"Dating Couple" Nick DeCarlo and Vicki Casciola survived to compete in The Amazing Race's seventh seventeenth-season leg despite a last-place finish during Sunday night's broadcast of the Race's sixth leg.

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"We're ready to stay here and fight; we're not ready to go home yet. I just think everything happens for a reason -- I mean, we're going to come out on top anyways," Vicki said after discovering she and her boyfriend had managed to avoid elimination.

The Amazing Race's sixth seventeenth-season episode began with the Race's seven remaining teams leaving the course's sixth Pit Stop in Narvish, Norway.

Since they had been the first team to arrive at the Pit Stop, "Doctors/Friends" Nat Strand and Kat Chang were the first team to depart at 8:26PM.

Upon opening their departure clues, the teams were instructed to take a train to Stockholm, Sweden and then fly more than 1,200 miles to St. Petersburg, Russia.  Once there, they would have to make their way to Vasilievsky Island and find the Rostrol Columns, a monument to Russia's largest rivers.

Despite Nat and Kat's early head start advantage, all seven teams ended up on an equal playing field as the next available sleeper train did not depart for Stockholm until exactly 14 hours later at 10:26AM.

Nat and Kat were the first team off the train after it arrived in Stockholm and were followed by "Home Shopping Hosts" Brook Roberts and Claire Champlin, "Dating Couple" Jill Haney and Thomas Wolfard, Nick and Vicki, "Father/Son" Michael Wu and Kevin Wu, "Father/Daughter" Gary Ervin and Mallory Ervin, and "Newly Dating Couple" Chad Waltrip and Stephanie Smith.

After arriving at the train station, the teams had to take cabs to the Arlanda Airport and take a flight to St. Petersburg, where they would receive their next clue. Chad and Stephanie were last off the train, and Chad blamed Stephanie for the incident, sparking an argument between the couple.

Brook and Claire were the first team to reach the monument in St. Petersburg and were followed by Michael and Kevin, Chad and Stephanie, Gary and Mallory, Jill and Thomas, Nick and Vicki and Nat and Kat.

Upon arriving at the Rostrol Columns, the teams received clues which instructed them to complete one of two Detour tasks: "Classical Music" or "Classic Cinema."

"Classical Music" required the teams to determine which pianists in a historic palace were playing the same three compositions they had previously heard on gramophones. Once all three compositions were marked correctly, a maestro would give them their next clue.

"Classic Cinema" required the teams to go to a legendary film studio and search piles of film clips and find one that matched any part of a film scene that was being projected on the wall of the soundstage. Once the clip was located, a director would give them their next clue.

Chad and Stephanie, Gary and Mallory, Nick and Vicki, and Nat and Kat initially selected "Classical Music" while Brook and Claire, Michael and Kevin, and Jill and Thomas opted for "Classic Cinema."

Michael and Kevin were the first team to arrive at their selected Detour location first and were followed by Jill and Thomas, Chad and Stephanie, Gary and Mallory, Nick and Vicki, Nat and Kat, and Brook and Claire.

Brook and Claire fell into seventh place because their cabbie did not know where the studio, Lenfilm Studio, was located.

While Detour tasks created a lot of frustration for the teams, the "Classical Music" option proved harder for the teams -- resulting in Gary and Mallory, Nat and Kat, and Nick and Vicki all deciding to changing to "Classic Cinema."

Chad also suggested switching to the cinema task several times, however Stephanie rejected the idea repeatedly -- a decision that ended up working out in their favor when they finally managed to successfully complete the music task.

Jill and Thomas were the first team to complete one of the challenging Detour tasks and were followed by Brook and Claire, Michael and Kevin, Chad and Stephanie, Nat and Kat, Gary and Mallory, and Nick and Vicki -- who eventually opted to switch back to "Classical Music" after Gary and Mallory completed the cinema task.

After completing the Detour task, the teams received a film tin or record that contained a photo, which they had to figure out was a photo of Palace Square.

All seven teams rushed to Palace Square and arrived in the same order that they left the previous Detour.

Upon arriving at Palace Square, the teams received a clue that instructed them to take a taxi to the town of Alexandrovskaya and follow a marked road to a neighborhood store where they would find their next clue.

Brook and Claire were the first to arrive at the store and were followed by Michael and Kevin, Jill and Thomas, Nat and Kat, Chad and Stephanie, and Gary and Mallory.  Nick and Vicki continued to trail behind in what appeared to be a somewhat distant last place.

Once the teams arrived at the store, they received clues which instructed them to complete a "Russian Drag Race" Roadblock task that required one team member to dress like a babushka, a female peasant farmer, and use cow manure to plant a row of 50 potatoes.

Brook chose to do the Roadblock task for her team and was later joined by Kevin, Jill, Nat, Stephanie, Mallory, and Nick.

Michael and Kevin jumped from second place to first as they were the first team to complete the Roadblock. They were then followed by Brook and Claire, Jill and Thomas, Nat and Kat, Chad and Stephanie, Gary and Mallory, and Nick and Vicki.

Upon completion of the Roadblock, the teams received clues which instructed them to make their way to St. Isaac's Cathedral, a massive structure that would serve as the Race's sixth Pit Stop.

All of the seven teams arrived to the Pit Stop in the same order they had left the Roadblock, except for Michael and Kevin and Jill and Thomas.

Kevin ignored Michael's plea to go to the park, resulting in a drop from first to third place.

Meanwhile, Jill and Thomas grabbed that advantage to jump right into first, arriving at the Pit Stop before any of the other teams. As their reward, they won a five-night travel to Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Given their last place standing, Nick and Vicki appeared to arrive expecting their elimination.  However The Amazing Race's host Phil Keoghan then revealed otherwise.

"Nick and Vicki, I'm sorry to tell you, you are the last team to arrive -- Very sorry to tell you that you gotta run another leg because you guys are still in the Race! This is a non-elimination leg, and you will get to race another day," Phil explained.

"Oh my God!" Vicki said. "Luck was not on our side for some reason."

"Till now," Nick added. "So maybe this is our chance and we'll run with it."
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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