Here are the start times out of Whitehorse. Considering how difficult the leg was, these times are pretty tight...less than one hour separates first from last place.
Alain and Audrey 11:48 A.M.
Ryan and Rob 11:50
Natalie and Meaghan 11:55
Sukhi and Jinder 12:23 P.M.
Pierre and Michel 12:25
Mickey and Pete 12:34
Rex and Bob 12:42
The clue tells them to make their way to Winnipeg, Manitoba and directs them to find the "golden boy" - the statue atop the dome of the Provincial Legislature. They are given $200 dollars for this leg. Alain and Audrey ask for the quickest flight to Winnipeg, but the only possible route is through Vancouver...again. Has anyone been keeping a running tally of the number of times TARC has had to go through Vancouver...both seasons?
The next Route Marker tells them to head to the Royal Canadian Mint. The task tells them to match the coins from 10 countries to their respective flags lining the path out front. This seems odd, and I have to admit I didn't know this, until Jon explains the RCM has minted coins for 72 countries.
- Natalie & Meaghan are the first to arrive. They decide to do 5 coins each. They bicker a bit but leave in first.
- Sukhi and Jinder are the last to arrive, after being taken for a bit of a ride by their taxi driver...the scourge of Amazing Race, any season, any franchise. Despite this they make up incredible time and get out of here in 2nd.
- Audrey and Alain 3rd
- Rex and Bob 4th
- Pierre and Michel 5th
- Mickey and Pete 6th
- Ryan and Rob 7th
From here it's downtown to the corner of Portage and Main. Natalie and Meaghan lose their lead to a slow moving, very long freight train. Welcome to the heart of Canada. Could have been worse. At least they weren't at the back of the pack and cut off. This next clue is for a Detour, "Puck It" or "Pinch It". Puck It is a hockey challenge. Just in case you couldn't tell. The teams must go to the MTS Centre, home of the Winnipeg Jets and must score 5 goals, one in each area of a practice goalie. The hardest shot to score is #5...between the goalie's legs. Of course, Jon had to mention this fact...because it is a precursor to what will happen next. Pinch It is a food challenge at St. Ivan Suchavsky Sobor Ukrainian Church. Teams must fill 74 perfect pierogies. Pierogies have a habit of breaking open if not sealed correctly, so the judge Helen boils them. Of course she does. At this point, a Fast Forward is offered to the teams.
Okay, I know you're saying, "This is an exciting episode?" Well just wait for it. here is what happens:
- Pierre and Michel choose Puck It. They are Habitants after all. Michel's first goal is the infamous #5 slot. They beat the Hockey girls out and are in 1st at this stage. They cannot believe they are faster than 2 Olympic Gold medalists.
- Mickey and Pete also choose Puck It. They say they haven't played hockey since grade 6. Must be just like riding a bike, because they too beat the Hockey Girls and are in 2nd.
- Natalie and Meaghan. Sigh. They were first in here. Yes they did Puck It. They got the first 4 goals bang, bang, bang, bang. But here is where they fell pray to one of the most biggest jinxes of Amazing Race. Never pick the challenge that corresponds to your profession or something you are well known for. NEVER. I think it may have something to do with pride or feeling like you have too much riding on it. In this case, they just couldn't get that nasty #5 slot. Took them 57 attempts, but they were lucky to hold third place.
- Sukhi and Jinder pick Puck It. This is a great example of experience vs. luck. It's the exact opposite of the Hockey Girls, meaning when you don't know how to do something well, you have nothing to lose. Of course Sukhi has never skated before. What? Did you expect them to sit still long enough to make 74 pierogies? HA! Sukhi says, "How hard can it be?". This girl's got spunk. It was like watching a turtle skating for the first time. Maybe TMNT before they mutated. At one point, Sukhi said, "Okay, I am going to go fast now". Way too funny and exactly what you would expect from these two. Don't get me wrong...she still did better than I would have. Would you believe it? They are in 4th place.
- Rex and Bob know that hockey is not for them. Not that pierogies are any better. Um why are these two on the show again? Oh yes, they saw this as a chance for gossip. Their first batch of pierogies net only 30 good ones according to judge Helen - the Pierogi Poobah as Bob calls her. They leave in 6th.
- Ryan and Rob do the pierogies, since they have no interest in hockey either. Their first batch was a bit better than Rex and Bob's, but they leave in last place.
Audrey and Alain show up at the rink intending to do Puck It. They figure either Natalie & Meaghan or Sukhi & Jinder decided to go for the Fast Forward. Audrey looks in the locker room and sees all their stuff. They decide to make a play for it. The challenge is to identify 7 vintage billboard signs painted on the exterior of buildings in a 6 square block area. It takes a while but they get it. They are on their way to the pit stop. But how long did it take and will they make it there first?
The last task is a Roadblock at a well known tavern called Whiskey Dix. Mickey and Pete
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| Rob got this with one try...now that's talent. |
- Pierre and Michel. Michel goes over the lyrics and realizes there is no way he will ever get the English right on this. They decide to use that Express Pass that everyone was arguing over in the last episode. Good call. They go right to the pitstop and win the leg. They get a vacation for 2 in Los Cabos, Mexico and $3,000 on a Scotia Bank American Express card.
- Alain and Audrey get to the pitstop 2nd. They were a little disappointed they did the Fast Forward and only came in second. I hope they realize what could have happened if they did all the challenges.
- Mickey and Pete. Mickey does the Rock performance. The long curly black wig over his long blonde hair and a cheesy black paste on mustache just wasn't a good look on him. But he enjoyed the cut off booty shorts. Maybe a bit too much. I am pretty sure he is a master of the air guitar, but the singing...ummn, no. Still, very entertaining. In the first attempt, the mustache falls off, then the wig. He tries to shake his blonde flow out, but gets booed. Tough crowd. He says that when he got up on stage, he was having so much fun with it he forgot the lyrics. He dives off the stage, takes note of all the babes, then excuses himself because they have to go meet Jon at the mat. The Dudes come in third in this leg, even though they arrived at the mat as the first team to have done all the challenges.
- Sukhi and Jinder. Jinder knows how to rock the mullet. A couple of failed attempts, then something clicks and he gets it. Another 4th place finish.
- Natalie decides to do this one for the girls. She has a hard time remembering the lyrics, and the whole thing was just....wrong. Erm. What is going on here? This just was not their leg. They come in 5th.
- Ryan and Rob arrive last but Rob rocks the challenge, getting it done on the first attempt. How the frig did he do that? One thing is for sure, his performance saved him and Ryan from elimination. They come in 6th.
- Rex and Bob decide that Rex is the performer. Wrong. This was just sad. They saw the Hockey Girls coming out just as they were going in. Knowing the girls are usually in the lead, they presumed they were in third place. They arrive last at the mat and are eliminated. When Jon tells them they are last, they say, "Oh really?" in unison. I guess they should have asked Sukhi and Jinder for help somewhere along the way. Or maybe they should have remembered that making pierogis was a task on the Amazing Race and not a casual afternoon of volunteering for a church event.
The greeter at the mat with Jon was a Ballerina. Her greeting was "Welcome to Winnipeg, home of the Royal Canadian Ballet". Oh irony, you are a heartless bitch. Let me say that I am not one for spreading nasty rumours or gossip, but Rex seems to have taken to Twitter tonight with yet another bug up his butt. He is one of these people who just shouldn't be on social media for the simple fact that he just takes things way too personally. He attacked Holly and Brett Burstein...just as he has attacked others. Why? Holly and Brett took him to task over the little comment he made on the after-show about some guy in a basement with 3 Twitter followers. He then categorized Team Peds together with all the teams from the first season as irrelevant. I was willing to cut the guy some slack after his self proclaimed redemption over that double penalty. But all I see now is a guy who just doesn't know anything about the show. OR it's fans. OR social media. I really don't know why they were on this show and it's as if they didn't either. Some people found them amusing - for a while they were, but I got tired of that real quick. If there is an All-Star version in the future, you can expect a big showdown between Rex & Bob and Hol, Hol, Hol and Brett.
Next week, it's off to Normandy, France...I location that I suspected way back when and put on my short list when I found out the show was going international. Why? It's a place of extreme importance to Canada and it's history, and this year marks the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings. In fact it was filmed about 3 weeks before the official celebrations. I can't wait to do the preview of this episode, because I know nothing about it, except for it's outcome. It was filmed completely off everyone's radar. Ah...I want to see all these people who complain about the international locations of the show try to complain about this.