S03.E06: Who Is Alex Trebek?

[radishcake]

Teams continue to race to Sudbury, Ontario, where the drama continues, and the trauma gets critical. The Detour forces teams to take the plunge and go deep underground.

[SnideAsides]

The title is hilarious enough, but bonus points for (per Wikipedia) being used for a leg that's actually in Trebek's hometown.

[Vyas]

More like, "What else could they've named this episode?"

 

You won't want to miss all the surprises, including a Canadian icon who makes a special trip back to his hometown.

 

- John Brunton of TARCAN's in-house company Insight Productions

http://www.thesudburystar.com/2015/08/07/sudbury-hoping-for-hype-from-amazing-race-episode

[SnideAsides]

So... greeter, surely?

[Shermie]

I wonder if there will be some sort of trivia challenge, with Alex Trebek involved. Surely he'd be more than just a greeter.

[Vyas]

I wonder if there will be some sort of trivia challenge, with Alex Trebek involved. Surely he'd be more than just a greeter.

Sounds like the kind of RI task that's right up TARCAN's alley, though

one of the Detours supposedly does involve logical deduction skills.

[mtlchick]

There is nothing more maddening than hearing the phrase "I can't swim" on this show.  I'm sorry, but if you're considering to apply for this, knowing how to swim and learning to drive a stick should be required.  

 

Meanwhile I see Trebek, I hear "Sean Connery" saying what he did to his mother.  

 

Good riddance to my hometown team.  They were just horrible from start to finish.

[Blackie]

Can I just say I LUV Jon!  When he jumped in the pool it was hilarious.

 

I also kind of LUV Sudbury, the Science Centre and Dynamic Earth are great, the Onaping Falls are beautiful, and I even had some great Lebanese food there :)

 

I LUV TARCanada, wow!  They really are packing a lot into each episode, even Alex Trebeck until it was apparently his bedtime, although I have been dieing for a reality show like TAR or Survivor to go to Northern Ontario and set the contestants out in black fly season....too mean?

 

Nic and Sabrina are headed to splittsville LUV!!!

Edited August 13, 2015 by Blackie

[TV Anonymous]

Finally, NIc and Sabrina are gone. They are really incompetent, right off Château Frontenac in episode 1.

 

I like seeing Brian and Cynthia's cockiness only to bite them in the tail. This is not a police investigation, this is not an emergency room. This is a TV reality show. Just play the game.

[lizzie3]

Another awesome episode!  I was just in Sudbury a few weeks ago, so it was interesting to see where they went.  The Alex Trebek cameo was pretty cool, especially with some of the teams' reactions!  Not sure where he disappeared to though...

 

I completely agree about having no sympathy for the racers who can't swim.  I'm no Olympic diver, so I'm not judging the less than stellar swimmers, but a basic ability to swim in deep water should be a no-brainer if you apply to be on this show.  There's always going to be challenges in or around water.  I was pretty impressed with the brothers who did the synchro challenge; that looked pretty tricky.

 

And the canoeing at the end...this show is like a love letter to Canada. 

Edited August 13, 2015 by lizzie3

[Vyas]

Love that the Dancers beat out the Couple, but hate that none of the front-end teams at the Mine(s) challenged the mega-dull Italian brothers to an FF battle. 

 

Another RI task might've been a bit too much to ask for in an already jam-packed leg, but a quick quiz on Canadiana would've been more than appropriate! ;)

[Taeolas]

Another great leg. The Ferry bunching and airport bunching basically pulled everyone together, but the Sudbury stages themselves had enough room to mix things up. 

 

A bit disappointing Alex had to leave before everyone finished but he's a busy guy I'm sure. 

 

I agree that going on the Race I'd try to familiarize myself with water if I wasn't already. On the other hand, basic swimming is different from synch swimming, so understandably I'd skip the swimming task. If you're afraid of water, being on a big lake could be scary too; so I can understand their fears. Still, I'm pulling for Opie, he seems to be doing his best with his daughter. 

 

It was a bit of attitude but overall the cops seemed to be having fun with the Forensics task; they certainly didn't seem mean about it. 

 

The Mine was neat and just hard enough to be a worthy task , especially early on. 

 

All in all, another fun ep. (Topped off with an annoying team elimination. :) )

[Sarahendipity]

I was waiting for a team on the mat to say the title line, but I guess it was more of a Jeopardy reference.

[Shermie]

Nice of Trebek to play the greeter, but I would have liked to see him do more than that. It would be cool if one season of TAR had a home born celeb be the greeter on every leg.

I assume all the teams say cocky stuff at some point, especially if they're confident in a particular task because of their skill sets, but it seems they usually only edit the comments in when they come back to bite the racers in the ass. Brian and Cynthia being a bit cocky in the forensics challenge is not without merit; while precision is necessary at a crime scene, I doubt exact measurements down to the millimetre are required. I do like them otherwise and hope they do well.

Another great episode with a variety of challenges. I don't even miss the airport flight-booking drama that was such a big part of original TAR.

And yeah, learn to swim. Water, heights, gross food, endurance, strength and memory are all elements of the race.

[zibnchy]

I will miss Nic and Sabrina because they were just so incredibly stupid. Kind of funny and sad stupid. Not really arrogant stupid like some other teams.

 

I hope they stay together but I suspect they have already boarded the express train to breakupville.

Edited August 13, 2015 by zibnchy

[Vyas]

Thoughts upon rewatch:

 

Another Detour limit after the one in Buenos Aires, though this one neatly allows for half of the teams remaining to be at each side (unlike the Argentine one which allowed for 6:6 rather than 5:5).

 

Speaking of the Detour, the task judge for Analyze is the funniest of the season by far with her knowingly deadpan delivery.

 

What did Nic/Sabrina do to earn themselves the sorrowful elimination music that played at the end of last year's Paris and New Brunswick legs? The former made TAR history in U-turning another team without having a U-Turn used back against them and still placing last behind both U-turned teams, and the latter was both the final M/F and family/blood-related team remaining in the race. 

[gryphon]

Holy Crap! Alex Trebek!  Awesome.  (And kudos to the above poster referencing the SNL skit w/Shaun Connery, et al.)

 

I was really cheering for the brothers during the synchronised swimming--that is tough!  I actually almost like every team right now except the dancers who can get annoying.  Then again, annoyingness comes in a lot of forms...I was surprised that Kristen talked so much during the CSI  task.  But, it is true that sometimes talking relaxes the person doing the talking. (I'm an LMT and have seen this often.)

 

I love this show. The episodes are just packed with stuff! CPR is hard--and after such a full day?!  I am glad some of the racers thanked the medical professionals for what they do.  

 

And the scenery is gorgeous--I now want to visit Sudbury.  I am even liking Jon a bit more than I used to--although Phil will always be my #1 TAR host. 

[Rachel RSL]

 

Can I just say I LUV Jon!  When he jumped in the pool it was hilarious.

I love him too! The jump into the pool cracked me up, especially the little "Wooo!" that went with it.  I always liked him but he is even more likeable to me now that he's loosened up a bit and clearly feels more comfortable with his hosting duties.

 

Kudos to the brothers for acing the swimming task. Even for a good swimmer, that looked hella difficult! 

 

In a weird way, I think I'm going to miss Nic and Sabrina. Yes, they kind of bumbled their way through the Race but, like someone said above, they were never mean-spirited or took out their frustrations on each other. Even when he was screwing up tasks, she was still always supportive.   I was surprised when they mentioned the age difference, she definitely looks younger.  Not that 10 years is a huge difference in general but there is a big difference between 22 and 32 just in terms of where you are in life.  But, hey, it works for them.  

 

I got irrationally annoyed when Alex Trebek didn't stick around for the later teams. Yeah, sure, maybe he had to catch a flight or something but, come ON. Get a greeter that can actually be there to greet ALL the teams. (Also, he annoys me in general so maybe I'm biased.)

[Taeolas]

One thing I loved with Alex was how the teams reacted when they ran up. You could see a lot of them do a double take when they recognized him and many seemed to have genuine happiness to see a star like him.

 

As for John, his jump/demo of the swimming task was a hoot; he seems to really have fun with that. And he chomped down on that mealworm like a champ. No hesitation, even after holding it in his hand the whole time. :)

[Pepper the Cat]

The teams were obviously not told the "staying alive" secret.

Do your compressions in time to the song "Staying Alive" and you'll do fine. I

[etagloh]

I was thinking 'Staying Alive' at 120BPM right through that task.

Nic and Sabrina were, let's be fair, a woeful team who didn't deserve to get this far, although I hope they (and the other bottom-end teams) got to say hello to Alex Trebek and that he wasn't booked solely for a couple of hours.

Less brutal than the previous leg, and I could quibble with the structure a little. TPTBCan probably wanted two teams to compete for the Fast Forward, hence the bunching into twos at the mine, but it didn't work out that way. The swimming task was always going to be the also-ran of the Detour, so it was a forced task with the quotas, but there was plenty of order-shifting right through.

[Fake Jan Brady]

I was waiting for a team on the mat to say the title line, but I guess it was more of a Jeopardy reference.

 

I was so sure it was going to be Nic and/or Sabrina, ending their misadventures with a classic exit line.

 

Brian's over-confidence is getting to be a hilarious running joke; I just hope he never tries his hand at acting after his over-the-top attempt at pretending he had no idea what to do at a crime scene ["I hope I don't mess this up! I don't know the first thing about policing! What is this?! Just like on TV!!"]

 

As entertaining as Brent & Sean were at the Synchronised Swimming task, I was disappointed it wasn't the other set of brothers in speedos.

 

And as an Australian I guess it's safe for me to say this: I had no idea Alex Trebek was Canadian.

Edited August 14, 2015 by cousin oliver

[Kel Varnsen]

I like seeing Brian and Cynthia's cockiness only to bite them in the tail. This is not a police investigation, this is not an emergency room. This is a TV reality show. Just play the game.

Yea, take it down a notch man. You are not actually investigating a crime you are measuring shit and putting dots on a paper. Although I imagine that a lot of that would have to be in response to producer questions. 

[aemom]

I'm so glad the brothers did the synchro. Those young girls must have been so excited to hear that they were going to be on the race and would have practiced the routine a lot beforehand. They would have been crushed if nobody had done it.

[Vyas]

I'm so glad the brothers did the synchro. Those young girls must have been so excited to hear that they were going to be on the race and would have practiced the routine a lot beforehand. They would have been crushed if nobody had done it.

Like a certain potato farmer in Prince Edward Island or a geocaching company in New Brunswick? :P

[SnideAsides]

At least they got to see Jon shirtless. (Related: I'm happy that if we had to have underwater junk-in-Speedos close-ups it was the skinny brother that got shown, but also really really annoyed that Gino and Jesse got out of it by doing the FF.)

[Vyas]

Interesting how Natmeagh won a trip to anywhere in the U.S. last season whereas the Boring Pseudo-Twins can only go within the confines of the Golden State - I suppose that it's the difference between earning the former as the last prize before the finale versus the latter being a "midpoint reward", as well as the cash prizes of yesteryear converting to mere gas points this time around (adieu, Scotiabank!). 

[Kromm]

Wow.  Did they go out of their way to cast black men who can't swim just to play to the cliche?