Whether it paid off into bigger ratings or new fans is another story. My kid knew more of these teams than I did; she's watched the Dancers' videos, knew Zach, Brodie and Cole, and is a massive fan of Tyler and Korey. So massive that when Tyler responded or just liked my FB comments, she freaked out. It happened once when her friends were around, and for a week, I was the coolest dad in the neighbourhood because Tyler Oakley responded to my FB post. But in the end, she and her friends did not watch a single simple episode.
Still, Season 28 has been one of the best seasons in the past five years or so and just wasn't the cast. It seemed that in the past couple of season, producers have stepped up their game, put a bit more thought in their tasks and trips instead of just coasting, which they were doing for awhile a few seasons back. There were a number of legs in the late middle of the race that were some of the best legs they had ever shot. So I implore the producers to work that way because no matter how good the cast is, if the race itself is uninteresting, then the show is uninteresting. So a good season all around.
I could be one to call for more "ordinary" people in the race, and yes some of my fav teams are just folks, but as the co-author of the most popular Amazing Race Canada fanblog in the world (if we're Number 1 in Canada, Gord suggests, we're probably Number 1 in the world), and a bestselling author, I would have to disqualify myself if I said only "average" folks. And if you saw Gord walking down the street, you wouldn't call him average. But TAR Canada Season 4 has already been cast and set to premiere on June 28. And we'll be here full on with our written blogs, our video blogs from the Druid Pub, eliminated teams interviews and anything else that might come up during that season. So watch this space for that when the announce the teams prior to June 28.
Anyway, on to this leg. Teams leave China and Phil makes a big deal about where the final destination city is: Los Angeles! Really? Okay, not so surprising but nice acting teams for being so enthusiastic. I actually think they were more excited about being upgraded because after weeks of flying around the world in economy, it would be nice to stretch out a bit. Am I right, Gord?
In LA, it's a Roadblock so teams have to find some plaza (looked to be near a bunch of retirement homes) and jump off a ledge and grab the clue. Matt and Dana are first so after some indecision, Matt takes it. And succeeds on the first try. Off onto the helicopter to Santa Barbara and find a boat in the harbour. Sheri is on the roof because Cole is afraid of heights and Tyler jumps aboard because he wants to impress Brendan, the helper. Brendan joins the likes of the chess playing duo and the Armenian Vacuum Guy as inspired pieces of extra casting.
But both Sheri and Tyler miss, had to rappel down and then up to try again while Matt and Dana's helicopter takes off. And if you know anything about Amazing Race, it's over. Anytime there's a helicopter in the final leg, the team the jumps aboard the first one usually wins. And the second team onboard will come in second, and the third, you know what I'm talking about. I'm just going by memory here and that's what I remember. There's still a lot to do, like find the boat in the harbour, get into the mountains and do the rock climbing team thing, then off to the winery to do the final memory Roadblock but despite the editing, all of these take time. And even though Matt and Dana have a bit of cab trouble, so do the other teams. And you can tell they are pretty far ahead because when they finish the rock climbing task and are running to the cab, Sheri and Cole are just coming up. And no one is around when Dana totally destroys the memory challenge. They even have a chance to do a dance number on the final mat after being told they won the race.
Yes, Matt and Dana won the race. And I'm sure some folks will get angry because sometimes they fought, Dana yelled at Matt, and all. Because there are times when we want the more popular team, the team that got along all the time (Tyler and Korey), or the underdog team (Sheri and Cole who always kept coming in second last or hitting non-elims) to win. But that's the way the race is. I'm sure Dana doesn't yell at Matt all the time. And I'm glad a team that didn't always get the more popular edit, has won. Despite their lack of communication sometimes, they worked hard when they needed to and pulled it out in the end.
But there is the actual winner of the Amazing Race and then there is the winner of the Amazing Race. Sure, Matt and Dana won but in the end, it seems Tyler and Korey were the big winner, with all the attention paid to Tyler, his appearances on various TV talk shows, and such. See you in June for TAR Canada coverage.