The Amazing Race Canada 4 is the fourth season of The Amazing Race Canada, a Canadian reality competition show based on the American series The Amazing Race. Hosted by Jon Montgomery, it featured ten teams of two, each with a pre-existing relationship, in a race across Canada and the world. The grand prize included a CA$250,000 cash payout, a trip for two around the world, and the choice of any two Chevrolet vehicles driven during the season. This season visited six provinces, one territory, and two additional countries and travelled over during eleven legs. Starting in Yellowknife, racers travelled through the Northwest Territories, Alberta, Vietnam, British Columbia, Ontario, Cuba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Quebec before finishing in Montreal. The season premiere aired on CTV on June 28, 2016, with the finale airing on September 13, 2016.
Dating couple Stephanie "Steph" LeClair and Kristen McKenzie were the winners of this season and became the first all-female team to win the Canadian edition of the show, while exes Jillian McLaughlin and Emmett Blois from Big Brother Canada 1 finished in second place, and father and daughter Joel Ground and Ashley Callingbull-Burnham finished in third place.
Production Development and filming
On September 21, 2015, CTV announced that the show was renewed for a fourth season.
Filming of the show was reported in Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories, at the Legislative Assembly building, on Frame Lake close to the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, and at the ceremonial circle near the Royal Canadian Mounted Police "G" Division headquarters downtown. On May 10, host Jon Montgomery was spotted near a clue box at Prince Rupert City Hall in British Columbia. Teams were reported racing near Kingston Penitentiary in Kingston, Ontario, on May 14, where a U-Turn board was also seen.
Casting Casting began on September 23, 2015, and as in the previous three seasons, an online site was used for submission of applications and audition videos. Casting closed on November 23, 2015.
Programming A half-hour special episode titled The Amazing Race Canada: Top 20 Moments, reviewing the events of the first seven episodes, aired in place of a regular episode on August 16, with regular episodes resuming the following week. Similar to previous seasons, a special season-end reunion/recap again titled After the Race, this time hosted by the cast of The Social, aired immediately after the season finale to review the season as a whole.
Marketing Petro-Canada and trip sponsor Air Canada discontinued their sponsorship, Chevrolet continued sponsoring the show along with previous seasons' sponsors Bank of Montreal (BMO) and Mentos. New sponsors for this season were outerwear sponsor Mountain Equipment Co-op and trip sponsor Hotels.com.
Cast
The cast includes actress and Mrs. Universe 2015 winner Ashley Callingbull-Burnham, and Big Brother Canada 1 HouseGuests Jillian MacLaughlin and Emmett Blois. Lowell Taylor is the first legally blind contestant in any edition of The Amazing Race.
ContestantsAgeRelationshipHometownStatus 21Best FriendsWindsor, OntarioEliminated 1st 21 51Father/SonMontreal, QuebecEliminated 2nd(in Cái Bè, Vietnam) 25 40Best Friends/MomsToronto, OntarioEliminated 3rd 40 25Best FriendsToronto, OntarioEliminated 4th(in Port Edward, British Columbia) 25 33MarriedLethbridge, AlbertaEliminated 5th(in Kingston, Ontario) 34 23Twin SistersEdmonton, AlbertaEliminated 6th(in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia) 23 41Mother/DaughterAldergrove, British ColumbiaEliminated 7th 25 42Father/DaughterEnoch Cree Nation, AlbertaThird place 26 30Exes New Glasgow, Nova ScotiaRunners-up 28 Gore, Nova Scotia 27DatingToronto, OntarioWinners 25
Results The following teams are listed with their placements in each leg. Placements are listed in finishing order.
A placement with a dagger () indicates that the team was eliminated. An placement with a double-dagger () indicates that the team was the last to arrive at a Pit Stop in a non-elimination leg, and had to perform a Speed Bump task in the following leg. An italicized and underlined placement indicates that the team was the last to arrive at a Pit Stop, but there was no rest period at the Pit Stop and all teams were instructed to continue racing. A indicates that the team used an Express Pass on that leg to bypass one of their tasks. A indicates that the team used the U-Turn and a indicates the team on the receiving end of the U-Turn. A indicates that the leg featured a Face Off challenge.
+Team placement (by leg) Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11Steph & Kristen2nd6th2nd2nd1st1st1st3rd2nd1st1stJillian & Emmett1st1st4th7th2nd2nd4th1st1st3rd2ndJoel & Ashley4th4th1st5th4th6th3rd2nd4th2nd3rdFrankie & Amy6th3rd5th4th3rd5th5th4th3rd Rita & Yvette7th8th6th3rd5th4th2nd Julie & Lowell5th7th7th6th6th3rd Kelly & Kate9th3rd1st Anne & Tanya8th5th8th Stéphane & Antoine3rd2nd Anthony & Brandon Notes
Race summary
Leg 1 (Northwest Territories → Alberta)
Episode 1: "Who's Ready to Let It All Hang Out?" (June 28, 2016) Prize: A trip for two to London, England (awarded to Jillian & Emmett) Eliminated: Anthony & Brandon Locations Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (Frame Lake) (Starting Line) Yellowknife (Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre – Ceremonial Circle) Yellowknife (Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly) Yellowknife (Yellowknife Airport) → Edmonton, Alberta (Edmonton International Airport) Edmonton → Jasper (Jasper Train Station) Jasper (Jasper Skytram) Jasper National Park (Athabasca River) Jasper National Park (Two Valley Creek Canyon) Jasper National Park (Pyramid Lake – Pyramid Island) Episode summary From Frame Lake, teams had to run to the ceremonial circle at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, where they found their first clue directing them to the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly. There, teams had to locate a wooden greeting containing a phrase written in Weledeh: ("Travel safely across the land"). They then had to search the nearby forest, where tags containing words of the same language and their translation were hanging from the trees were, for ones matching their clue. They then had to correctly recite the phrase in English to an Elder in order to receive their next clue. Teams also received a Bank of Montreal credit card that served as the teams' source of money for the rest of the season. After the first task, teams had to drive to Yellowknife Airport and book one of two flights to Edmonton, Alberta, with the first four teams on the first flight. Once there, teams boarded a bus to the town of Jasper and found their next clue outside of the Jasper Train Station. In this season's first Roadblock, one team member was equipped with a bungee cord and rode in the Jasper Skytram, which stop midair halfway up the mountain. At this point, they climbed out of the tram and used monkey bars underneath in order to reach their clue on the other side. Only three teams were permitted in the Skytram at a time. If they fell, they had to wait in line for the next crossing. After the first Roadblock, teams had to paddle a raft along the Athabasca River and find their next clue on the shoreline. In this leg's second Roadblock, teams had to drive themselves to Two Valley Creek Canyon. Here, the team member who did not perform the previous Roadblock had to rappel down into the canyon and then search the river valley on foot for a Parks Canada representative who gave them an avalanche beacon, which they used to locate one of three caches containing their next clue directing them to the Pit Stop on Pyramid Island.
Leg 2 (Alberta)
Episode 2: "Deal, Guys? Deal! Deal!" (July 5, 2016) Prize: A trip for two to Paris, France (awarded to Jillian & Emmett) Locations Jasper (Jasper Park Information Centre) → Calgary (City Hall) Calgary (The Bow – Wonderland) Calgary (Calgary Tower) Calgary (McDougall Centre, Harley Hotchkiss Gardens Century Gardens – Beatnik Bus) Calgary (Canada Boy Vinyl) Calgary (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology Bow Habitat Station – Sam Livingston Fish Hatchery) Calgary (Studio Bell – National Music Centre) Episode summary At the Jasper Park Information Centre, teams had to sign up for one of three buses to Calgary, each of which carried three teams. When they arrived at Calgary City Hall, teams were greeted by Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who gave them a photograph of a sculpture. They had to figure out that this was the Wonderland sculpture at The Bow building, where they found their next clue. In this leg's Roadblock, one team member had to rappel from the roof of the Calgary Tower to the street below in order to receive their next clue from Seefar, the Calgary Tower mascot. Teams had to track down the Beatnik Bus, a mobile record store, by using a local's cellphone to check its social media accounts for hints as to its location. The bus stopped for ten minutes at a time at three locations around downtown: the McDougall Centre, the Harley Hotchkiss Gardens, and the Century Gardens. Once teams found the bus, they could receive their next clue from a local musician after listening to him perform one of his songs. This season's first Detour was a choice between Sim or Swim. In Sim, teams travelled to the Mayland Heights campus of the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, where they had to use a training simulator to guide a crane's payload through a course on a simulated construction site without hitting any obstacles. If both team members successfully completed the course in a combined time of under six minutes, they received their next clue. In Swim, teams travelled to the Sam Livingston Fish Hatchery at the Bow Habitat Station, where they had to use a barrier to corral a school of rainbow troutlings into a confined area and then use nets to transfer the troutlings into two cages in order to receive their next clue. Teams also had the option of going for two Express Passes. For this, they travelled to Canada Boy Vinyl, where they had to search for the Express Passes among thirteen crates of newly pressed vinyl records, while placing each record they picked up into an album sleeve. Steph & Kristen found the Express Passes. After the Detour, teams had to check into the Pit Stop at the National Music Centre. Additional note This was a non-elimination leg.
Leg 3 (Alberta → Vietnam)
Episode 3: "Toads! Are You Kidding Me?" (July 12, 2016) Prize: A trip for two to Tokyo, Japan (awarded to Joel & Ashley) Eliminated: Stéphane & Antoine Locations Calgary (Peace Bridge) Calgary → Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Cái Bè (Tourist Dock) Cái Bè (Tourist Dock → Cái Bè Floating Market) Cái Bè (Cái Bè Floating Market → Tân Phong Island) Tân Phong Island → Cái Bè (Bến Phà Cái Bè Qua Tân Phong) Cái Bè (Cái Bè Land Market) Cái Bè (Phước Ân Temple Mekong Delta Canal) Cái Bè (Mekong Lodge) Episode summary At the start of this leg, teams were instructed to fly to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and then travel to the tourist dock in Cái Bè. There, teams had to sign up for a water taxi departing the next morning, when they also received their next clue. After boarding the water taxi, teams were given a shopping list written in Vietnamese with four items that they had to find within the floating market: a ceramic statue, fermented tofu, a basket of fruit, and a bag of rice. They then had to deliver them to Tân Phong Island in order to receive their next clue, which instructed them to travel by ferry back to Cái Bè, where they found their next clue at the ferry terminal. In this leg's Roadblock, one team member had to use a stick with a small flag attached to separate and herd 20 ducks out of a flock of 300 into a pen in order to receive their next clue. After the Roadblock, teams had to carry two ducks by hand to the Cái Bè Land Market and deliver them to a marked stall in exchange for the Detour clue.