Meghan Rickey and Cheyne Whitney win 'The Amazing Race' 15th Season

Dating Couple" Meghan Rickey and Cheyne Whitney won The Amazing Race's fifteenth season during last night's finale broadcast of the CBS reality competition series.

"This is absolutely a dream come true," Meghan said after the couple's victory.

"I couldn't have imagined a better race. I've learned so much about Cheyne. He's just such a good friend and such a good person. I know that he's always going to be there for me throughout my entire life."

Meghan, a 23-year-old account executive from San Diego, CA, and Cheyne, a 23-year-old student also from San Diego, were the first team to cross the fifteenth-season's finish line in Las Vegas and claimed the $1 million grand prize.

"The whole experience in itself was life changing," said Cheyne. "And the money isn't even as important as what we got to do together."

"Brothers" Daniel and Samuel McMillen finished second.

"We're completely happy to be here," said Dan. "We wanted to share our story. We wanted to not let our family down just by being who we were, but we just wanted to come out and do this race and finish this race."

"We bicker, we pick at each other. But we know it's not going to matter," added Sam. "At the end of the day we're still brothers, we still love each other."

"Married Couple" Ericka Dunlap and Brian Kleinschmidt finished third.

"I think my family's going to see some things in Brian that they never had an opportunity to see before and I hope they fully accept him for who he is," said Ericka. "This was just a part of our journey. I'm just really grateful that I had him to do it with and I'm really glad that I have him in my life to learn from."

The Amazing Race's finale broadcast began at the previous Pit Stop at Strelecky Ostrov in Prague.

Since Meghan and Cheyne were the first team to arrive at the Pit Stop, they were the first team to depart at 11:10AM. They opened their next clue, which instructed them to fly nearly 6,000 miles to Las Vegas, their final destination on the race.

They found a travel agent and booked a British Airways flight leaving Prague for Vegas at 6:40PM.

"I'm sure we're all going to be on the same flight together," said Meghan, adding the flight would arrive stateside at 2PM the next day.

Meghan and Cheyne were followed by Sam and Dan (12:08PM) and Brian and Ericka (3:15PM) -- and Meghan's assumption was correct as all three teams had the same flight.

The three teams then arrived in Vegas and hailed taxis to take them to the Graceland Wedding Chapel.

Once there an Elvis impersonator handed them their next clue, which instructed them to travel to the Mandalay Bay casino. Brian and Ericka's cab driver took a shortcut and got them to Mandalay Bay first and they were met by a Roadblock.

In this Roadblock, one member from each team would have to rappel down the side of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Once they got to the bottom they would receive their next clue. Ericka decided to do the Roadblock, followed by Cheyne and Sam.

"Our taxi driver sucked," said Dan as he waited at the bottom of the building.

Ericka was the first one down. She and Brian opened their next clue, which told them to travel to The Mirage casino.

"I think the karma is finally going to pay off," said Brian as they hopped into their cab. "We're definitely feeling good, but we're not getting cocky. Anything can happen."

Cheyne then reached the bottom and left for The Mirage with Meghan, followed by Sam and Dan.

"Dang it, I hate being in third place right now," said Sam.

Brian and Ericka were the first to arrive at The Mirage, where they were met by a task in which they would have to join the cast of the Circque du Soleil show Love.

Using bungee cords, one team member had to launch their partner high enough in the air to retrieve a bouquet of flowers. Once they grabbed the entire bouquet, they would hand it over to the flower child -- who would hand them their next clue.

Ericka was attached to the bungee cords, followed by Meghan and Dan. Despite arriving in first, Brian and Ericka quickly lost their lead when she had a hard time getting high enough to retrieve the bouquet.

"It was frustrating because I knew she was trying her hardest," said Brian. "She was just an inch away."

Ericka thought she needed to switch with Brian since he's taller, and he finally seemed to understand once Meghan grabbed the bouquet.

"You want to switch or not?" he asked meekly.

"Yeah, I want to switch!" she replied. "Get me down I want to switch!"

Opening their next clue, Meghan and Cheyne learned they were looking for "the most famous casino in the country of Monaco" and needed to figure out they were looking for the Monte Carlo casino. Unfortunately, the cab driver they asked told them he believed the The Venetian casino was the clue answer.

Back at the Love show, Dan was the next to grab the bouquet -- causing Ericka and Brian to switch roles again and Ericka to launch into an extended meltdown.

Dan and Sam had their cab driver simply follow Meghan and Cheyne, meaning both were now en route to the wrong destination. However on the way to The Venetian, Sam and Dan called the Mandalay Bay to ask what "the most famous casino in the country of Monaco" was and learned the correct Monte Carlo answer.

"They're turning that way," Meghan noticed. "Let's ask Cheyne. I'm scared."

They asked some people on the street and still couldn't get the right answer. Meanwhile, Ericka finally grabbed the bouquet and they received their next clue. Brian thought he knew the Monte Carlo was the answer and Ericka assured him he was right.

Sam and Dan were the first to reach the Monte Carlo and learned that for their final task, they'd have to count $1 million worth of poker chips from a table containing 84,000 chips of different denominations. When they thought they were finished, a dealer would check their amount before handing them a special chip and their next clue. Sam and Dan took a strategy of collecting only red $1,000 chips.

Meghan and Cheyne finally learned they were looking for the Monte Carlo, however on their way there they got stuck in traffic.

"I think we just lost some time," said Meghan.

Brian and Ericka were the next to arrive at the Monte Carlo and also started with the $1,000 chips. Meghan and Cheyne eventually arrived and began with the $1,000 chips as well, putting them in stacks of 25.

Despite the different start times, all three teams appeared to finish counting their chips within moments of each other and their assigned dealers started checking their totals. Meghan and Cheyne learned they were correct with their first count attempt, however neither Sam and Dan or Brian and Ericka were as lucky.

Opening their next clue, Meghan and Cheyne learned they needed to travel to the "High Roller's Suite" at the MGM Grand Hotel, where singer Wayne Newton would tell them the finish line's location.

Meanwhile, Sam and Dan and Brian and Ericka both re-checked their counts, and while the brothers got it right Brian and Ericka still didn't.

"How does this happen every single time?" a depressed Ericka asked.

Meghan and Cheyne arrived at the suite and were met by Wayne, who sent them to the finish line -- which was at his house. Sam and Dan also met Wayne and he gave them the finish line's destination too -- even though they didn't know his name.

While Meghan and Cheyne were the first at Wayne's ranch, they had a hard time finding the entrance. However it didn't matter, as they were still the first across the finish line.

"This has been such a learning experience," said Meghan. "Every step of the way has been so neat."

"She was one of the strongest competitors in the whole race -- even compared to the guys," said Cheyne about Meghan. "She raced with the best of them."

The Amazing Race's fifteenth season covered eight countries and more than 25,000 miles in 21 days.

'Dancing with the Stars' crowns Donny Osmond ninth-season champion

Entertainer Donny Osmond and his partner Kym Johnson were crowned Dancing with the Stars' ninth-season ballroom champions during last night's live finale results show on ABC.

"Yeah!" yelled Osmond after host Tom Bergeron revealed he was the ninth-season celebrity winner based on the combination of the judges' score shares for the dancers' Monday and Tuesday night performances and the share of home viewer votes cast immediately after Monday night's broadcast.

Osmond's victory marks the first time in four seasons that a male has taken home the mirror ball trophy -- as Shawn Johnson won last spring's eighth season, Brooke Burke won last fall's seventh season and Kristi Yamaguchi won the Spring 2008 sixth season. Prior to that, a male had claimed four consecutive titles.

At 51-years-old, Osmond also became Dancing with the Stars' oldest winner ever.

Singer Mya and her professional partner Dmitry Chaplin -- -- who topped the judges' leaderboard for six of the competition's 10 weeks -- finished second.

"We are so happy to come this far," Mya said after Osmond was revealed as the winner. "I had a broken foot last year. I'm just so happy to have made it to the finals and it's all about teamwork and we enjoyed ourselves. We had the time of our life."

Former The Osbournes star Kelly Osbourne and her partner Louis van Amstel finished third.

"It's been the most beautiful, amazing experience," said Osbourne after the studio audience chanted "Kelly!" when her ouster was revealed.

"The only thing I really want to say in thank you America. Thank you so much for voting me in every week. It's because of you I've grown so much. It's because of you that I have this opportunity, so thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Osmond and Johnson had received a combined score of 85 out of 90 possible points for their three Monday night routines -- placing them in second behind Mya and Chaplin, who had scored an 87. Osbourne and van Amstel had finished third with 76 points.

All three couples then performed their favorite ninth-season routine during last night's live finale -- with their scores contributing to their final combined judges score total but not being voted on by home viewers who had already voted based on Monday night's performances.

The final performances were scored using with the same format as Monday night's "megamix" round, with Osmond and Johnson placing first and scoring 30 points, followed by Mya and Chaplin in second with 28 points and Osbourne and van Amstel in third with 26 points.

Last night's victory represented the first for Johnson on the U.S. version of the show, as she won Australia's Dancing with the Stars second season in Spring 2005 with TV personality Tom Williams.

The Apprentice Australia – The Finale – Andrew Morello Wins

The episode started with the bore, the blonde and the boofhead as the three contestants left standing. At this point I wanted the boofhead to win.

Theirfirst task was to have dinner with Mark Bouris at Aria restaurant in Sydney. Considering the chef, Matt Moran, used to be signed to Channel Nine I was disappointed he did not get a cameo.

At the dinner Mark Bouris wanted to know what drives the contestants. For Gavin it was money, Heather her daughter, and for Morello he said he had aspirations, but not necessarily material ones.

I am not sure if they were sweating because they were under the pump from Bouris, but considering he was also a bit moist it must have been hot at dinner because of the lights.

The following morning was an elimination, and Mark Bouris asked each of them why he should hire them and Gavin’s answer came across as quite arrogant as he said “I have been preparing for this day for many many years…..I do the deals that you guys do on a day to day basis.” Unsurprisingly Mark Bouris fired him.

Then to camera Gavin confirmed what I had thought that he had not really wanted the job.

I got the feeling that Mark Bouris had probably already decided this prior to the boardroom.

The final two were then going to duke it out, but they would have the help of six the previous contestants – three on each team. The interesting thing was that it was not the last six contestants to be kicked out, as Lynton Pipkorn was there but no Amy Cato or Blake. I would be very curious to know why this was the case.

Heather had first pick and she predictably picked Gavin, and the other members of her team were Mary-Ann and Sabrina.

Morello picked Sam, Lynton, and Carmen. I thought he had the stronger team, and they were more cohesive.

The challenge was to create a brand identity of a new men’s fragrance. They were to name it, design a bottle, create a print ad, and also create and produce a thirty second TV ad. And on top of all that they had to manage and design a product launch.

Morello’s team thought of a gangster theme, and the bottle would be in a silver bullet design. They were going to name the fragrance Clyde, as in Bonnie and…

Heather was having a crisis in confidence and was indecisive about a name – it was between Style and Adam. But Adam had already been taken. So she settled on the name Alpha Male.

I wonder how much help the teams get, obviously they are told to do research on the street by sending team members out canvassing.

Cracks were already forming in Heather’s team. Sabrina did not like Heather as she said to Mary-Ann “It is not sitting well with me that I have to help this person who was very bad towards me, and you in the past. If she wins because of my ideas I am just going to be gutted.”

I think Channel Nine need to do an extra episode, showing us the footage that we have not seen. As there was definitely some ill will towards Heather.

Then it was on to the event managers to discuss the launch. Morello had a lot of ideas, which did verge on tackiness particularly the ice sculpture, the event managers modified his ideas somewhat.

Heather went for a more elegant launch and their main focus was their product.

The TV ad had to be shot in three hours. Morello had the advantage of having Lynton on his team who had done this sort of thing before. His concept was a poker den with him being in the ad with the actors as well as Carmen, and Sam.

He seems to have a penchants for smoke machines, but this set off the fire alarms.

The bottle arrived towards the end of the ad, and as Carmen said “It looked like it needed batteries in it.”

Heather’s advertisement concept was urban man discovering her wild roots. This involved an attractive man emerging from the bushes removing his clothes.

Mary-Ann and Sabrina were told to wait in the car, and they were not happy about it. I wonder if this was a passive-aggressive way of Heather saying she did not have faith in them.

Heather’s bottle was much classier. I think girls would buy Heather’s product for their guys. But guy’s would buy Morello’s product.

The launches were at the Paddington Town Hall. Morello’s launch grabbed his audiences attention, but his TV ad was a tad kitsch.

Whereas Heather’s was classy, if a tad boring.

However the difference between the two was that Mark had a smile on his face the whole way through Morello’s launch, in fact he looked like a proud dad.

Michael Edwards was impressed with the Alpha Male name and was surprised it was still available. Victoria Campbell from L’Oreal also loved the bottle and name.

In the boardroom Mark Bouris thought their were negative connotations to the gangster theme, and he did raise the issue of the phallic shaped bottle. I think the shape would be a talking point. It did remind me of a bottle of Lynx deodorant, my understanding that is one of the most popular anti-perspirants with the younger guys.

Heather got caned about leaving the girls in the car. Gavin kept on butting in the the board room and Mark Bouris had to put him back into his place. In fact I thought Gavin was slightly sexist speaking over Heather. She is more than capable of speaking for herself.

Sabrina finally got her revenge at the eleventh hour when she admitted she wanted Morello to win.

Mark Bouris said Morello had an infectious personality, but choked a bit when he was asked how he would deal if he had to make unpopular decisions.

Heather was praised for being a hard worker, however Bouri’s concern was she left behind a bit of human carnage.

It was no shock when Morello was hired, and I was happy with that.