The first week of a new Amazing Race Canada season is a bit of a learning curve for everyone, Racers included. They’re getting the gist of what they’ve gotten themselves into while viewers are sussing out the teams they want to support. And it looks like, with a mere one week under our belts, Kenneth and Ryan—a.k.a. Team Give R—have quickly become fan favourites because of their can-do attitude and Canadianity.
This week, Kenneth and Ryan’s support for each other never wavered while the stress got to other squads in the hunt for three Express Passes. Team Give R was the first to depart for Fort McMurray, AB. As Jonny Harris did with Still Standing, The Amazing Race Canada spent much of the episode recalling the awful wildfires that ravaged the area just over a year ago while celebrating the strength of community in rebuilding. (Aside from being entertaining, TARC is endlessly educational. I had no clue Fort Mac was Alberta’s oldest European settlement.)
Air Canada served as the great equalizer, as all teams were on the flight over the Rockies; Kenneth and Ryan grabbed the lead on the ground and took off to an adventure park with Andrea and Ebonie in hot pursuit. Looking at the burned trees hit Ivana especially hard, as she recounted her family’s escape from Sarajevo to Canada when she was young. At the Road Block, duos climbed over 50 platforms through a course, allowing them to limber up and judge each others’ physical fitness.
A few teams took wrong turns and hit up a roadside information booth where a friendly bearded gent gave them maps and pointed them to the right spot. One red light later and at least two cars were filled with folks who had no clue where they were going. (I’m not sure if this happens more often and it’s just not shown on-air, but this group of Racers appear to be the most directionally challenged so far.) That allowed for the bulk of the pack to acquire a huge head-start and Kenneth and Ryan to land all three Express Passes. They get to keep one of them and pass off the other two. This is where relationships are built and, to be honest, some pairs were annoyed by Kenneth screaming every time he found a pass. It’s one thing to be excited, but it’s another to be annoying.
With no Express Pass to find and with three cards in their pockets, Andrea and Ebonie departed the park first for this week’s Detour, “Pull It” or “Pump It,” choosing to fire at 15 clay targets or perform a fire training exercise using a water pump and 50 feet of hose to extinguish a controlled burn. (I would have chosen to fire at clay targets.) Ebonie and Andrea chose to firefight—as did Megan and Courtney, Kenneth and Ryan, Sam and Paul and Karen and Bert—while everyone else went shooting. Megan and Courtney were first to extinguish their flames, quickly tailed by Andrea and Ebonie; the teams swapped places on the road to the helicopter pad.
As soon as I saw teams would have to solve a math problem I knew we were in for a long night. Calculating fuel weight depending on passengers and gear on board? Forget it. Until Megan walked in. The biomedical engineering technologist was the poster girl for “don’t judge a book by its cover,” whipped off the answer and the cousins departed in first place via helicopter in search of Jon Montgomery on the 16th hole of a local golf course. Ebonie and Andrea went another route, working the formula backwards until they reached the right answer, leaving Team Give R scratching their heads. (I did wonder whether the previous teams erased their answers so others couldn’t steal it, or producers forbade that from being allowed.) Team Give R traded Karen and Bert their correct answer for an Express Pass, a really smart move.
Megan and Courtney were the first to find Jon and captured a trip to Aukland, New Zealand. The cousins were followed by business partners Ebonie and Andrea, couple Sam and Paul, married couple Karen and Bert, Team Give R, son-father squad Zed and Shabbir and siblings Adam and Andrea.
Ivana and Korey and Dan and Riya languished in the bottom, going head-to-head shooting targets until leaving within seconds of one another. Best friends Korey and Ivana sprinted to the mat ahead of YouTube stars Dan and Riya to claim the final spot on the mat.
What do you think of this season of The Amazing Race Canada so far? Let me know in the comments below.
Here’s how the teams placed after Leg 2:
- Megan and Courtney (won trip to Aukland, NZ)
- Ebonie and Andrea
- Sam and Paul
- Karen and Bert
- Team Give R
- Zed and Shabbir
- Adam and Andrea
- Korey and Ivana
- Dan and Riya (eliminated)
The Amazing Race Canada airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.
Images courtesy of Bell Media.
