Today, Gord and Wayne HQ had an interview with Amazing Race Canada host Jon Montgomery. As per usual, Jon is very gregarious, really coming into his own as a big time Canadian TV host. We talked about the show, a task that made him think twice and of course, beer and robes. Please note, we transcribed this interview quickly to get it posted before the show starts so there will probably be a few typos.
G & W - So you excited about tonight's episode?
Jon - I'm pumped for tonight; I'm heading home. I going to Victoria to watch it with my wife in the comfort of my own home.
G & W - Just like everyone else.
Jon - You bet.
G & W - Are you like everyone else, are you surprised what happens when you see the show on TV?
Jon - To a certain point. Obviously, I know the outcome. But I'm always excited to see what happens on the leg of the race. Yeah, I get pumped to watch the show with the person on the couch next to me but when I'm on the television screen that might be some of the more cringe-worthy moments for me, but I really get excited about seeing the racers push themselves in the actual events.
G &W - Do you watch yourself and look for ways to improve or do you not care about that?
Jon - I wouldn't be in the position I'm in if I went around life and not caring about what I look like or how I was presenting myself. And as an athlete, there's always an element of wanting to improve and get better. So I watch myself with a hypercritical eye and looking to make small adjustments on how I can do better, and take constructive criticism from others and try to imbibe it into my performance.
G & W - You really seem to hit your groove in Season 2.
Jon- Sure, coming from zero experience from now having worked in the industry for a total of three months (laughs), not by any means am I seasoned but I'm getting a familiarity that I can start to feel comfortable.
G & W - I know you do most of the tasks the teams do so was there one in the first two seasons or one in this season that made you pause?
Jon - There's always moments where you need to think about what is coming up and wonder how it is you're going to approach from a safe perspective and trying to deliver what they are asking of you and bringing it all together into a seamless fashion. I'm not comfortable with all the stunts I have to do, but all of them are intrinsically safe so I don't have to worry for my own safety. But I have to well up enough courage to be able to do it well, while talking to the camera at the same, which probably helps me. It distracts me whatever crazy stunt I have to perform, whether it's jumping off the Macau Tower, 762 feet of dead air below your feet, that's unnerving for someone like me who really doesn't love heights. (Laughs)
G & W - Are you aware of these tasks before you head out or are you in the dark like the racers?
Jon - I don't find out too much in advance which is also a good thing, so I don't have much time to psyche myself out. But I was waking up a couple nights before that bungee tower knowing what was in my future. Before we left last year, we had supper in a restaurant in Toronto that's on the 56th floor of one of these downtown skyscrapers. And so as I looked out that window that night I was thinking to myself, 'I'm going up another 200 or something feet above this to jump off it, and I just couldn't get my brain wrapped around it honestly. It took till I was standing on that precipice to appreciate what was happening.
G & W - An extra 200 feet, what's the big deal?
Jon - (Laughs) Yeah, what's the big deal, you're already up 520, right?
G & W - You bet. This time you went to India, how was that?
Jon - It was surreal, just from a perspective of trying to figure out where you've just come from and where you are now. Not much time for the contrast between the two places. It's just an overwhelming sensory overload that you've got no previous life experience to draw upon, to gauge on, no matter where you travel elsewhere in the world. You have to go there to experience it. Some people can't get past the initial shock and awe of the poverty. But once you get past that and you look at the people and you look at the culture and the depth of everything they have to be proud of there from their religious, historical, and the things and the values that they hold dear to their hearts, it's beautiful. And the people are beautiful and the food is some of the best on the planet I've ever tasted. It's so much to go and experience it from a positive perspective if you can get past the abject poverty which exists and certainly the thing that's in your face first.
G & W - So when you see these places when on the race, do you go back home to your wife and plan vacations?
Jon- Definitely. My wife gets to join us at various points in time on the race and we get to experience the stuff together, and we get to talk about if it's a place we'll come back to explore more of. So yeah, the race is a context for she and I to hash out and talk about our travel plans for all the places we like to explore and experiences. She and I are both adventurous souls so we like to get out there, we like to be physically active when we go. So the places we visit on the show educates us.
G & W - That's nice, your wife gets to show up once and awhile so you can get a break and connect with the real world for a few moments.
Jon - If a couple hours free exists yeah, but sometimes it's bell to bell, hustle all around so there's not a lot of time. If you got a few moments on the race you're using it to grab a wink or get a bite to eat. If you don't take those breaks to do those things, you don't eat, you don't sleep at all.
G & W - But is it nice to have a little bit of home?
Jon - Oh, are you kidding me? Being able to experience some of the stuff with my wife and at least have her nearby is such a comfort to me. From a performance perspective, having someone around that is your champion all the time no matter what is going on, is reassuring. And to have the greatest comfort from home, your partner, is a great escape from the daily grind and get back to something that's more familiar.
G & W - Speaking of comfort, last year we talked about your robe, Blue Robeo, does Blue Robeo still come along or have you retired it?
Jon - (Laughs) No, I've got a few robes. I've got Blue Robeo in two different versions, a travel version and a home version. I've got a grey one which is made of some fine textiles that I quite like and introduced a new one with some patterns on it, which is a little bit lighter, more of a summer robe. But the robes play a pivotal role in my life and they are front and centre for sure.
G & W - Is there an assistant off camera holding a robe for you and then when you're done the shot, they put it on for you?
Jon - You know what, that is a genius idea, I like your style! I think we might have to put that in a rider next year if we get to do this again. If enough people tune in tonight on CTV, hopefully I'll have the capacity to get it in on Season 4.
G & W - If we're not cast for Season 4, we will apply to be your assistants to do that.
Jon - Hopefully, you'll have a more important job next year which will be to compete.
G & W - We hope so. Back to the race, do you suffer from Post Race syndrome, adjusting to the real world?
Jon - There's an adjustment, yeah. It's not a depressive state like coming off an Olympic high or something like that, but it is a definite readjustment into the real world. The race is so not the real world. In the real world, I don't wake up in the morning and look at my suitcase for a picture of myself that corresponds to the city I might be in to determine which outfit I wear. And then proceed to go downstairs and have really no control over the rest of my day. I'm told where to go, when to be there, they take me from place to place with my crew; I'm told what to say and how to say it; I'm given direction on where to go, what to wear, what to do; my meals are basically decided for me, so at the end of 30 days of recording, Amazing Race Canada hands back a gentlemen that resembles Jon Montgomery to my wife, but is nothing like her former husband. I have to be reintegrated into the world through mechanism of having to make a decision for myself once again. Unfortunately, it's forced upon my wife to take this man-child and reintroduce him to the real world.
G & W- How long does that adjustment take?
Jon - (Laughs) What month is it now? We're getting there. We were moving last year just after the shoot and she came in the room and she caught me standing there with a change with a pair of pants in my hand. She left and then came back again about 3 minutes later and I was still standing there in the same spot. She asked, 'What's wrong with you, man?' I said, 'I can't decide what I'm supposed to do.'
G & W - So you excited about tonight's episode?
Jon - I'm pumped for tonight; I'm heading home. I going to Victoria to watch it with my wife in the comfort of my own home.
G & W - Just like everyone else.
Jon - You bet.
G & W - Are you like everyone else, are you surprised what happens when you see the show on TV?
Jon - To a certain point. Obviously, I know the outcome. But I'm always excited to see what happens on the leg of the race. Yeah, I get pumped to watch the show with the person on the couch next to me but when I'm on the television screen that might be some of the more cringe-worthy moments for me, but I really get excited about seeing the racers push themselves in the actual events.
G &W - Do you watch yourself and look for ways to improve or do you not care about that?
Jon - I wouldn't be in the position I'm in if I went around life and not caring about what I look like or how I was presenting myself. And as an athlete, there's always an element of wanting to improve and get better. So I watch myself with a hypercritical eye and looking to make small adjustments on how I can do better, and take constructive criticism from others and try to imbibe it into my performance.
G & W - You really seem to hit your groove in Season 2.
Jon- Sure, coming from zero experience from now having worked in the industry for a total of three months (laughs), not by any means am I seasoned but I'm getting a familiarity that I can start to feel comfortable.
G & W - I know you do most of the tasks the teams do so was there one in the first two seasons or one in this season that made you pause?
Jon - There's always moments where you need to think about what is coming up and wonder how it is you're going to approach from a safe perspective and trying to deliver what they are asking of you and bringing it all together into a seamless fashion. I'm not comfortable with all the stunts I have to do, but all of them are intrinsically safe so I don't have to worry for my own safety. But I have to well up enough courage to be able to do it well, while talking to the camera at the same, which probably helps me. It distracts me whatever crazy stunt I have to perform, whether it's jumping off the Macau Tower, 762 feet of dead air below your feet, that's unnerving for someone like me who really doesn't love heights. (Laughs)
G & W - Are you aware of these tasks before you head out or are you in the dark like the racers?
Jon - I don't find out too much in advance which is also a good thing, so I don't have much time to psyche myself out. But I was waking up a couple nights before that bungee tower knowing what was in my future. Before we left last year, we had supper in a restaurant in Toronto that's on the 56th floor of one of these downtown skyscrapers. And so as I looked out that window that night I was thinking to myself, 'I'm going up another 200 or something feet above this to jump off it, and I just couldn't get my brain wrapped around it honestly. It took till I was standing on that precipice to appreciate what was happening.
G & W - An extra 200 feet, what's the big deal?
Jon - (Laughs) Yeah, what's the big deal, you're already up 520, right?
G & W - You bet. This time you went to India, how was that?
Jon - It was surreal, just from a perspective of trying to figure out where you've just come from and where you are now. Not much time for the contrast between the two places. It's just an overwhelming sensory overload that you've got no previous life experience to draw upon, to gauge on, no matter where you travel elsewhere in the world. You have to go there to experience it. Some people can't get past the initial shock and awe of the poverty. But once you get past that and you look at the people and you look at the culture and the depth of everything they have to be proud of there from their religious, historical, and the things and the values that they hold dear to their hearts, it's beautiful. And the people are beautiful and the food is some of the best on the planet I've ever tasted. It's so much to go and experience it from a positive perspective if you can get past the abject poverty which exists and certainly the thing that's in your face first.
G & W - So when you see these places when on the race, do you go back home to your wife and plan vacations?
Jon- Definitely. My wife gets to join us at various points in time on the race and we get to experience the stuff together, and we get to talk about if it's a place we'll come back to explore more of. So yeah, the race is a context for she and I to hash out and talk about our travel plans for all the places we like to explore and experiences. She and I are both adventurous souls so we like to get out there, we like to be physically active when we go. So the places we visit on the show educates us.
G & W - That's nice, your wife gets to show up once and awhile so you can get a break and connect with the real world for a few moments.
Jon - If a couple hours free exists yeah, but sometimes it's bell to bell, hustle all around so there's not a lot of time. If you got a few moments on the race you're using it to grab a wink or get a bite to eat. If you don't take those breaks to do those things, you don't eat, you don't sleep at all.
G & W - But is it nice to have a little bit of home?
Jon - Oh, are you kidding me? Being able to experience some of the stuff with my wife and at least have her nearby is such a comfort to me. From a performance perspective, having someone around that is your champion all the time no matter what is going on, is reassuring. And to have the greatest comfort from home, your partner, is a great escape from the daily grind and get back to something that's more familiar.
G & W - Speaking of comfort, last year we talked about your robe, Blue Robeo, does Blue Robeo still come along or have you retired it?
Jon - (Laughs) No, I've got a few robes. I've got Blue Robeo in two different versions, a travel version and a home version. I've got a grey one which is made of some fine textiles that I quite like and introduced a new one with some patterns on it, which is a little bit lighter, more of a summer robe. But the robes play a pivotal role in my life and they are front and centre for sure.
G & W - Is there an assistant off camera holding a robe for you and then when you're done the shot, they put it on for you?
Jon - You know what, that is a genius idea, I like your style! I think we might have to put that in a rider next year if we get to do this again. If enough people tune in tonight on CTV, hopefully I'll have the capacity to get it in on Season 4.
G & W - If we're not cast for Season 4, we will apply to be your assistants to do that.
Jon - Hopefully, you'll have a more important job next year which will be to compete.
G & W - We hope so. Back to the race, do you suffer from Post Race syndrome, adjusting to the real world?
Jon - There's an adjustment, yeah. It's not a depressive state like coming off an Olympic high or something like that, but it is a definite readjustment into the real world. The race is so not the real world. In the real world, I don't wake up in the morning and look at my suitcase for a picture of myself that corresponds to the city I might be in to determine which outfit I wear. And then proceed to go downstairs and have really no control over the rest of my day. I'm told where to go, when to be there, they take me from place to place with my crew; I'm told what to say and how to say it; I'm given direction on where to go, what to wear, what to do; my meals are basically decided for me, so at the end of 30 days of recording, Amazing Race Canada hands back a gentlemen that resembles Jon Montgomery to my wife, but is nothing like her former husband. I have to be reintegrated into the world through mechanism of having to make a decision for myself once again. Unfortunately, it's forced upon my wife to take this man-child and reintroduce him to the real world.
G & W- How long does that adjustment take?
Jon - (Laughs) What month is it now? We're getting there. We were moving last year just after the shoot and she came in the room and she caught me standing there with a change with a pair of pants in my hand. She left and then came back again about 3 minutes later and I was still standing there in the same spot. She asked, 'What's wrong with you, man?' I said, 'I can't decide what I'm supposed to do.'
G & W - Let's talk a bit of non-race stuff, tell us about your beer.
Jon - Well Old Tomorrow and New Brewery in Southern Ontario developed a beer which they are coining as a Canadian Pale Ale, and it's the first one out there. Certainly, the first one branded as such. It's quite a distinct beer and I tried it and I really like it. With that as the base of the product, they aged it for six weeks in oak barrels and infused it with some Alberta Premium 25 year old rye and a five year old rye, paying respects to 2010. They created this brew called Monty's Golden Ryed Ale and it's fantastic. We got second at the Craft Brew Festival in Toronto. We lost out to a collaboration to Kaos. But Old Tomorrow is going to the process of getting it on shelfs in Ontario and hopefully it's a step on getting it across the board nationally.
G & W - Is it kind of cool having your own beer?
Jon - It's' way cool, it's not kind of cool, it's the coolest thing ever. Can you imagine having a beer with your name on it?
G & W - We can imagine, we can imagine. Do you carry a bottle around, saying 'This my beer, this is my beer'?
Jon - No I wouldn't probably wouldn't do that cause you can get arrested for carrying open liquor in this country
G & W - So are there any more beers coming out being named after you?
Jon - That would be nice but we'll keep working on this project and we'll see it through to fruition.
G & W - We'll keep an eye out. And thanks for talking to us, we're looking forward to tonight.
Jon - You bet and we'll see you on the Twitter wave. Cheers.
Jon - Well Old Tomorrow and New Brewery in Southern Ontario developed a beer which they are coining as a Canadian Pale Ale, and it's the first one out there. Certainly, the first one branded as such. It's quite a distinct beer and I tried it and I really like it. With that as the base of the product, they aged it for six weeks in oak barrels and infused it with some Alberta Premium 25 year old rye and a five year old rye, paying respects to 2010. They created this brew called Monty's Golden Ryed Ale and it's fantastic. We got second at the Craft Brew Festival in Toronto. We lost out to a collaboration to Kaos. But Old Tomorrow is going to the process of getting it on shelfs in Ontario and hopefully it's a step on getting it across the board nationally.
G & W - Is it kind of cool having your own beer?
Jon - It's' way cool, it's not kind of cool, it's the coolest thing ever. Can you imagine having a beer with your name on it?
G & W - We can imagine, we can imagine. Do you carry a bottle around, saying 'This my beer, this is my beer'?
Jon - No I wouldn't probably wouldn't do that cause you can get arrested for carrying open liquor in this country
G & W - So are there any more beers coming out being named after you?
Jon - That would be nice but we'll keep working on this project and we'll see it through to fruition.
G & W - We'll keep an eye out. And thanks for talking to us, we're looking forward to tonight.
Jon - You bet and we'll see you on the Twitter wave. Cheers.