‘The Amazing Race’ 14: In Russia, Chekhov holds the key

Anton Chekhov is one of Russia’s greatest playwrights. But don’t tell that to the majority of the teams on CBS’ “The Amazing Race.”

On Lap 4 of the race around the world, the Roadblock involved a team member trying to unscramble seven letters to spell the renowned writer of such classic plays as “Uncle Vanya” and “Three Sisters.” But several of the contestants, including Luke Adams of the mother/son team of Margie and Luke (pictured), didn’t have a clue who Chekhov was.

Luke, who is deaf, kept getting more and more frustrated with himself as his mother looked on, worried that her son was confused with what he was supposed to be doing.

And speaking of Margie and Luke, it was quite a surprise when they decided to impose the U-turn against dating couple Amanda and Kris, causing the sweet team to eventually lose Sunday night.

This season, the U-turn was a blind one so the couples who find themselves in a U-turn don’t know the identity of the team who did it.

The eight remaining teams left Transylvania via the Bucharest airport and flew through Moscow to Krasnoyarsk, deep inside the Siberian area of Russia. Three teams made the first connecting flight to Moscow: stuntman brothers Mark and Michael, sisters Kisha and Jen and flight attendants Christie and Jodi – while five were left at the airport waiting for another flight to Krasnoyarsk.

Detour: Stack or Construct

After traveling by taxi to a church for their clue, the teams received their Detour: Stack or Construct. The first three teams opted for Stack — Michael and Mark got lost yet again en route to the Stack site, where a bunch of inebriated Russians partied as the teams attempted to stack wood in a traditional Siberian manner. After Michael and Mark accidentally knocked down the stack that was behind theirs, they opted for Construct.

In this challenge, teams were supposed to make traditional shutters and then carry them nearby to a house that was marked as being in need of repairs. Michael and Mark, though, decided to look for the house before they began construction. And of course, they couldn’t find it.

So they decided to return to make the shutters and then try again to find the house. Meanwhile, Kisha and Jen and Christie and Jodi successfully finished the stacking and went off to a nearby building to get their next clue. The location also marked the first of two U-turns in the race.

But both female teams went by taxi to their next challenge: the Roadblock at a nearby amusement park. At the Roadblock, one team member had to ride a bobsled through a winding course in four minutes while also keeping their eyes peeled along the way for the seven letters that would spell out Chekhov.

After much consternation, the female teams finally spelled out Chekhov and made their way to the pit stop at the Krasnoyarsk Theater where Christie and Jodi, who were nearly eliminated the first two weeks of the race, came in in first place and won motorcycles.

Meanwhile, back at the Detour, the five remaining teams struggled with the wood stacking with father/son Mel and Mike and Amanda and Kris joining the still clueless Mark and Michael building the shutters. They all helped one another out in hopes of finding the house together.

It was quite a sight to watch these teams carrying the shutters aimlessly down the street trying to find the house. Leave it to Mel to finally notice the sign in front of a dilapidated house. After discovering they had been U-turned, Amanda and Kris had to return to the Stack site and accomplish that task. They had no clue that Margie and Luke, who came in fourth place, had imposed the U-turn on them.

– Susan King, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Photo: Sonja Flemming / CBS]

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 9, 2009 at 1:53 pm by Susan King and is filed under Amazing Race. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.