Tag Archives: New Brunswick

Amazing Race Canada: Fitness and flying in Fredericton

OK, I admit it. I’ve only been to New Brunswick once in my life and it was driving through it to PEI. I didn’t stop, didn’t sleep and didn’t eat there. So I was thrilled The Amazing Race Canada devoted an entire Leg to the province so that I can make notes and right my wrong in the near future.

Dylan and Kwame, who pieced together one heck of a great Leg last week, departed in top spot. The military’s long history in Fredericton served as the first test of the Leg, as teams were driven to Officers’ Square in the Garrison District to observe two changing of the guards and figure out one subtle difference between each. That seemed easy, until Jon explained the two ceremonies were taking place blocks apart; plenty of time to forget what you saw. All four teams arrived at the same time and I wondered if any would help each other.  Phil and Marina chose to take their taxi to the second location, saving them time and keeping the routine fresh. Phil spotted the difference right away and they were off and, literally, running.

The Leg’s Detour featured CFB Gagetown, the second-largest military base in Canada. The two choices here were Fit (completing a fitness exam in under 18 minutes) or Fly (running a helicopter flight simulator and landing top of Montreal’s Bell Centre in under five minutes). I would have chosen Fly if you were wondering. Martina and Phil chose one of the two spots on Fly. Kwame and Dylan were next, picking one of two slots in Fit. While Phil and Martina crashed, Kwame and Dylan were having challenges of their own on what looked like a terribly hard physical test. Mike, Courtney and Adam’s cab driver, refused to take Taylor and Courtney to Gagetown, leaving them in last place. The first responders chose Fit, leaving the RCMP officers to either wait for another team to complete Fit or opt for Fly. The took Fly.

Martina was doing really well behind the controls, but they had to step out so Courtney and Taylor to give it a shot. Meanwhile, we got more background into Kwame’s upbringing and his own military ties. That and his exultations to Dylan got the pair past the physical pain as they completed the Detour. Adam’s full bladder caused him to stop short dragging the sandbags down the lane and he had to start all over again. Taylor’s video game playing skills was a major advantage and he and Courtney landed the helicopter in his first attempt. I felt so badly for Courtney; she was performing the last part of the Fit test and messed it up, sending them over to Fly. There the pair switched off with Martina and Phil between being lost in the air or skidding off the Bell Centre to simulated deaths.

The second Face Off of the season involved wheelchair basketball, as teams went head-to-head in a 15-minute half court game. The team with the most points moved on and the losers had to stay and play the next pair. Courtney and Taylor had a few minutes to practice before Dylan and Kwame arrived. Courtney, recognizing she didn’t have the strength to match either football coaches, played a brilliant defensive game, crowding Dylan and giving she and her brother the win. Dylan and Kwame made short work of Phil and Martina, leaving the siblings to take on Adam and Courtney. It was an evenly matched tilt that headed to sudden death: Courtney and Adam won.

In the Road Block, teams travelled to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. There, they had to work with an elder asking questions in Wolastoqey to identify six Indigenous paintings. Following a physical challenge with one using language was genius and the nonplussed look on Taylor’s face said it all: this would be a time-consuming test. But with no one else around to apply pressure, Taylor focused and had nailed five out of six paintings before Kwame arrived. He and Courtney left the gallery in first place and Government House, the site of the Pit Stop. Adam, sadly, at first thought it was an English-language challenge and wasted precious time before reading the clue over again and realizing his error. He rebounded quickly, leaving Martina at Beaverbrook.

The RCMP officers/siblings once again placed first, winning a trip to Buenos Aires. Kwame and Dylan and Courtney and Adam rounded out the final three heading into the season finale. Kudos to Phil and Martina, who refused to get down even though they knew they had been eliminated.

Who will win the final Leg of The Amazing Race Canada? What do you want to say to Phil and Martina? Let me know in the comments below.

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

  1. Courtney and Taylor (trip to Buenos Aires)
  2. Dylan and Kwame
  3. Courtney and Adam
  4. Martina and Phil (eliminated)

The Amazing Race Canada airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/9 p.m. MT on CTV.

Images courtesy of Bell Media.

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Amazing Racers put the “fun” in Fundy

And just like that, we’re down to the final three teams on The Amazing Race Canada. After thousands of miles and millions of footsteps, Olympians Meaghan and Natalie, best buds Mickey and Pete and co-workers Ryan and Rob will face off in Sunday’s season finale in Ottawa where one team will claim the grand prize.

Unfortunately, not in the running for the cash, cars and other baubles are siblings Sukhi and Jinder, who arrived on the mat in last place on the windy coast of New Brunswick and were eliminated.

“We feel so blessed that we got to do 11 Legs,” Jinder told host Jon Montgomery. “Now that we’ve done this race, I don’t want our lives to be any less extraordinary.” I really have to acknowledge how the pair evolved throughout the season. In the beginning, they were plagued by nerves and missed easy clues and got lost often, but as the Legs continued they became stronger and more cohesive. Sadly, a case of one red traffic light may have been the reason they were cut.

After placing first in Prince Edward Island, Sukhi and Jinder were the first to depart from Charlottetown. Their haste to get out of town and across the Confederation Bridge led to driving through a red light … and into a 15-minute penalty. They could only watch as Meaghan and Natalie and Mickey and Pete drove past and into the lead. The Olympians and the best friends arrived at and completed the Dairy Queen serving challenge and got to the Detour card location within seconds of each other. Both teams–and, as it turned out, all four–chose the Flag It task, a horribly complex thing where maritime flags denoting different nautical messages had to be hoisted up a flag pole in a certain order.

The difficulty of the test–so many flags looked exactly the same–meant that all four teams ended up in the muck surrounding the Hopewell Rocks in the Bay of Fundy at the same time, struggling to figure out why they weren’t given the green light to advance to rock climbing and, eventually, the mat. Meaghan and Natalie were the first to realize what they had done wrong and sprinted off to another first-place finish. Mickey and Pete were next, followed by Ryan and Rob and Sukhi and Jinder. The co-workers’ few seconds head start meant the difference between them placing third and advancing to Sunday’s finale.

At this point it looks like Meaghan and Natalie may have this whole thing sewn up. But, as evidenced in The Amazing Race franchise, one small slip can mean the difference between champs and chumps.

The Amazing Race Canada season finale airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on CTV followed by an After the Race special.

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