Amazing Race Canada: The Double U-Turn wreaks havoc in Ottawa

With The Amazing Race Canada stopping in Ottawa this week, I half-expected the Prime Minister to be involved in some sort of challenge. That didn’t happen, but it did embrace the capital of Canada and everything that goes along with it.

This Leg featured the dreaded Double U-Turn, the ultimate in game play on The Amazing Race Canada and a real opportunity for folks to lay the groundwork for friction between squads. Would Andrea and Adam use last week’s first-place finish to gain momentum and take out other teams? Would Ivana’s bad back derail she and Korey for good? Sam and Paul stated from their cab ride to the airport that they were ready to use the Double U-Turn to their advantage, but would they really do it, or would another duo make a move on them?

Adam and Andrea sought teamwork from past buddies Ebonie and Andrea and Sam and Paul, hoping the trio of teams could work together but—more importantly—not U-Turn each other. It was a smart move, but would it work out?

All of the teams arrived in Ottawa on the same flight, negating any attempt at a head-start. Korey and Ivana sprinted into the lead, arriving at City Hall and then departing for Hog’s Back Falls to use a series of sponsorship vehicles to spell one letter in the word “Canada.” Listen, I get having to celebrate a sponsor—it helps pay the bills—but parking cars to spell a word is lame. Still, the challenge was enough to see some teams shift position, as Kenneth and Ryan completed it first, followed by Ebonie and Andrea and Korey and Ivans. Sam and Paul forgot to use their in-car cameras, which slowed them down.

Ryan, Andrea, Korey, Adam, Karen and Paul opted to do the Road Block, a patriotic test involving grooming an RCMP horse, dressing it up and then riding it alongside two officers. Yes, that involved some horse bum-wiping, and a lot was made of that task. It seems like Kenneth and Ryan and Ebonie and Andrea are always going head-to-head and that was the case here too, as the pairs completed the task No. 1 and 2.

The week’s Detours had squads either building a flower cart and filling it with tulips of certain colours in a specific order or seek out 20 pieces of art from a cavernous warehouse. Not surprisingly, all of the teams chose the tulips (as would I, if anyone is asking). That meant a log jam of teams at the same location and the chance for folks like Karen and Bert or Sam and Paul to move up the ranks. That’s exactly what happened to Sam and Paul, who took the time to ask for directions before leaving for Commissioner’s Park. The result? The last-place team coming out of the horse test arrived at the park first, followed by Bert and Karen. (I can confirm from personal experience that Ottawa is a tricky city to drive in.) Ivana and Korey parked last.

Bert and Karen departed the tulips first and headed for the famous ByWard Market in search of the equally famous BeaverTails stand and the dreaded Double U-Turn board. Karen and Bert, who haven’t been much of a threat so far this season, opted not to U-Turn anyone and drove to the Canadian Museum of History. Sam and Paul arrived at the U-Turn board next and stuck with their alliance, protecting Adam and Andrea and Andrea and Ebonie and forcing Team Give’r to embrace their arty side. Adam and Andrea arrived at the U-Turn board next and—thinking Andrea and Ebonie must have already come by and not U-Turned anyone—opted to leave without putting anyone’s picture up. First rule of The Amazing Race Canada? Never assume anything. That opened up the chance for Korey and Ivana to make a power move and they took full advantage by U-Turning Ebonie and Andrea. (Also, what are the chances that Ryan would see his brother, Johnny, in downtown Ottawa?) Kenneth and Ryan didn’t let being U-Turned get them down; the best buds zipped over to the art storage facility and blew through the 20 images and were leaving for the museum as Ebonie and Andrea arrived.

Meanwhile, Sam and Paul were the first to get a taste of what it takes to become a Canadian citizen when they had to complete a citizenship test packed with multiple-choice questions. Sam passed, but Paul failed. Karen passed, but Bert failed. Adam and Andrea both passed and they departed for the museum’s upper terrace to meet Jon at the Pit Stop, landing a cross-country trip for two in the process. They have quickly become the team to beat this season after winning back-to-back Legs. Thank goodness I’m a Canadian citizen from birth because the test was clearly too much for the teams. After eight tries Paul finally passed; Korey and Ivana were next, and Bert (after 14 attempts) and Karen followed. After Team Give’r nailed their tests, it was over for Ebonie and Andrea … until Jon informed them it was a non-elimination Leg. Clearly, the gals have luck on their side because they were saved a second time.

Here’s how the teams finished this Leg of the Race:

  1. Adam and Andrea (won a five-stop cross Canada trip)
  2. Sam and Paul
  3. Korey and Ivana
  4. Karen and Bert
  5. Kenneth and Ryan
  6. Ebonie and Andrea (non-elimination Leg)

What did you think of this Leg of The Amazing Race Canada? How would you have done with the citizenship test? Let me know in the comments below.

The Amazing Race Canada airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.

Images courtesy of Bell Media.

 

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7 thoughts on “Amazing Race Canada: The Double U-Turn wreaks havoc in Ottawa”

  1. The detours were pretty cool and everyone choosing the flowers *naturally* added drama and pacing.

    I knew we were likely due for a non-elim episode soon (and still need one more, probably going to be one of the two international episode left) but placing it at the U-Turn episode sucks out all the impact. The U-Turn is the most social element to the Race. You don’t really see alliances anywhere else in the show for that reason. It’s not like Andrea and Ebonie can get immunity and vote someone off as revenge.

    The history exhibit and citizenship test were cool. Were the answers to the test actually in the exhibit? I might have done OK, took a bunch of history classes in high school.

    The sponsor challenge wasn’t too bad either though it and the “proud-to-be-Canadian moment” happen as frequently as the BMO lines now so it gets redundant after a while. I’m not knocking the show for showing off Canada at all, it’s great for that; but shoehorning it in every week even in international legs lessens the impact IMO.

    That said, Adam & Andrea should have copied the US strategy of burning the 2nd U-Turn slot by putting up Sam & Paul just in case.

    Stand-up challenge next week looks interesting. Though I wouldn’t mind TARC dropping Face Offs. I understand them wanting teams to go head to head a bit more but they can’t do inventive challenges like Survivor so we watch them in a sport instead of the Race. Other then a slight time boost of everyone else over the losers, it has no effect. And the time boost can be neutralized by an equalizer or the losing team makes up time in another way….as happens in every episode at some point with someone in the back. If it’s not neutralized then it telegraphs who goes home taking the suspense out of it. Speed Bumps sometimes have the same problem but a bit of variety in the challenges can sometimes change it up; with Face Offs you watch them play a sport for 10 minutes, bowling in our “first” Face Off this year. It can be mildly funny to see a team bad at a sport but it’s not worth the hype.

  2. Oh and Ryan’s brother being thereis probably a first, they are allowed to tell immediate family they are on the show, the families have to sign NDAs I think. If he saw red and yellow flags nearby, he probably had a good chance of seeing them. It comes with the folksy charm of being mostly in Canada every year.

  3. Also the location order makes no sense at all. Start in Newfoundland to BC. BC to Alberta. Alberta back to BC. 3 cities in China/Thailand where they stayed in Shanghai for one clue. Cram Ontario and Quebec together for this episode. Now back to Newfoundland? Back and forth to the same places is how you ant to spent half the episodes?

  4. The ‘Giver Guys’ could are hysterically funny yet seem to find their focus when they need it. Don’t know if they will win AR but someone, Give em a show of their own!

  5. The one thing that I don’t get and bugs me about this episode is how did Kory and Ivana know that Andrea and Ebonie hadn’t made it to the u-turn but Andrea and Adam had no idea? Was it a lucky guess by Korey and Ivana?

  6. And was corrupt, do-nothing mayor watson involved in ANOTHER stupid photo-op ? That’s as pretty much useless as you can get !

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