Also, the Timmies said they wouldn't U-Turn someone who was already having problems. But in Regina, the Timmies U-Turned Body Break, breaking the hearts (not to mention the bodies) of many Canadians, when Body Break already had a two hour penalty.
Some folks agreed with me (sort of) about the lack of U-Turn, with Macleans blaming our own Canadian society for this and the failure of reality shows in Canada. Competitors Jet and Dave, agreed on air, saying it was very Canadian, yet very foolish. Even Inside The Race agreed that it was a strategic mistake that no one used the U-Turn in Nova Scotia.
But when I posted a link to my blog on the Amazing Race Canada FB page, I got a lot of disagreement with my fellow fans. I was told U-Turning was bad kharma, that the Timmies redeemed themselves for U-Turning Body Break, that since Jody was a vet of Afghanistan, that he knows the value of a cleanly fought game, win or lose, and that we should be proud as Canadians that no one used a U-Turn. On Twitter, one person, @craigdrebit, got into a nice discussion with my about why he wouldn't U-Turn, unless it was between him and another team fighting for last place. He noted that he wouldn't have U-Turn Jet and Dave because @Waynthurson @AmazingRaceCDA but that would be admitting to myself that I don't think I could be them. Hence the "clean race" bit.
See, that's pride getting in the way instead of smart racing. And pride killed the Hippies when they didn't want to use their Express Pass in the Yukon. I also told Craig that if we raced against each other, I hoped he enjoyed doing the other side of the detour.
And there were those who stated that since no one was eliminated in the leg, using the U-Turn would have been a waste of time. But no one knew this was a non-elimination leg. I'm sure some teams were expecting is, considering that there were only a couple of legs left, but they couldn't be sure. The fact that they were all surprised by the extended leg, especially the Sister, showed that they had no idea what to expected. Besides, U-Turning someone on a non-elimination leg helps put that team further behind everyone else, especially when they have a Speed Bump to do in the next leg.
So don't be afraid to use a U-Turn if you have to. It's not unclean or illegal; it's a valid part of the Race. Heck, it's not even un-Canadian. Because while Canadians are polite — there's not arguing about that — that shouldn't equate us with being pushovers or uncompetitive.