S02.E01: What's It Take to Get a Cup of Tea?

[Taeolas]

Woohoo! The race is back! 

 

Skydiving! Ziplining! A memory task! And ice cold ship repair! They pulled out a lot of the stops to open up. I almost feel it should have been 2 hours to let us see more, but all in all I think it was a good balance.

 

I don't know the teams yet, but I am liking the hockey players so far and the hippies. The rest I'm fairly indifferent to.

 

LOTS of Huggers it seems this time around. The judge at the Tea Party I was worried his back would be snapped by some of them. :)

 

It felt like it could've used a better bunch in Victoria early on to negate the flights, but there was a bit if mixing at the Tea Party and the Ship repair so it was fairly good. 

 

Can't wait to see more. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

Seriously, Amazing Race Canada brought to you by Scotiabank American Express.  Scotiabank does Mastercard and Visa as well (which are both US companies, I know) but  anything other than AMEX -- money talks, and I guess Interac didn't want to pony up the dough this year.

[Taeolas]

Seems that way. I think not having Interac as a sponsor opens it up beyond Canada potentially. With Interac, you are limited to Canada and other places that have Interac. 

 

Free Gas for Life is quite the prize in this day and age. It might even verge on being one of the biggest prizes ever. Then again, it's with PetroCan, so there's a chance PetroCan might disappear before a winner's life disappears. :)

[mtlchick]

I'm almost in shock that there are 2 Quebec teams, so by default I will root for them.

This was more exciting than recent opening eps of. Original TAR so that's a good sign.

Jon reminds me of the beady eyed Canucks found on South Park.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Free Gas for Life is quite the prize in this day and age. It might even verge on being one of the biggest prizes ever. Then again, it's with PetroCan, so there's a chance PetroCan might disappear before a winner's life disappears. :)

 

I forgot about that -- seriously, at today's and prices (and once they go up, they rarely go down), that could be an awesome prize.  However, I'm sure the devil is in the details and that there is either a lifetime cap on the total dollar value or a dollar limit per year or total number of litres per year.  Remember that PetroCan used to give away free Internet for life (back in the days of dial-up) -- and that petered out pretty quickly.

[bagatelle]

I like the two Muskoka guys. Or maybe I just love cottage country at this time of the year, but they do seem like fun.  Are those the hippies or are there other hippies?  I'm usually very confused during the first episode.

 

Rex Harrington makes me smile with his funny one-liners, but I have no real opinion on the rest.

 

 

[lizzie3]

I'm so excited that this show is back!  Seems like an interesting group, but I'm not sure yet who I'm favouring.  I have a feeling that the hockey players will go far.

This episode seemed really fast-paced, and had a great mix of challenges.  The repair challenge in the water was interesting; can't believe how long it took some of them to close the door!

[LakeGal]

 I enjoyed the premiere.  Beautiful scenery.  Interesting challenges.  I didn't immediately hate any of the teams.  Great start to a season.

[allypenguin]

Three of my idols are on this season of Amazing Race, I'm so excited (Rex, Meaghan and Natalie)!

 

Yes! Love Rex! I always thought he was great as a judge on SYTYCD Canada, and I'm glad to see him on my TV again :) Plus the dude is one hell of a dancer.

 

As someone who cried great big tears of joy when Team Canada won gold in Sochi, it's impossible for me to not root for Meaghan and Natalie. And Meaghan rocked that high tea challenge too, so, my crush is increased tenfold. I totally related to Cormac when he said he was starstruck, I would not be able to deal. Also noticed that Meaghan's hand was still broken, or at least taped up, since she played with it broken in Sochi.

[bagatelle]

In retrospect, jumping out of a plane in tandem was pretty darn easy compared to their partner having to serve high tea and memorizing the menu word for word.  There was actually no skill involved in the former.

[shok]

Fun premiere. I love seeing these gorgeous areas of Canada. We're so lucky to live in this beautiful land.

 

I was very glad to see the hubby and wife make it through. They seem like a really solid couple and I hope they pick up the pace and stick around for a few weeks. I'm always impressed by couples (or parent/child duos or friends or whatever) who respect and support each other.

 

I think Jinder and Suchi are going to annoy me...a lot. They already did tonight. They're the Afghanimals of TARC. The French twins are the eye candy of the season. Yummy!!!

[xcrayon2215x]

Hopefully the Quebec guys win, though I wouldn't mind Natalie and Spooner or Alain and Audrey winning. The person getting picked up  reminded me of LEO and JAMAL from the Amazing Race last season.

[Rachel RSL]

Yay! I forgot how much I love this show.  Love the diversity in the cast! Unlike most American reality shows, there's nobody I instantly hate. In fact, the only one who even slightly grates on my nerves so far is the mom in the mom/son duo.  Totally pulling for our hockey girls! I thought Mickey and Pete would get on my nerves but I loved them for their shirts. Every team should have to wear those for the first few legs. And do none of the other teams know who Rex Harrison is?

 

 

LOTS of Huggers it seems this time around. The judge at the Tea Party I was worried his back would be snapped by some of them. :)

Yeah, the tea dude did not look impressed.  It makes me cringe whenever Racers do that. Boundaries, people!

Edited July 9, 2014 by Rachel RSL

[SomeTameGazelle]

And do none of the other teams know who Rex Harrison is?

 

According to their meeting story, 10 years ago Rex Harrington's fiancé didn't know who Rex Harrington was. So I'm not surprised that most of the other contestants might not know. The hockey players would be more current (although I am the opposite: I remember Rex Harrington's name well from the National Ballet, can't name any of the Canadian women's hockey team except perhaps Hayley Wickenhiser, the spelling of whose name I had to look up).

[HistoryGirl]

I was enrolled in ballet pretty seriously 25+ years ago and the name Rex Harrington is vaguely familiar to me.  Not enough that if he introduced himself to me that I would make the connection to ballet.  But if someone had said, "Rex Harrington, he was this superstar ballet dancer in Canada" then I might make a slight connection.  Certainly he's not as familiar as Karen Kain, who I basically idolized as a child. I will say though that if I saw Karen Kain on the street, I'm not sure I would recognize her.  It doesn't surprise me that they didn't know who Rex was. That being said, I know who Rex is NOW because he was AWESOME in that first leg.  I was laughing at his "oh, there's like-- what-- 20 teams behind us?" Which would be the way I'd shrug off my ineptitude in a task.  And his camera mugging had me laughing too. 

 

Nicole drove me nuts.  We should start a drinking game-- drink for each time that Nicole shouts "CORMAC". Good God, woman. We get it. His name is Cormac. 

 

But aside from that, there wasn't anyone especially grating.  I thought it was funny that the twin(?) asked if he could do the task with a French accent.  And it was kind of fun to see the brothers shouting commands in French during the task.  Lord knows that I wouldn't have the wherewithal to be speaking English if French was my mother tongue and I was in that freezing cold water. 

 

Where we were all the Atlantic and Prairie teams?  There's 1 team from Halifax and 1 from Manitoba.  I bet if there's someone in the Arctic territories that was interested in applying they'd be a shoe-in for the show. 

 

I will say that the right team went home last night.  While I can appreciate that they were cold, their big issue was the door was still open (as far as I could tell).  Thus the water was still pouring in pretty fiercely, which cause them to continually drop the bolt. Also I never really like it when someone decides to take a penalty on the first leg and when they're conceivably last or second to last.  I would've appreciated it more if they'd taken a bit of a break, cried, got treatment for the cold legs, then gave it another try.  I always have to give side eyes to a team that automatically defaults to "penalty".

 

As for the prizes, the Petro Canada one is limited to 50 years. That's a pretty awesome deal, I think.  Even if they were capped a certain total litre per year. 

Edited July 9, 2014 by HistoryGirl

[Taeolas]

I wonder if they would have been allowed to leave the rooms without penalty (with or without resetting the rooms). As far as tasks go, I was worried the flooding rooms would become a bunching task, until we saw there were multiple rooms, so teams could pass each other. (TARs are notorious for having neat tasks, that can only be done by 1 team at a time so they only serve as a bunching).

 

That said, it looked like Tea Service of all things was a 1 at a time task. They only had the one judge there and could only have 1 team inside at a time. Still, the service seemed to go quick enough, and the training outside was done concurrently, so there was lots of room for mixing.

 

Rex's attitude was great. "There's only 20 other teams behind us on the plane." or something like that. All in all we do have a good mix of teams. But Cormac and mom are starting to grate a bit. (For some reason they remind me a lot of Margie and Luke from TAR.us )

[Artsda]

That was a lot of tasks in one episode, good for TAR Canada. That was better than the last US TAR finale which was a joke in tasks.

[Kromm]

Jon reminds me of the beady eyed Canucks found on South Park.

Heh.  I noted that last season and got soundly (metaphorically) beat about the head and backside for it.

 

It's the pace and pitch he speaks in.  If you didn't see last season though, at least from the small sampling so far this one, he's slowed down at least a hair and so gotten somewhat better.

 

BTW:  A Racer named BOB HOPE?  Why has no one else commented on this!!!

And I just realized his partner is REX HARRINGTON. Which is not the same thing as REX HARRISON, admittedly, but its SO close that given that one of them is BOB HOPE, it still needs to be commented on.

[Rachel RSL]

Hilariously, I do know who Rex Harrington is (I was even at the Gala the night he was inducted into the Walk of Fame) and I still got his name wrong so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that none of the other racers know who he is.

[Pepper the Cat]

I pretty much like all the teams. Although I think the mother/son team may get on my nerves.

[Taeolas]

I cracked up at the "de lice" one team offered in the tea challenge. It looked like the room almost cracked up at that; yet it was considered adequate by the judge. :)  

[Pepper the Cat]

The water task was one of the best tasks I have seen on either version of Amazing Race.

I hope the American Version uses it sometime!

[shok]

The water task was one of the best tasks I have seen on either version of Amazing Race.

I hope the American Version uses it sometime!

 It was indeed. Too bad it got shortchanged in the time crunch to get everything in in one hour. They really crammed a lot in and could have done with a two hour premiere.

[Kel Varnsen]

The water task was one of the best tasks I have seen on either version of Amazing Race.

I hope the American Version uses it sometime!

I thought it was pretty impressive too. I could have done without the skydiving and the tea service task at the Empress though. I grew up in Victoria and it would have been cool if they could find something more obscure. I mean every cabbie in victoria can probably get to the Empress with his eyes closed. 

 

As for the teams most are pretty good. The Muskoka guys seem super annoying to me, and the mom in the mother and son team needs to just be a little more quiet. 

 

Also as others have said the prizes are awesome. Gas for life at Canadian gas prices is insane. Even the leg prize was really good (express pass, trip to anywhere in south america and 2000 bucks).

[UsernameFatigue]

I have never watched an entire season of Amazing Race (any version) but thought I would give this season a shot. So glad some have commented on how much was crammed into one hour. I wasn't sure if this was normal, but would defintely have preferred a less frenetic hour.  Two hours would have been much more enjoyable.

 

That said, the only couple that annoyed me was the mother and son, and mostly the mother.  I wasn't sure if the hippy guys would be too laid back, but loved the one nailing the Empress Tea challenge.

 

Looking forward to the season, and so glad there is a thread here on the show!

[Shermie]

Yeah, that was a busy hour! While I like the hockey players, I don't care for having them or Rex Harrington as competitors. They had their 15 minutes, their claim to fame, their time in the spotlight. I like TAR racers to be regular people - not already famous ones, especially famous athletes. 

 

And how old is the oldest racer this season? Seems like 50 on TAR is considered a senior citizen.

[Rusun]

If ever there were a need for a 1.5 hour premiere, this season would have been it.

 

Still the best North American opener since Unfinished Business, nonetheless ~

 

P.S. Congrats to NatMeagh for joining the SaNae and NaNa EP Club!

Edited July 11, 2014 by Rusun

[In Pog Form]

Seriously, Amazing Race Canada brought to you by Scotiabank American Express.

I thought Canada was in America.

[legaleagle53]

Well, it is sort of attached to the US, which is what the "American" in "American Express" refers to, not the continent of North America.

[smilestar]

Just got around to watching the first episode, and I think it may have been even better than last season's first episode.

 

Being of South Asian decent, I'm quite excited to see the two South Asian teams featured in TAR.  Although one of the teams has already been eliminated, it was nice to see that people of other cultures are being included.  Not sure how the Original TAR is, but hopefully we'll get a variety of cultures in the future.

 

I love seeing the different places they showcase throughout the show.  Even if it is just little snippets of pictures here and there.  We truly do have a beautiful country :)

 

I'm rooting for the hockey girls too!  How could you not? :)

Edited July 14, 2014 by smilestar

[In Pog Form]

Well, it is sort of attached to the US, which is what the "American" in "American Express" refers to, not the continent of North America.

Which is my nitpick - the use of "America" to refer to the USA, rather than the continent. In some continent models, North and South America are one continent known as "America."

That aside, those two shaggy guys are completely and totally heterosexual, aren't they? And they want you to know that they're dead serious about being heterosexual, and there's no questioning that at all. Hmmmm.

[Sentient Meat]

Is there some sort of non compete clause that forces the Amazing Race Canada not to travel overseas?  Not that I mind the Canadian venues as I enjoyed last season also, but it just seems odd that they don't even venture south of the border.  IIRC the US version only had one domestic edition which was the family season.  The rest always sent the contestants around the world.  Maybe, they are on a lower budget but the production seems on par with the original and the prizes seem good as well.

[Taeolas]

It's all about the money. In particular, it's all about who is paying for this race (more so than in the States, but TAR.us has Ford and Travelocity sponsoring so they have deeper pockets)

 

Last season (and this season) by the looks of it, a lot of the Advertisers for the show are Canadian. Last season especially, Interac was one of the major sponsors of the show, so they could only go places that would take Interac; which limits them to Canada. 

 

With Air Canada also as a major sponsor, that pretty much limits them to only places where Air Canada flies. (So that cuts out flights that don't start or end in Canada basically)

 

Furthermore, another sponsor of the show was the Tourism board for the provinces; so you'll see at the end of the episode, credits for the Tourism boards of the provinces or territories the racers visited; so that further limits them to Canada. (The exception was Quebec IIRC; last year Quebec's tourism didn't pony up the cash, so they didn't get the Tourism Quebec tag in the credits).

 

This year, the money sponsor is ScotiaBank MasterCard, so that potentially opens them up to non-Canadian destinations; but they would probably have to be Out and Backs so the racers could fly Air Canada. Quebec showed last year that they don't always need the funding of the Tourism board to have a leg in a location too. We'll have to see where they go in the coming episodes. 

[Kel Varnsen]

This year, the money sponsor is ScotiaBank MasterCard, so that potentially opens them up to non-Canadian destinations; but they would probably have to be Out and Backs so the racers could fly Air Canada. Quebec showed last year that they don't always need the funding of the Tourism board to have a leg in a location too. We'll have to see where they go in the coming episodes. 

That would actually make things kind of interesting. I mean Scotiabank has a presence in Mexico and the Carribean. Flights to those destinations aren't really that far, and could showcase to people how easy they are to get to on Air Canada, and how they have Canadian banks. Plus then they could add in some language/cultural barrier to make the race a bit more difficult, since that was my big complaint last year, what with everyone having to fly on AC it was basically fly on a predetermined flight from one city to the next, take a cab to an easy to find place, and then do a task. With one of the tasks this season being at the Empress Hotel, it doesn't give me a lot of hope that we won't see the same thing this year. I would have loved it if they had been forced to drive from Calgary to Vancouver (about 10 hours) and then taken a seaplane ride to Victoria. 

[Donny Ketchum]

I' mpersonally happy to not hate any team.  Well, the only one I might hate down the line is Alain & Audrey for their bickering and Rex & Bob if they get a bit too queeny, but other than that, no one stands out as particularly awful just yet.

 

That said, my main rooting interests are Natalie & Meagan (kick-ass women's team), Laura & Jackie (see Natalie & Meagan), Cormac & Nicole (cute parent/child team), and Suhki & Jinder (nice, funny siblings).  None of the men's teams excite me all that much yet (though I'm glad that none of the three alpha-male teams are chest-beating douches like the ones in our own country's version).  Jen & Shawn seem sweet, but otherwise feel like easy cannon fodder, and would've been had the Muslim girls not taken the penalty.

 

All in all, the tasks were terrific.  The show's really taken better care to put this race together than the American version.  The race has actually been tense (save for the question of the elimination), and position actually shifts!  Amazing!

 

Can't wait to see more!

[Shermie]

Seriously, Amazing Race Canada brought to you by Scotiabank American Express.

 

I don't see the big deal here. American Express is a brand of credit card that happens to have "American" in its name. No different than Americans drinking Canada Dry, or if the race was sponsored by Boston Pizza or New York Fries (Canadian companies).

 

Which is my nitpick - the use of "America" to refer to the USA, rather than the continent. In some continent models, North and South America are one continent known as "America".

 

Actually, no. America is the U.S. When referring to the two continents as a whole, it is called "The Americas". Canada is part of the Americas, not part of America.

[Nijntje]

[Camera One]

I'm glad I don't hate any teams either.  I don't think they should have had to specify who did the Tea task... it's more strategic when the team decides who's more suited to a task while keeping in mind they will need to equalize out in the end.  I always feel bad for the teams eliminated in the first episode.  I don't mind the frontrunners, but it would have been nice to see one of the underdogs win the Express Pass.

[Jac]

But Cormac and mom are starting to grate a bit. (For some reason they remind me a lot of Margie and Luke from TAR.us )

 

Thanks for putting that image in my mind, Luke is my least favourite racer in TAR history.

 

I liked this episode a lot, it was a good blend of physical and intellectual challenges. I was momentarily worried when the first stop was Calgary, considering the fact they visited Calgary last time but I think it worked well over all.

[Rusun]

When TAR Canada 2 goes on DVD/B-R in the near future, here's hoping that this episode gets an extended hour-and-a-half cut a la TAR17: these teams and challenges deserve it!