Amazing Race Suomi

For the current season, see Amazing Race Suomi season 2.

Amazing Race Suomi
Genre	Reality competition
Created by	Elise Doganieri Bertram van Munster
Based on	The Amazing Race by Bertram van Munster Elise Doganieri
Directed by	Jussi Korva Olli Horttana
Presented by	Heikki Paasonen
Theme music composer	John M. Keane
Country of origin	Finland
Original language	Finnish
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	23
Production
Executive producers	Jesse McDonald Pauliina Koutala Petra Martikainen
Producers	Mia Lehmusoksa Anna Väisänen Ella Kaarna Johanna Tarvainen
Production location	see below
Running time	67–99 minutes
Production companies	Moskito Television ABC Signature
Original release
Network	Nelonen Ruutu+
Release	30 September 2023 (2023-09-30) – present
Related
International versions

Amazing RaceSuomi (English: The Amazing Race Finland ) is a Finnish reality competition show based on the American series The Amazing Race . Hosted by Heikki Paasonen and following the premise of other versions in the Amazing Race franchise, the show follows teams of two as they race around the world. Each season is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in foreign areas, interact with locals, perform physical and mental challenges, and travel by air, boat, car, taxi, and other modes of transport. Teams are progressively eliminated at the end of most legs for being the last to arrive at designated Pit Stops. The first team to arrive at the Finish Line wins the grand prize of EUR30,000. ^[1]

The first season aired on Nelonen network on Saturdays at 19.30 pm local time and on the Ruutu+ streaming service starting on 30 September 2023. ^{[2] [3]} The first two episodes and the finale of the first season were two-hour long specials, and the remaining episodes 90 minutes. ^[4] The season finale aired on 16 December 2023 simultaneously, at 19.30 pm on the streaming platform and TV channel. ^[5] The second season, hosted by Paasonen, premiered in October 2024 on Nelonen. ^[6]

The Race

Route Markers

Route Markers are yellow and red flags that mark the places where teams must go. Most Route Markers are attached to the boxes that contain clue envelopes, but some may mark the place where the teams must go in order to complete tasks, or may be used to line a course that the teams must follow.

Clues

Further informationon the different clues: The Amazing Race § Clues

Clues are found throughout the legs in sealed envelopes, normally inside clue boxes. They give teams the information they need and tasks they need to do in order for them to progress through the legs.

• Route Info (Reitti–Info) : A general clue that may include a task to be completed by the team before they can receive their next clue.
• Detour (Kiertotie) : A choice of two tasks. Teams are free to choose either task or swap tasks if they find one option too difficult.
• Roadblock (Tiesulku) : A task only one team member can complete. Teams must choose which member will complete the task based on a brief clue about the task before fully revealing the details of the task.

Legs

Host Heikki Paasonen

Non-elimination legs

The teams may be punished for arriving last to the Pit Stop on a non-elimination leg. This could affect their placements next leg.

• Speed Bump (Hidaste) : The team that finishes last in a non-elimination leg may have to perform a penalty task at some point during the next leg. This task must be completed before the team is allowed to continue racing.

In the first season, there was only two instances out of three, when a team had to perform a Speed Bump after placing last on a non-elimination leg. The other time there wasn't any penalty for the last placed non-eliminated.

Super-legs

During the Race the contestants may encounter so-called "Super-legs". Upon arriving at the pit stop of a designated location, the presenter Heikki may announce that the leg isn't over, and hands the next clue to the contestants. The racers must complete the second part of the leg without any rest period at the pit stop area. These super-legs are ofter split into two episodes.

Gameplay prizes

• Express Pass (Express–Passi) : Introduced in the second season, the Express Pass was awarded to the winning team from the first leg and allows them to skip one task of their choosing in a future leg.

Rules and penalties

Rules

• During the whole Race, both of each team's members must've performed the same amount of Roadblock tasks. However, it isn't ruled that the racers have to perform the tasks alternately.
• Teams have to complete all of the tasks during the legs, otherwise they must return to complete any undone tasks, before checking in at the pit stop. This however doesn't apply when an Express Pass is being used.

Penalties

• If a team fails to perform a Roadblock, Detour or Speed Bump they receive a 2-hour penalty.

Series overview

No.	Race Information								Winners	Host	Additional Notes
	Start Date	Starting Line	Finish Date	Finish Line	Distance	Countries	Legs	Teams
1	24 July 2023 (2023-07-24)	Töölönlahti Park, Helsinki	16 August 2023 (2023-08-16)	Helsinki Velodrome, Helsinki	26,000 km (16,000 mi)	7	12	12	Kaisa Mäkäräinen & Mari Eder	Heikki Paasonen	Celebrity Version, where at least one contestant from each pair is publicly known
2	22 May 2024 (2024-05-22)	Heureka Science Center, Vantaa	14 June 2024 (2024-06-14)		20,000 km (12,000 mi)	6		11	Metti Forssell & Hanna Launonen		Introduced the Express Pass

Broadcast details and ratings

Ratings are provided by Finnpanel  [ fi ].

No.	Network	Episodes	Timeslot (EET)	Premiere			Finale			Average Viewers [a]	Average Rank	Ref
				Date	Viewers	Rank	Date	Viewers	Rank
1	Nelonen	12	Saturday 7:30 p.m.	30 September 2023 (2023-09-30)	375,000	#1	16 December 2023 (2023-12-16) [b]	580,000	#1	429,000	#2	[7] [8]
2				5 October 2024 (2024-10-05)	407,000	#2	December 2024 (2024-12)	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	[8]

Notes

1. The average number of viewers during the whole season.
2. Aired simultaneously on the tv channel and streaming platform.

Countries visited

Countries that Amazing Race Suomi has visited are shown in colour

Here is the list of countries Amazing Race Suomi has visited so far:

Europe Rank Country Season(s) visited Pit Stops 1 Finland 2 (1–2) 2 [a] 2 Poland 1 (2) 2 Romania 1 (2) 2 North America Rank Country Season(s) visited Pit Stops 1 Costa Rica 1 (2) 1 Panama 1 (2) 3

South America Rank Country Season(s) visited Pit Stops 1 Colombia 1 (2) 3 Asia Rank Country Season(s) visited Pit Stops 1 Indonesia 1 (1) 3 Malaysia 1 (1) 2 Philippines 1 (1) 2 Singapore 1 (1) 0 Thailand 1 (1) 2 Vietnam 1 (1) 2

Notes

1. Includes 2 Finish Lines

Reception

Critical reception

When first announced, the program drew criticism for including Left Alliance politicians (Nurminen, Pekonen and Modig), who have advocated for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, on a show that includes air travel. ^[9] Filming of the show also began after the 2023 Greece wildfires on Rhodes, leading to more vocal criticism. ^{[10] [11]} Prior to the start of filming, producer Pauliina Koutala from Moskito Television stated that the show was made with climate change in mind and that they would be offsetting emissions used for filming, which included having teams fly on airlines that use sustainable aviation fuel and rainforest reclamation at the Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve on Borneo. ^[12] In addition, the production team planned a route in such a way to minimise air travel with alternative forms of transportation on land. ^[13] In total, all the contestants who reached the final leg travelled about 26,000 kilometres (16,000 mi) by airplanes, roughly corresponding to approximately two round trip flights from Helsinki to New York City. ^[14] On 14 September 2023, Nurminen, Pekonen and Modig stated at a press event that they understood the criticism and agreed to compete after learning about the flight compensations. ^[15]

Despite the negative social feedback, many Finnish television consumers were positive towards the first season's contestants with many praising the new and varied faces that have not been on reality television programs before. ^[16] The fast-paced action and comedic elements of the show were praised, and the Finnish version was very similar and relatable to its original American counterpart. ^[17] Even though the first season took place almost entirely in Southeast Asia and did not feature "flight drama", viewers were overall positive about how this huge format was made successfully in Finland and expressed interest for another season. ^[18]

According to Nelonen, the first season got a very respectful reception, with the program reach of the whole season reached the total of 2.9 million viewers from 4+ age group, if included all the streaming services and platforms. The average viewership for the season reached 429,000, ^[19] with season finale picking up the highest average figures of the season for a single episode: 580,000. ^[20] Prior to the season finale, the season was nominated for Golden Venla Awards in the category of "Competition Reality" and "Best Director(s)" (Jussi Korva & Olli Horttana), ^[21] that latter which won the award. ^{[22] [23]}

Awards and nominations

Summary of awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated	Result	Ref.
2023	Golden Venla	Competition Reality	Season 1	Nominated	[21]
		Director (Entertainment, Reality and Events)	Jussi Korva & Olli Horttana	Won	[23]
2024		Competition Reality	Season 2	Pending	[24]
		Script (Entertainment and Factual)	Sarri Schonert	Pending	[24]
		Director (Entertainment and Factual)	Jussi Korva & Olli Horttana	Pending	[24]

References

1. "IL paljastaa: Tällainen on Suomen The Amazing Racesta on tulossa – Luvassa julkkiskausi". Iltalehti (in Finnish).
2. "Nelonen Median syksyn 2023 ohjelmisto nyt julki!". Nelonen (in Finnish). 24 May 2023.
3. "Nämä 12 paria lähtevät elämänsä seikkailuun – Amazing Race Suomi starttaa tänään Helsingistä". Nelonen (in Finnish). 18 July 2023.
4. "Amazing Race Suomi - Program Information". telsu (in Finnish).
5. "Amazing Race Suomi -kisa huipentuu tänään: Näin pitkän matkan kilpailijat todellisuudessa matkustivat". iltalehti (in Finnish).
6. "Nelonen Median syksyn 2024 tv-ohjelmisto nyt julki!". Nelonen (in Finnish).
7. "Kaisa Mäkäräinen ja Mari Eder ovat Suomen ensimmäiset Amazing Race -voittajat!". Nelonen (in Finnish). 17 December 2023.
8. "Finnpanel – TV Audiance Measurement". Finnpanel .
9. "Finnish left-wing politicians face criticism for flying around world for TV". Helsinki Times . 26 July 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
10. "Kolme rajuja ilmastotoimia vaatinutta kansanedustajaa lentää TV-ohjelmassa ympäri maailmaa – Someraivo heräsi". iltalehti (in Finnish).
11. "Tästä syystä kolmen poliitikon tosi-tv-kisailu laukaisi somemyräkän "Ei kyllä herätä positiivisia ajatuksia"". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). 24 July 2023.
12. "Onko tässä Suomen suurin tv-tuotanto? Amazing Race -ohjelman kuvaukset alkavat tänään". iltalehti (in Finnish).
13. "Amazing Race sai aikaan someraivon – näin kanava vastaa kritiikkiin". ilta-sanomat (in Finnish). 26 July 2023.
14. "Amazing Race Suomi 2023 ja lentojen ympäristövaikutukset". nelonen. 14 September 2023.
15. "Poliitikot vastaavat kritiikkiin lentelystä tosi-tv-ohjelmassa". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 14 September 2023.
16. "Somessa ylistetään Amazing Race Suomi -osallistujia – Yhtä asiaa kritisoidaan ylitse muiden". iltalehti (in Finnish).
17. "Amazing Race Suomi ei kalpene amerikkalaisen alkuperäisversion rinnalla". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 30 September 2023.
18. "Näkökulma: Näistä syistä Amazing Race Suomi ei täyttänyt odotuksia". Seiska (in Finnish). 18 December 2023.
19. "Kaisa Mäkäräinen ja Mari Eder ovat Suomen ensimmäiset Amazing Race -voittajat!". Nelonen (in Finnish). 17 December 2023.
20. "Weekly Top Programs By Channel Nelonen, Week 50/2023". Finnpanel.
21. "Kultainen Venla 2023 -finalistit julkistettu". Golden Venla .
22. "Vuoden viihde, reality ja events -ohjaaja: Amazing Race Suomen Jussi Korva & Olli Horttana". Yle Uutiset (in Finnish). 26 January 2024.
23. "Tässä ovat kaikki vuoden 2023 Kultainen Venla -voittajat". Helsingin Sanomat . 26 January 2024.
24. "Kultainen Venla 2024 -shortlistat julkistettu". Golden Venla . 10 December 2024.

External links

• Amazing Race Suomi on Nelonen
• Amazing Race Suomi on Ruutu
• Amazing Race Suomi on Instagram
• Amazing Race Suomi at IMDb