Kauai surfer Bethany Hamilton and her husband Adam Dirks won the hearts of fans as the couple competed this season in the globetrotting reality show "The Amazing Race," but fell just short of winning the whole thing Friday in the season finale. 

The last episode followed the CBS show’s four surviving teams — the season started in September with 11 — as they flew from Manilla to Los Angeles. As with every destination this season, they had to compete in challenges once they arrived in Los Angeles: jumping out of a building and swimming out to rescue a 200-pound dummy. The show airs at 7 p.m. Friday in Hawaii on KGMB.

Hamilton, 24, and Dirks, 26, were in the lead through the rescue but slipped into last place during a memory challenge. 

The winners were a pair of food scientists from Madison, Wisc., who study sweets — Maya Warren and Amy DeJong. First prize was $1 million. 

The competition covered more than 26,000 miles and at nearly every stop Hamilton and Dirks made traveling look easy. On a show known for the sniping and arguments teams have among themselves, the Kauai couple gushed about love and teamwork at every turn. 

Hamilton kept calling Dirks "Honey Buns."

But they were tough to beat as well. Before the finale,  Hamilton and Dirks finished first three times and in the top three on eight occasions.