Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 10, Episode 4 – “Just wait ’til they see you off-roading, Daddy!”

Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 10, Episode 4 – Slow Roll and Stay in Control

The nine teams are all equalized on the flight to Penticton, BC. Upon arrival, they will drive brand-new 2024 Chevy Silverado 2500 ZR2 Bison to drive to the SS Sicamous where they will apparently spend the night.

The teams meet Jon outside by the water the next morning. Jon first announces that Colin & Matt win an Expedia trip to Madagascar and $10,000 for arriving first at the last Pit Stop the U-Turn Vote.

Jon then announces that Kevin & Gurleen received the most U-Turn votes (7 out of 10). But he also has good news for them. They have the opportunity to U-Turn another team.

Jon appears to dismiss the teams for a while so they can individually beg Kevin & Gurleen not to choose them. When they come back together on the beach, Kevin & Gurleen announce they will U-Turn Julia & Olivia.

Though Julia & Olivia are one of the two teams who did not vote for them, Kevin & Gurleen believe the married couple suck so much at challenges and will probably not get the Express Pass from Michael & Tyson. So they would be the perfect team to get out now.

Jon flags off the teams to start the Race start the Leg continue the Leg. They run to the cluebox revealing the Road Block: Who’s ready to off-road? For this Road Block, teams must drive to Area 27 Motor Sports in Oliver where they will use the features of a brand-new 2024 Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison to conquer a series of three off-road obstacle courses.

All the teams get to the Road Block at the same time, but Michael (of Michael & Tyson) stays in first. Kevin finishes next, followed by Sam, Lauren and Taylor. Olivia finally finishes and leaves in 6th with Michael, Connor and Colin in the back.

After the Road Block, teams must find the The Book Shop in Penticton. Michael & Tyson open the next clue directing them to search the book store for a photobook of The Amazing Race Canada which has the next clue inside. For this task, one team will win The Assist by Desjardins.

Michael & Tyson have no problem finding the book and the clue reveals the Detour: Press or Undress. For both Detours, teams must drive to Dirty Laundry Vineyard in Summerland. In Press, teams will stomp 50 lbs of grapes to produce 1.5 liters of juice. In Undress, teams must memorize the position, color and size of each item of freshly washed underwear hanging on a clothesline and then recreate the clothesline on the other side of the vineyard.

Before leaving after finding the book, Kevin & Gurleen decide to tell Brad & Sam what the book looks like, expecting the father and daughter to help them at the Detour.

Lauren & Nicole, meanwhile, get The Assist by Desjardins so they are given the book at the cashier.

A bit later, Michael & Amari have already found the book. But they decide to help Julia & Olivia so that Kevin & Gurleen can be eliminated. They both decide to work together with the laundry Detour.

Michael & Tyson, who usually come to The Dirty Laundry, choose Press. Kevin & Gurleen (whose family has a berry winery) choose Press as well while Lauren & Nicole choose the laundry. Brad & Sam choose the grapes.

Lauren & Nicole are able to get the thumbs up on their laundry and open the next clue revealing another Road Block: Who aims to please? For this Road Block, teams must drive to Nk’mip Desert Cultural Center where they will need to memorize the names of six animals in the Nk’mip language. When ready, they will head to the archery range where an instructor will randomly call out animal names that they must hit with a bow and arrow. After correctly hitting four animals, they will get the next clue.

Michael & Tyson and Brad & Sam stomp enough grapes to leave the Detour next. Kevin & Gurleen finish the grapes and go over to the laundry. When they reach the clotheslines, they are shocked to see Michael & Amari helping Julia & Olivia.

Taylor & Katie are 4th to leave the Detour followed by Kevin & Gurleen. Michael & Amari and Julia & Olivia fix their granny panties and get their laundry approved next.

Meanwhile, Connor & John are struggling with their laundry and John again considers a time penalty.

Michael & Tyson arrive at the Road Block first. Tyson makes an attempt and easily gets all four animals. He and Michael can now head to the Pit Stop at Phantom Creek Estates. Before they leave, they give the Express Pass to Lauren & Nicole.

Michael & Tyson officially check-in as Team #1 and win a trip to Vietnam along with $10,000. Lauren & Nicole and Brad & Sam get through the Road Block and step on the Mat as Teams 2 and 3, respectively.

Taylor & Katie hit their targets before Kevin & Gurleen and hurry to the Pit Stop to finish as Team #4. Kevin & Gurleen take 5th.

Michael & Amari and Colin & Matt finish as Teams 6 and 7, respectively. Julia & Olivia also survive the U-Turn to step on the Mat in 8th.

That means Connor & John, who struggled with a corset at the Detour, just could not make up time and end up being last and eliminated.

Episode Thoughts

Stunning closing shot for Connor & John yeah? Cinematic!

But my goodness, I didn’t think any TAR could beat TAR31 as the worst implementation of the U-Turn Vote. But congratulations TAR Canada, you just did it.

Last week, I already felt like things were off with the way the episode and this apparent MegaLeg/SuperLeg/TBC Leg/KOR Leg/Zero-Hour Pit Stop Leg was playing out. And this week, my worry was realized as soon as the teams met Jon on the beach the next morning.

Awarding Colin & Matt a prize for winning a Leg that didn’t exist/wasn’t finished yet, negating the Racing that happened the day before, collecting the teams to announce the U-Turn Vote results like this was an episode of Survivor and then having teams scramble to beg off of getting U-Turned like this was a Big Brother Double Eviction episode.

I didn’t like any of it. I’m all for finding ways to freshen up the aging format, but this all felt either sloppy or contrived.

Why not just make the Vancouver cluster of Route Markers its own Leg? Why not just have teams vote at the start of this Leg?

“But last episode had all that fun U-Turn drama!” Yes, U-Turn drama that arguably had no effect on the eventual U-Turn results anyway. Good content for one episode. Does nothing for the rest of the season’s narrative nor anything for the competition aspect of the season.

But oh well. At least TAR Canada isn’t as inexplicably messy as the COVID seasons of TARAu? I dunno. lol

Anyway, the Leg itself (and I mean this cluster of Route Markers in Penticton) was actually quite good. Maybe one of the stronger TARC Legs in years (especially with COVID-affected production).

The first Road Block was a fine task to make our friends at Chevy happy. Having it at the start of the Leg also makes sense too with there being limited stations and a first-come, first-served line of course.

The needle in a haystack is also another alright task. Cute TARC photobook, I guess.(Not so much for me since I haven’t really been a fan of most of the TARC winning teams lolololo)

But the episode’s main highlights came with the Detour and the second Road Block.

Both sides of the Detour were amusing. A familiar grape stomping task and a routine memorization and details-oriented task with the panties and bras. A good spot for the U-Turn as well, but certainly favorable for both U-Turned teams. Both still had a good shot to survive, especially when all the teams were on even footing at the start.

The last Road Block was another memorization task, but wonderful cultural task as well. By this point, the teams were already spaced out. So there wasn’t much drama left. Though I suppose if Connor & John had noticed their mistake early on, perhaps Julia & Olivia would have gotten eliminated instead.

Overall, it was a solid Leg (and by Leg, again, I am referring to this Penticton half of the “official” 3rd Leg). But the U-Turn vote implementation is just so extra for no reason.

Team Thoughts

It’s too bad about Conner & John. They were a fun team, especially John and his regularly quotable quotes. At the same time, John bringing up taking penalties more times than he should have seems to imply they wouldn’t have been long for the Race anyway. Fun team. But maybe a good time for them to go, sadly.

Really nice to see Lauren & Nicole and Taylor & Katie doing so well. Michael & Tyson are definitely a strong team too. I would bet on these three to make it far, maybe to the end, the most.

I’m rooting for the parent-child teams Brad & Sam and Michael & Amari. Colin & Matt are a bit under the radar so far. And Julia & Olivia were definitely pulled into the spotlight this Leg. And it was actually nice to see their personalities more this episode because of it.

Kevin & Gurleen, and really, Kevin mostly, are just reality show-ready personalities. It can be fun, but it can also be annoying. The cynic in me says the show threw in that “You can U-Turn someone else” twist just because it was them and CTV wants to ensure they stay safe as long as possible. Lol But it’s whatever. They haven’t really been the strongest team, but their antics will most likely keep them safe for a while.

Episode Quotes

Julia: “Don’t smile at me.”

Amari: “I thought he’d be good at this ’cause he’s old.”

John: “If you think you have a lot of girls now, just wait ’til they see you off-roading, Daddy!”