‘The Amazing Race Canada 4’ episode 9 review: Highland mind-games
This is turning out to be a really great season of “The Amazing Race Canada” in terms of competition. Not only do you have two extremely-dominant teams left, but you have a solid darkhorse, a likable underdog team, and also interesting strategy that you only see utilized here and there.
With Jillian & Emmett in Tuesday night’s, we got a further sense as to why there were a very good “Big Brother Canada” team. After they saw Steph & Kristen U-Turn Joel & Ashley, they went after Rita & Yvette with the thinking that targeting the two of them is a smart strategic move in order to further ensure that a strong team goes home. Frankie & Amy, meanwhile, have a chance to stick around for another leg and potentially the finale, depending on what happens next.
Will this play make them likable with some fans? Probably not, but it’s super-smart to take out other physical threats. Granted, the final leg tends to have some mental components, and it would be totally hilarious if Frankie & Amy win after being thought of as dead weight.
While we’re here, kudos to Steph & Kristen this time for not U-Turning Jillian & Emmett, realizing that it probably would not work. It almost makes sense for the two teams to work together and duke it out in the finale, since a rivalry at this point will probably only distract and hurt the two of them.
We’re not going to say that the tasks this week in Nova Scotia (a take on highland games vs. dancing as a Detour, barrel-moving) were the most memorable in the world, as they’ve been around other seasons / other versions of the show. Yet, we’re all for a leg that includes costumes and/or opportunities for funny moments. Before Jillian & Emmett won the leg, seeing Jillian freak out over Emmett wanting to embrace the spirit of shooting off the cannon was hilarious. This competitive drive is often what makes her so good at these shows, though it has its detriments as well.
If we had to pick a stronger team moving forward, it’s difficult. Jillian & Emmett may have hurt themselves in the long-term by Jillian not going back for that shoe; unless they spend some race money on new ones at an airport somewhere, they’re in trouble in the footrace department; meanwhile, Steph & Kristen are still nurturing a certain hand injury from Cuba.
Rita & Yvette’s elimination was easy to telegraph from even before they got to the Detour, as they struggled with the Coast Guard component of the leg early on. They were likable and seem like pretty-fun people; they were just the victim this season of 1) being considered reasonably strong and 2) there being another team considered a little bit weaker. Episode Grade: B.
You can head over here right now to get some other news on “The Amazing Race Canada.” Meanwhile, sign up over here to secure some other TV news on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CTV.)