Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 2, Episode 7 – Lest We Forget


Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 2, Episode 7 – Lest We Forget

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The 7th Leg begins as teams learn they are flying to Normandy, France. This year marks the 100th anniversary of World War I as well as 70 years since June 1944 when 14,000 Canadians landed on Juno Beach. Jon says this Leg is a tribute to the brave men and women who have served the country.

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At the airport, Alain & Audrey want to take this opportunity to get to know Pierre & Michel now that they’re both on top. But when Audrey tries making a little chit-chat, the twins think she’s a hypocrite.

The teams are flying via Toronto to Paris from where they will drive themselves to Normandy and the Boulard Calvados winery.

Natalie & Meaghan are in first as they arrive at the winery to find the Road Block.


For this Road Block, teams will learn the process of diluting calvados, an apple brandy from the Normandy region. First, teams will choose a barrel from which they will extract a sample of pure calvados. After watching a demonstration, teams will use a complex mathematical formula to reduce the alcohol level to exactly 40%.

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Meaghan’s first attempt is incorrect, so that gives the other teams a chance to catch up. Pierre, Jinder and Pete are next to get started.

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Pete has trouble wrapping his head around the numbers and says Mickey should’ve done this Road Block since he’s an accountant. He says Mickey likes to make people think he’s an idiot, for whatever reason, but he’s a numbers guy.

Ryan & Rob are lost as Audrey arrives and gets started.

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Pierre gets the clue on his first attempt. Teams must now drive themselves to the village of Le Molay-Littry and find their next clue outside the town hall.

Sukhi sends Jinder some positive energy and he gets the next clue on his 2nd attempt. They are very excited as they leave.


Meanwhile, Pierre & Michel find the Detour.
In Show It, teams must choose a Percheron horse to groom before using traditional yarn to give it a French braid.
In Tell It, teams will travel to the town of Bayeux and find the famous Bayeux Tapestry. This 200 foot tapestry tells the story of William the Conqueror. In the museum’s courtyard, teams will use a series of written plaques for reference to arrange a scrambled reproduction back into the correct sequence of events.

Pierre & Michel choose Show It. The siblings get the next clue and decide on the horse as well.

Back at the Road Block, Meaghan realizes she was using the wrong instrument. After correcting her mistake, she finally gets the thumbs up on her 6th attempt. Natalie hopes the Detour will be hard for the other teams, especially Sukhi & Jinder.

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But it’s actually getting to the ranch with the horses that trips the siblings up.

Audrey gets the Road Block on her first attempt.

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Ryan also gets it on his first attempt and Pete is still struggling. Pete casually asks to make sure the measuring instruments are all the same, but Ryan says no they’re not and explains the differences. As soon as Pete finally corrects his mistake, he gets approved after his 9th attempt and he and Mickey are right behind Ryan & Rob.

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Natalie & Meaghan go to the tapestry Detour and give it a try. They only get one panel wrong out of nine, but they don’t which or how many. They know it’s either 1 or 2 and when they do swap out panel #2, they get the thumbs up.

Teams must now make their way to Asnelles and ride a slalom sand sailing course for 10 laps.

Pierre & Michel are struggling with the Detour as they are making the horse very uncomfortable. They decide they need to changer.

Alain & Audrey get to the horses next and Sukhi & Jinder finally arrive. Alain wants the horse to bite Jinder.

Mickey & Pete arrive and Mickey uses his high school cosmetology experience to get him going with the braids. That’s while Sukhi speeds through and she and Jinder pass Alain & Audrey to move into 3rd.

Ryan & Rob are lost agian.

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Natalie & Meaghan finish the wind sailing as Pierre & Michel arrive at the sand sailing. Sukhi & Jinder and Mickey & Pete arrive next as a previously lost Alain & Audrey get there in 5th.

Teams must now head to the Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery.

This is the resting place for Canadian soldiers who lost their lives during World War II. Racers will have the opportunity to pay their respects and honor these heroes.

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Natalie & Meaghan open the next clue with a Poppy they must deliver to the soldier waiting at the Remembrance and Renewal statue in front of the Juno Beach Centre.

The solider directs them to the beach where they find Jon at the Mat with the Greeter for this Leg, D-Day veteran Jim Parks. He tells them his brave story and welcomes them to this hallowed ground.

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An emotional Jon expresses how special it is to be here with such a hero.

He then officially checks Natalie & Meaghan in as Team #1. They win a trip to anywhere Air Canada flies to in Europe and $3000.

Pierre & Michel arrive in 2nd.

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Mickey & Pete and Sukhi & Jinder pay their respects at the cemetery and then proceed to the Mat to check-in Team #3 and Team #4 respectively.

Jim jokes about Mickey & Pete’s hair then sheds a tear wishing Sukhi & Jinder good luck with the rest of the Race.

Alain & Audrey arrive on the Mat in 5th.

Ryan & Rob, getting lost into the evening, finally arrive at the Mat in Last. But Jon tells them this is a non-elimination Leg.

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Episode Thoughts

Well, dude.

That was certainly an emotional end to the episode. For all the times The Amazing Race has stopped and paid respects at locations, I think this might have been the most moving and emotional instance. It was wonderfully presented and having veteran Jim Parks at the Mat and telling the teams his story was just great.

With such emotion in the final Route Markers for this Leg, it’s no surprise that it was a Non-Elimination Leg.

But before all that, the rest of the Leg was equally great, Race-wise. TAR Canada has had some tricky tasks so far. Tasks that require teams to actually use their brains. TARUS definitely has not had many tasks like that in recent memory. So the Road Block was great! It wasn’t that hard, but definitely required teams to use their minds.

The Detour tasks were simple, but actually still balanced and interesting enough. The sand sailing was a nice Route Marker as well. (And looked like an awesome time!)

One thing I’ve noticed though. The talking heads are interesting. These last two episodes, it’s obvious one set of confessionals was filmed at a later date all at the same time. (I think the ones with the park background.) And it’s not the usual TAR thing where they will pull generic snippets from interviews in other Legs. Here, they’re talking about specific events in the episode/Leg.

It doesn’t take away from the overall episodes, but just an interesting thing to notice, especially from a production standpoint.

Anyway, another great episode (much better than TARAu’s episode this week) and very emotional.

My Subjective Team Rankings

Sukhi & Jinder continue to deliver! Definitely my picks to go all the way. But I really hope they step it up though. They’ve been doing well on most of the tasks, but they find ways to slip up a little from time to time. They are consistently fun, so if they can be consistent with their Racing too, oh man, they’d be perfect!

In any other leg, I’d probably start getting annoyed with another Natalie & Meaghan win. But after Normandy, how can you. And they really earned their win this Leg anyway. They fell behind in the Road Block, but really made up time at the Detour and maintained that 1st place spot. That’s amazing. And through their domination, they are still a fun and likeable team. That’s a winning combo.

Mickey & Pete aren’t the usual team I end up liking on TAR, but I definitely like them. They’re fun guys whose shtick doesn’t rub the wrong way. They Race well and are funny without feeling forced. That’s great to watch.

Alain & Audrey are considerably less fun when they aren’t speaking French! Like seriously. And they were in France this week! Come on now! Pierre & Michel, likewise, are considerably less fun when they’re aren’t the evil twins.

Ryan & Rob though. I used to think that maybe it was the editor’s fault that they come off as so boring and bland. But now I think maybe that really is their personalities. Even in the face of elimination, they are dull. What’s going on there? Others have pointed out that Ryan is a YouTube comic or something. Okay. But so was Kevjumba. He was hilarious in his YouTube videos, but absolutely subdued and, well, normal on the Race. Maybe that’s Ryan & Rob as well.

Episode Quotes

Sukhi: “It’s like the Bermuda Triangle.”

Jinder: “He’s like biting my head.”

Jinder: “No biting me, please, no biting me!”

Sukhi: “How do I break it? Huh!? How do I break it!?”

One thought on “Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 2, Episode 7 – Lest We Forget

  1. This episode was heartwarming towards the end.

    That point you made about the tricky challenges that gets teams to use their minds in the episode summary is quite true, I remember the Route Marker task in TAR 24: Episode 9 involving the Ford Mustangs and Phil described it as “complicated”. All you had to do was find the number of kilometres on the road signs and use a formula provided on the clue to solve the model year of the Mustang you chose, that wasn’t very hard.

    Ryan is definitely on YouTube, he mentioned his channel in the Macau episode and I have a video of
    Ryan cross dressing from 2008:

    http://youtu.be/xbvRu8A4jT8

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