At the onset of leg 12, the remaining teams were feeling confident and ready to do whatever it took to win as they headed to New York with only a Coney Island boardwalk postcard to guide them. "There's no friends in the last leg," Trey joked. The Beekmans were riding high on the idea of a hometown advantage. Josh explained, "We are gaining momentum and confidence at the point we need it most."
The Chippendales ditched their "stinky bags," and the lightened load helped them grab the first taxi and get to the amusement park first. Despite standing in a perfect spot, they missed the signs hidden in a larger vintage Houdini ad instructing them to go to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, as did the other two couples. The Texans were the first to figure out their mistake, followed quickly by the Beekmans, and the first to the docks, where they learned that one teammate had to re-enact the magician's escape from a straitjacket while suspended 15 stories in the air and upside down. As if that wasn't scary enough, there was a surprise bungee jump tacked on to the end of the roadblock. Poor Trey, who was the only one who seemed afraid of heights, was the guinea pig on the fall.
Jaymes and James had another wrench thrown in when they realized that their taxi had left and they had to call for a new one, causing them to arrive last at the next task at Lombardi's, the first pizzeria in New York. They had to make big deliveries to three addresses by memory. The hometown advantage would have really come in handy here, had it not been for Josh's mismanagement of which pizzas went to which customer, a mistake that Brent nagged him about repeatedly. Brent remarked, "Don't make errors and expect me not to point them out."
The Texans were again the first to finish, the first to figure out that the final challenge was taking place at the United Nations, and the first to get started on trying to identify "hello" and "goodbye" in the native tongues of the nine U.N. member countries they had visited on the trip and matching them with their respective flags. The other two eventually joined her and immediately had issues after they knocked out France and Spain. James made jokes to ease the pain, saying, "'Merhaba' sounds like a sandwich." Josh buckled down and methodically ran through the possibilities, but poor Lexi was brought to tears by the test. It became worse when a flag rolled back down and hit her on the head. Trey showed his true colors by being extremely comforting with his girlfriend.
After almost three hours had elapsed, Josh was the first to finish, and the Beekman Boys took the taxi ride that changed their lives. They ran into Gotham Hall and to the final mat, surrounded by the applause of the Phil-iminated contestants. Josh fell to his knees and then hugged his boyfriend fiercely, realizing he could quit his job in the city and live full time with Brent at the farm. "We [can] pay off our mortgage and be together again. Winning this race will physically bring us together again for the next 50 years."
The Chippendales arrived second, and happy-go-lucky Jaymes, who could be counted on to supply the quote of the week just about every episode, did his best not to look distraught, although the realization that he wasn't going to get the money to help his sick father was all over his miserable mug. The Texans came in third but declared the experience priceless, considering how much it had strengthened their bond. Lexi ended on a joking note: "[The race proved] we are definitely ready for the next step. It is just a matter of when Trey is ready for that next step."
Fans took to Twitter to voice their excitement and disappointment over how race 21 shook out. Tell us what you thought in the comments section.