Simply Amazing: Hustle to the Finnish

First, Conan O’Brien. Then, “The Amazing Race.” Is there any country hotter than Finland?

Five teams — including Lyn Turk and Karlyn Harris of Birmingham — fought their way through mud, mines and mistrust. Would the “Six” Pack finally Finnish in front?

Highlights from the ninth leg of the series …

Route: Antananarivo, Madagascar, to Helsinki, Finland.

Kentucky on the brain: Team Birmingham leaves the Pit Stop a full hour after the first-place beauty queens Dustin and Kandice. Karlyn, wearing David’s ballcap with “UK” (as in University of Kentucky, not United Kingdom), saying Team Kentucky is with them in spirit.

The other four teams snag a 5 a.m. flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, potentially leaving Lyn and Karlyn stuck with a huge disadvantage. But with minutes to spare, the two talk their way on to the flight. Whew! Thank you, lucky cap. Well, not so lucky for David and Mary, but whatev.

For all five teams, it’s on to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, then Frankfurt, Germany, before the final destination, Helsinki, Finland.

Teaming and scheming: Tension is building within what’s left the Six Pack, Team Birmingham and the Cho brothers Erwin and Godwin. We have the obligatory weekly comments from Lyn and Karlyn about how they’re in an alliance … but … it’s cutthroat, it’s a competion, etc.

Meanwhile, the blondies keep meeting up junkie models Tyler and James, on the train, at the coffee shop, at the Detour. It’s friendly but guarded, competitive but cordial.

As for Rob and Kimberly, it’s hard to believe they’re a couple. Well, they’re a couple of loud-mouthed bitchy hotheads. As they say in Finland, Rob and Kimberly are really annoying.

CrySpace: Teams race in cabs from the airport to a coffee shop to check for clues on laptops. Everyone receives a video greeting from loved ones, such as Karlyn and Lyn’s kids. The two moms can’t help but bawl.

Balk the line: All teams take the same train to Tampere, where they take taxis to the next clue. Passengers line up for cabs, but third-place Rob and Kimberly, in a rare display of civility, plead politely to cut to the front. Team Birmingham barges up and swipes a cab from another passenger with barely a curt “thank you.” You know, this could really hurt the image of Americans among other nations …

And the Chos fume, politely waiting in the back of the line.

Mud is thicker than water: The Detour offers a choice between a muddy obstacle course and a muddy cross-country skiing course. Not much to it, except the models lose their first-place lead to the beauty queens when they change clothes before entering the cab. Talk about high maintenance …

Those two teams have enough of a lead to catch a train at the last minute, putting the Six Pack and Rob and Kimberly one hour behind.

Snipes on a train: News flash … yet another team dislikes Karlyn and Lyn. Rob says he thinks the pair made a snap judgment on him and Kimberly at the start of the race. Lyn announces to the car that Rob and Kimberly are not their friends.

But the Chos still like them, right?

The mine event: At the Roadblock, one team member must bike down a mine shaft to retrieve a limestone brick that must be smashed open to get the clue. The models and the Barbies drive neck and neck back to Finland to Olympic Stadium, as do the last three teams.

At the stadium, teams rappel down the side of a tower facing the ground. Oh, joy, another climbing/rappeling challenge.

Pit check: The models are in first place, but their last clue tells them to keep racing. No Phil-imination tonight.

“The Amazing Race” airs at 7 p.m. Sundays on CBS 42.

Next episode: Erwin and Godwin finally dump Lyn and Karlyn. And it’s a tanks-giving spectacular.

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Pit stop: more “Amazing Race” coverage.

Posted: Monday, November 13, 2006, 12:40 am, in B'ham, Bama, Culture.
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