Racers Feel The Pain of Running in The Rain as Season 10 of THE AMAZING RACE CANADA Premieres

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede Water, water everywhere, but not much time to think: THE AMAZING RACE CANADA made a big splash upon its return to Niagara Falls, Ont., as the landmark 10th season began on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app. The setting was a call-back to the very first episode of the award-winning series in 2013. But there was nothing nostalgic about the experience for the 11 new and hopeful teams, who were quickly faced with a string of freshly daunting challenges. SPOILER ALERT: Details about the episode are about to be discussed. From rappelling down a cliff near the falls, to enduring the horrors of a haunted house, the racers were left breathless in more ways than one. And on top of that, they had to battle through some very nasty weather. While reality-show royalty Kevin Martin and Gurleen Maan were in first place at the end of the leg, Eva Amo-Mensah and Trystenne Burey – personal trainers and friends from Toronto – were the last team to reach host Jon Montgomery at the initial pit stop of Season 10, and thus were eliminated. Here’s what Eva and Trystenne had to say about their short but eventful stay on THE AMAZING RACE CANADA. Q: What’s your overall takeaway? TRYSTENNE: “It was definitely a life-changing experience, to say the least. It was something that has brought us immensely closer together. I don’t think anything else could have brought us this close. In terms of the challenges and meeting everybody, I think we all had something to learn from one another. And we had the opportunity to grow so much, regardless of what the timeline was.” EVA: “We went out there and did the best we could, and put our best foot forward. Not many people can say, ‘we competed on THE AMAZING RACE CANADA.’ It is so cool.” Q: Which part of it was unexpected for you? EVA: “There’s the background of everything, a lot of moving parts. Neither of us had ever done anything like this before, so sometimes it was a little bit overwhelming. But I would say that the weather is the one thing I was really not expecting. I was not expecting it to be raining that hard.” TRYSTENNE: “It was a torrential downpour! And it was freezing. It was so cold. Our feet were soaking wet. When we watched previous seasons of THE AMAZING RACE CANADA, it sure seemed like it was sunny outside! It also rarely looked like they were filming at night, so that was a big shock for us, too. And then there’s the fact that the world is still happening all around you, especially in a busy place like Niagara Falls. There was one challenge where we had to memorize a script, and people are watching you, staring at you, trying to figure out what you’re doing. That part in itself is so distracting, particularly when you’re really trying to focus.” EVA: “That was the point when we said, ‘we’re going to have to switch challenges, this is not going to work for us.’ ” Q: On that very subject, do you think that switching challenges from “show time” to “game time” in the middle of the leg is ultimately what cost you timing-wise? TRYSTENNE: “Sometimes I think about that moment. There’s a lot of adrenaline that’s happening, right? It’s raining, people are running everywhere, you’re lost, whatever. When we got the clue, I think I was the one who said, ‘let’s do show time.’ But I wish I had taken more time to actually digest what was on the card, and understand both options, instead of just feeling like you have to go right now. I didn’t take the time, and maybe as a team we didn’t take the time, to really understand the two options that were in front of us. So we just took the first one. But we definitely should have been doing ‘game time’ at the arcade. We’re both so athletic. That would have been the easiest route to take. We just needed to wait a second, stand in the rain and be cold, and just read the card a little bit more.” EVA: “But those things can happen when you see everybody else running off, doing their challenges, and you’re just trying to keep up. The hardest part for us just seemed to be getting to each destination. We were doing a lot of running.” TRYSTENNE: “We ran the whole leg on foot! The entire leg! We didn’t take a taxi. We didn’t take a bus. We didn’t take a scooter. We didn’t take anything. Our feet are soaked, our bags are too heavy, it’s freezing cold. So I don’t even think it was the challenges that did us in.” Q: So in other words, if they just reframed the competition, and it was all about ‘miles covered on foot,’ you clearly would have been in first place. TRYSTENNE: “Come on, let them know! Gotta let Jon know.” Q: The two of you are definitely good on TV together. Would you be open to any other reality-competition possibilities in the future? EVA: “Call us up!” Season 10 of THE AMAZING RACE CANADA continues next Tuesday, July 9 at 9 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app. billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv