Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 9, Episode 10 – “I don’t speak alien.”

Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 9, Episode 10 – Do You Want Some Candies?

The Penultimate Leg continues with Ty & Kat staying positive. Meanwhile, the leading three teams continue trying to learn the alien script. And that allows Ty & Kat to catch up. Now all four teams are here at Immersion Room, struggling with the aliens.

Ben & Anwar pass on their 10th attempt. After taking their selfie with the alien using the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4, they get the next clue. After the alien land, teams must now head to national historic site Kensington Market and the Fika Café for the next clue.

Ben & Anwar head outside and have to wait for a taxi since they did not ask their driver to wait for them. Ty & Kat go for their 7th attempt and get the thumbs up. Having asked their driver to wait for them, Ty & Kat now move into first place with Ben & Anwar close behind.

Back inside, Tyler is spiraling when he slams his helmet on the ground and kicks walls. Kayleen tries to calm him down and that gets them to pass after their 14th attempt. Deven & Amanda pass on their 6th attempt.

At Fika Café, the next clue directs teams to purchase five ingredients from five different stores across the city. Two of the items can be purchased in Kensington Market. The other three will be purchased in Chinatown, Koreatown and Parkdale. But teams will have to search the neighborhoods for stores with Race flags in order to know which to buy from. Once teams are able to deliver the channa dal, kimchi, plantains, white sesame and cactus leaves to Fika Café, they’ll get the next clue.

All teams are now heading to the different neighborhoods. While in Chinatown, Ty & Kat decide to buy aloe vera (which they think is cactus leaves) and plantains along with the sesame. But when they bring their five items to Fika Café, they get the thumbs down.

Ben & Anwar return to Kensington Market and run into Deven & Amanda. Ben & Anwar look for the cactus and Deven & Amanda pretend not to have found it yet even though they are about to leave to the other neighborhoods, knowing they are in last place and not to give any info to other teams.

Tyler & Kayleen’s driver Ricardo is able to find the last store they need and they move into first place. They open the next clue which points them to the Pit Stop at Sunnyside Beach where they officially check in as Team #1 and win a trip to Melbourne, Australia.

Ben & Anwar are Team #2 and Ty & Kat secure their spot in the finale as Team #3. That means Deven & Amanda are last and eliminated.

Episode Thoughts

Yeah, this Leg did not need to be split up into two episodes. Lol Perhaps a 90-minute CBS Fall 2023 episode. But not two whole episodes.

I’m kind of annoyed at how last episode, they made it seem like Ty & Kat were so far behind and that it would take a miracle for them to be able to catch up. When in reality, they were probably just a couple of minutes behind everyone else. Which makes sense considering they would have just come from the Face Off and however long the last place penalty is.

But the forced editing in this way really takes away from what could have been a really good Penultimate Leg as a whole (save for the Face Off). Splitting it up like this almost negates the last episode. And coupled with the editing, having the Leg come to a screeching halt, TV-wise, undermines any excitement and tension this Leg could’ve had.

Especially when it legitimately seemed like a very exciting Race to the Mat. The show didn’t need to do any contrived creative editing to manufacture drama. One of the maps they showed during the episode wasn’t even accurately showing where the teams were based on the editing.

The teams were neck and neck already. So forcing this two-episode Leg and then needing to pad this episode with unnecessary trickery ruined what could’ve otherwise been an above-average Penultimate Leg. We definitely didn’t need to spend what is essentially a half of a whole episode (including last week) on the alien movie.

The Race around the city for ingredients is actually a good task. And the kind of big, luck-based task that can help raise the stakes. Maybe place it in the middle of the Leg instead of the end. But nonetheless, a good, interesting task made less interesting by the questionable editing decisions.

Too bad. A potentially good Penultimate Leg instead falling victim to TARC’s apparent Bad Penultimate Leg curse.

Team Thoughts

I don’t really have a pick for the finale. All three teams are fine. Though Ben & Anwar are the underdog of the three, relatively speaking. Their atypical Race strategy has been interesting to watch play out. So seeing them go on to win the Race would also be interesting to see

Especially as opposed to the two Tyler teams who have essentially dominated the Race so far. Despite the inspirational stories and whatnot, I think Tyler & Kayleen are probably not going to win based on their now-several meltdowns. They can’t seem to handle pressure well. And it’s actually been a bit uncomfortable watching them sometimes. So if the Final Leg is more challenging, they may be doomed.

Ty & Kat have been able to pick themselves back up when needed. But when they’re on their game, they do very well. So I think it’s between them and Ben & Anwar.

Meanwhile, Deven & Amanda have been a consistent middle of the pack team after starting out very slow. So I think going out in 4th is a fine conclusion to their Race. Them with the last minute gameplay in not telling Ben & Anwar about the store they seem to have missed several times was nice. But who knows if that even played a major role in the end result.