Long national niceness nightmare is over
Our politeness gets kicked to the curb in the upcoming season of The Amazing Race Canada, as Melissa Hank explains.
The Amazing Race Canada
Season 5 debuts Tuesday, July 4 CTV/CTV Go
Barrelling around the corner in a blur of backpacks and Spandex, the teams battling it out on The Amazing Race Canada scan Capilano Suspension Bridge Park for a falconer with a clue to their next destination. Each team’s camera crew runs far too fast for 9 o’clock in the morning, trying to keep up.
It’s the second day of a two-day leg that kicks off season 5 of the travel competition. Yesterday, they were in St. Johns, NL, taking on challenges involving the Coast Guard, the harbour docks and Cabot Tower.
But this is Vancouver. In a destination filled with trees an armspan wide, no less. The smell of cedar sweetens the air, while a nearby river chats up invisible birds. One by one, the teams scuttle to the falconer’s base and await her directions.
“Whoa, this is Canada? This is amazing!” someone shouts, and a blonde gallops up with high fives for everyone. But the falcon perched on her caretaker’s arm is not amused. Neither are the two owls in their habitat behind them, complaining about interrupted sleep.
Luckily, birds aren’t The Amazing Race’s target demographic. The homegrown competition continues to be ratings gold for CTV — last season, it averaged 1.9 million viewers per week, making it the No. 1 summer series each year it’s been on.
This season sticks with the winning formula. Ten teams of two race across Canada and abroad, tackling challenges — including ones celebrating confederation — for the grand prize: a pair of Next Generation 2018 Chevrolet Equinox cars, a trip around the world for two and $250,000 in cash.
It’s enough to make the most jovial contestant play with a little more hustle and muscle.
“Season 1 was, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe we’re doing this!’ ” says showrunner Mark Lysakowski. “And then seasons after that, you know what to expect. But the cast is so competitive this year, fighting for every little thing in every leg. It’s like watching a really cool live sporting event.”
“In season 1, I don’t think anybody got U-turned,” adds host Jon Montgomery, referring to one team’s option to force another to do a challenge they didn’t originally choose.
“That was pretty pure Canadiana, but it’s also probably not the best strategy for winning. This season, nobody’s pulling any punches and they’re playing to win.”
Among the contestants: Aaron and Deborah Baker, a mother and son who work as funeral directors (and are wearing matching suits to boot); Sam Lambert and Paul Mitskopoulos, boyfriends from Toronto; Zed and Shabbir Dhalla, a cancer-survivor dad and his son; and Kenneth McAlpine and Ryan LaChapelle, surfer-dude best friends (“They’re the ultimate Canadian hosers,” Lysakowski says).
Hollering and fist-pumping the air, the teams wobble across the Capilano Suspension Bridge — 70 metres above the river and 137 metres long — and set off in search of the Gassy Jack statue for their next clue.
Vancouver itself is a blend of modern and rustic, with glittering condos and stores such as Holt Renfrew, Harry Rosen and Sephora tucked behind cherry blossom trees. Ever-present in the background are rows of mountains dressed formally in evergreens and capped in snow. The Pacific Ocean sprinkles salt in the air.
From Gassy Jack, in the historic section downtown, the racers will make their way to one of the show’s most dramatic challenges yet: a tightrope walk between two roofs at The Fairmont Hotel. Actually, the term “tightrope” might be generous. It’s more of a thumbwidth strap that flits in the wind, as if the task of keeping a human from falling 14 storeys into traffic were as easy as brunch.
Two by two, the competitors tiptoe across the strap, wearing a harness that acts like a designated driver to the wiggling strap’s party girl. Crew on both roofs pull and strain to adjust the rigging as the teams go along.
“Woooo! Oh my God, that was so awesome. Oh my Goooooooddd! This is awesome! This is awesome!” yells fitness consultant Ebonie Roberge, as she dismounts. Shortly after, events co-ordinator LaChappelle tumbles midway through his second attempt, dangling helplessly as the harness hauls him up.
“There are always snap judgments (you make about the racers), that you’re pleasantly surprised by or let down by,” Montgomery says.
“People don’t maybe challenge themselves as hard as you think they should on a particular challenge. But when someone does have a moment like that, I promise you, on this show, they always redeem themselves … They can’t pussyfoot their way through the race and expect to come out as champions.”
Across the street, pedestrians take pictures of the competitors navigating the strap above. Incoming teams mingle with them, cheering on their peers. And in a production vehicle nearby, Tom Petty’s 1989 Free Fallin’ plays on a CD — the driver seemingly oblivious to the irony.
“In the first season, we were very concerned about the public leaking information while we were racing. Like, ‘Oh, my God, it’s all over social media. Since then, I have not really cared because it creates excitement,” Lysakowski says.
The hardest thing, he says, is keeping the show fresh.
With the U.S. version of The Amazing Race wrapping its 29th season last month, and the Canadian version debuting its fifth season soon after, race overload is a real threat.
This year, CTV introduces two new features for viewers looking for a little more oomph.
Race Play will integrate each episode’s action into in-show polls and trivia, which happen in real time, and VR360 experiences will use immersive video capture to bring fans inside some of the most gruelling challenges.
“I still think there are more seasons in the show. I still think there are more places we can go. And we’re going to go back to certain places — there are more shows in Toronto, there are more shows in Vancouver, in Calgary,” Lysakowski says.
“The thing about Canada is that there are so many cool things that are going on, and I’m always on the lookout for new things to do and new places to go, and new things to see. And that to me is the best part of this show — discovering Canada.”