‘The Amazing Race’ 14: running in Siberia

Freezing temperatures and stick-shift cars nearly derailed a few teams Sunday night on Lap 5 of CBS’ “The Amazing Race” 14.

The contestants began in the freezing, snowy cold of Siberia as they left their Pit Stop and traveled via Trans-Siberian Railway for 400 miles deep into Siberia to the city of Novosibirsk.

Though flight attendants Christie Volkmer, 37, and Jodi Wincheski, 40, came in first place last week, the playing field was quickly leveled because there was only one train to their destination.

Once arriving in the snowy city, they took a taxi to a local building where they encountered the Detour: Russian Bride or Snow Plow. To get to either Detour, the teams had to drive a Russian car named a Lada that had a persnickety stick shift.

Sisters Kisha and Jen Hoffman had problems with the car stalling, and Victor of the sibling team of Tammy and Victor Jih kept swerving down the icy roads.

In Russian Bride, the teams had to drive to a nearby apartment complex, find a bride in the large building and drive her to a church on the other side of town. Once there, they had to have their picture taken with the bride and groom.

In Snowplow, the contestants drove the car to a stadium where they maneuvered a massive snowplow through an obstacle course.

Though Tammy and Victor told the mother-son team Margie and Luke Adams and former cheerleaders Jaime Edmondson and Cara Rosenthal they wanted to work with them, they left the other teams in the dust when Jaime and Cara and Margie and Luke stopped for directions to the stadium.

The father-son team of Mel and Mike White opted for the bride because they thought the challenge would be more fun than dealing with a bulky snowplow.

Christie and Jodi and Kisha and Jen also opted for the bridal task. Though Mel and Mike found the bride and the church without too much difficulty, the other two teams struggled with directions and the weather and fell way behind.

Once the teams completed the Detour they had to drive to a library for their next clue — the Roadblock. In this Roadblock, one team member had to strip down to his or her unmentionables and run with two Russian marathoners 1.4 miles in freezing weather to the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre.

Hearing-impaired Luke, though clearly embarrassed running in his skivvies, won the frozen marathon. He and his mother came in first for the second time, winning a trip to St. Lucia.

Tammy and Victor — Tammy did the run — came in second, Jaime and Cara placed third, Mel and Mike were in fourth place, stuntmen brothers Mike and Mark Munoz followed in fifth — though they got lost at the Pit Stop. Kisha and Jen placed sixth and Christie, who ran the race in a thong, and Jodi went from first to seventh place.

Thankfully, it was a nonelimination race, though the airline stewardess will have to perform a Speed Bump — an extra task — next week.

– Susan King, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Photos: (top) Lakisha (left) and Jennifer Hoffman during the run in Siberia. (middle) Christie Volkmer in the run. Credit: CBS]

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 16, 2009 at 2:00 pm by Susan King and is filed under Amazing Race, Asia, News, Tips & Advice. 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.