So, it has taken seven seasons to have a full leg in NWT. It has also been six seasons since the last leg to focus on cold weather tasks. Thankfully, the wait was well worth it because this leg was phenomenal. This leg was packed with exciting moments, tough challenges, taxi drama, Express Pass drama, money problems, and a penalty. It's ironic that this episode saw the return of cabatoge right after teams left Edmonton. While the show does a great job focusing on self-driving, it was great to see taxi drama due to the lower number of available cabs. Also, this is the third season in a row in which multiple Express Passes were used in one leg. I can completely understand why Anthony & James used theirs, but it's still crazy that Dave & Irina decided to use theirs on a task they didn't even attempt. The decision did lead to some fun drama later in the leg. I could nitpick considering the second Roadblock couldn't lead to any placement shifts and it was pretty apparent that the leg would be an NEL even before it aired, but I can look past those because this leg was pretty entertaining and one of the better domestic legs in recent memory.
Aarthy & Thinesh's ladle handling.
Lauren & Joanne using the auger.
"Sorry, we're closed." Finds an open door.
"What's a meter?" "3 feet." "I'm 4 feet."
"Do you have color?"
This leg was the best unintentional PR for geologists.
Ice Fishing: The task was a pretty typical cold climate task, but it did lead to some fun moments.
Diamonds: It's not surprising to see a diamond task while in Yellowknife, but this was a tough task. It wasn't straightforward and the multiple facets of the task led to quite a few trip ups.
Ice Swim: The task was straightforward and it was something already done on TAR 4. This isn't even the first cold water task to appear on TARC. At the same time, this task led to some tense moments with racers overcoming fears, and it led to Dave & Irina burning their Express Pass because Irina didn't want to be cold.
Maps: It's such a simple task, but it's crazy that so many teams struggled to the point where we saw a penalty though the fact that it was in -21 degree weather probably didn't help teams' minds.
5/5