TV travels
Corner Brook, St. Lunaire-griguet women compete on ‘The Amazing Race Canada’
Two cousins from this province have had the time of their lives as contestants on the popular reality TV show “The Amazing Race Canada.”
Two cousins from this province have had the time of their lives as contestants on the popular reality TV show “The Amazing Race Canada.”
Hosted by Olympic gold medalist Jon Montgomery, Season 5 sees teams of two travel across Canada and beyond, embracing gruelling challenges along the way.
This season’s show features special challenges and storylines to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation.
Twenty-three-year-old Megan Burden is from St. Lunaire-griquet, and is a recent graduate of the College of the North Atlantic’s biomedical engineering technology program.
Twenty-one-year-old Courtney Roberts is from Corner Brook.
Burden, and is a social work student at Memorial University.
Promotional material about the show describes the young women as “quirky cousins with absolutely no filter.”
Burden is described as “a sweet perfectionist,” while Roberts is touted as “a determined loudmouth.”
When asked, during a recent phone interview, why they put themselves out there as possible contestants on the show, Burden said, “Why not!”
“We love reality TV. We love the show. We figured this is a chance to travel together, a chance to win a quarter-of-amillion dollars. There was nothing really to hold us back,” she said.
“And we were really close growing up. We consider ourselves sisters more than anything,” Roberts added.
This season’s grand prize includes two vehicles, a trip for two around the world and $250,000 cash.
Racers also compete for special leg prizes, awarded to the first team to cross the mat in each of the episodes, leading up to the finale.
This is the cousins’ second year applying to be contestants on the show.
“Last year we made it pretty far into the process, but we didn’t get picked. So, this year we decided to apply again,” Roberts said.
Roberts believes they caught the attention of those choosing the contestants because of their fun-loving personalities and strong relationship.
“I think we’re definitely unique from any other team that has raced before. I think the fans will be happy to watch us … because they can relate to us,” Roberts said.
Burden and Roberts are competing against nine other teams. They include a mother and son team from Grand Forks, B.C., outgoing and fun-loving boyfriends from Toronto, Ont., and competitive siblings from Montreal, Que.
“All the other teams were tough, but we loved all the people,” Roberts said.
“Everyone was neck-and-neck at all points of the race. It wasn’t something where a team was an hour ahead of someone else,” she added.
How did the cousins prepare for the races?
“We actually didn’t prepare at all,” Roberts said with a laugh.
“Everyone else on the race was talking about how they prepared. … We were mentally prepared. We just weren’t doing 10-kilometre runs like everyone else. You’ll notice that in the show,” she adds.
While they may not have prepared physically for the show, the overall experience was “amazing,” Burden said.
“Even through the hard times there wasn’t one moment when we weren’t grateful for the experience. It was just incredible,” she said.
Both young women encourage other people — especially those from this province — to put their names forward as future contestants.
“We are just two smalltown girls and we hope people (watching the show) will say, well if they can do it, we can do it,” Burden said.
“It was so incredible. It was a chance of a lifetime. Something that me and Megan shared together. We have a special bond from it. It certainly brought us closer together. It was so beautiful,” Roberts added.
The show airs on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET beginning July 4 on CTV and CTV GO.