Who Won ‘Race To Survive: New Zealand’?

After 10 gripping episodes, Race to Survive: New Zealand has finally come to an end. After 40 long days traversing 150 miles of New Zealand’s most treacherous terrain, just three teams out of nine are left standing to compete for the chance to claim the $500,000 prize pot. Over the grueling course of the race, more contestants left the competition voluntarily due to injury rather than were actually eliminated at the finish crate of each leg. Of course, fans remember that former frontrunners—river guides Corry Jones and Oliver Dev— were disqualified after breaking one of the race’s many rules to protect the New Zealand ecosystem .

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So that left smokejumpers Ethan Greenberg and Tyrie Mann Merrill, divorcees Creighton Baird and Paulina Peña, and Canadian roughnecks Nik Milutinovic and Kennedy Taylor to tackle the last leg of the “toughest race ever conceived.” Comprised of 15 miles of New Zealand’s most challenging countryside, the racers had to sprint through an “ankle-breaking” slick creek bed to reach a cavern and navigate through a “limestone labyrinth” to get to the grueling 11-mile alpine climb through forest-thick mountainous ridges. Once they completed those three zones, they had to scale “the dome,” a “mammoth 1500-foot-high barrier,” to get to the summit over rocking crevices and more brutal landscape for a final push to reach the finish crate.

Which team came out of top? Was it the ultra-dominant Ethan and Tyrie who were constantly at the front of the pack for each leg of the race? Were Creighton and Paulina able to work together towards their new future? Or did underdogs Nik and Kennedy have enough momentum to achieve what they thought was impossible? Here’s the answer!

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“After dropping a combined 31 pounds, experiencing 40 days of hell as they fought through150 miles of the harshest traveling on the planet,” Ethan and Tyrie reached the finish crate first, picked up their gold medallions, and won the $500,000 prize. As the two men celebrated their achievement, Ethan earnestly told Tyrie: “Couldn’t have done this without you, man. You pushed me this whole fricking way, dude.” In their confessional, Tyrie expressed what this win means to them and their profession: “We represent more than just ourselves. We represent a community of hard-working men and women who put their lives on the line, aren’t paid enough, and still show up every single day to that fire line.” “Being at the top now, we showed how tough a wild land firefighter can be,” said Tyrie proudly. “Fuck yeah, brother,” finished Ethan with a fist bump.

No doubt that Creighton and Paulina and Nik and Kennedy put up a good effort and made Ethan and Tyrie work for their victory. At the caverns, Nik and Kennedy managed to pass Ethan and Tyrie after the smokejumpers got lost within the tunnels. Nik and Kennedy were able to keep their lead until Day 2, when they had to perform a vertical climb through the dense wilderness to reach “the dome.” Despite the stiff competition, the impressive endurance required by Ethan’s and Tyrie’s 9-5 job fighting wild fires gave them the edge. They displayed an almost superhuman ability to move uphill quickly, and that skill made all the difference.

Eventually, experienced climbers Creighton and Paulina passed Nik and Kennedy to come in second place, just narrowly behind Ethan and Tyrie. While the disappointment and exhaustion was almost too much for Nik to bear, he managed to continue to the summit to finish the race for Kennedy, who proved herself to be the fiercer competitor of the two. Due to her grit, the underdogs finished the course in third place.

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