Here’s what’s amazing: TAR was better than ever in its 14th season, with less emphasis on the mundane frustrations of travel and more on the thrilling challenge of racing around the world, fully immersed in foreign cultures. And how funny were the tasks this season? One thing that sets TAR apart is its sense of humor, and from the riotous cheese-wheel roll in Switzerland through the pig-toting luau  in Hawaii, this season was often hilarious.

But the point for the teams is the $1 million, and by the end, I was rooting for Tammy and Victor, if reluctantly. The two things that are important to me as a viewer are a.) appreciating the world as you race through it and b.) growing in the course of the race, becoming a better partner and maybe even a better person by the end. And T&V were the only team in the final three that met those criteria. Margie and Luke — although Margie turned out to be an incredibly impressive competitor — didn’t seem to grow. She was still an overprotective mama and he was a mama’s baby to the end. (Did his frustration in the surfboard task cost them the win?) As for Jaime and Cara, they were the kind of contestants who give Americans a bad name. I just hope when Jaime watched herself, she started writing letters of apology to the world’s cab drivers. (Loved the dispatcher in Hawaii who put her in her place.)

Of course, T&V were incredibly lucky to spend three legs of the race in China, given that they happen to speak Mandarin. Fair? Of course not. But the producers have always said the route and challenges are set in advance and take lots of elaborate planning. Knowing they were spending so long in China, should they then not have cast Chinese-Americans? Discuss among yourselves. Oddly, though, their presumed advantage in China didn’t give them an insurmountable lead. Right to the last roadblock, it was anybody’s race.

I always like to see the eliminated contestants at the final mat and try to remember them. Mostly I can’t. But I loved Mel and Mike and would have liked to see more of them. Maybe in the next all-stars edition!