As noted, teams must go to Toronto and find City Hall (Nathan Phillips Square!) get to the top of the building and look for the race flag to tell them where to head next. Fortunately, the flag is easy to find and teams then have to head down to Yonge-Dundas square, again to find their next clue. We got The Mounties in the lead with Team Navy at the end and various teams in the middle. Adam and Courtney get lost in the city, Nancy and Melissa try to shake of The Coaches who always seem to be nearby. I like this rivalry and hope it plays out more in the race. Both teams are highly competitive racers, especially Nancy. Despite being on the home turf, Team Navy think they have to go into the building that has the flag rather than into square so get slowed down. But already they seem to be far behind.
On the street, it's a Roadblock, sponsored by Chevy but again, it's not a bad task. One racer has to load a small Chevy with a pile of stuff, not using the front seat and ensuring they have a clear line of vision through the rearview mirror. Not sure why cause that's what the side mirrors are for, but I guess it makes the task a bit harder. So I'm okay with that. Then they have to pretend they are on Canada's Worst Driver and back up the car through a short twisty track into a spot without knocking over the pylons. Mounties get done first although Taylor nails a pylon or two on the way. Guess he might have to retake his police driving test again. But the next clue says to find the Monkey's Paw Bookstore (yah, a book related task, sort of) and find the book dispensary machine. It's the first in the world, I guess. FYI, Edmonton's airport has a short story dispensing machine, also one of the first in the world. The brainchild of fellow Edmonton writer Jason Norman who does a lot great literary stuff in this city. If the race is looking for a task in Edmonton next season, even just at the airport, this might be a good thing to use.
However, teams have to take the TTC (Toronto transit) to get there. And while some teams are worried, it shouldn't be too hard. I like tasks that force teams to take transit because it involves navigation and you never know when trains or buses will come. I'm also a transit user and know that transit in many Canadian cities can be sketchy at times. And wait, also at the bookstore is a Double U-Turn but this time it's not blind. So when teams arrive at the bookstore, most decide not to U-Turn anyone, which is a shame. I sort of expected it, it being a non-blind one so hero teams don't want to look bad to other hero teams. Don't understand why someone doesn't use it. Lots of tough teams left, good to get rid of one of them like what happened last time. But wait, Adam and Courtney are agonizing whether or not to use the U-Turn. Due to getting lost, they are in second last place with only Team Navy behind him. Don't understand the agonizing. U-Turns are a valid part of the game and this is the perfect time to use it. Heck, Gord and I would have U-Turned someone whether or not we were second last.
Common sense prevails and even though Adam seems guilt-ridden, Team Navy is U-Turned. And based on the fact they arrived at the Chevy task and no one was around, they are out. So we know the ending already, despite good editing that implied they were much closer. Next it's a Detour with one side of it being to make a couple of lattes with fancy designs on the top. Probably something for Gord and I cause he's an artist. On the other side is...wait for it...another choreography task. Ugh. Again? Really? It's sort of fun, though is Vogueing cutting edge as the narration suggestions? Even if it is coming back. Really, vogueing is coming back? Wow. Oh well. I'm old.
But do we really need another choreography task? It's the third one is as many legs, the fourth for the season. And I'm going to jump ahead a note that we're not done with choreography. There is another one in the next leg in Winnipeg, making the fourth such in as many legs and the fifth so far. So that will be five out of seven legs so far this season that have a choreography task. A record, I believe for TARC. And this is where my niggling, crime writer, former PR person brain kicks into action. I know TARC likes choreography tasks which is why they have more than the other versions of the race which can sometimes go a whole season or two without one. But this year, it's gotten out of hand. So either production is getting lazy in developing tasks, relying too much on this style of task. Or something else is going on. I can only say that there is a team, Team Bell/Media I'm going to call them, that works for the Toronto Argonauts, a high visible Bell/Media property, and their work for Bell/Media is majorly reliant on choreography. It's a major part of their lives. And now we have a highly unusual number of choreography tasks that will help a team with that kind of experience move quickly through these type of tasks. In fact, they usually get these things done in the first try or around 2-3, a lot faster overall than other teams. Except maybe the Mounties who burn through the Vogue task. Good for them. And I'm not faulting or blaming Team Bell/Media, they are racing the race and doing the tasks honestly and to the best of their ability. In my book, having a team with such a connection to the broadcaster wasn't a good thing to start with but having a large number of tasks related to their skillset muddies the water a heck of a lot more. I really hope it's just laziness by production besides something else (a conscious or unconscious bias, makes no difference) because that would really suck. As it is, it's making me question the race already. To paraphrase Ian Fleming in one of his James Bond novels, "If it happens once, it's a coincidence; twice, it's happenstance; the third time it happens, it's enemy action." So if you've thought of this, let me know.
Anyway, teams get through their tasks at varying levels of difficulty. Adam and Courtney are suffering which suggests it was a great idea for them to U-Turn Team Navy. Even though Zainab and Monica are snubbing them at the club, they've already U-Turned someone prior to this so they should get it why it was done. Once teams are done with their tasks, with only Martina and Phil choosing the latte on their own, it's off to the Toronto food bank.
Teams have to organize a bunch of different Dempster's Bread products into boxes that will be given to various foodbanks in the YYZ area. Okay task, focus on the details and try to get it down. Don't try to remember that Dempster's parent company was part of the Canadian bread pricing scandal. Still, it's a decent way to try to help the brand through a TARC sponsorship and task. Though the Cheerleaders struggle with the numbers wondering if packages = boxes or loaves of bread. But they aren't in any fear of being eliminated because they burned through the choreography task on their first try. "Can't win all the legs," says one. Still, don't know why Nancy and Melissa, such a competitive team, helped them out. No way would Gord and I help a team in this way at this point in the race. "Nothing personal" but I would just say "Sorry, we're going to do this task on our own."
In the end, teams get done, head to Ireland Park for the pitstop. On the mat with Jon are last year's winner Sam and Paul. And I find it funny that none of the teams, save for Martina and Phil, know who these dudes are. We knew many of these teams did not watch much of the show prior to being cast and it's confirmed by the blank looks most of them give Sam and Paul. I wasn't a big fan of last year's race but I would have known these guys and greeted them appropriately as winners. Courtney and Taylor win again, they're a solid team, with Zainab and Monica coming in last and not surprisingly, being eliminated.
Watch for our video recap, hopefully this week. And next time, off to Winnipeg where as noted, there is another choreography task. Please, no more of these tasks. Please.