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Meanwhile, the five other teams have arrived and it appears that it could really be anyone's race. Mark & Michael come to the conclusion that they're looking at at least two hours to complete the stacking challenge, and they leave to go construct some shutters instead. It's probably a bad sign that the stunt men have been given goofy theme music. They don't really seem to be following the instructions of this challenge, but rather wandering the village in search of a house with a sign that says, "repairs needed".

Kisha & Jen use their height advantage to complete the stacking challenge first, but Christie & Jodi are right on their heels. The judge for the stacking task thinks the flight attendants are pretty darned cute, too. The next clue tells them to go to the Museum of the Novel "The Last Bow" and enter through a marked door. A note on the clue informs them that there is also a U-Turn ahead. In the past, teams have been somewhat reticent to employ, you know, strategy with regards to the U-Turn. The preview promises a little bit of drama in this area, so I'm actually hoping something interesting happens. For those unaware of the terminology, what teams can do with the U-Turn is opt to force a competitor to do both tasks in the Detour instead of only finishing one. In the case of today's Detours, it really does appear that the U-Turn could set someone back pretty significantly. If the group of five is closely stacked (and they appear to be), it only makes sense that one of the teams would take this advantage.

But wait! It just gets better! In the past, teams had to post their own pictures, letting everyone know who had forced a team to U-Turn. In this case, no identity is revealed, so it's possible to force a team to complete both Detour tasks without instantly looking like jerks for doing so.

Of course, Kisha & Jen realize that they are already in a safe position, so it doesn't really benefit them to use the U-Turn option today and instead choose to wait and see if they might need it in a later leg of the race. (The U-Turn comes up twice during the show, and can only be used once.) Presumably, Christie & Jodi will feel the same way.

Next up on today's journey is a trip to an amusement park known as Bobrovy Log Park, which looks like fun. Of course, it's awfully cold for roller coasters, but we bet that's going to be part of the challenge.

The bunched up group of five teams has now arrived at the Detour site en masse, and all of them are choosing the "Stack" task. As I mentioned earlier, this one might prove challenging for Mel since he's got a groin injury and picking up the logs is going to hurt. The cheerleaders correctly surmise that the father/son team is probably the one to try to pass.

Kisha & Jen have arrived at the amusement park and have been given the instructions for the Road Block. One team member must ride on a three-mile bobsled course that goes up to 55 MPH. Not only must the course be completed in under four minutes, but they must also catch sight of seven letters along the way. Once at the end of the course, they must unscramble the seven letters to spell the name of a famous Russian playwright. I don't want to give anything away here, but if you do a Google search for "famous Russian playwright", his name is the first result.

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