Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 10, Episode 10 + Season Thoughts – “We are so grateful for the opportunity to explore our country.”

Recap: The Amazing Race Canada 10, Episode 10 – Bark If You See ‘Em

Teams fly to Edmonton, Alberta for the Final Leg. Upon arrival, teams rush into taxis to take them to the tallest skyscraper in the west, Stantec Tower. From the 69th floor, they must search the city for a flag, underneath which will be their next destination. That flag is located on the High Level Bridge.

Colin & Matt and Michael & Tyson are the first to get to the tower and spot the flag. Hometown girls Taylor & Katie are out of the tower in 3rd with Lauren & Nicole in last.

Teams must find the next location underneath the bridge. Michael & Tyson are first to reach the cluebox revealing the Road Block: Who’s up for a high stakes adventure?

For this Road Block, teams must scale the High Level Bridge to grab two pouches of Transformers One puzzle pieces they will need for some time this Leg. They will then traverse a narrow plank and then jump off the bridge to grab the next clue.

Michael, Matt, Taylor and Lauren, in that order, choose to do the Road Block. Taylor & Katie make up time because their taxi takes them to the location while the boys had to run back to their taxis across the bridge.

After the Road Block, teams must now head to International Mascots where mascots like Edmonton’s Hunter (of the Oilers), River (of the Riverhawks), Louie (of the Oil Kings) and Spike (of the Elks) come to life. Teams must pick up a unique prop and then deliver it to their chosen mascot of the four on Whyte Avenue.

Michael & Tyson arrive at International Mascots in first, followed by Taylor & Katie, Colin & Matt and then Lauren & Nicole.

After delivering their items, teams must head to the University of Alberta Butterdome for another Road Block: Who can find a loophole? For this Road Block, teams must learn and perform an acrobatic silk routine from pros of the Alberta Circus Arts Festival.

All the teams catch up at the Road Block. Tyson, Katie and Colin get the thumbs up on the acrobatics, in that order. Nicole, still in last, gets it after 15 attempts.

Teams must now head to RAD Torque Raceway. Teams must use the puzzle pieces they retrieved at the bridge to assemble a four-sided puzzle featuring Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bumblebee and Elita One posters for the movie Transformers One.

Michael & Tyson finish their puzzles first, followed by Taylor & Katie and then Colin & Matt. Lauren & Nicole are still in last.

After the puzzle, teams must join a pit crew to change a tire on a dragster. Colin & Matt move into first as they open the next clue directing teams to the Royal Alberta Museum. Michael & Tyson leave 2nd followed by Taylor & Katie and then Lauren & Nicole trailing.

At the museum, for the final memory challenge, teams must arrange 50 photo blocks representing moments from their time on the Race onto 10 stacked columns representing each Leg. Once all the blocks are in chronological order, they will receive the final clue of the Race.

Colin & Matt and Michael & Tyson ask for checks of their blocks, but get the thumbs down. Taylor & Katie arrive and get started with their blocks and Lauren & Nicole are able to arrive with all the other teams still there.

All four teams are now trying to figure out their memory blocks. None of the teams can figure out the green mahjong line block and a waterfront wood cabin. Colin & Matt and Michael & Tyson ask for another check and both are still wrong. Lauren & Nicole ask for a check, but get the thumbs down too.

Colin & Matt and Taylor & Katie seem to have figured out the cabin and both ask for a check. Colin & Matt are incorrect as they have the U-Turn board and mahjong board switched. Taylor & Katie, however, get the thumbs up and can now head to the Finish Line. Colin & Matt switch the two blocks they have wrong and also get the thumbs up.

We are now led to believe that it is a taxi race to the Finish Line at Commonwealth Stadium.

But it is Taylor & Katie who arrive first. Confetti begins to fly as Jon officially declares them the winners of The Amazing Race Canada. Colin & Matt finish as Team #2 with Michael & Tyson in 3rd and Lauren & Nicole in 4th, their first time off the podium all season.

Episode Thoughts

A very interesting episode and Leg. They definitely packed this Leg with tasks. And there’s probably a case to be made for this Leg being more worthy of 90 minutes than most of TARUS’ 90-minute episodes in seasons 35 and 36 lol

But I think most interesting is how most of the Leg was quite processional. Very little placement changes even with the many opportunities on paper. But I guess since most of the tasks were very straightforward, the placements were maintained based on the order the teams arrived.

It was kinda crazy how the show managed to squeeze in seven(!) tasks within the first half-hour of the episode. I was watching live and the stream buffered a couple of times for a few seconds. And each time the stream picked back up, the teams were already at the next Route Marker. It was like I missed whole minutes of the episode, that’s how fast the show seemed to be speeding through the tasks.

That’s both a good thing and a bad thing I guess. A fast-paced episode can be exciting and certainly better than the way TARUS stretches tasks beyond their deserved time. But also bad because it kind of takes away from each task and their challenge. It makes it seem more like just simple hurdles to get through. Which, in many cases, can lead to the feeling of the dreaded Linear Leg.

I don’t think it was that bad here, but it was certainly a bit too rushed to the point where I was like “What just happened?!” lol

Before we get to the final memory challenge, let’s talk about all the other tasks first. Starting the Leg with the typical observation deck/look out into the city for a clue was fine. Perfectly placed here at the start.

This high flying bridge task combined a few familiar TAR tasks, so it was good. And again, well-placed here at the start of the Leg. Whereas if placed later, it would just artificially hold teams up in a line. (Something TARC10 really liked to do lol)

The two Route Markers related to the mascots was funny because my immediate thought was “Didn’t they already do the mascot obstacle course this season? Why are they repeating it?” Then I realized that was the finale of TAR36, not TARC. Lolol Oops. Anyway, it was a simple task to help fill out the Leg, though the Leg certainly didn’t need an extra task. Lol

The second Road Block was fine. Having a performance task on the Final Leg can be hit or miss. But because teams were able to do it at the same time, it was good. Not too difficult, but also not too easy as well. And again, a fine task to fill the Leg.

Meh to the Transformers puzzle. And in the finale! Lol But they help pay the bills for TARC. So it’s unavoidable. I hope TARC charged a premium to be featured in the finale rather than a regular Leg though lol

The pit stop task was alright. Again, just a simple task to fill the Leg and give teams something to do.

But the highlight was obviously the final memory task. The show obviously wanted to focus on it so they left the final 20 minutes of the hour to it. And it obviously helped bring about the final result.

I think it was a very challenging task and intentionally tricky. The almost randomly zoomed in or ambiguous photos. The extra challenge of remembering the exact order of Route Markers. That’s all next level memory skills. Or even just process of elimination. So it was definitely going to be the make or break moment this Leg.

Overall, it was a very full Final Leg. Very much quantity over quality in that regard. But the teams had to definitely work for it all day. And that’s good.

As for the teams, I’m happy with Taylor & Katie coming up with the win. They had an up and down Race. When they were good, they were really good. When they struggled, they really struggled. Obviously, they were saved by a Non-Elimination too. But they fought hard and were strong competitors. So a deserved win, for sure.

Sad about Lauren & Nicole though. I think their consistent, but not dominant Race would’ve made for a great winners story. But their “podium finish” streak ending with them not even making the podium in the Final Leg is also sadly the other most likely scenario for their journey too. Still, they ran a really strong Race and were great to watch.

I would’ve been okay, though not excited, with either Colin & Matt or Michael & Tyson. But they ran solid Races. And were certainly in great position here until getting tripped up by the tricky photos.

Season Thoughts

Overall, I think this anniversary season is one of the stronger TARC seasons. And certainly much more enjoyable (less annoying? Lol) than the most recent seasons. I think this was the best (aka, my preferred lol) season since season 6. TARC7 was just the quitters’ season. TARC8 was a mess. TARC9 was so flat. TARC4 and TARC5 were just offensively annoying. TARC3 was saved by the strong cast. And the farther we are from the first two seasons, the more I seem to have a fondness for them even though I barely remember what happened in them. Lol

The show has been struggling with the recycling of tasks and seemingly running out of locations in Canada to visit. Legs would blend together they were so similar to each other. And in the same season too.

But this season had a bit more variety in locations and some refreshing takes on familiar tasks. I don’t know if there was a standout Leg. But at least there wasn’t a Leg that stood out for being horribly bad.

That is, other than the Race Resets™. I really don’t understand why TARC thought negating entire Legs this season was a good idea. And I am actually quite impressed, as well as annoyed, by TARC10’s seeming insistence on finding ways to completely reset the Race at random points.

I think that will be my biggest criticism of the season. Just really unnecessary resets that seemed to merely try and provoke drama that could get people talking as if they were watching Big Brother Canada or the The Traitors Canada instead of The Amazing Race.

Also, the Pass is still nonsense. And The Assist by Desjardins™ is kind of pointless other than helping to pay for the show.

But again, overall, a better and more enjoyable season than recent TARCs. Let’s see what season 11 has in store for us. Perhaps an 8-Leg Race this time? lol