Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 6, Episode 5 – “After a short trip abroad…”


Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 6, Episode 5 – You Gotta Whip That Cream

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Teams fly back home to Canada and Toronto Pearson International Airport where they must find a brand new 2018 Chevrolet Equinox True North Edition.

All teams are on the same Air Canada flight back via Tokyo. Teams must now make their way to CAMI Automotive Assembly Ingersoll where the Chevy Equinox has been assembled since 2004. Teams must make sure to drive to the correct assembly plant in Ingersoll and not the other Chevy plants in the GTA.

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At the Ingersoll plant, there is a sign-up board for entry tomorrow at 9am. Taylor & Courtney, Dylan & Kwame and Martina & Phil arrive 1, 2 and 3. The other teams drive to the Oshawa plant and discover that they have gone the complete wrong direction. But they arrive back at the correct plant well before sunrise.

To celebrate the plant rolling the five millionth vehicle off the line, teams must assemble a Chevy Equinox door according to a silent demonstration and a checklist.

Dylan & Kwame finish first and can now make their way to Stratford, Ontario and the Festival Theatre for their next clue. Courtney & Adam, Martina & Phil and Taylor & Courtney finish next. The three all-female teams are in last.

Martina & Phil arrive at the theater first and find the Road Block: Who wants a fighting chance?

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For this Road Block, teams must dress up and learn an intricate stage combat fight sequence to perform on stage.

Phil decides to do the Road Block. The two Courtneys arrive next followed by Kwame and Mellisa. Zainab & Monica are able to get out of last place after Leanne & Mar get lost.

Phil goes on stage for his first attempt, but he is too slow. Adam’s Courtney goes next, but she doesn’t take it seriously and fails. Phil goes for his second attempt and fails. He immediately goes for his 3rd and 4th attempts, but doesn’t get it. On the fifth attempt, he finally gets the thumbs up.

Martina & Phil open the next clue which reveals the Detour: Paddle or Package. In Paddle, teams must paddleboat along the Avon River to find emoji puzzle pieces that must decipher to reveal their next Route Marker: Queen of the Square. In Package, teams head to Rheo Thompson Candies where they must correctly package 10 packages each of two different types of treats.

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Adam’s Courtney passes on her 3rd attempt. Both they and Martina & Phil choose Package.

Leanne & Mar are still lost and are worried about disappointing the kids who look up to them. They finally arrive at the theater, Mar decides to do the Road Block and it’s perfect for her because she says she did it in university.

Taylor’s Courtney goes up for her second attempt and she gets a pass. They choose Paddle. Mellisa and Kwame also pass on their second attempts and they also choose Paddle. Zainab passes on her third attempt and they choose Package.

Mar feels like she must be a perfectionist and takes a little long getting the routine down. She goes for her first attempt and passes. They choose Paddle.

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Taylor & Courtney figure out the correct solution and head to City Hall. They walk in and see Jon standing at the Pit Stop. They hurry back out to grab their backpacks before stepping on the Mat to officially be “the first team to arrive.” They win a trip to London. Martina & Phil and Courtney & Adam finish the chocolates and also get the “Queen of the Square” clue. They step on the Mat, but Jon tells them they need their backpacks. Courtney & Adam return first to be the 2nd team to arrive. Martina & Phil are the 3rd team to arrive.

Dylan & Kwame follow Nancy & Mellisa as neither team understands the emoji riddle. Nancy & Mellisa sneak into a tourism center. Dylan & Kwame run around outside city hall and the locals tell them other teams ran inside. They decide to do the same, but Jon clues them in to their missing backpacks. They are then officially the fourth team to arrive. With help from the nice lady at the tourism center and after also running back for their backpacks, Nancy & Mellisa are the fifth team to arrive.

Leanne & Mar get help from locals for their emoji riddle. A young girl tells them it is City Hall. They head inside, but Jon tells them about their backpacks so they run out, but still arrive at the Mat in 6th

That means Zainab & Monica are last. But this is very obviously a zero-hour Pit Stop/no-penalty Non-Elimination Leg/Keep on Racing Leg/TBC Leg and they’re still in it.

Teams must now drive back to Toronto.

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Episode Thoughts

“After a short trip abroad…”

Indeed. It was a very short (and expensive!) trip abroad. But teams are back in Canada.

The first of the pointless vague clues this Leg was the first one in Toronto pointing to the assembly plant. The obvious drama to be had for the vague clue is that teams will go an hour and half in the wrong direction and put their Races in jeopardy for one wrong decision. But the Hours of Operation made all of that extra tension inconsequential to the Leg and a waste of episode time.

The actual task at the plant was a fresh, creative way for this season’s big Chevy task. But teams really should’ve been let into the plant at the same time. It would have made it much more exciting to see all seven teams scrambling around with the door side-by-side.

The Road Block was a straightforward learn and perform task. A go-to type of task for TAR Canada.

The Detour was alright as well. I will assume the time it takes to paddle down the river plus any time needed to decipher the riddle is equal to putting together the 20 boxes of candies.

Finally, the second of the pointless vague clues of this Leg. A clue like this, not telling teams this is the Pit Stop, should have ended with an Elimination. Have an elimination because a team didn’t have their backpacks! Who cares about placements on a TBC Leg? There was no point in all that backpack stuff when it was very obvious this was a KOR Leg from the very first “You are the Xth team to arrive.”

The better drama is teams losing because they were too slow to retrieve their backpacks. Fair? Maybe. More exciting and dramatic? Yes! And we kind of needed that on this fairly bland Leg, especially right after Jakarta.

This is a good spot for a KOR Leg though and pairing it with Toronto. I assume the Toronto Leg goes on into the night, so that’s fine. I don’t remember many night Legs on TAR Canada.

My Subjective Team Rankings

With such a bland Leg, all the teams were fine this episode. Not much of note other than Nancy & Mellisa calling Dylan & Kwame “leeches” which I’m not even sure was in a negative way. They said it to their faces just like they called Leanne & Mar “twerps” to their face last week. I assume they’re just joking and having fun. It comes across more that way than as something hostile.

Otherwise, no changes in my personal rankings this week.

Episode Quotes

Courtney: “You’re going to kill me.”

Leanne: “Do not peck me!”
Mar: “Don’t peck please.”

Nancy: ‘Horsehoes up their ass.”

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