa, Iowa made their exit on the ninth leg, followed by best friends Erin White Robinson and Joslyn Davis from Saint Pauls, North Carolina.

Succeeding teams eliminated were father and daughter Scott and Blair Fowler from Kingsport, Tennessee, newlyweds Zach and Rachel King from Portland, Oregon, Brodie and Kurt from Westport, Connecticut and dating gamers Burnie Burns and Ashley Jenkins from Austin, Texas.