Kim and Penn Holderness started their Amazing Race journey on January 5, 2022, on CBS. The journey came a full circle as they were crowned winners in the season 33 finale of the reality show on Wednesday, winning a grand prize of $1 million.
One of the oldest couples on the show, Kim and Penn Holderness traveled seven countries and 17 cities. They competed with four pairs in the finale, ’No Room for Error’, and were the first pair to reach host Phil Keoghan at the final pit stop on The Amazing Race.
Kim and Penn Holderness are the oldest couple to win the race
The combined age of the married internet personalities, Kim and Penn Holderness, is 92, making them the oldest couple to win the race. 45-year-old Kim and 47-year-old Penn broke the age record of Season 5 champions, Chip & Kim McAlliste.
In the final challenge of memory quiz, all four pairs were tasked to match up pictures of all the places they had visited throughout the competition. Thanks to Kim’s note-making habit, the couple finished their quiz in two hours and raced into the soccer stadium to be named as the new winners of The Amazing Race.
Their fellow contestants, flight attendants Raquel Moore and Cayla Platt, came in second while best friends Ryan Ferguson and Dusty Harris finished in third spot. Father/daughter Arun and Natalia Kumar were eliminated earlier in the finale in fourth place.
While speaking to AV Club prior to the finale, Kim revealed two things that have helped the couple move forward in the competition so far. She said:
“I would say definitely climbing stairs with a backpack on and marriage counseling was the best training for The Amazing Race.”
Kim and Penn were initially hesitant to join the show when “somebody within casting reached out” to them because of being “unable to be in touch with your family. And just the thought of being away from our kids and not to be able to talk to them for a month, that was just a deal breaker” for them.
But it was their daughter who convinced them to join the show. Penn revealed to AV Club:
“But we told our daughter that we got the call and she got mad. She was like, “What are you talking about, because of us? What do you mean? You’re not going to do it because of us?”
Further adding:
“She said, “What are you going to remember: some random February or when you got to go on The Amazing Race?” So our seventh grader kind of talked us into it.”
The YouTubers with 743,000 subscribers from Raleigh, North Carolina, won four legs in the competition before being hailed as the winner of The Amazing Race.