Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 6, Episode 8 – “Am I digging myself in a hole?”

Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 6, Episode 8 – The Zombies Are Honing In On Us

Teams must now fly to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on Air Canada via Toronto. At the airport, Taylor & Courtney and Martina & Phil remember their siblings alliance from Leg 1. The teams are also shocked to see Nancy & Mellisa are still in the Race.

Teams will hop into brand new 2018 Chevy Volts and drive to Beaconsfield Historic House. Dylan & Kwame and Leanne & Mar arrive first and open the clue telling teams to participate in a local scavenger hunt game. Teams must search for three Eckhart the Mouses who will have three parts of their next clue.

For Nancy & Mellisa’s Speed Bump, they will cut hair for donations to make wigs for cancer patients. Nancy relates her experience facing breast cancer five years ago and her mother dying from breast cancer at age 47. She is emotional as she cuts the hair of a young girl who will be donating her hair today.

Leanne & Mar get all three clues followed by Courtney & Adam. They must say goodbye to Charlottetown and find the corner of Grahams Road and Route 6.

Courtney & Adam arrive first and find the Road Block: Who has a way with words? For this Road Block, teams must unscramble four menu items and then serve them to a local.

Courtney decides to do the Road Block. Nancy arrives and starts next followed by Mar. Phil and Taylor arrive next, leaving Dylan & Kwame back in town in last.

Courtney maintains her and Adam’s lead when they open the Detour. clue: Suds or Spuds. In Suds, teams will drive to Great Canadian Soap Company. They will milk goats to make soap and then identify different soap scents. In Spuds, teams drive to Blue Bay Farms where they will till the soil to create four rows. They must then chop potatoes, ensuring each slice has an eye and then plant them four to five inches apart in each row.

Courtney & Adam choose Spuds. Kwame starts the Road Block as Nancy & Mellisa leave after also choosing Spuds.

After Taylor finishes the Road Block, he decides to help Phil to repay them for pointing them to the last mouse in town.

Nancy and Mellisa get a little testy with each other as they start the Detour. They are still neck and neck with Courtney & Adam.

Taylor & Courtney and Martina & Phil arrive at the farm as Courtney & Adam and Nancy & Mellisa start planting. Leanne & Mar arrive next.

Nancy & Mellisa ask for a check and get the thumbs up first. They must now make their way to Crossfire Paintball Cavendish where they will make their way through paintball-armed zombies to search for their next clue. They will be penalized for one minute for each paintball hit.

Nancy and Mellisa discuss the tension from the Detour on the way as Courtney & Adam are close behind. Kwame finally finishes the Road Block and he and Dylan also choose Spuds. They arrive and try to catch up.

Taylor & Courtney and Martina & Phil get the thumbs up next and hurry off.

Nancy & Mellisa suit up and make their way through the paintball course. Courtney & Adam arrive right after them. Nancy & Mellisa are able to find the clue and get a 15-minute penalty. Courtney & Adam have a 16-minute penalty.

Back at the Detour, Leanne & Mar finish and leave. Dylan & Kwame ask for a check, but their potatoes are too close together.

Taylor & Courtney and Martina & Phil start the zombie course as Nancy & Mellisa finish their penalty. They can now find Jon at Cavendish Beach, the Pit Stop for this Leg of the Race.

Nancy & Mellisa step on the Mat as Team #1 and win a trip to Istanbul, Turkey! Courtney & Adam are Team #2.

Taylor & Courtney have a 23-minute penalty while Martina & Phil have a 19-minute penalty.

Leanne & Mar arrive and start. Leanne is feeling claustrophobic and starts having an anxiety attack, especially not knowing what they are looking for. Leanne is in tears while she takes the mask off. They decide to take a 2-hour penalty as Leanne cannot handle the task.

Taylor & Courtney is Team #3. Leanne & Mar arrive at the Mat as 4th, but must wait out their 2-hour penalty. Martina & Phil are able to check in as Team #4.

Dylan & Kwame get to the paintball and are able to grab the clue with a 14-minute penalty.

Once their penalty is over, they hurry to the Pit Stop and are able to check in as Team #5.

That means Leanne & Mar are last and eliminated.

Episode Thoughts

I actually very much enjoyed this Leg! This is one of those small town Canada Legs that actually worked. Each task was pretty good and allowed for teams to really compete with each other even if all are versions of previous TARC or even international TAR tasks.

First up was the scavenger hunt around town, a version of which we already saw earlier this season! But I think this one was much better since it was part of a fuller Leg than the bare bones Dawson City Leg.

The Speed Bump was a very nice moment. I mean, it’s hard to criticize a Speed Bump with such a good cause. But still, it was a nice moment and placed in a good spot so afterwards the Non-Eliminated team could concentrate on Racing.

The Road Block was a fresh take on the food orders task (also done many times on TARC). It was more of a simple puzzle task really.

The Detour was very straightforward. Interesting that all teams chose the potatoes. I assume the having to identify soap scents (another recycled task) was the dealbreaker for the Suds side of the Detour. With the potatoes, all aspects are within your control. Just roll up your sleeves and do the work.

The paintball task was interesting. Certainly not the first time for paintball on TAR. The zombie aspect of it was really just extra to make it more interesting. While the TARPH2 episode that featured the zombie Route Marker in Iloilo has never seen the internet light of day, just from screencaps and task description, I might prefer it to this paintball task.

The whole set-up of the location being the original Pit Stop, but now abandoned due to a zombie outbreak was very fun and creative. So the task to avoid zombies and then drinking an antidote to try again made sense. Zombie paintball, not so much. But maybe that’s actually a thing in PEI?

Anyway, overall I very much enjoyed this Leg. An actual full, competitive Leg.

My Subjective Team Rankings

This was definitely a big Leg for Nancy & Mellisa. From their bickering to Nancy’s very emotional moment to them going from worst to first WITH a Speed Bump, this was their biggest and most exciting Leg. It’s great to finally see them win a Leg. And this was a great Leg for them to win.

Martina & Phil were much quieter this Leg than they have been. Dylan & Kwame were in the most danger they’ve been all season, but luck was on their side. It was also great that they never gave up and still pushed forward.

Courtney & Adam look like they are making their move. Now with only five teams left, their chances are looking much better. And they are stepping it up at the perfect time.

It’s sad to see Leanne & Mar get eliminated like that. It’s tough. You don’t really know how they, especially Leanne, felt at that task. So it’s unfortunate that they had to quit and take the penalty after running such a great and strong Race.

Taylor & Courtney slipped a little this Leg, but they certainly have what it takes to get themselves back up the ranks.

Episode Quotes

Courtney: “Challenge is kicking my ass.”

Adam: “Am I digging myself in a hole?”

Martina: “I let it just expire.”