Anyway, on to Episode 2. Teams head to Santiago, Chile, a long 10 hour flight from Toronto, all on the same flight because this is TAR Canada and there's only one Air Canada flight to Chile. Of course, everyone knows where Chile is, right? Okay, now I must quote a line from the official bio of the Italian Boys: "Gino graduated from Brock University with a degree in Geography, which he believes will be a major asset on the race." Time for Brock to revoke his degree cause even my birthday kid, who only turned 11, knows that Chile is not in Europe, but South America.
Once they land (in South America Gino!), there's the typical race out of customs to the cabs. Wrestlers are first, Exes are second and Nic and Sabrina are sure their knowledge of four languages, including Spanish, will help. Sure as heck won't hurt. They have to head to GeoAdventure Park where it's a Roadblock. Who wants a better view? Obviously, something that will take you high, although Leilani, who is afraid of heights doesn't figure that out. Teams have to paraglide from a cliff down to the city below. That would be my task because even though Gord is 6'7"+, he's not very fond of heights. Maybe he knows from personal experience that the air is thinner up there. But since he's up there, he should be more adjusted to the thin air. And the height. I'll ask him during our video recap.
So some teams glide to the ground, while other teams are lost. I'm quite pleased the producers didn't dwell too much on the paragliding. The US version did that one season and you pretty much had half an episode of teams gliding through the air. Nice way to edit back and forth to keep it fresh, folks. Matt is the first to land, right behind him is Leilani who quickly got over her fear of heights. And I found another reason to cheer for Brian and Cynthia. He used to be in the airborne and so was my dad, although it was a long time ago for my dad.
Next clue sends them back into Santiago to find the Sanacion Equilibrio. This is a mural in a working class neighbourhood but it's not the only one. There are 40 others and teams must then find 5 specific murals, take a selfie in front of them and then return to get their clue. But the Wrestlers and the Cops from The 'Peg (Brian and Cynthia) have difficulty taking selfies. Both reasons are funny. Nick says it's because he's 35 so he doesn't know how. Dude, the year you were born, I graduated high school and I've taken many a selfie. As for Brian and Cynthia, their excuse is that taking selfies wasn't part of their training as police officers. I'm pretty sure there are plenty of other things they do in their lives that aren't part of their training. Man, these guys would have imploded if they were part of the most recent season of TAR US. Selfies were key to the entire race, including the final task.
But off they go, looking for murals, trying to figure out how to hold camera facing you so you can take a photo of yourself. More teams glide and land, other teams find the place and also glide and land. Soon, you got a whole bunch of Amazing Racers rushing back and forth through this neighbourhood, much to the annoyance of a local dog. I'm pretty sure that dog was telling Gino and Jesse to get off his lawn.
Although he was much friendlier than the interaction between the Exes. Dujean is rushing ahead of Leilani and harping on her to move faster. Not surprisingly, she's pushing back, telling him to shut up, calling him an idiot and probably a bunch of other fine words they couldn't use on Canadian Family TV. This is what we all expected, the Exes are going fight; that's why they are Exes. It's interesting TV for a bit but it can get old real quick. It also slows them down because even though they were second to arrive (I think) at this task, Hamilton and Michealia are the first to get done.
Off to the Recolate Culture Centre for the second half of the task. There they have to paint a section of a mural for the centre although the name of the colours they are supposed to use are in Spanish. I might know a couple but it's a moot point. The kid that helps each team tells them the colour instead of having the teams figure it out for themselves. It's a nice quiet task after the paragliding and running through the barrio. Props though to Nic and Sabrina for asking their cab to drive them around the neighbourhood instead of running around getting sweaty. Have to remember that.
H & M are done pretty quick, hand over the art supplies to the centre and get their next clue. It's a Detour. But wait! It's also a Detour before the Detour. Before they go to the Detour, they can detour to the
Patio Bellavistan and find the dancing couple. First team to do so wins the Express Passes, one to keep, one to give away before the 4th leg. Man, that's only 2 legs from now. Brian and Cynthia, and the Wrestlers chase down H & M, hoping to beat them to the detour before the Detour. But nope, the youngsters get the Express Pass. and then head to the real Detour.
Motion or Emotion. In Motion, teams must perform a traditional Rapa Nui dance. Sorry, not a Gord and Wayne thing. Don't get me wrong, I like to dance but I like to dance to my own beat, my own crazy movements. But choreography? Sorry. What's the other side of the Detour? Emotion. Find the national Library — So far so good. I love libraries. The Edmonton one gave me a $10,000 award for one of my books and the bass player in my band is a librarian (as is the wife of our keyboardist) so libraries rule. But you gotta memorize a famous Chilean poem in the original Spanish and recite it back to an audience. It's a short poem but maybe we should just dance. Good philosophy for life: just dance.
All the teams, save for two, pick Motion. Although once Hamilton sees the outfits, he's not so sure. As a transgendered person, he says he'd be very uncomfortable in that kind of costume dancing in front of a large crowd of people. Yep, that makes sense. No problems at all with that. If he feels uncomfortable doing that, then it's his choice. However, I don't understand the next move. They decide to use the Express Psss they just received. That, I don't get. It is a Detour and if you don't feel comfortable doing a task, then there is another one that you can try. Maybe they discussed it but we didn't see that. I'm not sure why they just didn't try the Emotion task. An Express Pass is a great advantage to have on the race but to use it so soon, even before you even try the other side of the Detour was a mistake. If they found that side of the Detour too difficult, then sure, use the Express Pass. But at least try.
But they don't and sure they are in first and win a trip to Delhi and free gas for six months. And sure teams will be nice to you to try to get the other Express Pass, but that will only last until they give it away. Two more legs. Then it's fair game and they don't have an Express Pass for later legs. Hope it doesn't hurt them.
Teams arrive to dance, the Italian Boys at least try the poetry side but quickly realize they can't do it and try to find their cab but he's long gone. Remember you only told him a minute, so after a minute he left? So they decide to run to the other side. Never a good idea. Meanwhile, Susan and Sharnjit are just finishing up their selfies and heading to the painting task. Methinks they are too far behind.
Dances are tried, dances are failed, dances are successful. Nice to see older dudes like Brian and Neal giving their all with the skimpy costumes. So maybe the dance wasn't that hard at all. But Nic and Sabrina, who speak Spanish. nail the poetry task. Yep, those extra languages come in handy. (Note to producers regarding subtitles when these guys were speaking Spanish: it's is a contraction for it is, its is a possessive. I know me with my typos on this blog pointing out something like that is kettle black calling, but I do this blog for no pay, in my spare time after my kid's birthday party and between completing my novels and my freelance writing and all that family stuff. You are CTV's flagship and highest rated show; someone's who's getting paid to work on your show has got to catch that kind of thing in the proofing.)
Grammar Cop is now finished. As are the The Cops from the Peg , who come in second, and the Wrestlers, who come in third. Dana and Amanda, who we've barely heard from so far this season, finish the dance and are expecting to come in fourth. Unfortunately, their cabbie drops them off at the bottom of Cerro San Cristobal instead of the top where the pit stop is. So they run and run, and start to walk and try to run again. The Exes pass them. Even though their arguing slowed them down in the mural task, Dujean and Leilani are professional dancers and nailed the Motion side pretty quickly. Two more teams pass them and what could have been an easier fourth place is a hard-earned 7th. Hats off to the camera crew who also had to run with them carrying all that gear.
As per usual, it's down to two teams: Gino and Jesse, and Susan and Sharnjit. The boys get the dance completed just as the Prison Guards arrive. And it looks like the end, but a local tells the boys that Cerro San Cristobal is only three to four streets over. So they decide to run because they had difficulty with their cab who left when they didn't return when they said they would. And sure the bottom of the hill is three or four streets away but as we learned from Dana and Amanda, it's a long way up to the top where the pitstop is. They try to catch a cab but are ignored. Susan and Sharnjit are done, caught a cab and are heading up the hill. It's dark and both teams are running around looking for Jon. In the end, the boys arrive, dropping from first place to second last in one leg. Yep, the race is unpredictable. Susan and Sharnjit are out, pleased to have been there but gone. We'll be talking to them and will have their comments up in a couple of days. Also look for out vid recap, Gord's recap and Jinder's view up in the blog.
Next week, it's off to Argentina (phew they didn't spend another leg in Santiago; I hate it when the US version does too many legs in one place) where there will be more dancing and some footie. I'm out of town next week for a short vacation but I will probably be able to watch the show and write my blog. Although no video or team interview, unless its a non-elim. Too early? You never know. See ya around. Tell your friends, comment if you wish.