The Amazing Race Review: Gettin’ Some Babushka Love

This week, The Amazing Race travels to the gorgeous St Petersburg, a city rich in cultural history and beautiful architecture. This is a city in which I happen to be in expert. I’ve seen Anastasia, like, 20 million times!

As the winners of the last leg of the race, Nat and Kat are the first to team to start this leg. Nat and Kat are one of only two remaining female teams left in the race and they are determined that they will be the first female team to go all the way to win this thing. And I gotta say, I like their chances this year. Between the multi-talented Brook and Claire and the charmed duo of Nat and Kat, with a strong drive, I’m sure that one of these teams could take this win. And considering the fact that the only all-male team left is Michael and Kevin, who no offense will probably be held back by Michael’s age and lack of stamina, there’s a pretty great chance that a chick will be part of the winning team. Although, I must stress, it would be a mistake to count Michael and Kevin out at this point. Week after week they are at the head of the pack so they seem to be doing well in spite of their disadvantage. But then the question remains: is this going to last?

All teams take the train to Stockholm where they then must catch a flight to St. Petersburg. Because of scheduling all teams are on the same flight to St. Petersburg. Brook and Claire are the first team to find a cab and as the teams drive through the city they all marvel at how beautiful it is. The place is STUNNINGLY gorgeous and gives me an immediate urge to watch Anastasia. I don’t know whether this is because I want to feel closer to being in Russia or because at this moment they’re playing the song from Anastasia (“Have You Heard (There’s a Rumor in St. Petersburg)” which I’m sure has an actual classical name that I don’t know, but it rocks just the same.)

For the first task the teams must choose one of two options: music or cinema. For the music task the teams must listen to classical songs  played on three gramophones. Then they must search through dozens of pianists and find the one who is playing each of the three songs. For cinema the teams must search through reels of film clips to find the one being played on the screen behind them. This sounds easy, but when you consider the mini-mountains of unraveled film that the teams must search through, the task becomes quite time-consuming.

Michael/Kevin, Brook/Claire, and Jill/Thomas all choose movie, while Nick/Vicki, Chad/Stephanie, Gary/Mallory, and Nat/Kat choose music. Jill and Thomas find the clip with ridiculous ease, while the rest of the teams struggle on. It seems the key to this task is to find the words at the beginning of the movie, which will then be at the beginning of the movie strip. At the music challenge, the teams are having a tough time; sifting through all of the classical pieces becomes more difficult as the teams continue to listen. After several failed attempts Nat/Kat switch tasks, and shortly after they arrive they find the movie clip they are looking for. All the other teams at the music challenge except Chad/Stephanie switch for the movie as well. While Chad really, really wants to switch tasks as well, Stephanie refuses and Chad catches a hissy fit and refuses to help Stephanie with the task. They finish in spite of Chad’s bad humor. Nick/Vicki struggle at the music challenge and decide to head back to face the music. They finally finish the challenge by focusing on finding one song at a time though their thorough methods ensure that they are at the back of the pack.

For the second challenge the teams must perform the tasks of the babushka, which is basically a woman farmer. The teams must dress up in traditional babushka wear (a dress and kerchief) and plant a row of potatoes. Kevin plows through this task and impresses the babushkas on hand so much, they want to keep him. Jill also speeds through the challenge and she and Thomas race to the pit stop and land in first place. Michael and Kevin would have been in first place had Kevin listened to his father when Michael correctly assumed that the pit stop might be in the park across the street from where they were. Instead, they place third. Nick and Vicki never recovered from their music fail and are the last to arrive at the pit stop. Luck for them, this is a non-elimination leg and they remain in the race.

Here’s where they fall:
1. Jill/Thomas
2. Brook/Claire
3. Michael/Kevin
4. Nat/Kat
5. Chad/Stephanie
6. Gary Mallory
7. Nick/Vicki-non elimination leg

Season 17, Episode 6: Run, Babushka, Run (originally aired October 31, 2010)

Sundays at 8pm ET/PT on CBS

For more on The Amazing Race, click here. 

Photographs courtesy of CBS and John Paul Filo.

Follow Poptimal on Twitter!