Recovering addicts top bickering couple

Twelve teams raced more than 40,000 miles across the globe, caught dozens of planes and trains and taxis, ate disgusting animal parts and conquered countless fears but this season's "Amazing Race" finally came down to the smallest of details -- an E-ZPass.

Tyler Denk and James Branaman, models and recovering drug addicts from Los Angeles, won the million dollar prize on Sunday (Dec. 10) night's finale of the Emmy-winning CBS reality show. The deciding moment, after weeks of travel, was an EZ-Pass -- James and Tyler's cab driver from JFK Airport had one, while Rob Diaz and Kimberly Chabollla's cabbie didn't. As a result, the models zipped through a key toll booth, as the frequently bickering couple was stuck in the far longer cash line.

That advantage held up as James and Tyler made it first to the Daily News building, to The Alamo Sculpture and finally to the town of Garrison and St. Basil Academy, the final pit stop on the Race.

The first and second place teams finished far ahead of third place Lyn Turk and Karlyn Harris, Alabama-based best friends. Lyn and Karlyn, trying to become the first all-female "Amazing Race" winners, failed to make it on a crowded early flight from Paris to New York City. Viewers never found out how, exactly, they made it across the Atlantic, because Karlyn and Lyn didn't appear in the last 20 minutes of the episode before making it to the mat.

The finale also saw teams skydive onto Omaha Beach and design a suit in Paris.

The next "Amazing Race" season will be an all-star edition. The official list of contestants has yet to be announced, but the show is expected to return in February.