Teams left Squamish, told to head to Dawson City, Yukon. So far this is the farthest north the Canadian race has ever been. I thought Iqaluit from Season 1 was, but I was told by fellow super fan Logan that Dawson City is one degree more north. And the race starts with very real moment when Martina decides that it makes no sense to have a backpack. Her brother carried her's for most of the first leg so why burden him. So they jammed all their stuff into one. And then give the new backpack, and some water, to a street person in Vancouver. A real moment and another reason why I like this team. It's also a smart move to lighten the load.
But after that, it's pretty much a rehash of previous tasks from previous legs from previous seasons. Once teams get to Dawson City, they have to pitch a tent and set up camp. Which teams had to do in Season 2 as part of a Detour. Again, in the Yukon. The first time they did this was more interesting, with the starting of a fire, melting of a block of ice to get a key. Even with the $5,000 for the team completed in the shortest period of time didn't make it anymore interesting this time around.
After the tent set up, which Todd and Anna won, they had to head into town, use a GPS locater to find locations that may or may not have one of five gold coins. I preferred the Season 1 Yukon search task where one teammate was in wheelbarrow being pushed by a blindfolded one in order to find five gold nuggets. This task had the added feature of the possibility of finding one of three Express Passes, but again, we've seen teams rush through towns trying to find things, especially small bits of gold in the Yukon. This is the part when I had to leave to deliver said birthday present. But when I returned, it seemed like nothing had really happened, except some teams had more coins than others. Maybe one was almost finished. So I got the sense I really didn't miss much.
After this was the Detour. And we had our first dance/choreography task of the season. I'm not sure how many we'll have this season; I think the record is three but maybe Logan can prove me wrong again. It was fun to see some of the bigger male racers dressed up in Can-Can outfits and I'm pretty sure I'd pick this task just to see big, ole Gord dress up in one of those. I'd look pretty funny, too but you know, you gotta think about what makes good TV when you're racing. Sure, we probably wouldn't linger for long in this task but heck, the first rule of Amazing Race Canada isn't read the clue, it's remembering that you're on a TV show and you have to look out for those moments to make good TV.
And while seeing another TAR Canada dance task isn't the most exciting thing in the world, it was at least better than the other side of the Detour which was deal a couple of hands of blackjack. Again, this is way too similar to the Fan Tan one from Season 2, but at least Fan Tan would have been hard to learn. Blackjack is dead easy and despite some teams failing their first and possibly second try, they did not seem as stressed as teams trying to figure out Fan Tan in Macau.
And then, we're done. Pretty much already. Four tasks that were way to similar than previous ones, but a lot easier than what came before. Not much drama, not much team interaction or personality save for Martina's giveaway, the guys dressing up as Can Can dancers, and Martina using an accent to help remember the rules of blackjack. And in the end Todd and Anna win, with Zainab and Monica finishing last but it's a non-elim. So they get to stay in. And the Edmontonians win a trip to the South of France. Now that's where I'd like to see TAR Canada head to. It's odd but I'm finding it more interesting to think what could be done in the locations where trips are won rather than watching the race. I get it that they probably have grant stipulations that say a certain amount of legs must take place in Canada, but when you have very similar and easier tasks that we've seen in other season, even ones you did the other times you were in this area, it falls flat.