Pack your bags, because The Amazing Race is back for its 30th season! Every week, Parade’s Mike Bloom will bring you interviews with the team most recently eliminated from the race.

This season of The Amazing Race touted a group of teams that had a range of relationships and notoriety. Some pairs came into the race with name recognition, like NBA All-Stars Cedric Ceballos and Shawn Marion, competitive eaters Joey Chestnut and Tim Janus, and Indy car racers Alex Rossi and Conor Daly. Some came in with bonds that span decades, particularly friends/business partners April Gould and Sarah Williams and twin brothers Eric and Daniel Guiffreda. But in the end, the winning team on the hit reality show’s 30th season came from a duo who knew each other for the least amount of time and found themselves most recently in the spotlight. Cody Nickson and Jessica Graf had only met each other four months beforehand in the Big Brother 19 house before starting the race together. But in that time, they had fallen in love, got evicted three times between them, and won $25,000. It led directly into their second CBS reality show appearance, where their levelheadedness and dominance in the tasks allow them to not only make the finals but become the first “crossover” team to win the race.

When the teams landed in Iceland to begin the race, Cody and Jessica were able to prove to both the other teams and the viewers what they were capable of. Coming to the first Roadblock in third, Cody went into what Jessica would call “cyborg mode” for the first of many times this season, solving the off-road word scramble in one go. Though they left in first, they discovered very quickly how important navigation is to success, as their misinterpretation of the pit stop clue allowed Kristi Leskinen and Jen Hudak to sneak into the top spot on the podium. They course corrected heading into Belgium for the next leg, with Jessica climbing them back into the lead, while Cody dominated the first Head-to-Head challenge to make his time as a “frite” so sweet. In Morocco, the team that one particular person in their past called “meatballs” rolled to the back half of the pack, while Jessica unintentionally planted the seeds for a rivalry when Brittany Austin left her Travelocity gnome behind in the Roadblock and accused her of taking it. Their high variance continued throughout their time in France, as their nice time in Nice netted them another second-place finish, while in the very next leg, their navigational troubles got the best of them, and even their bull wrangling couldn’t put them in a more bullish position. Their sixth-place finish in the previous leg put them on the second flight into Prague and, truly facing the prospect of elimination for the first time this season, they decided to use the opportunity to draw first blood. Knowing Team Well-Strung was behind them, they chose to use the U-Turn on them, putting the musicians further behind the tempo. Despite one team definitively following up the rear due to their actions, Jessica attempted to put herself further ahead at the Roadblock, where she chose to work with Alex and Brittany, but kept them waiting on the line when she didn’t reveal her answer to them initially. All three teams survived the maneuver (with Jessica and Cody actually finishing behind them due to getting lost once more), but it’s clear that her relationship with Brittany was as tumultuous as a riptide.

Little did she know that she and Lucas Bocanegra would get an opportunity to exact revenge only a couple of days later. Taking the race from Europe to Africa once more, the first ever Partner Swap had put Team Big Brother in last place due to Kristi and Jessica’s performance in the memory Detour anything but a smooth trot. Facing the second double U-Turn in three legs, the team known affectionately as “Ocean Spray” by some put their pictures up on the board, making Cody and Jessica feel quite tart. Though they were able to survive, pushing through Cody’s rare frustration with the Shola singing task, they finished second-to-last in the next two legs, definitely bringing some questions as to if that early season dominance was coming to an end. Touching down in Thailand, they quickly fell behind again when they struggled to find a place to gift their garlands. But Cody had expressed his love for getting dirty and found his forte fetching frogs in the muddy rice paddies of Chiang Mai. In Hong Kong, though their performance tying up crabs in the Detour pinched them out of the top half, their logic in figuring out the code to the briefcase handcuffed to Jessica’s wrist proved to be the perfect combination for two second-place finishes in a row. The final leg proved to be an arduous test of athleticism, dexterity, and brain power and, true to Cody and Jessica’s overall race, it had its ups and downs. Cody ascended to the front of the pack with his performance in the Roadblock. But much like the freefall he made off of the anchorage in the second part of the task, they wound up in last when Jessica had an unfortunate time making fortune cookies. Everything became equalized in the final task, as all three teams spent the last minutes of their time on the race building planes to represent their journey. The entire season, Jessica had talked up Cody’s set of particular skills and nearly mechanical take on what lied ahead of them. But she proved herself to be built as “Tonka tough” as her teammate, as her memory and attention to detail gave her plane the best thumbs up she could have ever received. The two then flew into the finish line with the eliminated teams cheering them on, leaving Jessica overwhelmed with tears and Cody unconventionally speechless. They had conquered some of the most competitive teams in the show’s history, and they did it together.

After the race, Jessica and Cody talk with me about how they balanced each other on the race, their issues with Team Yale, and the next steps regarding their recent engagement.

First off, several congratulations are in order! Not only did your Amazing Race win get shown this week, but you ended up getting engaged last week. Cody, are the rumors true that you proposed wearing a fries outfit from the Head-to-Head?

Jessica Graf: (Laughs.)

Cody Nickson: I would have if they let me keep it.

You have such an affinity for costumes from your time on Big Brother, so it only seems natural. Speaking towards that, you had the unique experience of essentially going from one show directly onto the other. Were you worried at all about how your relationship would be tested in such a pressurized environment like the race?

Jessica: No. It’s so funny because Cody’s always brought a certain level of comfortability. It was never a question. The time I realized that I was in love with him was when he was evicted his first time. It happened really quickly, and it’s just one of those things where when you know, you know. If you watch us on the race, you see it. There should be no doubt that we love each other. It’s not a question at all.

Cody: I loved her from the start. (Laughs.)

Cody, I know that the two shows you were on are such different beasts, but were you able to bring anything from your time on Big Brother onto the race?

Cody: No.

I want to talk a bit about your dynamic as a team. Cody, we heard the entire season about your “cyborg mode” and how for a lot of these tasks, you were able to simply and efficiently accomplish them. Does that come from any specific part of your background?

Cody: I don’t know. I’ve been trying to figure that out myself. A lot of the Marines are the same way I am. So I don’t know if it’s that, my upbringing, [or] the fact that I just have all the energy.

Jessica: Cody has a weird ability to teach himself how to do anything. He has talents that most people don’t know. He plays the piano; he’s a phenomenal dancer, he’s a great cook. He can teach himself how to do anything.

Cody: I wish we had to play piano.

But I think a key part of that is the role you played in your relationship, Jessica. During the singing task in Zimbabwe, for example, we see a moment where Cody gets extremely frustrated, but you calm him down enough to get through the task and avoid elimination. Is it important was it to keep each other emotionally in check?

Cody: Absolutely. Jessica’s clutch whenever she needs to be.

Jessica: I think it’s important as a couple when one person sees the other getting frustrated that the other stays level-headed. I think that’s a really great quality that we have. When he sees I’m getting frustrated and hotheaded, he stays calm and vice versa. That’s why you saw a lot of teams arguing; once one person got frustrated, the other person got frustrated. It hindered their ability to move past things.

Speaking towards the role you played, Jessica, I want to talk a bit about that final task. It was very nerve-wracking to watch as a viewer, and I can imagine it must have been ten times as worse as a participant. How long do you estimate you were at that puzzle?

Jessica: It was definitely over an hour. We were there for a really long time. It’s funny because when they show us starting the plane, they show X Games starting their plane first. We were actually the first team to start that competition. It was only five minutes ahead of X Games. Then X Games got there. Once I saw Henry start the task, it was even more stressful, because I felt like Henry was going to knock it out of the park. Jen had been writing down every single detail about every leg of the race. They both had diaries with so much information. It was intimidating. It all came down to one simple test, and I am proud to say that I beat a Yale graduate in a written test. (Laughs.)

Cody: (Laughs.)

Did you have any particular strategy that you implemented that may have been the key to your victory?

Cody: She kept getting things checked. She would replace a part and get it checked.

Jessica: It was process of elimination.

Cody: We said from the beginning of the race that whenever we made a decision, we were going to make swift, deliberate decisions and just go for it. And she did it.

Jessica: I got mine checked 30 times, and Henry only got his checked two or three times. So I think that might have helped. (Laughs.)

Cody, you just mentioned your goal going in was to make swift, deliberate decisions. I know at one point in the race, Jessica, you comment about Cody’s ability to go off of his hunches. Do you think this style of decision-making was ultimately what helped determine your success?

Cody: We did it. (Laughs.) And I guess everything that we did had led us to a million dollars.

Jessica: (Laughs.)

I want to talk about relationships with some of the other teams. We heard a lot about your close bond with Team Indy Car and Team Extreme. Where did that friendship, for lack of a better term, come from?

Jessica: It happened so naturally. Jen, Kristi, Alex, and Conor are just such nice people. Alex and Conor had us laughing the whole time. And Jen and Kristi are such humble, sweet women. I just love all four of them. It just happened pretty organically.

Cody: We have such huge respect for Jen and Kristi, especially. I’m not sure what the average is as far as racers go, but [I think] they have the highest average of any team. And they were a female/female team, which is awesome. I have a daughter, and I want her to look up to strong women. And I’m getting married to one, and she gets to see us compete with a couple of other ones as well.

Would you call that grouping an “alliance,” or was it more so an agreement to look out for each other, especially with things like the U-Turn?

Cody: We never used the word “alliance.” We said we’d help each other throughout. I do know that when Indy Car U-Turned Yale, it was to help us out. We all said that if we got there and we had the opportunity to U-Turn Yale to help each other out, that we would.

Let’s talk a bit about Team Yale. I know they came off like outsiders in the latter portion of the race, and Jessica, you had some particularly cross words for Evan after she and Daniel chose not to help you on the Detour during the Partner Swap. What was your opinion on them?

Jessica: Henry was a very, very sweet guy. You see a lot throughout the season that he tries to help and Evan just shoots him down. I think that maybe that helped him get to where they were. And that’s fine; everyone wants to play their game their way. Watching Amazing Race in the past, I don’t think it’s a very cutthroat show. People get along; it’s not one of those shows where people are stabbing each other in the back. Evan always asked for help and received help from people like the twins, Indy Car, or Kristi and Jen. But if anybody ever asked her for help, she wouldn’t immediately shoot them down. I think that just made it hard to like her.

Moving towards Team Ocean Rescue, I know you had some conflicts with her as well. We got to hear Brittany’s side of the gnome and phone situations during my exit interview with her and Lucas. What’s your side of those events?

Jessica: What you don’t see in the episode is when we were competing in that Roadblock, Brittany and I were both lost for quite some time. We decided to help each other get to the payphone. I was the one who spotted the payphone first, and Brittany went ahead and used the payphone first. We were working together, so I was fine with that. They don’t show it, but she kept dropping her quarters all over the ground because she had her gnome and clues in her hand. So I needed to get to that payphone so we could get out of there. So, me grabbing the gnome out of her hand was to help her because she wasn’t proceeding in a fast manner. She was a disaster! I was just trying to help her because, in my mind at that point, we were still working together. The second that clue hit Brittany’s hand, she decided without saying anything that she was going to leave me behind and go at it on her own. I didn’t even notice that the gnome was still there; I was on the phone at that point. She decided to throw me under the bus–which is fine, it’s a competition–and go at it alone. Then she wants to blame me because her mind wasn’t fully there. You see Brittany blame me for everything that goes wrong throughout the race. I had no idea that she was talking to this degree about me until I watched the episodes.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: At this point, Jessica has to step away from our interview, so the rest carries on between myself and Cody.]

Cody, you’re someone on the show who admitted you were not necessarily there for the world travel. In fact, at several points, you mused about how you wish you were back in the United States. Now looking back, are there any locations you’d like to return to?

Cody: I don’t know, that’s difficult to say. I want to maintain the position that, until I visited everywhere that’s cool in the United States, I don’t need to visit anywhere else in the world.

Moving on to your winning moment, I can imagine that running to that finish line must be indescribable, but what was going through your head at that time?

Cody: I was a little surprised. (Laughs.) I was a bit shocked. I actually thought they were going to tell us that we didn’t do something right.

Yeah, I saw that when you crossed the finish line, you had asked Phil if you actually did it successfully.

Cody: Right! I really needed to hear Phil say it.

You guys have been in the TV spotlight consistently since last summer. Do you have any further plans to be on camera, or are you excited to get back to your normal lives for a bit?

Cody: No, we’re all about normalcy. But we’ll see what other opportunities are out there for us. We have no idea at this point. [Our guest spot on] The Bold and the Beautiful is coming up the 27th and 28th. I think that’s Jessica’s fourth time being on it.

Did you learn anything new about Jessica running the race with her?

Cody: She impresses me every day that I’m with her. Seriously, every day. That’s a cool thing being with her.