Amazing Race Canada hangs ten—and delivers a Fast Forward—in Bangkok

It’s been a little hard for me to connect with the teams during this season of The Amazing Race Canada. I’m not sure what it is. No one is particularly annoying or deserves my scorn. Everyone seems to get along not only within their own duos but with each other too. Perhaps that’s it; I’m used to villains and heroes distinguishing themselves by now and it hasn’t happened. These folks are just so nice.

And while I haven’t been outright cheering for a pair yet, I was sad to see Zed and Shabbir eliminated. The father-son duo have a great story—Shabbir battled cancer and won, and Zed looks like José Bautista—and they’ve been strong performers so far both physically and in the mental game. Unfortunately, they stumbled in Bangkok, Thailand.

Sam and Paul, who began the Leg in first place, made a costly blunder at the top of the hour, dropping their instructions and train tickets to Shanghai in the street as they walked away. Incredibly, no one had sauntered along and picked them up and the boys reclaimed the ducats when they retraced their steps. And credit to the pair for keeping cool heads and looking for the tickets rather than wasting time blaming each other. They did, however, lose their clue instructions. But even then, Adam and Andrea gave them help without a blink of the eye. Yes, they want help in return, but this being a competition, I’m still surprised everyone is willing to help.

A quick stop at a Montreal-themed restaurant in Shanghai for some Sinorama product placement and teams were on a plane to Bangkok and a cat café in search of their next clue. It also introduced the first Fast Forward of the season, a special challenge that would score the first team to complete it a straight shot to the Pit Stop. The catch is always that you could waste time going there when another team had already completed the task, and many teams choose to skip it altogether. Ivana and Korey and Adam and Andrea both picked the Hoop Takraw. (The others all elected to stick with the Route Info and took a river cruise to their next clue.) I’m not sure how long it took them—and it appeared to be a total fluke—but Adam’s kick landed the ball in that small net, vaulting them to a temple Pit Stop in top spot and a return trip to Bangkok. Ivana and Korey were forced to return to the Route Info.

An intricate, word-free puppet show was the test for everyone but Adam and Andrea, a mixture of body movement, puppet coordination and silence that all members struggled with. Shabbir kept talking, resulting in failure. Sam and Paul and community theatre actors Bert and Karen nailed the performance on their first try and zipped off to the Detour: Bling It involved decorating a tuk tuk in a specific way while Shred It tested the ability to surf and snag flags for a clue. After eight tries, Zed and Shabbir re-read the clue and realized they were supposed to be silent during the puppet show. By the time they did, they were in last place.

After a few practice tries surfing, Sam and Paul nabbed a flag each and quickly departed for the Pit Stop. Andrea and Ebonie completed the surfing next, followed by Kenneth and Ryan. Clearly, the surfing was the easiest of the two Detours, but how could you know until you were there? Still, Shabbir had troubles surfing and after a particularly bad fall, they decided to switch challenges. That put them far behind everyone else and the only thing that could save them from being sent home was if this Leg was a non-elimination. It wasn’t.

Here’s how the teams placed at the end of this Leg:

1. Adam and Andrea (won trip to Bangkok)
2. Andrea and Ebonie
3. Sam and Paul
4. Kenneth and Ryan
5. Karen and Bert
6. Korey and Ivana
7. Zed and Shabbir (eliminated)

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

Images courtesy of Bell Media.