Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 7, Episode 4 – “I Love Geologists”
Teams will now fly to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Upon arrival, they must make their way to Somba K’e Civic Plaza and the United in Celebration sculpture. That clue points teams to Rotary Park where they will ride a snowmobile to Great Slave Lake.
Dave & Irina arrive at the plaza in 2nd, but did not ask their taxi to wait for them. Trish & Amy, who arrive 2nd to last, ask their driver to wait for them and not take another team. But the blurry-faced driver decides to take Dave & Irina anyway.
Trish & Amy find another cab and they end up arriving at the lake before Dave & Irina. Dave tries to apologize to them.
Meanwhile, Sarah & Sam are in first when they arrive at the ice fishing camp. Here, teams must drill a hole using a handheld auger and clear the hole of ice so they can drop in a Dene fishing line to receive their next clue.
Sarah & Sam maintain their lead when the open the Road Block clue: Who likes hard rock?
For this Road Block, teams will head to the Northwest Territories Diamond Centre where they must identify which six out of seven diamonds are marked with a Canadian maple leaf. Then, they will use a Forevermark viewer to find the identification number of each diamond. And finally sort the diamonds from heaviest to lightest.
As teams leave the lake for the diamond centre, Lauren & Joanne are all the way back in last. But Dave & Irina steal Aarthy & Thinesh’s taxi.
Sam, Marie, James, Lauren, Dave, Trish, and Thinesh get started with the Road Block. Dave is able to speed through the task and he and Irina move into first. They can now search Great Slave Lake for their next clue.
And that clue is another Road Block: Who wants a cold one? For this Road Block, teams must dive into the freezing lake and swim to their clue before coming back out through the other opening. The team member who did not complete the first Road Block must perform this one.
Irina definitely does not want to do this one so they surrender their Express Pass. They can now make their way to Air Tindi Float Base.
Back at the first Road Block, Sam and Thinesh are the next to finish followed by Lauren (who arrived last).
Sarah is afraid of the cold and water, but she powers through the Road Block. Aarthy is next and is also afraid of the task. Thinesh asks if she doesn’t want to do this, but Aarthy pushes through it after initial hesitation.
Over at the Air Tindi Float Base, teams must identify ten rescue sites using latitude and longitude coordinates and four navigational maps. Dave & Irina get started.
Sarah & Sam decide to stop at a store to research latitude and longitude. Dave & Irina are struggling and decide to take the two-hour penalty.
Teams can now take a ski plane across Great Slave Lake to Dettah, the Dene First Nation Community.
Dave & Irina arrive at the Mat and they begin their penalty.
Back at the first Road Block, Trish finally gets the thumbs up, leaving James in last after 13 attempts and not realizing he has not been looking for a maple leaf. As soon as Trish & Amy get the clue, Anthony & James decide to use their Express Pass.
Over at the second Road Block, Joanne has no problem swimming through followed by Meaghan.
Meanwhile, Sarah & Sam’s cramming doesn’t seem to be enough when they actually get started with the map task. Aarthy & Thinesh, on the other hand, get a quick start while remembering third grade geography. When Lauren & Joanne and Meaghan & Marie arrive, Sarah & Sam decide to go look for someone who can help them.
Sarah & Sam unwittingly stumble upon Aurora Geosciences and get a thorough lesson from geologists and geophysicists.
Zipping back to the second Road Block, Amy and Anthony get through the task. But Trish & Amy’s taxi driver is nowhere to be found. That allows Anthony & James to get ahead of them and pushes the moms to last place.
Aarthy & Thinesh get their locations approved and fly to the Pit Stop where Jon officially declares them Team #1. They win a trip to Dublin, Ireland. Meaghan & Marie are Team #2.
Sarah & Sam get their locations approved and run back to their taxi to grab their bags and settle their fare. But they are shocked when their fare has run up to $245.10. They don’t have enough money and are $90 short They don’t know what to do. They decide to go back to Aurora Geosciences and they are able to find very kind geologists who give them the money they need.
Sarah & Sam fly to the Mat and check in as Team #4 after Dave & Irina’s penalty is over and they check in as Team #3. Lauren & Joanne are Team #5.
It’s down to the last two teams and it is Anthony & James who step on the Mat as Team #6. That means Trish & Amy are last, but this is a Non-Elimination Leg!
Episode Thoughts
Wow! Well then! I thought Revelstoke was an amazing episode, but this one really blew episode two outta the water. Frozen lake water at that!
This was truly a full, exciting episode. And the Leg itself looks so simple on paper, yet was probably one of the most challenging Legs I’ve seen in a while. Certainly more challenging than any modern TARUS Leg, that’s for sure.
One would assume a Yellowknife Leg would be limited in the possible tasks that could be staged there. And again, on paper, it does look that way. But each of the tasks this Leg had their own unique challenges and most of them included the challenge of enduring freezing temperatures outdoors. Then you also have teams needing to deal with the taxi situation and making major decisions as well.
Put all of that together and you’ve got an amazing hour of television. Perhaps everything really did just come together perfectly. A little bit of luck for the show. But whatever happened, this was the exciting result.
And to top it all off, TAR Canada’s obsession with Express Passes actually paid off and contributed to the drama all episode long. And in different ways too. Irina just didn’t want to even attempt a task, so Express Pass. Thinesh asked Aarthy if she wanted to use the Express Pass when she was struggling and afraid, but she opted to soldier through. And Anthony & James were forced to use their Express Pass when they dropped to last place, setting up the battle for elimination with Trish & Amy.
I was wondering why they blurred Trish & Amy’s cab driver. Maybe he didn’t sign the release, I thought. But then it became clear, it was because he didn’t keep his promise to wait for the Moms and took Dave & Irina instead. lol I’m sure some people would’ve just hunted him down on social media for that.
And to think it wouldn’t be the only taxi drama in the episode too. I do dislike taxi stealing (especially when it involves the removing of teams’ bags from the taxi). But at the same time, it’s as much the driver’s fault as it is the thieving team’s fault as well.
Anyway, overall this episode delivered. The Leg, the tasks and especially the teams. Simple as that. And indeed, a deceptively simple Leg. Yet exciting and dramatic and fun.
My Subjective Team Rankings
GAP
What a Leg for Aarthy & Thinesh! They started the Leg at the bottom and they worked their way up to the top. Much kudos to Aarthy for her performance at the Road Block. And! the decision not to use their Express Pass either. They aced the mapping task and got their win. They’re really proving themselves to not be flukes and I am so excited to watch them do that!
Trish & Amy are awesome. Their positive, never give up attitude is just great to watch. They’ve really had some bad luck and unforeseen circumstances thrown their way, but they’re fighters and have really run the Race so well in spite of the obstacles. I really hope they go to the end!
Sarah & Sam really stepped it up this week. I’ve been waiting for it and they just came through on this Leg. First Sam doing well at the diamonds then Sarah overcoming her fears at the icy swim. But what really impressed me so much was them deciding to research before getting to the mapping task. And then going back out and looking for more help and information when they still didn’t get it. They might have lucked out a little with stumbling upon the geologists. But the fact that they sought help and didn’t give up earns major points in my book. And it’s just common sense and a perfect decision. Not relying on other teams to give them answers too. Then the taxi situation at the end. A little bit more luck and the kindness of fellow Canadians. But they got through it. I’d say this was a great Leg for them and excited to see what they can do next.
They are absolutely my top three teams right now so I have that “GAP” up there. But that doesn’t mean I dislike the rest of the teams though.
Anthony & James have a bit of catching up to do. It’s too bad James overlooked a critical bit of information at the Road Block. But they otherwise had an alright Leg. Lauren & Joanne managing to come back from last place really showed how well-designed the Leg was. But they too didn’t give up and kept going. With everything else happening in the Leg, Meaghan & Marie had the least impact and screentime, but they were middle of the pack the entire Leg and were able to secure 2nd.
Which brings us to Dave & Irina. I absolutely hate quitting on The Amazing Race. In general, unless you’re medically unable to continue, I feel like you should keep going. You should have to experience everything on the Race. Do everything on the Race. Not just quit and give up. And to think they technically gave up on two tasks this Leg. They should be thankful the other tasks were so challenging that the two hours was enough.
Irina not wanting to get into the frozen lake was funny at first and the Express Pass use was fine. It’s what it exists for. But when paired with them just quitting the mapping task, it leaves a bad taste. Especially when contrasted with Sarah & Sam actually going to get help so they could complete the task themselves.
Them taking taxis that weren’t theirs also gets put into a worse light than it would be on its own when paired with the quitting. So, while I don’t hate them and still mostly enjoy their villainous antics, I am starting to feel like it’s getting to be a little too much. They’re starting to remind me of Rob & Amber and that’s not a good thing for me at all. Let’s hope the “love to hate” Dave & Irina return next week and that they don’t become just simple “hate” Dave & Irina in the future.
Episode Quotes
Irina: “I hope we get to see some penguins.”
Amy: “Dave and Irina need to be dethroned.”
Irina: “I don’t want to touch the water.”
Irina: “Oh my God, you’re amazing!”
Dave: “Yes, I know.”
Aarthy: “I’m allowed to be frustrated, I’m a human being!”
Sarah: “I hated that! I hated everything about that!”
Aarthy: “I went under an iceberg.”
Amy: “We don’t quit. Kids, you don’t quit.”
Irina: “Now I’m starting to think we’re stupid.”
Share:
Related posts ..
4 thoughts on “Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 7, Episode 4 – “We don’t quit. Kids, you don’t quit!””
Share your thoughts!Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
I’ve recently rewatched some eps of TAR 13 and actually enjoyed it. What are your thoughts on the season? How would you rank the teams favorite to least favorite?
I rewatched the first couple of episodes a couple of months ago and it was fun. I’d have to watch again to really rank the teams though as I forget how the teams eliminated before Terence & Sarah were like.
It boggles me how 5 women did the swimming task yet Irina didn’t even try
Irina being a princess, as she said, would’ve been funny had they not quit the mapping task. So crazy!