It’s time for the final Leg of the Race and teams must fly to Toronto. Air Canada gives them free upgrades for their last flight.
Once in Toronto, teams search for the woman with the maple leaf cap for their next clue pointing them to The L Tower, one of 24 new skyscrapers being built in the city.
The teams get the clue revealing the first Road Block.
In this Road Block, teams will rappel face first down the 44 stories of The L Tower.
Tim Jr., Jody and Vanessa are the ones that head up to do the rappel. They get strapped in with their clues clipped onto their bodies and they all step off together.
Tim Jr. gets down first, followed by Jody then Vanessa.
Teams are given a chocolate bar and are told to go to the factory where it was made, the Cadbury Chocolate Factory. Once there, teams must search through boxes of Caramilk bars for a gold bar which they will exchange for a key to a golden safe that’ll contain their next clue.
Vanessa & Celina get the address to the factory and are off first. They get to the factory and start looking through the chocolates. Vanessa is starting to get frustrated because she is having trouble opening the chocolates with gloves on, which she has to wear because she has nail polish.
Meanwhile, the Tims walk into the same hotel Jody & Cory are getting directions from, peek at the info and get out in front of them.
The men catch up to the ladies and all three teams are searching through the chocolates.
Tim Sr. and Tim Jr. are the ones that find the gold bar first and they head over to receive their next clue. Teams must now head to the Toronto Zoo to search the grounds for their next clue.
The Tims arrive at the Zoo and start looking. They think it’s at the big new panda exhibit, but they decide to go inside. The other two teams are still looking. It’s been an hour and a half and more than 30 minutes since the Tims left.
Vanessa & Celina finally find the gold bar and hurry to the Zoo. Jody & Cory leave last. But both teams get to the Zoo at the same time.
Both teams head directly to the panda exhibit. And they both find the clue first. Teams must now head to Evergreen Brick Works.
Having asked their cabbie to wait, Vanessa & Celina are off first. Jody & Cory have to wait for one while the Tims are starting to get frustrated walking around the Zoo.
The sisters arrive at Evergreen Brick Works and find another Road Block.
In this Road Block (and final challenge), teams must match the flags and provincial flowers with the provinces and territories they visited. Each Pit Stop Greeter (plus Mr. Cadbury) wore the respective local flowers while each Pit Start clue had each provincial or territorial flag printed on it.
Celina heads inside and thinks she’s got the flags down.
Jody & Cory arrive and Cory heads in to start while the Tims finally find the panda clue.
Celina has all her flags and now starts with the flowers. Both Celina and Cory notice some of the flags include the local flowers. Cory places all his cards on the map, but he gets only 4 out of 10. Celina only has 1 out of 10.
Outside, Jody and Vanessa are shocked to see the Tims just arriving.
Tim Sr. says he noticed the flowers and flags so he expected this task. Cory meanwhile gives it a 2nd go and he gets 5 out of 10.
Celina is on her 11th! attempt and still has only one correct. She’s on her 16th attempt and walks out to Vanessa and asks if they should take a penalty. Are you kidding me? Vanessa says. Cory is on his 17th attempt.
Tim Sr. is on his 1st attempt, asks for the judge, but he is wrong. He switches two cards and he’s got it all correct!
The Tims open the final clue telling them to head to the Finish Line at Olympic Island. They must first take a taxi then ferry.
On his 21st attempt, Cory gets the thumbs up and they are off.
But the Tims are already on the ferry and it leaves before the brothers arrive at the ferry terminal.
The father and son run towards the Finish Line and Jon officially names Tim Sr. and Tim Jr. as the official winners of The Amazing Race Canada.
A little later, Jody & Cory and Vanessa & Celina come running in together to officially finish as Team #2 and Team #3.
Episode and Season Thoughts
It was an alright finale. Maybe one too many luck tasks, but the final Road Block might have been right on par with TAR12’s and TAR21’s incredibly crazy final tasks.
Did Celina even finish? And why in the world did they run in together? That was odd. How about all that wasted chocolate though!?
I’m alright with the Tims winning. Not particularly excited even if they’re the very first parent-child winners of The Amazing Race, but I’m not upset either.
Overall, TARC’s first season has been very successful. It’s been the #1 show every week, TARC2 has been ordered, but most important, the teams, the destinations and the tasks were great.
Like all the other international versions recently in comparison to the American mothership, TARC was a breath of fresh air. And it’ll be a topic for a post next week, but TARC and all those other TAR franchises have shown The Amazing Race can still be amazing with good casting, fresh destinations and real, challenging tasks.
It also proved that an in-country Race is okay as long as you’ve got those same qualities. Looking back at TAR8, I really think us fans were just whiny and annoying when complaining about the US-only route.
Anyway, The Amazing Race Canada had an excellent first season and it’ll be exciting to see what they have in store next year.
