Recap of Episode 2 Amazing Race Canada 2 "There's a Fish in My Pants"

Episode 2 left me feeling like a cold fish. There, I said it. Someone had to. Why? Well, I think a certain team has been not just a little lucky, but a little pampered. You'll see what I mean.

Once again, I am not recapping this linearly. Its just too much jumping back and forth in these early episodes. Rather, I am writing on a challenge by challenge basis. The teams must head to Tofino B.C., the "Tree Hugging Capital of the World" according to Jon.

According to Meaghan, its in British Columbio. Can't blame her for her mouth not working...it was 4 o'clock in the morning. There are 3 flights out, each one hour apart. Here's the times of team departures from Victoria:

On the first flight:
     Natalie and Meaghan 4:18 AM
     Alain and Audrey 4:24
     Rex and Bob 5:05
     Cormac and Nicole 5:47
On the 2nd flight:
     Laura and Jackie 5:50
     Sukhi and Jinder 5:56
     Pete and Mickey 6:07
On the 3rd flight:
     Pierre and Michel; Ryan and Rob; Jen and Shawn - departure times unknown. Don't you love how they just lump the bottom three together like that? Then they don't tell you the exact flight times...that first group could have waited hours for that first flight, which was a charter by the way. For the uninitiated, this is production's way of letting the 3 late stragglers catch up with the rest of the herd. It's actually a necessary evil. If they don't make these little tweaks from time to time, the teams could soon end up running the race days apart.

Once in Tofino, they must jump in Chevy Volts - with an extended charge, and make their way to Pacific Seafood in Ucluelet. It's a Detour, "Sharp knives" or "Sharp eyes". Sharp knives requires the teams to perfectly filet 30 lbs of fish. The problem is they are only provided with a limited number of fish, so if they mangle them, their fish won't be replenished and they will be $&@! outta luck. In Sharp Eyes they must sort 1,000 lbs of rockfish into 5 varieties. This is difficult because they are so indistinguishable it really does take a sharp eye to see the differences. Really, a well named Detour. Here is what happens with each team.

• Alain and Audrey get there first and pick the sorting task (Sharp eyes). They realize they can't see the differences between the fish so they switch to sharp knives. They think the innards are nasty. Alain declares he will never eat sushi again when he sees the eggs. Audrey bellows like a seal and we see some seals laughing back. They are first out and head to the next task.
• Rex and Bob arrive next and pick sharp eyes because they are good at detail. After many attempts, Rex is convinced that they should switch. Bob tells him to shush. They finally get it right and head out in 2nd place, but not before declaring the judge was evil.
• Sukhi and Jinder arrive 7th. They explain they both have majors in biology so the sorting should be a piece of cake. Wait. This reminds me of someone...that's it. Hol and Brett's "We're doctors" schtick. Remember the dinosaur bones? And just like the Docs, they realize their skills are of no use. Sukhi discovers why...a missing fish is in her pants. They add it to the right bin and they leave in 3rd.
• Natalie and Meaghan get here in third place. Lots of fish start flying about, and the girls slip back a place, leaving this challenge in 4th place. Oh, oh, they're slipping.
• Cormac and Nicole arrive 4th. They try sorting fish but switch when they realize they can't spot the differences. They leave in 5th.
• Pete and Mickey are the fifth to arrive. They are stoked that they have caught up to the first group that left Victoria. They try sorting. Mickey says he knows every fish in Ontario (perhaps on a personal basis, I don't know), but these fish make him feel like a fish out of water. They switch after they goof around a bit and leave in 6th.
• Pierre and Michel get here 8th. They are good with knives, working in the family slaughter house and all. They immediately jump into the fileting. They just lost their father 6 months before and Pierre says, "Daddy, we will make you proud". They know they will make time up here and do...they leave in 7th.
• Jen and Shawn do well. They get the differences in fish classification. They jump ahead into 8th place.
• Laura and Jackie arrived in sixth place and try their hand at fileting despite being vegans. They mangle the fish and realize they won't have enough fish to finish. So they switch. Heading to the sorting area, Shawn does an honourable thing and explains about the differences in stripes in the fish. The girls leave in 9th place.
• Ryan and Rob got here 9th but have a hard time sorting fish. They switch to fileting then switch back to sorting when they see they won't have enough of the allotted fish to finish. They finally get it right and are the last ones out, thinking they are in trouble.

On to the next task..."Catch a wave in Tofino". They must locate the Surf Shack, change into gear, grab a board, a waterproof camera and bicycle down to the beach. One team member must surf, striking a perfect pose on a wave for 3 seconds. The other person must film them. The judges here are beach babes.

• Alain and Audrey can't find the Surf Shack then wander around looking for the boards. They panic and start arguing, but I can't get mad at these guys when they revert to French when they get agitated. They walk right past the surfboards with the clues on them. They finally find the beach second after Rex and Bob. Audrey surfs and she has skills. Alain looks over at Rex and knows Rex can't beat Audrey, who of course nails it. They head out in 1st.
• Mickey and Pete arrive at the beach 5th. The beach babes are excited to see someone who looks like they can actually surf. Like really excited. Mickey doesn't want to toot his own horn, but...he just swims out, jumps up and ... its done. Rex says. "Look at THAT! They're AMAZING!". Uhhh, yeah. They are out of there in 2nd place.
• Natalie and Meaghan get to the beach third. This is where Rex starts to panic and says, "Great, she's probably got a gold medal in surfing." Natalie struggles so Meaghan takes over. She says, "As it turns out, I can surf a bit." Good enough for this task...and they leave in 3rd.
• Rex and Bob arrive here first. Rex tries first because a ballet dancer must be agile and have balance like a surfer. Right? Wrong. Bob tries but fails. Rex tries again. Other teams arrive and leave and they panic, but not before they hand out a few one-line zingers which were hilarious. They decide to take a penalty...while they were still in 4th place? Geesh.
• Cormac and Nicole arrive 4th at the beach. Cormac tries, and tries again. Nicole takes over and strikes a pose like a champ. Beauty. They leave in 5th.
• Pierre and Michel are in and out in sixth place.
• Sukhi and Jinder get there in 7th, amazed at the fact that some stragglers have beat them there. Maybe it wouldn't have been a problem if they didn't stop to try to re-charge the car - which still had over 400 km estimated life on the battery. Woh. They tumble off the bikes like a slapstick team. Jinder tries surfing but they fall further behind, and leave in 8th.
• Ryan and Rob are the last to arrive but Rob does the surfing and nails it. they leave in 9th.
• Jen and Shawn are the 8th team to arrive at the beach, amazed to see some of the lead teams still there. Shawn decides to surf and is convinced they can move up here. Shawn jumps up onto the board to begin his run and dislocates his right shoulder. It's pretty nasty, you can see the bulge. He still thinks he can pop it back in and if Jen can do the surfing, they can keep going. The medics arrive and tell Shawn he has to go to the hospital. Technically in 10th place, they decide to withdraw from the race. This is a tough way to go out.

(Note: the above placements do not account for Rex and Bob's penalty for failing to finish the surfing)

The final task is a Roadblock - located right beside the surfing. "Who gets the drift?" One team member must construct a traditional Tofino beach chair made from driftwood and fishing nets. The judge is a dude who looks like he's been on that beach since 1967. After this task is complete they must find Jon at the Pitstop on Crab Dock at the foot of Olson Rd.... "the end of the road". So I am just going to combine this together.

• Natalie and Meaghan are the 3rd team to start their chair. Natalie has no problem. They successfully regain the lead and win the leg. They win 2 round trip tickets to Hong Kong and another $2,000 Scotia Bank American Express Gold Visa. They say. "We're going to Hong Kong!", and Jon says "yes you are". Dead giveaway.
• Alain and Audrey were first to start the chair, but Alain gets hung up a bit. They let the hockey girls slip past them again and end up 2nd.
• Mickey and Pete start the chair 2nd. Pete has a bit of trouble but manages to make a chair good enough to support the old dude. They run to the pitstop, trying to take a shortcut through the bushes, tumbling out like elephants in the jungle. When they see Jon, they yell, "Jonny...we're coming!" (Note to self: I am so making a gif of that) They end up in 3rd for the leg.
• Cormac and Nicole are in 5th place when they start the chair but Cormac is good at this kind of stuff and they hit the mat in 4th place.
• Pierre and Michel start this in 6th. Pierre tells Michel to tie the driftwood tight and get it done quick. They are the 5th team at the mat.
• Rex and Bob. Good God. WTF? Bob is the fourth person to start his chair. This of course doesn't account for the penalty from the surfing task. He ties the driftwood together in what looks like will be a great chair. He doesn't like it and rips it apart. Perfectionist much? He can't get another one together properly. Meanwhile, Shawn has injured his shoulder and is brought to the hospital. The two decide to drop this task and face another penalty. They arrive at the mat right behind Pierre and Michel where Jon tells them they racked up 6 hours in penalties.
• Sukhi and Jinder. They get to this task in 7th place. Jinder makes the chair and they end up in 6th place. This is adjusted to account for Rex and Bob's penalties.
• Ryan and Rob start this task in 9th place. Ryan whips the chair together in no time and jump into 7th place.
• Laura and Jackie start the chair 8th. Laura's chair is good enough for them to hit the mat in 8th place.
• Rex and Bob end up in 9th place, saved only by Jen and Shawn withdrawing from the race.

Jon meets up with Jen and Shawn King outside of the hospital. He of course has to officially tell them they have been eliminated. Shawn comes up with a great line. "We just got eliminated from The Amazing Race Canada. The only way to do that is to be on it." Nothing to be ashamed of, at all.

My thoughts on the teams this episode:

Rex & Rob having a time out.

I find Alain and Audrey a bit amusing when they revert to French in moments of panic or when they start to argue. However I also think they are too easily stressed and this may lead to their downfall. Sukhi and Jinder's antics are a lot of fun to watch as well. As are  Mickey and Pete, who look and sound like they may have made an unscheduled stop in Tofino for some extra "supplies". Ahem. Still loving Cormac and Nicole...she's a force to be reckoned with. I am starting to think there is nothing Nicole can't do. I am also waiting for Ryan and Rob to get into the game. Now about Rex and Bob and that little performance on the beach. Or should I say lack of it? My opinion is that they knew darn well Jen and Shawn would have to withdraw from the race and they would end up safe. The six hour penalty was almost an insult. Then they complained about the wait. Their performance was insulting to people like Jody and Cory Mitic or Tim Hague Sr and Tim Hague Jr. Or the other teams who hung in there til the bitter end at the fish processing. Not to mention all the people who auditioned for this season and were turned down. The best part is that they were made to sit on that bench like two naughty boys sitting outside of the Principal's office. Their zippy one-liners, while amusing, just aren't enough to compensate for the prima donna attitude. 

Next week...its off to Hong Kong, the first time that "Canadians have raced outside their country". If you care to read the spoilers for that episode, I will have that preview up in a couple of days.