Hopefully that's not some sort of prophesy or they'll be out to get me. There were over 70,000 applicants and apparently the only ones that were worth really looking at came primarily from Ontario. Half of the racers are from Ontario. Well there's a big surprise.
That's enough of my western-centric rant, I suppose if the producers lived in Edmonton half the racers would be from Alberta. The next team from Ontario (insert heavy sigh) are sisters Vanessa(21) and Celina(30) and they make up the token "Mactors" team. I understand the need for another pretty face on television but this is yet another of those "no surprise" selections. I look forward to listening to them bicker as sisters always do (brothers tend to fight it out), but when one is afraid of flying I'm not so sure traipsing across the country is a great idea. Hopefully she's not out in the first episode because she can't get on the plane. The last team are the father and son team of Tim(48) and Tim Jr(23). The real surprise here is that they are from Manitoba. I guess the producers felt they were close enough to Ontario to count. Of course they have a medical issue to overcome but they have a positive attitude and will get some great bonding out of the experience. The last father and son team in Amazing Race were in sync even with a torn achilles so these two could be the ones to watch. Then again the race has a tendency to pit teammates against each other on a personal level so hopefully their positive attitude wins out. That's it for my review of the teams for the premiere edition of Amazing Race Canada. With these last two additions they've added a tiny bit of color but not much. I know they can't have a team from every province but I really don't think they needed to make half the race up from applicants in Ontario. Maybe the other province's just didn't send any in. Could be, but I doubt it. Better luck next time for the rest of us applicants and hopefully they'll try for a more rounded cast. Maybe they could throw in a creative team of a best selling writer and starving artist. They've slowly been announcing the teams for the premiere edition of The Amazing Race Canada and so far I'm not seeing a lot of variety. Of course, maybe that's the point. The producers want to make sure that they select camera friendly faces that the general public is going to want to watch but why do they all have to look the same? Let's just break it down for a minute here and see who we have.
Firstly we have the obvious selection of the pretty, outdoorsy, nouveau hippie types from British Columbia . . . well there's a surprise. Kristen(32) and Darren(26) are both outdoor guides with weird food phobias. They look friendly enough and will probably be great competitors in any outdoor challenges but what happens when they find themselves having to get from one end to the other of West Edmonton Mall without knocking over a tourist? From Alberta we have the two cowboys Jamie(47) and Pierre(38) who, surprise, just happen to be gay cowboys. Well, okay, but there's always a gay couple on the race and we've probably all seen Brokeback Mountain by now and this isn't really a surprise either. Can't argue with Pierre's love of a good gin and tonic though. Just to mix things up a little we also have a team of brothers, Cory(32) from Alberta and Jody(36) from Ontario. Since the brother from Ontario is a trained army sniper let's just say he's a wonderful human being and move on. The fact that he lost both legs in the line of duty is unfortunate but his strength of spirit and will to compete is inspiring and I feel they could be a pretty strong team. Add in his brother's strength in conflict resolution and they may be the team to beat. So far that takes care of the two western provinces but they seem to have decided there wasn't anyone to choose from Saskatchewan or Manitoba. There also appear to be no applicants chosen from the east, so far. Hopefully this will be remedied as they reveal the remaining teams. From Ontario we get the best friends Jet(32) and Dave(28) who look like model wannabes, and to be honest they could be and will probably pursue that right after the race. As a police officer, Jet looks like he could bench press my van so in a strength task he may be a strong competitor but the race is never just about strength. They look like they'll be fun to watch. Yet another team from Ontario (are you sensing a trend here) gives us the obligatory twins Treena(36) and Tennille(36). Twins? Really? Well, we haven't seen that before. As a police officer and a tax auditor these two are obviously there to keep everyone in line and make sure the entire race is run strictly by the rules . . . or not. As long as I don't hear anyone yelling "twinnie" in a high pitched squeal they should be entertaining, at least they say they are. The token celebrity team is, as was guessed early on, the Body Break couple of Hal Johnson(57) and Joanne McLeod(54) also from Ontario. They're going to be seen as the Mom and Dad of the season, but don't let that fool you they know how to play to the camera and crush the competition . . . they hope. Yeah their fitness stuff was a little bland but for some reason it was always there and it'll be fun to actually watch these two interact outside of a controlled studio setting. From Quebec we have the young, married doctors Brett(33) and Holly(33) . . . well we all saw how the last set of doctors fared in the race. Their ability to speak at least two languages will undoubtedly be helpful in certain areas but I'm fairly certain delivering babies will not be a task. If it is, these two are gonna shine. So far, that's it. Seven teams to watch and two more to watch out for. I'm not seeing a lot of diversity here but again, maybe that's the point. It's unfortunate though because in a country as widely known for its diversity as Canada is, all of these seven teams seem pretty generic. I hope the last few teams are a little more diverse . . . or at least from outside of Ontario. |
Gordon L GaleGordon L Gale is a Freelance Illustrator, a Graphic Designer, a Dad and (according to his children) an Ogre. Archives
September 2016
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