S05.E11: Canada's Coming Together like a Piece of Cake

[Kanaloa]

Quote

The race concludes in Quebec City, where the finalists must brave Montmorency Falls without a barrel.  

[Pepper the Cat]

That was an amazing episode!

The challenges were great, and my favourite team won!

[wintrygal]

Yes!! I'm so excited, was totally rooting for Sam & Paul, nail biter at the end or at least they made it seem that way!

[Taeolas]

Great challenges, with lots of opportunities to switch around. I think this is one of the first time the "Spot the Flag from the roof" had a fake out. 

It seemed to come down to taxi luck at the end , but that may have been editting monkeywork too. 

 

Good ending all in all.

[Rachel RSL]

Sam & Paul were so happy in all their talking heads, it was obvious they won. So I spent the whole episode thinking "They deserve it but, meh, the team that dominated the entire race ended up winning. Boring." and I was kind of bitter. But then Sam & Paul crossed the finish line and they were so excited and adorable, my cold black heart melted into a puddle of goo. Good on them!

Then the hosers made me cry. And then Korey and Ivana made me cry. Seriously, I'm not a cryer but this show always makes me proud to be a Canadian. We're just all so nice.

Edited September 13, 2017 by Rachel RSL

[Pamela]

Sam and Paul definitely ran the most consistent race throughout and of the three teams in the final, I was pulling for them the hardest. But I didn't know how hard until the last couple of minutes; I was so nervous the Giv'er Boys were going to pass them that I almost fast-forwarded to the end just so I could find out who won already. And then they were so excited they almost hugged Jon right off the platform.

Loved the fake out on the roof and Sam and Kenneth's silent ride down in the elevator (except for the Muzak playing). That was a great touch.

[argrow]

Glad Sam and Paul won. They were the best this season, and the editing the last few episodes had made me believe that they will win all but lost to Team Giv'er at the end. So was happy with the result. And also glad The Amazing Race Canada trophy remains with team gay.

Wouldn't have minded Giv'er wins, since they are an amazing and supportive team. But damn, all those shouting. It petered out a bit in the last few episodes, but it came back in full force tonight. Just..can't....stop...shouting... They are the type of people I tend to avoid in my life, and I am kinda glad I don't have to deal with their shenanigans again after tonight.

Edited September 13, 2017 by argrow

[TV Anonymous]

If racers mangle French pronunciation, we can understand. But if Jon the host can not say Parc-des-Ancêtres and l'Île-d'Orléans properly, I find it rather inexcusable for a national TV in a country that is officially bilingual.

[piequinn35]

Winners. Meh. If Kenneth didn't screw up finding the flag they could have won. Oh well see you on the next race.

[Artsda]

Predictable ending. 

[tracyhmcd]

I was happy for Sam and Paul but I'm hoping maybe a local (Toronto?) travel agency or business will chip in and give Korey and Ivana a trip or prize of some sort.   

[TV Anonymous]

1 hour ago, tracyhmcd said:

I was happy for Sam and Paul but I'm hoping maybe a local (Toronto?) travel agency or business will chip in and give Korey and Ivana a trip or prize of some sort.   

Why?

[Marvin]

Yawn - that was a boring final. None of the challenges were difficult in the sense that they would allow the teams to struggle / swap around. In the past series of TAR the finals have had some brutal challenges.

[buffynut]

I'm fine with Sam & Paul winning. At least some of the money will likely go to good use - medical school. I was wondering, though, when they'll be able to take that trip around the world, as well as the other trips they won.

Edited September 13, 2017 by buffynut

[aemom]

23 hours ago, TV Anonymous said:

If racers mangle French pronunciation, we can understand. But if Jon the host can not say Parc-des-Ancêtres and l'Île-d'Orléans properly, I find it rather inexcusable for a national TV in a country that is officially bilingual.

Depending on how old you are when you learn a language will often affect how good or bad your accent is when speaking it.

I started learning french as a child, so my accent is quite good, but any francophone will still instantly know that French is not my first language.

[TVbitch]

Other legs of the race were more exciting and challenging, but a worthy team won, and it was a tough race all 'round, so I won't complain. I will admit, I never warmed to the "Givers" and thought they would be unbearably smug if they won, so I was glad they slipped up. But then at the end they were gracious and I had to give them props. Ivana and Corey are good people, but were just not in the same league race-wise.   

[Fake Jan Brady]

We're going through a totally unnecessary, somewhat depressing, national debate down here in Australia on whether same sex couples can marry [thanks for your opinion, everyone else...] so it did my heart good to watch two men in love win, and be reminded in the after show that a female couple won last year. You're a class act, Canada. 

I was so tense at the end, I had no idea who was going to come running up to the mat. Plus I thought Sam's red eyes in the talking heads might be from disappointment - I'd forgotten he was a happy crier. 

Edited September 15, 2017 by cousin oliver

[innocuouspuff]

11 hours ago, AEMom said:

Depending on how old you are when you learn a language will often affect how good or bad your accent is when speaking it.

I started learning french as a child, so my accent is quite good, but any francophone will still instantly know that French is not my first language.

It wasn't really an issue of just an Anglo accent which I don't think anyone would comment on; he added random nonsensical vowel sounds when French is pretty predictable to read out loud. It threw me off because one of the racers did it and I was amused, then Jon made the identical error and I wondered if I was the one seeing my screen wrong. 

A Give'r upset would have been hilarious, but the minute Kenneth admitted to not taking his time on the rooftop I knew they were in trouble.

What a lot of Race brain Ivana had, with talking to all the bonhommes, then searching the rooftop itself. Lol. It would have cute if they won but they were outgunned. Korey is a total sweetheart.

[Charlesman]

That elevator ride was one of the best TAR moments I've seen in a while

 

Great stuff

[TV Anonymous]

16 hours ago, AEMom said:

Depending on how old you are when you learn a language will often affect how good or bad your accent is when speaking it.

I started learning french as a child, so my accent is quite good, but any francophone will still instantly know that French is not my first language.

It does not matter whether Jon actually speaks the language or not. The production should have made sure that his pronunciation is 100% correct, particularly as it is a narration, not live speak. They should have led him to speak it phonetically or whatever to get it right. It was post-production, they could have done it in as many recordings as necessary.

[kingshearte]

Agreed. He really butchered some of those words, well beyond a straight-up bad accent. I also felt for whichever of the Giver boys was doing the riding, because he seemed to have some sense of French pronunciation, but his partner's was atrocious, and trying to figure out directions from words that badly mangled, on top of whatever static was on the comms? Yikes.

I fully expected Giver to end up winning, because I figured winning the last several legs would not equate to winning the last, plus Sam & Paul were my favourites, so I figured they wouldn't win. And I was pretty sure Korey and Ivana would not pull out a last-minute win, either. They power through sheer physical tasks, but they're... possibly not the brightest racers we've ever seen, and they have the worst taxi luck. I like them as people, but I figured they were a pretty long shot. But then Sam and Paul did win, and I was happy.

The Bonhomme scaring Giver and the interminable muzak-accompanied elevator ride were perhaps my favourite moments.

[Charlesman]

Oh, also, the Roadblock clue of "Who wishes they had done the first roadblock", when the first roadblock was dangling off a bridge over a waterfall, was especially devious. Made me laugh.

[Florinaldo]

On 12/09/2017 at 11:20 PM, TV Anonymous said:

But if Jon the host can not say Parc-des-Ancêtres and l'Île-d'Orléans properly, I find it rather inexcusable for a national TV in a country that is officially bilingual.

I agree but what can you expect from a show that had at least one typo on their rickshaw challenge map (they added an "e" at the end of "Restaurant"). There may be others, but I haven't had time to go back and check.

No wonder they did not bother to do some phonetic coaching for their host.

Paul and Sam were the strongest racers, being consistent in both physical and mental challenges (like spotting the queen bee) although their strategy for the puzzle challenge seemed to hinder them in the finale, so they certainly deserved the win. As a bonus, they weren't fracking annoying, as was the case with the second-place team.

Edited September 16, 2017 by Florinaldo

[etagloh]

Late on this, mostly glad that it wasn't a taxi luck ending, and you can't really take it away from Sam and Paul based on how they ran the previous legs. I was glad we got to see a brief moment of the hosers in the cab prepping for the second RB, showing an awareness that wasn't typically on display, even though Ryan messed up his flag-spotting. (At least he wasn't scrabbling in the gravel like Ivana.)

It's nice that they could do a lot of challenges in the open in a city during the day -- something that's become difficult for TAR:US -- though the leg itself was very taxi dependent, and the cab drivers probably got most of the $850 on the Yes We Know They're A Sponsor Debit Card. There was the initial split between teams at the Montmorency Falls based on where they were initially dropped off, and that basically held throughout the leg, even though it tightened somewhat at points along the way.

 

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The production should have made sure that his pronunciation is 100% correct, particularly as it is a narration, not live speak

TARCan's "yay Canada" stuff is great to watch but doesn't engage much with francophone Canada even when it visits francophone locations with francophone participants, which in turn reflects how TV in Canada is essentially two parallel monolingual entities. 

[Brynnjk]

Finally had a chance to watch the final ep and I was so, so happy that my fave team Sam and Paul won.  I love TAR Canada.  The challenges are always so much better than TAR US lately.  And I just love how nice and gracious all the teams are.  Since my fave teams so seldom win, I was very nervous towards the end.  But Sam and Paul really were a great combination of both brains & brawn.  That intelligence really helped them along the way and they were so sweet and happy together.  Thank you TAR Canada for another terrific season.  

[ILoveReading]

I wish we could get an amazing race with 6 top Canadian teams and 6 top American ones and let them battle it out.