Alt for Norge Daily Journal: Day 61 - June 22, 2012 (Episode 10: The Finals!)

Today is our last day of competition! We’ve been away from our homes for 61 days, been to several different cities, met many great people, and done some incredible things, and it all comes to an end today……except for one of us. It will be a crazy day, but will be my favorite day so far, for many reasons!

Johnathan getting mentally-ready for today's final competition!

We got started early and left our cabin at 8:30. We packed our things up too, because we would be staying at the crew’s hotel tonight. After an hour in the car, we came to one of the Norway’s oldest cities, founded in 871! We went to the top of this big hill and found the remains of an old fortress. After a little time, they did our introductions to the final challenge. Henriette said it would be a food challenge! Uh oh, Johnathan is the food guru.

In front of us were four tables. Each of us would go at the same time, run to the first table, put two slices of brunost on a piece of bread and eat it down. When finished, you run to the second table and would have to peel 30 shrimp, but they were very specific that they had to be peeled well and if it wasn’t done well enough, they would add more shrimp to our bowls. After successfully peeling the shrimp, you move to table 3. Pretty simple; gut a large fish. After getting the okay, you move to table 4. There, you have to properly stack a Norwegian cake and after it’s stacked you can open a small package that will have a note in it to tell us our final instructions. After getting all the details, we broke for lunch.

The two finalists before our final competition!

At first, I wasn’t going to eat, so I wouldn’t fill up at all and I would be able to eat down the brunost (brown cheese) sandwich faster. However, I changed my mind and decided to practice eating large bites as fast as I could. I sat in the car so Johnathan wouldn’t see me practicing and was able to get down huge bites of our lunch sandwiches pretty quickly, without having to chew much. Knowing that, I felt really confident and was ready to go. About an hour later and after doing my pre-challenge routine, we got started.

Johnathan and I lined up at the starting line and Henriette did a quick intro and then counted us down. We both ran to the first table and made our sandwiches. As planned, I took a huge bite of mine and immediately, my world collapsed! The bread caused my mouth to go completely dry and the cheese was sticking to everything. I couldn’t get it even close to swallowing. I struggled and struggled, even spitting out most of it, trying to work with smaller bites. Nothing would work! Next thing I know, without having a single bite down, I see Johnathan moving to the second table! SHIT! I immediately started shaking. He was going to finish the whole thing before I even finished the first table!

I continued to struggle and still hadn’t got down one bite! I turned away, so I couldn’t see Johnathan and started thinking about how I would be letting down my friends and family, but especially my girls! I couldn’t believe I was going to cost them a trip to Norway! It was right then that I became desperate. I decided I had no other choice. I took a small piece and using my pointer finger, physically pushed it down my throat! I started to gag, but was able to fight it back. Unbelievably, I got that piece down and in a relatively quick time! I had no better options, so I continued that process and in a short time I had the whole thing down….kind of. I never really got the last couple of pieces all the way down. They were actually stuck in my throat! However, I was probably a minute or more behind at this point, so choking or not, breathing or not, I had to move on.

I raced to the shrimp table and started peeling. I was able to get about 5 done before I couldn’t take it anymore. I literally was choking! I stopped peeling, leaned to the side and started gagging. Finally, I was able to get those last pieces up and out of my throat and swallowed back down, all the way down this time. I could breathe again! Right back to the shrimp.

I was flying with the shrimp and threw caution to the wind. For every 4 or 5 shrimp that I peeled, Thor (the producer) would add one because I didn’t peel them properly, but I didn’t care. I had to risk it to catch up. After I was half way done, I looked up to see which table Johnathan was at, but he was still peeling. Great! I’ve narrowed our gap a little. Then, with 10 shrimp left, I look up and he’s still there!! Now, I’m thinking I have a small chance. 5 shrimp left, he’s still there! At this point, I’m thinking I can actually catch him. Next thing you know, I finish my last shrimp and he’s still there!! I’ve passed him! Amazing!

The tower that would represent the last step
in this incredible Norwegian adventure!

I ran to the third table and made quick work of gutting the fish. Off to the fourth table and stack the cake in about 10 seconds. I was flying! I get the okay from the producer and start opening the note. When I finally get it open, it tells me to be the first one to get to the top of the tower to raise the flag and I’ll be the winner of Alt for Norge!! Before I even read the last words, I took off! I ran up the stairs faster than I’ve ever ran! I burst onto the top of the tower to find C.J., Jessica, and Henriette holding a folded, Norwegian flag. They hand it to me and after some figuring out, I get it raised to the top, tie it off and started jumping and cheering like a high school cheerleader! I was so overwhelmed! After the cheese issue, I thought there was no way I would win! I was so amazed that I couldn’t hold it back! I just won a Norwegian reality show!! I JUST WON!!! Crazy!

Unfortunately, my celebration was cut short when I looked over the tower wall and noticed Johnathan with his head in his hands, crying over his bowl of shrimp. I felt so bad for him! I yelled own some words of encouragement and he yelled back, “congratulations.” At that point, I turned back and out of his view and continued to celebrate. What a feeling!

The "Final Four" with the best host ever, Henriette, after
finishing up the filming of our last competition!

Shortly later, Johnathan came up the tower, singing the Norwegian National Anthem the whole way up. We all hugged him and tried to cheer him up. Poor guy was still crying. Then, we had to endure the worst part of filming, the reshoots. We had to film several different sequences from different camera angles, which is so difficult to do, especially for Johnathan, but he handled it very well!

When the reshoots (or “pickups”) were over, we did our typical interviews and then wrapped it all up. Everyone from the crew was coming over to give me hugs and say congrats! It was such a great feeling! I was up in the clouds!

When it was all over, we said goodbye to a few crew members who were heading to Oslo and who we wouldn’t see again. With each person that you said goodbye to, we were realizing that we were inching closer and closer to the end. Pretty sad. It was time to change things up. With that, everyone ran to a grocery store and stocked up on beer. Tonight, we were going to have one final blowout and end things on a happy note!!

Our final hurrah! A shot of half of our crew living it up one more time!

We got back to the hotel around 4:30. I showered to get the nasty fish guts and shrimp smell off of me, then met everyone for dinner at 5:00. Thor, Henriette, Johnathan and I all gave quick speeches and then the party began! We spent the next 8 hours hanging out in the bar (drinking our own drinks since the bar was closed). Everyone was completely hammered and having a great time! We were a very tight cast, but over more and more time, we’ve grown closer and closer to the crew. Even the bus driver was there, living it up with us! (One of the funniest things of the night was when we sent the bus driver into Johnathan’s room to wake him up after he snuck away to catch “a little nap.”) It was the perfect end to the perfect day! I didn’t want it to end, but if it had to, this was the way to do it!

Day 61 Over!! I AM THE WINNER OF ALT FOR NORGE!!!