Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 7, Episode 8 – “I’m not being negative, I’m being honest.”

Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 7, Episode 8 – Open Your Bouche

Teams hop on a train to La Malbaie, Quebec. Passing Quebec City, Dave & Irina, Aarthy & Thinesh and Anthony & James think they will be the final three teams.

Upon arrival in La Malbaie, teams will make their way to Chez Chantal snack bar where they will peel 25 potatoes for 2 servings of poutine and keys to a brand new 2019 Chevy Equinox.

The clue waiting inside the brand new 2019 Chevy Equinox reveals the Road Block: Who wants to press their luck?

For this Road Block, teams must make their way to the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu where they will host a press conference for G7 reporters. First, teams must deliver a speech modeled on statements made at the 2018 G7 conference in both English and French. Then, teams must answer three questions from the press in Japanese, German and Italian.

Performing this Road Block are James, Sam, Irina, Joanne and Thinesh.

James and Sam give it a try first, but they both fail.

A nervous Irina is up next, but she is unable to get past the first line. She says she can’t do it since public speaking is her worst fear. She asks if she can talk to Dave. He tries to encourage her and says she might as well keep trying until they are eliminated anyway.

Thinesh is next to go and gets through the speech. He takes the questions and correctly answers the Japanese. But he mixes the German and Italian answers and gets the thumbs down.

Both James and Sam fail their 2nd attempts. Joanne gives it a shot, but she fails her first attempt.

Thinesh goes for his 2nd attempt and he passes. He and Aarthy open the next clue and it reveals the Blind! Detour: This or That. They choose That.

Joanne goes for her 2nd attempt and her focusing on Dave’s “big head” allows her to pass. They choose This.

Aarthy & Thinesh arrive at That where they will play a modified version of pick-lit, a local game where they will hit a wooden peg into the air before they hit it into a field to score points. They will get the next clue once they score 200.

Lauren & Joanne arrive at This where they will recreate two paintings of local landmarks onto emu eggs by only memorizing the two examples. They will then have to deliver one of the eggs to one of the two actual landmarks in the town of Baie-Saint-Paul to receive the next clue.

Back at the Road Block, Sam is on his 3rd attempt, but does not pass. James does not pass on his 4th attempt. Sam goes for his ? attempt and finally passes. He and Sarah choose That.

Irina is on her 2nd attempt and she does much better. She passes and she and Dave hug before choosing That.

Over at That, Aarthy & Thinesh finish practicing and give pick-lit a try. Thinesh gets most of the points while Aarthy is able to contribute 10. They get the next clue telling them to head to the Pit Stop at Musee Maritime de Charlevoix.

Thinesh thinks he’s found the museum on the map and they drive.

Back at the faux G7, James finally passes on his 9th attempt and they choose This.

The rain and fog is causing some trouble for teams getting to the Detour sites.

Dave & Irina grow frustrated when they miss the location.

Meanwhile, Aarthy & Thinesh arrive at Musee de Charlevoix but discover they are at the completely wrong museum. They turn around and drive in the correct direction.

Lauren & Joanne finish the Detour and also head to the Pit Stop.

Dave & Irina persevere through their frustration and score their 200 points. They leave as Sarah & Sam just arrive.

Thinesh has taken over the wheel, but they still don’t find the museum. Aarthy asks Thinesh to just stop and ask for directions, but he does not. They finally stop and the local tells them they have to go back where they came from.

Aarthy & Thinesh finally find the Mat and Jon declares them Team #1. They win a trip to Santiago, Chile.

That means Lauren & Joanne are Team #2. Dave & Irina finish as Team #3.

It’s down to the last two teams. And it is Sarah & Sam who step on the Mat as Team #4 with Anthony & James just arriving seconds after and are last.

But Jon surprises them with the next clue as teams must continue Racing.

Episode Thoughts

So first of all, I hate no-penalty Non-Elimination Legs. Which are basically what TBC/KOR/Zero-Hour Pit Stop Legs have become. Like, even if it’s a Zero-Hour Pit Stop, why not still issue a Non-Elimination penalty? Or even still eliminate a team anyway and place a real Non-Elimination elsewhere?

Anyway, other than that, I thought this was a pretty great Leg. This was also a very exciting and nerve-wracking episode for me, but I really can’t get into that without spoilers, so I’ll have to remember to discuss that in a future recap or even the Season Wrap-up. Lol

But this really was a great and exciting week. And it showed that TARC can still stage good Legs even in non-metro areas.

Now of course, obviously, Charlevoix hosted the G7 last year and that’s not a small event. So it is a good location to visit. This Leg also did a much better job highlighting the area’s big draw or what it is known for than last week’s Leg did.

That is, last week, the Oktoberfest task should’ve been the Leg’s highlight to reflect its importance in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. This week, Charlevoix was obviously recently in the news for hosting the G7. And the G7-related task was rightly the highlight.

After the okay first task with the potatoes and poutine, the Road Block was a great twist on the usual memorize and perform task. And that is a type of task TARC really loves to do. Whether it is acting out a scene or reciting a poem. But here, the added French memorization as well has having to memorize and recognize the Japanese, German and Italian really made this a challenging and creative task.

We saw teams really have trouble with it, especially with the pressure of the Race and the pressure of the press even!

I can definitely understand Irina’s fear of public speaking. I hate public speaking and always get overly self-conscious whenever I had to do it, especially in school. So combine that with the Race, this task really showed which teams could handle that pressure well.

The Detour was fine too. And I think it was a good Detour to make “blind.” It didn’t seem like it would’ve been easy for teams to switch if they wanted to. So teams had to settle for whichever they first decide on. That said, it really didn’t matter which one teams chose since this was a Keep On Racing Leg anyway with no danger of elimination.

I do wish the Detour involved teams actually interacting with emus though lol

And I enjoyed seeing this was a sort of rainy Leg, even for just a moment. We need more torrential downpours on TAR. hehe

Overall, KOR aside, this was a pretty solid Leg and exciting episode!

My Subjective Team Rankings

So what a shocker, I have Dave & Irina all the way at #1 this week. That is insane! lol But like I mentioned last week, let’s just set aside the quitting for now. And without that in mind, Dave & Irina were hilariously awesome this episode. Irina especially really stepped up at the Road Block and even scored more points at the Detour than Aarthy ended up scoring.

It was pretty funny watching their back and forth in the car after the Road Block where Dave was encouraging Irina and saying she wasn’t a “quitter.” She certainly didn’t quit the Road Block, but they seem to forget they already quit twice this Race. And really, that made the whole thing even funnier. That said, this Leg showed that Irina can certainly step it up when needed. And they can still deliver the fun couple bickering too. If only they were like this all the time! Lol

Speaking of bickering, Aarthy & Thinesh delivered with that too this Leg. AND they paired it with an otherwise excellent Leg as well. Well, maybe more Thinesh had an excellent Leg. lol Thinesh definitely smashed that Road Block after arriving in last. And he pretty much took care of the Detour himself as well. But they’re definitely still a team and a fun and enjoyable team at that. Thank goodness they weren’t eliminated for getting lost to the Mat!

Sarah & Sam may have fallen to #3 on my list, but I’m definitely still rooting for them. Their steady hands are a big asset, especially if other teams succumb to the pressures of the Race. Lauren & Joanne also stepped it up this Leg. As they pointed out, they’ve been at the bottom and at the back most of the Race. So Joanne being able to get them ahead at the Road Block was great. This could be good momentum for them moving forward if they can keep it up.

Anthony & James, on the other hand, seemed to be going in the other direction. Definitely their worst Leg so far. But at the same time, they are a strong team so they can easily get back on top in the next Leg.

Episode Quotes

Irina: “Russians eat a lot of potatoes.”

Dave: “Stop being negative, you’re amazing! I believe in you so much.”
Irina: “I’m not being negative, I’m being honest.”

Irina: “My brain is on fire.”

Dave : “I’m so proud of you, you didn’t quit.”

Irina: “I was ready to quit.”
Dave: “You’re not a quitter! You’re a freakin’ winner!”

Irina: “Can you turn on your brain?”

Dave: “In order to appreciate the peaks, you have to have some valleys.”