So, Amazing Race tricked us last night! We had Phil! In Mud! And Phil! Underground! In a red hardhat! It was a lot of Cute Phil! And, you know, racing.

Five teams left…BQ’s are in first, followed by the Models, Romberly, Cho’s, and Bama.

Teams leave Madagascar for…Finland - woo hoo! Teams are each given airline tickets along with their first clue as they depart the Amazing Bathmat, but that flight doesn’t leave until late that evening, so everyone gets on an earlier flight.

Everyone is all, oooh, Finland, finally not a third world country…except, if they only knew. This? Leg from hell. But in a very entertaining way for all of us at home. Thank you, Race Planners! Smooches! Best season in quite some time.

Once in Finland, they have to find a coffee house, where everyone gets some email from home…and directions to get their next clue from the coffee house owner. Everyone ends up on the same train out to the countryside town of Tampir. Then comes the taxi stand wrangling where various teams beg the people already in the taxi queue to let them butt in line. Most teams just grab cabs and take them from people (yes, Bama, I’m looking at you, line jumpers!) while the Cho’s get stiffed because, well, sometimes being polite sucks.

Everyone races to a school with a marked field course, The BQ’s and Models are neck and neck in the front of the pack, with Romberly and Line Jumpers Bama just behind, and the Polite Cho Bros bringing up the rear. It’s quite the jog down the marked path, trying to find the field, and everyone is running. It’s five teams, one million dollars on the line, no time to take any chances on strolling it.

Everyone ditches their backpacks and heads to the clue box, where we learn about the Detour…..Swamp This…or Swamp That. Aaaaaand, we get mud wrestling Phil! Well, I’d wrestle him anyway. Chest deep in mud and hip green hip waders, Phil explains the grueling tasks they have to choose from. Both are obstacle course type things, set up side by side, played by Finland’s Olympic athletes to stay in shape during the warmer months. I tell ya, I’m not sure which one I’d have taken, they both were tough. And am I the only ones who laughed at the BQ’s trying not to get dirty? On the mud course? Yeah. Lots of dragging, crawling, carrying of partners, and just plain getting stuck in waist deep muck ensues.

BQ’s and Bama take the cross country ski through the mud course. Models , Chos and Romberly take the obstacle mud course. Gotta give Kim props for being the only woman who does the obstacle course. It wasn’t easy. Not that skiing was much easier. Surprised Rob did the threshold carry instead of piggy backing her.

It’s a race to the clue box. The obstacle coursers got done first, as a rule, but their legs are toast from plowing through hip deep mud. The skiiers took longer, but had more energy for the run across the field to the clue box. The Models get there first, followed by the BQ’s.

Another train ride 150 miles, followed by a 75 by car to the town of Lohja to a limestone mine. The models take the time to change clothes before leaving because, well, they’re all disgusting. The BQ’s who aren’t as disgusting, but only partly, decide to climb in muck and all and change on the train. I know it saves time, but ew. Romberly is in third, with Bama and the Chos at the back of the pack. (Big shock.)

BQ’s/Models make the 3:11 train. Romberly busts ass….and watches the train pull from the station just as they hit the platform. This didn’t bother me, because, you know, Romberly, but how frustrating. They’re sacked by an hour, leaving all three remaining teams on the next train. Romberly makes no friends by being party train poopers, but then, from what I understand, they’re not all that nice. Interviews with Mary and Dave after their Philimination last week reveals they are friendly and in touch with every single team from the race….except Romberly. So…I guessing Peter wasn’t the only, well, Peter on the race.

BQ’s and Models get to the limestone mine first (duh) but the models grab the first tram down underground, making the BQ’s wait for it to come back up. We get Phil! Underground! In a hardhat! Telling us about the Road Block. One member of each team has to bicycle way down in the mine, pick up a small limestone boulder size rock, strap it to their bike, and hoof it back up the steep incline out. Then they have to bust open the rock, pull out the tube inside,where they will find their next instructions. It’s dark, scary, and steep.

James takes it for the Models. I still can’t tell the BQ’s apart, so who knows. She’s blonde. James is back out and smashing his block as the other BQ finally struggles up the incline. Meanwhile, in the car race from hell, all three remaining teams jockey to get to the limestone mine first, with Romberly being even bigger asses than Bama, all fired up to Win This Thing…only to not pay any attention to where they are going and promptly get lost. I loved this part. Bama and the Chos find the mine and take the tram down together. Karlyn and Erwin do the roadblock. Everyone but Romberly comments on how much Dave would have loved this task. Awwww, we miss you Dave!

Romberly finds the mine and are hot on the Cho’s and Bama’s heels. Rob takes the task and is a complete ass all the way down and back up the mine shaft. Again, not a huge shock. I want them to leave the race. Now, preferably.

The BQ’s and the Models get their next clue, which tells them to go to the Olympic Stadium. They are all psyched to be going to the pit stop. Neither team manages to realize that it says nothing about Pit Stop on their clue. Yeah. Ahahahahahhaa.

A struggling Karlyn tells Godwin to go ahead of her. Rob beats Karlyn out of the mine as well. But all three teams end up on the tram car heading up out of the mine. They are pumped to get to their cars and race to the Pit Stop. (Does ANYone read their clues?) I mean, I know the drill, one Detour, one Roadblock, Pit Stop. But…not always. If it’s the Pit Stop, it says so. Much fun!

Everyone is racing to the Pit Stop That Isn’t…and when the Models get to the Stadium, they waste time running around inside, only to realize they missed the flag on the outside taking them to a small office, where they get their clue telling them they have to go up to the top of the tower. It’s a reallllllly tall tower, btw. At the top….they find no Phil, but another task. And this one? Would have lost me the million.

Yeah, after the mud, and the mine….they want them to repel down this very tall, very skinny tower— FACE FIRST. Backwards? I might have overcome my fear of heights, as I could have stared at the wall in front of me and just pretended I wasn’t dangling a million feet in the air by ropes. Face First? You can’t hide. Eeeeek!

Tyler goes first and is totally “Dude, this is freaking me out” all the way down. Not much fazes Tyler, so this just proves my point. James goes next, more or less dangling all the way down. The BQ’s are on the way up the tower and seeing the boys repel, realize this ain’t no stinkin Pit Stop. The other three teams are barreling toward the stadium and…..

The Models open their clue at the bottom of the tower and the clue says? Keep On Racing.

HA!! I LOVE this show.

Tune in next week, where Killer Fatigue finally starts to really kick in. And you guys thought Europe would be easier. Snicker.

Now…on to the Vote for Losers SHaQ Attack contest from last week. Joey went home on Dancing, and Raro lost a tribe member in a very satisfying episode (right up to tribal council anyway) and no one went home on Amazing Race. So those of you who voted Joey and/or Raro were tossed into the mix…..and Blog Babe Cathy Mac , was our big winner!! Woo hoo, Cathy!!

Thanks everyone for playing along!

This week’s SHaQ Attack is all about family connections. With the Thanksgiving holiday soon upon us, I thought it would be fun to SHaQ about family. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to name one family I’ve done a multi-book series about. Multi-book means at least two books, connected by family members. Email me at donna@donnakauffman.com with “It’s a Family Affair” in the subject line, and the name of the family in the body of the email. I will draw one winner from all entries on Friday.

Also - next week being the holiday, I will be blogging Monday-thru-Wednesday, and then taking a holiday break until the folllowing Monday. SHaQ will be taking a break next week as well, but will be back as usual the following Monday. So dive in and go for it this week!

Happy Monday everyone.

Tags: Writing //