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.