Ultimately Canadian
CBC sets country-wide ‘Challenge’ in new reality series
Ask any Canadian what makes this country great and you’ll get a myriad of answers, but one thing that always tops the list is the vast and varied nature of the landscape. From the rocky cliffs and sea-salted air of the East Coast to the majestic mountains and clear lakes of the West, Canada is rife with possibility for growth and adventure. CBC faces this possibility head-on, cranking the intensity to 100 when “Canada’s Ultimate Challenge” premieres Thursday, Feb. 16.
Similar to “The Amazing Race Canada” in its competition structure and nomadic filming location, “Canada’s Ultimate Challenge” takes 24 strangers, all athletically inclined Canadians, and splits them into six groups of four. Each group is then mentored by a famous Canadian athlete, who helps train their team (think “The Voice” for sports) to tackle a series of gruelling challenges set against a different natural Canadian backdrop each week.
Hosted by former TSN sportscaster Nikki Reyes and professional snowboarder and analyst Craig McMorris, the reality series promises to turn “the entire country into a giant obstacle course” while entertaining Canadians at home. Over eight hour-long episodes, the contestants must travel the country to compete in a series of solo, tandem or team challenges, each physically and mentally trying. Thankfully, no team is alone on its way to becoming the winner of “Canada’s Ultimate Challenge.”
There to guide their team each step of the way are a selection of highly trained and well-known Canadian athletes in their own right.The mentor roster includes two-time Olympic sprinting champion Donovan Bailey; NFL Super Bowl champion and cyclist Luke Willson; three-time Olympic speedskater Gilmore Junio; Jen Kish, the former captain of Canada’s Olympic bronze medal-winning rugby sevens team; six-time cycling and speedskating Olympian Clara Hughes; and Mohawk Olympian Waneek Horn-Miller, who competes in water polo and advocates for Indigenous sport.
The trailer released by CBC shows several ability-testing feats that range from repelling down the side of a brick building in the city to scaling a rope ladder that dangles over a deep gorge in the wilderness. Featuring mountain ranges, white water rapids and high-flying treetop stunts, “Canada’s Ultimate Challenge” wants to find out “what happens when we turn Canada into one giant obstacle course.”
Of course (pun not intended but gladly left in), a lot of hard work also went on behind the scenes of the series to make sure that each obstacle was to be performed safely and without a hitch.
“There have been a lot of twists in creating these challenges,” Reyes told The Canadian Press reporter Kevin Bissett while filming an episode at the Bay of Fundy’s Hopewell Rocks last summer. “It has been phenomenal to see the transformation of these iconic places and then seeing athletes trying to conquer them.”
Reyes also went on to acknowledge the growth and hard work put in by the professional athletes guiding each team.
“It’s really interesting to see the coaches outside their element as an athlete,” Reyes said. “We’ve seen them perform at the highest level on the biggest stages, but getting to know them personally and getting to see them work with these athletes and bring a different side of themselves that we were never privy to before has been really interesting.”
While Reyes was most impressed with how much each contestant and mentor evolved during the course of filming, her co-host, McMorris, found hope and comfort in the diversity the new competition has at its core.
“Our cast of 24 players is incredibly diverse,” McMorris told Bissett. “One of the things I am most proud of this program for is every Canadian should watch this and feel represented. It’s extremely important in today’s times.”