Anyway, onto Episode 1 of the Heroes Edition, aka Season 6 of The Amazing Race Canada. I won't say much about how I feel about the Heroes Edition because I covered that in my previous post. Although I wish Michael Harmstone was covering this season so he could count how many times we hear the words hero, heroes, heroic, heroism. I think those words are going to get on my nerves as much as G'iver did last season. Overall though, not a bad episode, some good tasks, especially the Log On when racers had to climb the 80 foot log to get a clue. An overall decent mix of difficulty, heights, fun and the potential to jump ahead quickly or fall behind. I actually enjoyed the fact they had to catch a ferry the first time out. And glad that at least one team missed that ferry. I've taken that trip many times in the past and it's never nice to miss the ferry and wait a couple hours for the next one.
I also want to point out that Jon Monty is still awesome, still funny, still one, if not the best TAR host out there. No matter how critical about the show I've been about the past year, Jon is and always will be a brilliant host.
I wouldn't rank this episodes as one of the best, but it was okay. Better than meh, which was my response to much of last season, but not as good as previous seasons. The first fifth or a quarter was taken up by team introductions and it was pretty much word for word, shot for shot of the online team videos on the TARC/CTV site. Would have preferred more original stuff than recycled bits we've seen before but maybe only a superfan or blogger like me watched those things. Who knows.
It's also a bit early for me to get the sense of the teams (I forgot some teams while watching) but on first glance I liked Martina and Phil the best, with Happy and Chewy, Todd and Anna coming in tied in second. Although since Happy and Chewy were eliminated, congrats to Todd and Anna (Go Team Edmonchuk) for being my second fav team. So far. We'll see what happens.
At this point in time, I'm feeling a bit more positive about this season, hoping the tasks will be a bit harder and team dynamics will play out more. I hope teams don't buy into the Hero theme too much and not play a hard game in order to look less heroic. The race can get very boring if teams are way too cozy and nice with each other. You can be friends but you should be ready to kick some ass.
But I have another issue with this season, an issue I've also heard talked about by other fans. I call it the Conflict of Interest Teams. I don't mind teams from Big Brother or maybe another reality show, athletes who competed in different teams/sports in the same Olympics, stuff like that, but this is a bit different. I count three Conflict on Interest Teams this year: the Cheerleaders, the Elite Athletes and the Coaches. All of these teams are connected to someone or something also connected to the race. The Cheerleaders work for the Argos which is owned by BellMedia which owns CTV, the race broadcaster. Kwame is also an ex-Argo. Melissa is also a former teammate and no doubt long-time friend of host Jon Montgomery. There might be another connection through a sports agency but I haven't confirmed that. If someone can, please let me know.
These three Conflict of Interest teams finished in the Top 4 of all the teams, with the Cheerleaders coming in first, followed by the Elite Athletes in second. And while I not saying something nefarious went on, I've worked in media, advertising and PR. And I'm a crime novelist who sees dark things in places where people least expect. So even if there is just the perception for the potential that something might be going on, that can have a strong effect on the integrity of the race. And on how fans watch it. Which is why there are conflict of interest rules, rules everyone who's every applied has read that say if you have a connection to someone involved in the race, be it a person, a company, a family member in anyway, you are not eligible to compete. Rules that should be followed and not bent to help promote a flailing football team owned by the parent company of the broadcaster right in the middle of the CFL Season, and/or to get an Olympian on the race during an Olympic year. Or for whatever reason. I'm blaming the teams themselves; how and why they were cast is not under their control. I'm not really blaming Insight either on this because I get the sense this is an above-my-pay-grade kind of decision, like last season's lackluster Millennial cast. The buck stops with CTV/BellMedia and any anger/annoyance about this should be directed at them.
Again, I'm not saying something went on, I'm just saying three teams with direct conflicts of interest is not the kind of PR visual I'd be happy with. Especially if these teams do well, like they did in the first episode.
And now you really know why most people like Gord better than me.