Racing report
Amazing Race Canada Season 10, Episode 7, "When am I going to see my dog next?"
Film dates: ?
The last leg ended in the Guelph University Arboretum and this leg seems to start in front of the big Basilica in downtown Guelph. We do not get departure times but it seems as if teams started just a minute or so apart because we get a shot of Michael & Amari running down from the start and you can see Lauren & Nicole walk up to the starting location behind them. The teams depart in the following order:
1. Taylor & Katie
2. Michael & Amari
3. Lauren & Nicole
4. Michael & Tyson
5. Kevin & Gurleen
6. Colin & Matt
The first clue tells teams to take the train to Montréal, Quebec. And once there make their way to the Montréal Trudeau International Airport and search the main terminal for their next clue.
Micheal & Amari tells us that as the end of the race is getting closer they are not going to be helping other teams as much any more.
All teams meet up at the train station, and there is talk about the pass board on the last leg. Taylor & Katie say that they put Kevin & Gurleen on the board then Kevin & Gurleen say that they did pass somebody.
"
You so-called friends", Lauren interjects
Lauren & Nicole talk about how betrayed they felt and later Gurleen boasts how she was not even listening to them.
Along the way we get a story bump for Colin & Matt. Colin talks about how good a friend Matt is and that Matt was the first buddy he came out to. This makes us fear for them in this leg.
"
Everybody deserves to have a friend like Matt", Colin
Once teams arrive in Montréal it is dark and they jump into taxis and head for the airport. The clue apparently gave some directions on where the clue box may be as teams know that they need to head to the departures area. Nobody seems to struggle with finding this clue box.
Route info: Straighten up and fly right.
Teams must now go to AviaSim which is located in the main terminal at the airport. This is an outfit which lets ordinary people try their hand at flying a plane in a simulator. They have a flight deck of an A320 with 180° view, but no motion. Teams will have to try to land the plane and the first three teams to successfully do so will get seats on the first of two buses departing for the city of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec.
There is an instructor giving teams a walk-through of the steps they need to take before the simulation is launched.
"
Matt and I are gamers", Colin thinks they should be good at this (and they are)
Teams seem to get to the simulator in the following order:
1. Colin & Matt
2. Lauren & Nicole
3. Michael & Tyson
4. Michael & Amari
5. Taylor & Katie
6. Kevin & Gurleen
The simulator results are:
1(+0) Colin & Matt, succeed on their 1st attempt
2(+0) Lauren & Nicole, succeed on their 3rd attempt
3(+0) Michael & Tyson, succeed on their 3rd attempt
4(+0) Michael & Amari, must have failed twice
5(+0) Taylor & Katie, must have failed twice
6(+0) Kevin & Gurleen, must have failed twice
The next day teams travel on two buses to Trois-Rivieres, Quebec. The buses will arrive 15 minutes apart to Ranch Dupont. At the ranch teams need to feed the camels and while doing that grab a token hanging from their neck. They can then exchange this token for keys to another sponsor car. This seems to be very easy as the camels are cuddly and hungry.
Inside each car teams will find a detour clue: Paper Jam or Poetry Slam
Paper Jam takes place at Musee Boréalis (27km). Here they must make one sheet of paper strong enough to hold a weight. When they complete that part they will get a small stack of papers which they will need to deliver to Le 507 (2km) where they they will get their next clue.
Poetry Jam takes place in Parc Champlain (27km). Here teams get to choose one of three love poems written in Portuguese, Romanian or Arabic. Between themselves they will need to memorize a part of this poem (one or two lines) in English, French and it's native language. They will have access to an audio recording for guidance. The sheet they get contains both the excerpt written in the English, French and the foreign language and also a phonetic transcript of the foreign language version. The interesting twist here is that there is only one poem per language, so when one team has grabbed that the next team has one fewer language to select from.
There is only room for three teams at each detour.
Michael & Tyson struggle at the paper detour while at the poetry side it is Kevin who struggles with the French version of their poem. Then when Michael & Tyson are done with making their paper and need to go to Le 507 they hire a taxi to show them the way. This used to be common in the American version of the race and has now been forbidden there, it seems to still be allowed here.
Teams complete the detour in the following order:
1. Lauren & Nicole, poetry pick Romanian and get it on their 2nd attempt
2. Colin & Matt, poetry pick Portuguese and get it on their 2nd shown attempt
3. Kevin & Gurleen, poetry get Arabic and get it on their 2nd shown attempt
4. Michael & Amari, paper
5. Taylor & Katie, paper
6. Michael & Tyson, paper
Face off: In this curling Switch Back, play one end of curling.
Teams will play one end of curling against each other. Each team has 8 rocks and the team with the rock closest to the target at the end wins. The last team to loose will get a time penalty.
"
We have never curled in our lives before", Taylor
Something is off in the curling matches. In the first match we see Colin & Matt throw the first rock, so by normal rules Lauren & Nicole should get the last rock. But Colin & Matt seem to have the last rock as well. I suspect that the editors have spliced together shots from multiple different matches to make this one extra exciting.
The curling takes place at Club de Curling TR (2km).
"
Can you stop showing off and show me what you're supposed to do?", Gurleen to her partner when he slides across the ice
"
Alright, this is my first time curling ever", Katie
"
I like that technique", Katie when Michael falls as he lets go of his rock
Teams get out of here in the following order:
1(+0) Lauren & Nicole win against Colin & Matt
2(+1) Kevin & Gurleen win against Colin & Matt
3(-1) Colin & Matt win against Michael & Amari
4(+0) Michael & Amari win against Taylor & Katie
5(+1) Michael & Tyson win against Taylor & Katie
6(-1) Taylor & Katie, got the time penalty
Road block: Who's ready to get back up on the horse?
This road block takes place at Ecole d'Art Equestre Beauvallon (10km). Here they must saddle up and master 5 physically demanding aerobatic tricks which they must perform on horseback. That is they get to ride a real horse in this road block.
"
I was traumatized by the horse activity in Sunshine Coast", Nicole does not remember the hobby horses fondly
Before teams get to perform their tricks on an actual horse they get to practice on mock horses.
"
Are we going on actual horses?", Lauren when she gets to the training area
One wrinkle is that the judge will say which trick they need to perform, in French. So not only do they need to learn the tricks, they also need to learn the names.
Lauren says that they are show skiers (i.e. water skiers) so they are kind of used to do tricks like this.
"
So, like every other sport during this race, I have minimal experience", Matt has never been on a horse before
"
My dad used to be a stunt double for some old movies, and his job was to ride a horse", Amari
Michael (of Michael & Tyson) seems to have a really hard time here. He manages to fall off his horse while practicing.
Taylor & Katie, who are last, arrives as there are still two other teams at this task. We get to hear that Katie is doing this in loving memory of a friend who recently passed away. Katie is also fairly good at the task. She almost get it in her first attempt, she just raised the wrong hand during one trick.
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the road block):
| 1(+0) | Lauren* & Nicole | (5-4) | On her 1st attempt |
| 2(+0) | Kevin* & Gurleen | (5-4) | On his 1st attempt |
| 3(+1) | Michael* & Amari | (5-4) | On his 1st attempt |
| 4(-1) | Colin & Matt* | (4-5) | On his 2nd attempt |
| 5(+0) | Michael* & Tyson | (5-4) | On his 2nd attempt |
| 6(+0) | Taylor & Katie* | (4-4) | On her 2nd attempt |
The next clue tells teams to drive to the town of Shawinigan and find the La Cité de L'énergie. Here they will find Jon and their next Pit Stop. The clue also warns that the last team to check in may be eliminated.
On the way to the observation tower and actually during the last part of the episode we get to her Lauren & Nicole talk a lot about how they want to break the curse and get a first place. And they specially want to beat Kevin & Gurleen.
Teams reach Jon (32km) in the following order:
1(+0) Lauren & Nicole, win a trip to Holland and $10,000
2(+0) Kevin & Gurleen
3(+0) Michael & Amari
4(+0) Colin & Matt
5(+0) Michael & Tyson
6(+0) Taylor & Katie, are saved by the fact that they are still racing
Normally the episode would end here. But not this one. As teams check in with Jon they get a new clue.
ROUTE INFO
Travel by bus back to
Montréal, Quebec.
Once there, find your
next clue at the entrée
sud of Stade Saputo.
You have $400 for this
leg of the Race.
CAUTION: Double Pass
Ahead!
The bust seem to be waiting on a parking lot across the road from the tower and all teams travel on the same bus.
Stade Saputo is a giant soccer stadium with almost 20,000 seats. Teams will have to search under them for two matching colored tokens. They may only carry two tokens at a time. If they do not find two tokens with the same color they will have to trade with another team. The first three teams turning in their tokens will win seats on the early train to their next destination.
This is going to be interesting to see. It will be hard to find the tokens and teams will have to trade. Colin & Matt decide to work with Kevin & Gurleen.
And this is where this episode ends. To be continued.
