The Amazing Race 14 Siberia

Baby, it's cold outside. Siberia conjures up images of blizzards, exile and hard labor camps. Teams had to be disappointed to rip open that first envelope and read their destination--Siberia.
Teams must fly through Moscow to Krasnoyarsk, deep in the icy heart of Siberia. From the airport, teams must find the actual Hydroelectric Dam featured on the back of the ten-ruble note.
Stuntmen Mike and Mark learned a lesson last week and right away, try to book their flight from the taxi. Somehow, they dial Jaime and Cara instead of the airport. Don't ask me. Jaime and Cara can't resist the easy mark and play along with them, pretending to book their flight.
None of the flights to Moscow are direct, and teams transfer through four different cities. But all teams schedule the same flight to Krasnoyarsk that lands at 5:40 am. But flights notoriously don't co-operate. Only three teams make the transfer and five teams wait for a later flight.
The Hydroelectric Dam doesn't open until 8:30 am, so all three teams on the first flight cluster up, then run for the clue box. The little stuntmen, Michael and Mark, are the first team to grab their clue, but this will be their best position for the rest of the leg.
From here, teams must taxi to Church Saint Innokenty to face their Detour.

Detour: Stack

In Stack, teams travel to the riverbank and create a wall of firewood, using a traditional lattice pattern. Once the wood is stacked correctly, they get their next clue.
All three teams who made the Moscow connection, Mike/Mark, Kisha/Jen and Christie/Jodi, opt to stack.
They perform the grueling work accompanied by traditional Russian accordion music and lots of singing. The locals are having a blast, eating, drinking and making very, very merry. Lately, Amazing Race has been designing tasks to amuse the locals and frustrate the racers. Remember the Indian paint wars and the now-infamous Russian army marching? And the amused crowd at the pie-throwing tent?
Kisha and Jen liken their task to life-size Jenga.
"Mark and Michael get lost a lot," the girls giggle. When M & M's wall half-collapses ("Mark and Mike just got beat by girls," they taunt) the stuntmen head to the alternative task.

Detour: Construct

Teams walk to a workshed where they find materials to build a set of colorful wood shutters. They must assemble the shutters and take them to the house with a "Repairs Needed" sign outside. They must install the shutters before they get the next clue.
Michael and Mark seem baffled by the Construct task as well. They are losing their lead by wandering around, trying to find the house. The girls are right; they do get lost a lot.
Kisha and Jen finish building their wall quickly and head off in first place.
They come across a "Blind U-Turn" which Phil explains. This season, the perps who U-Turn a teams remains anonymous. The new rule changes the dynamic of the option. In previous seasons, teams treated the use of the U-Turn as foul play. Teams who used the device were vilified. No one accepted the U-Turn as an appropriate strategy. I like this new twist because I got tired of teams pouting and angry over U-Turns.
Kisha and Jen choose not to u-turn because they know the five teams who missed the flight are well behind them. Christi and Jodi pass up the opportunity as well. But Margie and Luke u-turn Amanda and Kris to help their redheaded cheerleader friends, Jaime and Cara. I don't blame them, Amanda and Kris are strong, they reason.
All five teams in the second cluster chose to stack wood. A lot of walls are tumbling down. Mel and Mike abandon their broken wall in favor of the Construct task. Tammy & Victor and the flight attendants keep at it. Tammy and Victor avoid any crumbles, and congratulate themselves, crediting "Asian engineering".
Switchers Mel/Mike and Amanda/Kris team up with the stuntmen to complete the shutters and find the house. The six of them are scratching their heads while they stand kitty-corner from the house. The throw up their hands in frustration. Old Man Mel spots the house and deservedly, he and his son finish the task first.
Teams taxi to local amusement park, Bobrovy Log Park, to find their next clue and this episode's Roadblock.

Roadblock: Bobsled

In the Roadblock, one team member must ride a bobsled up to 55 miles an hour and complete a three-mile course in under four minutes. That's not so hard by itself, but the racer must memorize seven letters posted along the way. The racer doesn't seem to have much control over his speed and all the teams come in at or just under the four minutes. Two teams had to repeat the ride because he or she only noticed six of the seven posted letters.
Once the racer has the letters in their head, he or she must unscramble the letters to spell the name of a Russian playwright.
I can see how one can get through high school, and maybe college, without encountering Anton Chekhov. If I had to spell it without letters in hand, I'm not sure I would have put in a second H in the spelling.
Apparently, no one but Victor studied Chekhov in school. Victor: "Who doesn't know who Chekhov is?"
Luke and everybody else, that's who. The racers unscramble the letters fairly easily and Luke finally does, after many frustrating tries. Cara gets it right on the first try. Chekhov must be buried in her subconscious somewhere.

Pit Stop

Teams go to the theater of musical comedy, Krasnoyarsk Theatre, for the finish of the leg. Christie and Jodi let out a scream when Phil tells them they are team number 1. Mike and Mark got a reprieve. They would have been eliminated if Amanda and Kris were not u-turned.
The other teams resent Amanda and Kris, because Kris does all the heavy lifting and Amanda stands back. Amanda and Kris seem fine with the division of labor between them so, so what? Amanda gives direction while Kris does all the wood stacking. But when their half-completed wall falls, Amanda and Kris switch tasks. Little do they know that they will have to go back and finish it later. Amanda and Kris are already in last place when they discover that they were u-turned.
I thought Amanda and Kris would make the final three and I am sorry to see them eliminated.