Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 10, Episode 7 – “Sacrifice the balls, just a little bit.”

Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 10, Episode 7 – “When Am I Going To See My Dog Next?”

While waiting for the train to Montreal, the teams hash out the Pass drama from yesterday. Upon arrival in Montreal, they must search the airport terminal for their next clue.

And that clue directs teams to AviaSim flight simulator at the Montreal Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel. They must safely land an Airbus A320. The first three teams to do so will earn a spot on the first of two bus departing 15 minutes apart for Trois-Rivières, Quebec.

Colin & Matt pass on their first attempt, Lauren & Nicole and Michael & Tyson on their 3rd. They get on the first bus dropping them off at Ranch Dupont and feed camels to receive a key to the all-new 2024 Chevy Blazer EV RS.

The waiting clue inside the car reveals the Detour: Paper Jam or Poetry Slam. In Paper Jam, teams head to the Musee Borealis and make one piece of paper that when dry is strong enough to hold a weight. They will then deliver paper to Le 507. In Poetry Slam, teams choose one of three love poems written in either Portuguese, Romanian or Arabic. They must them memorize the poems in the original language, English and French.

Colin & Matt and Lauren & Nicole choose poetry. Michael & Tyson choose the paper.

From the second bus, Michael & Amari and Taylor & Katie choose paper while Kevin & Gurleen choose poetry.

Lauren & Nicole choose the Romanian poem and make an attempt first. But they fail. Colin & Matt do the Portuguese poem and also fail. Lauren & Nicole get the thumbs up on their second attempt.

At the paper, Michael & Amari and Taylor & Katie get their paper approved first. Colin & Matt’s second attempt gets the thumbs up as do Kevin & Gurleen. Michael & Tyson are now in last.

After the Detour, teams open the next clue revealing a Switchback Face Off where teams will play curling.

Lauren & Nicole and Colin & Matt are at the Face Off first and it is the twins who win. They open the next clue revealing the Road Block: Who’s ready to get back on the horse?

For this Road Block, teams head to École d’Art Équestre Beauvallon and master five aerobatic tricks while on a horse. After being traumatized by the fake horse Road Block, Nicole has Lauren do this Road Block.

Kevin & Gurleen beat Colin & Matt also, but Colin & Matt beat Michael & Amari. Michael & Amari beat Taylor & Katie. Michael & Tyson also beat Taylor & Katie who have to now wait for an hourglass to finish before continuing on the Race.

At the Road Block, Lauren is able to correctly perform the five tricks before Kevin an d she and Nicole can now head to the Pit Stop at La Cité de l’Énergie in Shawinigan.

Kevin & Gurleen are close behind them, but the twins finally score their first Leg win. They win a trip to Holland and $10,000. Kevin & Gurleen take 2nd.

Back at the horses, Amari’s Michael finishes next followed by Matt who gets the thumbs up on his 3rd attempt. Michael & Amari are Team #3 and Colin & Matt are Team #4.

Tyson’s Michael gets the thumbs up on his 2nd attempt, leaving Katie get approved on her 2nd attempt in last.

It’s between the last two teams. But it is Michael & Tyson who claim 5th. That means Taylor & Katie are last. But Jon says “this Leg of the Race is not over.” He hands them the next clue directing teams to take the bus back to Montreal.

Upon arrival in Montreal, they must head to the entrée sud of Stade Saputo for the next clue. They also get $400 and a warning of a Double Pass.

Lauren & Nicole says they are excited to “start another Leg” as all the teams make the same bus and arrive at the stadium at the same time.

The waiting clue tells teams to search the 20,000 seats of the stadium for two matching colored tokens. One of them has the Chevy logo and the other has the logo of CF Montreal. Teams may only carry two tokens at a time. If they don’t find two tokens of the same color, they will have to trade them with another team. The first three teams to find matching tokens will win seats on the first train to the next destination.

Episode Thoughts

What is with TARC10’s Non-Elimination Legs this season? I honestly don’t remember any TAR implementing Non-Elimination Legs or SuperLegs or MegaLegs or KOR Legs in a way that completely negates the first Leg or first half of the Leg so much like this season has done. Like, you could delete the Vancouver Leg and this Trois-Rivieres Leg from the season, and it really wouldn’t have any effect on the Race or the season’s narrative at all. Very strange!

Now, the episode starting with the flight simulation was alright. It’s a creative way to do morning departure times without just taking a number. But then to do the same kind of thing with the looking for tokens in the stadium to determine train tickets is kinda repetitive.

Though with all the Switchbacks on this season, I like this pseudo-Switchsideways to TAR8’s Final SuperLeg where teams spent the night in the Olympic Stadium. Coincidentally, also in Montreal! Lol

The camel feeding was fine and also interesting. I had no idea there were camels in Canada of course lol.

The Detour was okay. Seems like it was a balanced Detour, though the driving to deliver the paper added the extra time to the paper side.

This curling Face Off wasn’t the worst Face Off TAR Canada has had. And TARC has had plenty, if not mostly horrible Face Offs. But I definitely cringed with that flashback to Season “You don’t need to travel somewhere else!” 3. Lolewe

Finally, I actually like the Road Block. It’s a unique task on paper and it was interesting to watch the teams perform it. Though I expected a bit more tension and frustration when the teams actually were doing it. I guess the show wasn’t going to have them do more dangerous things.

At the end of the episode with them showing a good few minutes at the stadium made me think of the start of the episode and how there was actually a lot of filler. But if that meant spending less time at the Face Off, then it’s alright lol

Overall, another weird Leg, but an okay episode.

Team Thoughts

A well-deserved win for Lauren & Nicole. I think they’ve really proven themselves already and it would be a shock if they don’t make it to the Final Leg. That would be really great.

It’s the opposite for me with Kevin & Gurleen. I wouldn’t mind them getting eliminated next lol.

Good to see Michael & Amari getting into game mode now and not being overly friendly. The preview of tension with Michael & Tyson was great and I hope it really leads to fierce competition.

With less teams, we get more from Colin & Matt. Which probably means they’re going to survive a while. They’ve haven’t really been the strongest team. But again, that’s really the most dangerous as long as they stay in the Race.

Happy to see Taylor & Katie survive the “Leg”. And I’d argue they’re much more consistent than half of the teams left. So we’ll see what happens. They’re also lucky that this Leg is basically negated and they’re on a level playing field again.