This week’s episode of The Amazing Race: Canada kicked off with the teams panicking about a Double U-Turn, and everyone hustling to try and get to Regina, Saskatchewan.
Two teams got an early morning flight, with the rest arriving less than an hour later.
But Hal and Joanne managed to snag a spot on that earlier flight by flying to Calgary. Go Bodybreak!
Lentils? Wow, you know a city doesn’t have much going for it when the challenge has to do with searching through giant pits of lentils. It kind of looked like a giant litter box. It was the epitome of a needle in the haystack task, which can be the most frustrating. It’s 90% luck and 10% staying calm.
The task was brutal, and some teams had better luck than others. Holly and Brett decided to quit and take the two hour penalty, because Holly is weak and whiny. Immediately afterwards, Hal and Joanne also decided to take a penalty. If they’d be the only two teams left, I might have been OK with that. But Jody and Cory were still searching through lentils. They eventually found it, which meant they had an advantage over teams who took a penalty.
Road Block – Make Your Bed
Next, teams went to RCMP training – a thing Regina is more famous for than its lentils. A family friend of mine is an RCMP officer, and the training sounds positively grueling. I’ve heard stories of how strict they are about keeping your quarters not just tidy, but exact. Also, they scream at you a lot and easily detect sarcasm in your voice. I wouldn’t last ten minutes.
Jet and Dave arrived first, and since he’s a police officer Jet did the task. No offense, but “Jet Black” sounds more like the kind of cop that shows up at your house with a boombox and tearaway pants.
The challenge took well over two hours, but eventually Jet did finish. Joanne was next to finish – she was actually pretty good at dealing with all that “Yes, sir”, “No, sir” crap.
Detour: Brawn vs. Beauty
In Brawn, teams had to complete football drills. In Beauty, teams had to complete a cheerleading routine. I couldn’t believe Jet and Dave didn’t do “Beauty”! One of them is a cheerleader! (And I’m pretty sure the other miiiight be another kind of dancer.) But I see why they’d go for “Brawn”.
The football was really hard – the last part of the drill was to catch a pass and then kick a field goal. If you missed it, you had to do the whole thing over again.
Jet and Dave declined to use the U-Turn, and arrived in first place. Tim Squared succeeded pretty easily at the football, but they did choose to U-Turn. They did it to Hal and Joanne, which seemed mean since they already had the two hour penalty. But they saw Team Bodybreak as a threat and made a strategic move, which is part of the game. Tim Squared arrived in second place.
Hal and Joanne *just* managed to arrive at the U-turn before Brett and Holly, so of course they U-turned the other team that had a two hour penalty. Holly, unsurprisingly, broke down when she realized they’d have to do the “Brawn” challenge after struggling through the cheerleading.
I was shocked at how quickly Holly and Brett finished the football drills. It was like magic. They finished around the same time that the sisters completed the cheerleading routine. They had to wait out their two hour penalty, so the sisters arrived third and the brothers in fourth. The only thing that could save Team Bodybreak was a non-elimination leg.
Unfortunately, no dice. I’m so bummed! I was really hoping Hal and Joanne would win, so I was crossing my fingers for a non-elimination leg. I kind of hate that what got them was a lame-o needle-in-a-haystack challenge. Who should I root for now?