Should ‘The Amazing Race Canada’ season 5 happen? Renewal hopes and more
Tonight, season 4 of “The Amazing Race Canada” is going to come to a close on CTV, and now of course is the time where we start to peer ahead to the future, wondering simultaneously what could be coming up next.
For the most part, we remain confident that there will be a season 5 coming in the future, even though it’s clear that a few ratings cracks are starting to show in the foundation. While we tend to have a harder time tracking Canadian ratings than we do for American shows, as of our calculations so far there has only been one episode to crack 2 million total viewers. Meanwhile, every episode in season 3 topped this mark, and the season averaged around 2.5 million as a whole.
With that said, this show remains one of the top primetime programs in Canada, and that’s why we are confident in its future more so than anything else. This summer has been a particularly rough one for shows across TV, and we don’t know if it has to do with more streaming options, distractions like the Olympics, or a combination of things.
Are there any changes that the Race needs to make in the event it comes back? We’re not sure it needs to do anything sweeping, since the casting is solid and most of the format works very well. We of course would like to see the show venture north more than they do, especially since Yellowknife was almost a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it destination this season. We care more about visiting some remote areas than we necessarily do going out of the country.
As for the twists, we’d find a way to either get rid of the Face-Off, or implement more original ideas there. Putting things like volleyball or golf in them doesn’t quite feel fair, since it inherently will be unbalanced. We’d prefer teams enter on a level playing field if you’re already forcing one of them to wait for someone else to show up.
Assuming that “The Amazing Race Canada” is renewed for another season, are there any twists you’d like to see implemented? Share below, and head over here to see our preview for tonight’s finale! Also, sign up over here to score some other TV news on everything we cover via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. CTV.)
Kurt Repchull
September 14, 2016 @ 8:22 pm
I’d love to see the Yield, the Intersection or my first choice… the Salvage Pass! I like the Face-Off but something new would be a good idea IMO. They have made this a uniquely Canadian version with so many legs within Canada, but I’d like to see it split 50-50.
1LOSTFan
September 14, 2016 @ 2:08 am
Need more international legs! It’s clear that a lot of fans gotten bored with the Canadian-only legs
Matt Carter
September 14, 2016 @ 2:47 am
I go back and forth on it honestly — we get so many international legs on US that I don’t mind learning more about Canada. Also, I’m sure it helps keep the show in-budget.
1LOSTFan
September 18, 2016 @ 8:52 pm
I agree that keep the show in Canada helps the budget stay lower but the producers could ask sponsors to chip-in. They should’ve taken advantage of the AirCanada sponsorship in the first three seasons.
JameS
September 15, 2016 @ 1:32 am
I fully agree. Just because it’s the Amazing Race Canada doesn’t mean we’re reduced to racing domestically. The Amazing Race Australia went all over the world for three seasons. I would prefer the race simply to begin and end in Canada. Many of the teams on the show thus far would not fair well during continuous international racing, which makes it way more exciting, and overall, results in a better production.
NotAFanBut
September 21, 2016 @ 3:09 am
There’s no confirmation yet. The previous years, they’ve always announced the opening of casting for a new season on finale night, this time no such thing – which could also hint at an All-Stars. There’s enough fan favourite teams now to end it off with one.
The first 2 seasons the domestic was alright. They finished giving every province and territory at least one visit, and that was fair. But speaking as a Canadian, I can’t even think of enough TAR-worthy new places left in this country that won’t feel like a repeat leg. They’ve run it dry.
But there’s that portion on social media who complains “they have to showcase our beautiful country, otherwise it wouldn’t be called The Amazing Race CANADA”, so an all-international season would need a subtitle like “World Tour” to get the point across :P
Matt Carter
September 21, 2016 @ 6:05 am
I think the biggest problem with more international legs is always just a budgetary one, given you’ve got travel expenses + visas to think about and that gets super-tricky. Plus easier to market to sponsors in Canada. There may be different ways to structure another season (fewer teams / more non-elimination legs) to make it work but it’d take some thinking. I do think it’ll be back eventually in one way or another.