‘The Amazing Race’ keeps it fresh at 22

Bora in French Polynesia - but there aren’t exactly a beach chair and an umbrella drink waiting for them.

“They have to go up in a helicopter,” says van Munster, “over the island of Bora Bora. The helicopter starts in midair, hovers, and then they have to jump out. That is very intimidating. They know nothing in advance. They realize it once they’re up there.

“Going up in a helicopter, hovering at 10,000 feet and jumping over an island that’s basically a dot in the ocean, not knowing where you’re going to land with this thing, it’s daunting. So, I must say, they all did it. They screamed their little hearts out on the way down. They fall like a brick out of this helicopter.”

Adds Doganieri, “We were so lucky with the weather, too. The islands look stunning from the sky. You see white sand beaches and turquoise water and the deep blue sea.”

After a couple of shows around French Polynesia, the 11 teams then head to New Zealand, where they participate in a shemozzle race. What, you ask, is a shemozzle race? If you’ve seen the movie “Babe,” which was shot in New Zealand, it may look familiar.

“It’s the roadblock,” Doganieri says. “It’s a farmers obstacle course. Farmers run with their sheepdogs. So we had the contestants do this course with a dog, which was so much fun.

“It was muddy and rainy. They’ve got to climb up hay bales, slide down giant mud hills into pools of water. It’s just hysterically funny. And they have to carry eggs without cracking them while doing this whole race.”

Incidentally, there’s one new twist this year. The first team to check in at the first pit stop will earn two “Express Passes” - one to keep and one that must be given to another team by the end of the fourth leg of the race.

Says van Munster, “Again, we found another way to make our way around the world in a unique way.”

Across

1. Role on “NCIS” (2)

10. “Coffee, Tea __ __?”

11. Actress Eve

12. Scot’s denial

13. Forest Whitaker’s alma mater, for short

14. “Long __ and Far Away” (1989-93)

16. Heigl of “Grey’s Anatomy”

18. Charge

20. “Friday the 13th: __ __

Beginning”; 1985 film

23. Mailman’s beat: abbr.

24. Koppel and Knight

2. Retirement acct.

3. Butterfly or Bovary: abbr.

4. “Lie to __”

5. “Ghosts of Girlfriends __”; 2009 movie

6. “__ of Triumph”; 1948 Ingrid Bergman film

7. Initials for Mr. Dobbs

8. Actress Anne

9. __ Bill; kids show host in the 1950s and ’60s

13. “Rocky” production co.

15. Tableware manufacturer

16. “The Skeleton __”; 2005 film for Kate Hudson

17. Lamb bearers

18. Wealthy big shot (2)

19. “__ Says I Love You”; 1996 Woody Allen film

21. “__ Me to Hell”; 2009 Alison Lohman movie

24. Child’s running game

26. John, for one

29. Actress Russell

30. Actor and folksinger Burl

31. Actress Ming-__

34. __ Sara

35. “__ __ was saying ...”

36. “American __”

38. Cybill Shepherd’s state of birth: abbr.

39. Initials for Uggams