Alt for Norge Daily Journal: Day 54 - June 15, 2012 (Episode 9)

Today is a very good day! Lots of good things happened and I got three major surprises/prizes!

An enormous troll that sat over a fairytale exhibit.

Everything got underway at 10:00 today. After a very bad night of sleep (the dang early sun and my stressing over how I reacted yesterday), we headed out to our first filming area. They took us to a kid’s fairy tale park and filmed a tour guide telling us several fairy tales, some of which were in the book we read and some new ones. (From that, it was affirmed that we would need to know these stories inside and out for today’s challenge!) After that, we headed to an old historic village, kind of like Conner Prairie, but much older. When we arrived, they had us put on special clothing. We looked like people of the 1800’s. Next, we had the introduction to our first challenge. All we knew is that there would be three parts to this challenge and Henriette stressed that she “hoped we knew our fairy tales.” Along with that, Henriette announced that the winner of today’s challenge will earn a free pass to the Finals and wouldn’t have to participate in any other semi-final challenges!!

The five remaining casat members! (Apparently, C.J. was not
happy about the outfit that he received!)

The first challenge came directly from one of the stories in our book and involved correctly finding six hidden items in a large haystack. However, there were several more items in the haystack that were incorrect. Fortunately, I knew this story well, so I knew the six items. The problem was that one of the items was a “willow hank” and I wasn’t sure what that was. I thought it was a rope, but wasn’t sure. I found my first 5 items pretty quickly, but couldn’t find any rope. However, I did find something that could hold things, so I decided to just try it. I presented the six items to a “princess” and she told me I had one wrong, as I figured. I took that one item and went back to the haystack and started frantically searching. Fortunately, pretty soon after throwing hay, I felt like I stepped on something hard. I looked down and there it was, a piece of rope. I was about to go right by it! I grabbed it and ran back to the princess, who then gave me the go-ahead. I was done and felt like I did pretty darn well!

A shot of "The Princess who always had to have the last word."

Our troll for the eating contest!

The second competition was based on a fairy tale where a boy challenges a troll to an eating contest. In it, the boy dumps his food in a knapsack on his belly and then pretends to cut his belly open to create more space for more food. The troll, not to be outdone, follows suit and slices his belly, which kills him. With that, I got started, ran into the scene and read the instruction sign. Unfortunately, I didn’t read it well enough though. It clearly states that I was to eat one bowl and dump a second bowl into my knapsack. Instead, I sat down with the troll and dumped both bowls of porridge in my knapsack. They brought me two more and I dumped those in as well. I couldn’t understand why the troll wasn’t killing itself! Then, I reread the sign and realized my error. I started scarfing down a bowl as fast as I could. As soon as I finished, I dumped the other bowl in my bag, stabbed myself (with a fake knife) and then watched the troll stab himself! I was done. It wasn’t as fast as It should have been, but wasn’t terrible. At this point, I figured I have to be in the top two, but couldn’t guarantee that I was in first.

The goat for the third challenge. Those horns were pretty intimidating!

Finally, we moved to the third challenge. This one was based on Three Billy Goats Gruff. I ran up to the sign which talked about getting the oldest goat across the bridge and by a hiding troll. Inside of a gate, there was a huge goat with huge horns! It was apparent that we had to grab that goat and bring him across the bridge. Quick note: Earlier, the producer did tell us that we may have to deal with livestock today. If so, it’s better for our safety to approach them slowly and not use force. If it came up through, I was planning on simply rushing him and over-powering him using brute-force! (Spoken like a true city-boy!) And that’s what I did. Instead of going slow, I ran in, slammed the gate shut and went at the goat. However, when I slammed the gate shut, the goat took off! I didn’t know what else to do, so I took off after him and with the greatest stroke of luck ever, he started racing towards the bridge! I kept chasing and he kept going towards the bridge! However, as we approached the bridge, he could go two ways. If he goes left, I’m screwed and would spend a ton of time catching him and bringing him back. Fortunately though, he chose the other option and went right and right over the bridge! The first time I touched him was after we had crossed the bridge! It couldn’t have gone better! As far as I can guess, I’m 99% sure I just sealed my ticket to the Finals!

After more interviews we gathered for the results. Henriette quickly announced that the top two were Jessica and I! Then, Henriette announced one of us did it in 5 minutes and 15 seconds and the other in 4 minutes and 30 seconds. The winner was….ME!! I’m into the FINALS!!! See what happens when you give me some physical challenges and when I’m prepared mentally! I was 45 seconds faster than the next person in a 5:00 minute race! Probably a good thing they didn’t have more physical challenges! I was pumped! (Sorry about this egotistical rant, but I’m trying to keep myself pumped up!) Along with that, I don’t have to play the recorder tomorrow, which is great in itself! (Although, as of yesterday, I felt like I was playing the song better than the others, so if I had to have done that challenge, I would’ve been pretty confident as well.) Then, the best news came! With winning today, I got a special prize! I get to call home!!! I almost broke down. I desperately need to hear your voice and I desperately want to know the gender of our baby! Even right now, as I write this the next day, I‘m getting emotional just thinking about it! I can’t wait for it!!

Once we were all done, we did our interviews, got changed and headed back for dinner. Nothing too exciting happened. Everyone else practiced their recorders, well I just watched a movie and had a few beers. They were the same Rignes beers I’ve been drinking while being here, but nothing has tasted better!

It was a great day, but now I need to finish what I started. I feel incredibly confident right now! I know my biggest weakness would be memory, so I’m going to work on some memory tricks I can use, if needed. Plus, I’m going to start looking back and remembering everyone we’ve met, everything we’ve done and everywhere we’ve been. I’m sure it will show up in the finals somehow!

I’M IN THE FINALS!!!

Day 54 Over!!