The show begins with some highlights and surprises of the season, leading up to the final two couples, Mike & Samantha and Heather & Miles. Both of these couples have already developed a strong connection over the season and we can expect them to continue their relationship even after these adventures are over.

They gather for drinks and chat and do a round of friendly competitive cheers. This doesn’t go on for long, though, as they retire to their cabins and snuggle up. Smoochy coochy! There, of course, is a limit to what the camera operator will show us and what they will show the camera operator!

Samantha wakes up the next morning to a card from Mike and goes into tears at his oh-so romantic gesture. Meanwhile, Miles is sleeping in with Heather trying to wake him up. He comes out of bed with his boxers on, so maybe it was just a good night’s sleep and not anything that kept him up all night.

Darren gathers the two couples at the beginning of their competition adventure. He tells them that it’s going to take the whole day, the night and into the next day. It’s going to be a marathon. After the first day, they’ll camp out and leave in the same order and time separation going into the second day. The winning couple will go on a round-the-world trip with a long list of cities.

3-2-1 and they’re off! First, they swim out to a pair of canoes, one for each couple. Miles, however, is having trouble backstroking in the water, losing his direction. He finally makes it to the boat after joking he’d be the first person to ever die on national television drowning in a lake with a life jacket on. On the other hand, Samantha is struggling with the boat paddle and Miles & Heather catch up with Mike & Samantha.

The teams must then pull their canoes up a stream to a checkpoint and pick up backpacks with their camping gear in it. They jump into clothes, put on their packs and make their way up to dismantled ox carts. They have to assemble the carts and, with a little local help, hook it up to the ox. They toss a couple bails of hay and their gear in the cart and go for a rather bumpy hayride. The local ox driver leads the oxen, so the couples are just along for the ride and a rest.

The couples arrive at the oxen cart drop off point at the same time, so it’s a neck-and-neck race as they hoof it. After running for a while, they walk, then run, then walk, then run. It’s an endurance test as much as it is one of speed, so they can’t sprint the whole distance. Still running close together, they jog down the road and onto a path. Miles & Heather fall back a bit, about 50 yards behind Mike & Samantha, but they’re still close as they reach the campsite.

Then it’s time to put up their tents, which can be a challenge for a novice. Heather is pretty good at it and Mike & Samantha get their tent up quickly. Samantha, meanwhile, wonders if she and Mike aren’t going to end up sleeping on top of their tent. After this, they need to set up their camp fire and stove. Miles and Heather have an easy time of it, eat their meal, quickly make their way into their tent and “it’s time to make out.” Umm, hmm. Meanwhile, Mike and Samantha are having trouble even getting a meal cooked on the fire and it’s not turning out to be a very romantic night for them as they struggle with food and fire. He tells her he’s sorry he lost his temper in frustration.

The next morning brings… rain! Oh, boy. They wake up, don some rain ponchos over their clothes, brush their teeth, and take off. Heather and Miles start only 26 seconds behind Mike and Samantha and “this is going to be a very long day”. They hike up a wet, muddy jungle trail. The path then goes down and eventually to a volcano lake. At the shore are a pair of inner tubes to swim out on. They hand paddle out into the lake and grab a map clue off of some floating branches in the middle of the lake.

Then it’s a long hike on a slippery, muddy jungle trail and race to the finish line. They have to be careful not to injure themselves with all of the obstacles and tree roots across the path. The couples are fairly close to each other along the trail, within 50 feet or so. The race continues and Mike & Samantha reach the finish line first with a “Welcome!” from Darren. Darren hands Mike a bottle of champagne and Mike & Samantha quaff a few sips and then have a nice, long kiss. Samantha is is tears, “I never expected this, I’m so happy.”

Heather & Miles come soon after in second place, but although they’re disappointed to get this far and not win the grand prize, they’re happy they found each other. Mike thinks “we’re going to make it happen, we’re going to make it work.” He tells her in the midst of a kiss, “I’m glad I came and met you.”

We rejoin Mike & Samantha at the oasis, where they have a celebratory dinner. Samantha says she never in her wildest dreams that she’d find her love here, and she just had to follow her heart.

Now for the “After”: Miles & Heather are still dating and can’t wait to meet each others’ parents. Mike and Samantha are preparing for their trip around the world and have already met each others’ parents. It looks like both of these couples are for keeps.

So ends our first season of Love in the Wild. It has been a fun and pleasant season to watch. At least two, maybe three or even four couples found love on this show. Mike & Samantha look like a sure bet to tie the knot, as well as Derek & Jess (Derek is the guy who badly injured his toe and had to leave the game a few episodes ago and Jess decided to go with him than play on). The other two remaining couples, Miles & Heather and Skip & Theresa look like they’ll carry on a serious relationship for a while which could also lead to tying the knot.

We’ll find out in future reality TV news how many of these couples do, but four couples (8 contestants) still hooking up after the show is over is a pretty high percentage of the 20 contestants who started out the season. I can’t think of any season in any other show with such a high percentage. It was indeed a pleasant surprise to see how many of these people liked each other.

So long until what we hope will be another season!