The border between Sweden and Norway also represented the border between the fourth and fifth legs of the seventeenth edition of The Amazing Race.  Having won the last leg based in Sweden, doctors Nat and Kat departed into Norway looking for a gondola station in Narvik, Norway.  At the top of the corresponding mountain, the doctors were faced with the decision of taking the Fast Forward or heading towards the next clue.

Knowing they would be the first team to arrive at the Fast Forward, Nat and Kat made their way towards a local Norwegian house to partake in a Norwegian Christmas ritual.  The task for the Fast Forward was more difficult than they could have imagined.  Nat and Kat had to consume a sheep’s head before receiving the Fast Forward clue.  Even though Kat was a vegetarian of 22 years, the pair powered through the sheep’s head, received the Fast Forward and finished in first place for the second straight leg.

Although Gary and Mallory, Brooke and Claire and Michael and Kevin all finished within 30 minutes of Nat and Kat, all three teams were now playing for second place.  With the Fast Forward gone, the leading teams made their way towards Skjombrua Bridge for a physical Roadblock.  The selected team member had to rappel off the bridge, retrieve their clue from a boat at the bottom and climb back up using a mechanical ascender. 

Kevin and Gary steadily completed the difficult Roadblock keeping their teams in the lead.  Brooke, however, struggled with the ascending and allowed Jill and Thomas to pass them.  Fortunately for the all-female team Nick and Vicki, Chad and Stephanie and the other all-female team, Katie and Rachel, were too far back to catch up to Brooke and Claire at the Roadblock.

Upon completion of the Roadblock, teams were directed to a field in the Harvika region of Norway for the Detour.  The two choices presented to the teams were Bike or Boat.  For Bike, teams had to ride a challenging mountain biking course and memorize a code for their bike lock at the end of it.  After memorizing the code, teams would return to where they started and unlock their bike lock to receive their clue.

For Boat, using a map of the lake, teams instructed a boat captain to a marked spot.  From there, the team had to climb to shore and deliver two 20-pound cod and a chainsaw to a local house.  The house owner would provide them with their clue and they would take the boat back to the dock where they started.

Similar to previous legs, despite arriving first, Michael and Kevin choose the slower Boat option in order to protect Michael’s physical limitations.  Jill and Thomas and Mallory and Gary took advantage of this with the Bike selection and finished the Detour and made it to the Pit Stop before Michael and Kevin.  Nevertheless, the father and son combination had enough of a lead to finish comfortable in fourth place. 

At the back of the pack, Chad and Stephanie made the same decision as Michael and Kevin to opt for the Boat option because of Stephanie’s physical limitations.  Fortunately for the dating couple, Katie and Rachel also chose the Boat option.  Unable to make up for their last place start to the leg, Katie and Rachel finished last and were eliminated.