Teams leave Cape Breton and catch a bus to ride 600 klicks to Saint John, New Brunswick. Two buses and only two teams are allowed on each bus. So the Softballers and Big Brother are on the first bus with Enoch and BC on Bus 2. Previously on the last episode, we saw Jillian leave a shoe behind. And we wondered if it would play a role in this leg. But they find some nice folks who will drive home and grab her a pair of shoes. See, it's nice having the race in Canada cause we'll drive home to get some strangers a pair of shoes. So the shoe problem is solved. Or is it? Jillian says they're a little tight but Emmett says no biggie, they'll stretch. Hmmm.
In Saint John, you gotta find a sponsor's car that has the next clue. So the first two teams, Steph and Kristan, and Jillian and Emmett head in separate directions. But it's the Softballers who find the car and have to head to the Central Market. There it's a sponsor task, most of the time I hate these cause most of the time, they suck as tasks. Remember the DQ birthday party? Or the fill for gas at Petro Canada? Or the buy stuff from the Petro Canada a few minutes from Wayne's house? Okay, maybe you don't remember my house but you remember the task. That said, remember the Mentos one in Paris? That's how you do a sponsorship task. And this one, having to use the sponsor's app to deliver five different fruit baskets to five different hotels in town is more on the Mentos in Paris spectrum of sponsorship tasks. It's not as hard as Mentos in Paris but it's way tougher than DQ Birthday party. Lots of navigation needed.
Steph and Kristen are off, knocking off hotel after hotel. After some time being lost, Big Brother finds the car but by this time, the bus with the other two teams has pulled into town. And these guys waste no time finding the cars. And the Central Market. In fact, they arrive just before Jillian and Emmett. So those buses weren't that spread apart. Or Jillian and Emmett were really lost.
Teams search and find hotels and deliver baskets. Emmett drops one and Jillian screams at him. They get lost and the only way to get to the hotel is to run across the overpass. So Jillian yells at him. Mostly cause her feet hurt cause the shoes those nice people got her are two sizes too small. Ouch. And cause he can't figure out how to get onto that other highway. So maybe the yelling is a bit justified. But really, this is the only interesting dynamic this team has. Without the yelling, they are just as interesting than Ryan and Rob from Season 2. Remember them? Well, not much. This mayhem puts these guys in third place, only ahead of the always directionally challenge Amy and Frankie.
Softballs get done, it's a Detour. The beer one and the taffy one. In the beer, which no one picks, so never mind who cares, no one picked beer. Wayne sad. All that beer and no one even touches it. Wayne more sad. In taffy...come on...someone take beer. Whatever, I hate them all.
Anyway, in the taffy side, teams must head to the molasses factory, follow a recipe and make taffy. Sigh, oh well. All teams follow the recipe. Sort of. Well, the Softballers do and get their taffy done. Probably took them longer than it seemed but they got it done first. Off to the Face-off. Oh well, gotta wait. Amy and Frankie pull up just as the first team leaves. And they don't follow the recipe. Instead of four tablespoons of vinegar, they use four cups of vinegar. Holy shit, that's a lot of vinegar. That'll clean the pots for ya. And your sinuses based on how Amy's reacting. Jillian is on repeat mode, stir Emmett stir. Stir. Stir. So Emmett is a-stirring, winking at the camera as he does. Ashley and Joel aren't stirring so maybe they'll burn theirs. First check and nope, not the right colour, Enoch. More stirring. Or manipulating. Oh wait, save the manipulation for later.
So Jillian and Emmett are done and they are off to the Face-off. Or rather, they are lost. Going the wrong way. Which allows Joel and Ashley to arrive to Face-off against Steph and Kristen. It's a golf task on a par 3 hole on a really nice set of links in New Brunswick. The team that sinks the ball in the least amount of shots wins the Face-off. Other team must battle against the others and whoever's left, gets the play with the old Yield hourglass from various seasons of the US version of TAR. Everyone looks dapper in their golf dudes but Steph and Kristen aren't too sure of Joel and Ashley. Have they ever seen golf course? Well, let this Cree dude tell you something. I learned how to play golf on a native owned golf course so yeah, wondering if an indigenous person knows what golf is, is like wondering if an indigenous person knows how to spell Bingo. Or Casino. Take your pick. This would have been a perfect task for me. Not sure if Gord golfs but heck I can and that's what would count.
And yep, Joel tees off, nice swing and his shot lands just off the green. The Softballers tee shot hits a tree. And it's lost. So it's a drop, an added penalty shot and it's pretty much over by then. Joel and Ashley win the Face-off and it's off to the garden for the Roadblock. And holy smokes what a roadblock it is. One teammate is completely blindfolded and guided around a garden by the other. And only using their senses of touch and smell must memorize a bunch of plants, learn the English names from their teammate and then recall these plants in a test. And when I say a bunch, I'm saying 15, which is a lot of plants to memorize through only those two senses. I'm really wondering how Lowell would have done on this one. Or if Julie would have taken the task instead of him based on the short clue they are given.
Joel assumes the responsibility but Ashley's really happy because she gets to guide her dad around. Joel's not too happy about the task but he's the kind of guy who just hunkers down and gets things done. So we're pretty sure he'll do it, the only unknown factor is how long. Meanwhile, Amy and Frankie are done with the taffy (really, they got it done with the four cups of vinegar or did they have to start again and that part was edited out? I don't know how someone can make a suitable bit of taffy with such a mistake like that so I'm guessing edit.) And while the Softballers hit the same tree again, they get the bounce this time and it lands relatively close to the green. Big Brother hits the sand trap and it's over for them. Softballers win and are off to the garden. Have fun.
Amy and Frankie finally arrive at the Face-off with no golfing experience at all. You can tell cause they're using a driver on a Par 3. So splash, into the ocean. And then so many siwingsandamisses that they're at 18 while Big Brother is stuck on 1. Emmett just wants to go on because the longer it takes for them to get away (golf terminology for their turn), the longer they'll be behind the first two teams. Finally, it's done and Amy and Frankie have to wait.
At the garden, teams are struggling with Steph breaking down cause she can't remember the plants. She tells Kristen this should have been her task cause she's better at memorization. But Kristen says they had no idea it was a tough memory task. She also quietly tells her partner to get it together and there's a break for commercial. And Steph does get it together. Although it probably took her a long time to get this task. This was a very difficult task, one of those that would drive me crazy and I was only watching. Probably Gord would do it for me. It was also one of those tasks that no matter when you arrived, there was always the chance that another team could nail it and pass you. And when all the teams were at the task, you had no idea which team would win. Or rather which team would finish last. Because in this leg, who ever finished last, Jon said, would be eliminated. Not may. But would.
Luckily for the two first teams, Enoch and the Softballers, the other two forgot the most basic rule of Amazing Race. Read the clue. Emmett and Jillian didn't read the clue so instead of memorizing the English names, they focused on the Latin ones. And no one was going to tell them. When Amy and Frankie arrived, instead of reading their clue, they did the task based on what they hearing from Jillian and Emmett, unaware that they were doing the task wrong. Which is another no-no for TAR: never do what another team is doing until you read the clue. And no one else was going to tell them. They would have to find out for themselves. And when they did, all hell broke loose. Jillian started screaming, so much so that I felt sorry for the guy who was guiding her back to the main harder. Amy just started crying, realizing that their mistake could cost them a chance for the final three.
It didn't help that Ashley led them astray, telling Frankie that they learned both the Latin and English versions of the plants. And for me, this was a brilliant move, a simple bit of a mind game, the kind of thing I would have done if given the chance. I probably would have been doing this the whole race so no one would have trusted me the way Frankie trusted Ashley. And while some may say Ashley played a bit of dirty pool by leading Amy and Frankie astray, Amy and Frankie sank themselves by not reading the clue and relying on another team for direction. Maybe in the first leg or two, you can get away with following or listening to another team. But in the last leg before the finale. No way, man. If you do, then it's your own fault.
In the end, Steph and Kristen finish the task and arrive at the mat in first place. They'll be going into the finale. Then it's Ashley and Joel. And I love Joel's celebration when he gets it right. That tells me that it was a really difficult task. They are second and into the finale. And because Amy and Frankie rush to learn both names, Jillian and Emmett finish ahead of them. And they are going to the finale. And though I hate to say it, Amy and Frankie have no one to blame but themselves for coming in last. Read the Clue.
Still, they had a great race. They were the dark horse of the entire race, the goofy and loud team that many thought would be gone in the early legs but hung in there till the second last leg. I'll miss their personalities in the final leg but at least we got to see a lot of them in this season. They were a great team. We'll have an interview with them coming up in the next few days.
Next week, it's the finale of Season 4 of Amazing Race Canada. Teams head to Montreal and it looks like a bunch of crazy tasks with the finish line at the old Expo 67 grounds. At least that's what it seems. Hopefully the finale will be just as fun as this leg and a great ending to a pretty solid season. We'll be here to recap it for you. Hopefully this won't be the end of Amazing Race Canada and that sometime during the After the Race show (a show I have and never will watch), they'll announce Season 5.