# Amazing Race Suomi

Amazing Race Suomi (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.
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. The first two episodes and the finale of the first season were two-hour long specials, and the remaining episodes 90 minutes. The season finale aired on 16 December 2023 simultaneously, at 19.30 pm on the streaming platform and TV channel. The second season, hosted by Paasonen, premiered in October 2024 on Nelonen.

## 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

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
#### 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 | Race Information | Race Information | Race Information | Race Information | Race Information | Race Information | Race Information | Winners | Host | Additional Notes |
| No. | Start Date | Starting Line | Finish Date | Finish Line | Distance | Countries | Legs | Teams | Winners | Host | Additional Notes |
| 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) | Helsinki Velodrome, Helsinki | 20,000 km (12,000 mi) | 6 | 12 | 11 | Metti Forssell & Hanna Launonen | Heikki Paasonen | Introduced the Express Pass |

## Broadcast details and ratings

Ratings are provided by Finnpanel [fi].
| No. | Network | Episodes | Timeslot (EET) | Premiere | Premiere | Premiere | Finale | Finale | Finale | Average Viewers | Average Rank | Ref |
| No. | Network | Episodes | Timeslot (EET) | Date | Viewers | Rank | Date | Viewers | Rank | Average Viewers | Average Rank | Ref |
| 1 | Nelonen | 12 | Saturday 7:30 p.m. | 30 September 2023 (2023-09-30) | 375,000 | #1 | 16 December 2023 (2023-12-16) | 580,000 | #1 | 429,000 | #2 | |
| 2 | Nelonen | 12 | Saturday 7:30 p.m. | 5 October 2024 (2024-10-05) | 407,000 | #2 | 21 December 2024 (2024-12-21) | 492,000 | #1 | 328,000 | #2 | |

### Notes

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

## Countries visited

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

### Notes

* ↑ 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. Filming of the show also began after the 2023 Greece wildfires on Rhodes, leading to more vocal criticism. 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. In addition, the production team planned a route in such a way to minimise air travel with alternative forms of transportation on land. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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.
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, with season finale picking up the highest average figures of the season for a single episode: 580,000. 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), that latter which won the award.

### Awards and nominations

Summary of awards and nominations :
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated | Result |
| 2023 | Golden Venla | Competition Reality | Season 1 | Nominated |
| 2023 | Golden Venla | Director (Entertainment, Reality and Events) | Jussi Korva & Olli Horttana | Won |
| 2024 | Golden Venla | Competition Reality | Season 2 | Pending |
| 2024 | Golden Venla | Script (Entertainment and Factual) | Sarri Schonert | Pending |
| 2024 | Golden Venla | Director (Entertainment and Factual) | Jussi Korva & Olli Horttana | Pending |