Who Won Race to Survive: New Zealand?

After 40 days and 150 miles of New Zealand’s harshest terrain, Race to Survive: New Zealand has crowned its (exhausted, overjoyed) champions.

The final teams — Creighton Baird & Paulina Peña, Ethan Greenberg & Tyrie Mann Merrill, and Nik Milutinovic & Kennedy Taylor — pushed themselves to the limit time and again throughout the season. Risking injury, starvation, and (sometimes tentative) relationships, the six finalists fought tooth and nail to reach the final crate.

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And while all of them fought valiantly, only one pair could win it all.

Ethan Greenberg and Tyrie Mann Merrill, the smokejumpers from Boston, Massachusetts, and Reno, Nevada, respectively, came out on top after having dominated much of the race in first place from the beginning. 

Tyrie and Ethan in Race to Survive: New Zealand, Season 2 Episode 9..

What happened after the Race to Survive: New Zealand finale?

After their big celebration, the teams had to move fast to get off the mountain. Series creator and executive producer Jeff Conroy told USA Insider that a big storm was rolling in as they were finishing filming. 

"We basically were running relays of helicopters to drop altitude. So, one’s landing, we’re throwing everyone on, taking off. Another’s coming in, throwing everyone on, taking off, and it was like, precision, it was an evacuation, essentially," Conroy explained. "We had to get off there before [the storm broke] — otherwise, whoever was left would be camping or hiking out, which, at that point, no one wanted to hike anymore."

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But once they were off the mountain and back in civilization, the need for creature comforts took over.

"We made sure we had lots of food, right? So, the first thing is, like, 'Here, have this. Have this. Here is all the food.' That, in itself, is amazing to watch. And they just are just chowing down. Like, eating so much, and then, yes, they go back to their hotels and from there on, I’m not sure exactly what they do, but I know a lot of people had exact plans: 'I’m hitting a tub, I’m doing this.' 

"It’s funny. I can’t remember the number, but something ridiculous that Ethan and Tyrie — I believe they had something like six steaks," he continued, laughing. Like, they were just mowing through the steaks to the point that the place ended up giving them a discount ‘cause they were eating so many steaks. It’s definitely that moment of relief and joy and, 'I really wanna eat, I really wanna sleep, I wanna get clean.'"

Watch all of Race to Survive: New Zealand on USA Network.