- PRIZE: A Chevy car each, a trip for two around the world, $250,000, and the title of TARC!
START LOCATION: Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.
END LOCATION: Quebec City, Quebec.
ROADBLOCK 1: Dangle Over the Falls – Paul, Ryan, Korey
CHALLENGE 1: Rickshaw Delivery
CHALLENGE 2: Search for Bonhomme
ROADBLOCK 2: Scale the Building – Sam, Kenneth, Ivana
FINAL CHALLENGE: Canada 150 Puzzle
WOO WOO, what a finale!! I must say, this is one of the most enjoyable seasons of the Amazing Race I’ve seen. It helps I actually liked every team (except one, take a guess). They just all left a positive impression on me. Not sure about anyone else, but this is the best Final 3 I’ve seen in a long time. Congrats, Canada! We saw some pretty cool challenges on this final leg, with some panic attack stuff, especially with Team Giver and Team Panda. One team dominated, you know who they are, and I cannot give enough credit to them on this AMAZING Race.
Final Title Quotes:
Korey and Ivana, and Team Giver both tie with FOUR quotes each. Sam and Paul receive none! As mentioned in a previous recap, last years winner received the most title quotes, so this throws my quote theory out the window.
My overall predictions: OK, I was proved wrong half the time 😛 I thought Andrea and Ebonie would leave pretty soon after their Penalty mishap. And then I totally underestimated (yet, highly appreciated) Karen and Bert! Oops. I also truly thought Adam and Andrea would make the Final 3. BUT, the “montages-get-you-far” theory during the season was highly evident. Look at the top 3-4 teams, they all had personal montages throughout (Sam/Paul and Ivana had about 3 each) and I was totally right about those YouTubers being stunt-casted – hello, did you see them on After The Race?!
Winners Stats:
Nerd moment, but here are the placings and overall average for each winning team. Even though Sam and Paul won 6 legs, they still were middle of the road in the first few legs which brings their overall average down. Meanwhile Steph and Kristen won 5 legs, and came 2nd in majority of the rest. But their Express Pass leg where they came in 6th (this hurts my heart), brought their average down as well. All they needed was to make 5th (would’ve been 1.91)!! Overall, Sam and Paul and Kristeph tie for an average placing of 2!! In the first two seasons, the winners only won first place in the Final Leg.
Another stat I want to include is that 7th placers Zeb and Shabbir’s average placing is 4.20, where 6th placers Andrea and Ebonie’s is 5.29 and 4th placers Karen and Bert’s is 4.50. For this, Zeb and Shabbir can give themselves a pat on the back for coming 1st and 2nd on legs 3 and 4, respectively! And I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team, looking at you Megan and Courtney, start a leg last, come first, then lose the next leg (9th-1st-8th). Talk about a roller-coaster ride!
TO THE FINAL THREE:
Team #3 – Korey & Ivana
Placings: 2nd, 8th, 2nd, 6th, 6th, 3rd, 5th, 4th, 4th, 2nd. Ave: 4.01
And they didn’t get lost. Congratulations Korey and Ivana on a rocky, but stellar Race! It was anyone’s game on the Final leg, and it really came down to that darn puzzle!
As the underdogs, Team Panda were the only team not to win first place out of the three. Korey hit a brick wall on the rope climb, but they quickly caught up at the Rickshaw challenge. This was a great one to watch to see if the pressure would make or break teams. Team Panda kept their cool and Korey did an awesome job directing Ivana through the streets of Quebec City.
Finishing last in this challenge, they catch up to Team Giver at the Bonhomme creep factory. OMG I just don’t deal with over-smiley doll-looking things. One of the Bonhomme comes alive and I don’t think he was expecting to be frisk searched. Awkward.
Then came the Scaling the Building challenge and while Kenneth was talking about being Spiderman, Ivana just became the first Spiderwoman of Canada!
Ivana totally freaked me out when she started looking for the clue on the roof of the building!! I was just hoping she’d figure it out and not have to go back down to read the previous clue. Luckily she worked it out and found the flag in no time! PHEW! Last to leave the building, again, they end up at the Final Challenge second! Their game unraveled from here where they chose to go down the route of building the puzzle on the floor first. I don’t understand why any of the teams did this. A few pieces OK, but not the whole thing! Alas, Team Panda fell behind and arrived at the Pit Stop in third place. What a brilliant effort by the PTs and I’ve really enjoyed watching these two friends encourage and support each other on the race. Korey was so patient and Ivana was a badass for racing multiple legs with fractured vertebrae. What the actual EFF!! AMAZING.
Team #2 – Kenneth & Ryan
Placings: 1st, 5th, 6th, 4th, 4th, 5th, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd. Ave: 3.27
GIVEE’RRRRRR. I saddens me this will be the last time I say that. Hahaha. On this final leg Kenneth and Ryan wanted to prove they can beat Sam and Paul and they definitely put 110% into this leg. They did everything right at the start. Ryan smashed out that rope climb in no time, and Kenneth rode the hell outta that bike!
When things get tough, these guys don’t freak out. They cherish every moment and make the most of it! It’s actually something we don’t see enough of. They arrive at the creepy Bonhomme’s and Ryan totally goes into WTF mode! Haha. I swear this place would be one of my worst nightmares. O_O
Unfortunately, they had a little, well big, hiccup at the second Roadblock. Kenneth sees Sam spot the TARC flag and hurriedly thinks he spots it as well. As both teams Race away we see Team Giver arrive at the wrong location and you can just see the disappointment in Kenneth’s eyes as he knows he’s f*cked up. The boys race back the building, scales up again, and find the correct flag. Then, in an amazing finale comeback, Give’r give Sam and Paul a run for the $250k and complete the puzzle in no time!! So good, boys!
Alas, Give’r couldn’t complete the final challenge in time and in a close race to the end, they come in second place. I can’t think more highly of these boys and in a Race which did have quite a few mental challenges (their admitted weakness) they did incredibly well! As i mentioned before, we don’t see enough people who think and live like them. They copped a bit of shit early on, but I think they really grew on people as we got to know them. What an entertaining team to watch.
Team #1 – Sam & Paul
Placings: 4th, 3rd, 4th, 1st, 3rd, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st
OMGOMGOMG. I did say they were the male Kristeph of the season, right? Hahaha. Well Sam and Paul, you guys are the bombdotcom!!
You just knew from the start of the leg when Paul finished that Falls Roadblock way ahead of the pack that the boys had this in the bag. They also had the one and only personal montage at the start of the episode… Just sayin’ 😛 They boys had a bit of a quarrel on the Rickshaw challenge. Wow, I think it was the first time Sam wasn’t great at something, haha. And Paul is SOOO cute when he’s angry!!
From here on, everything went Sam and Paul’s way. Sam scaled that building like a boss and found the correct flag location from the top. I absolute loved when he and Kenneth caught the same lift back down. CLASSIC!
The boys arrive at the puzzle first and just when we thought they were frustrated with the rickshaws, the puzzle AND PRESSURE really hits them at this point. They also make the puzzle on the floor, but quickly work out that this is not the best decision.
Luckily, the boys remembered all the Canada 150 Challenge locations and rush to the Pit Stop in excitement, but not without having a hopeless cabbie on the way 😉 The boys arrive at the mat and OMG, I felt the same way Megan and Courtney!! (What’s with the bumbag fannypack though? lol)
With FIVE #1s in a row and six all up, they were a force to be reckoned with. They worked extremely well together and their overall strengths propelled them towards the win. CONGRATULATIONS boys. I couldn’t be happier for them and they are a well-deserved team to take the title. Expect these guys to be on an All-Stars season! 😉
Blog by Lynda Olson.
ALL IMAGES USED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE COPYRIGHT CTV TELEVISION NETWORK. THIS IS A PERSONAL BLOG AND ALL GIFS AND VIEWS ARE MY OWN.
Team Give’r for life!!!!! I’ve enjoyed reading these – thanks for posting!
Cheers mate!! Thanks for reading! 🙂