Teams Turn Into Quick-Change Artists, in More Ways Than One, on THE AMAZING RACE CANADA

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede Things went off-kilter at the Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville, Ont., during the most recent episode of CTV’s THE AMAZING RACE CANADA (available for catch-up on CTV.ca and the CTV app). With a half-dozen teams in hot pursuit of each other, a crucial Detour was dubbed “spend some coins, or gird your loins.” The former challenged racers to calculate the exact old-timey change to buy some haggis. The latter required racers to expertly fold up giant pieces of cloth to create kilts suitable for wearing. Hockey pucks, alpaca manure, and another dreaded Double Pass were also involved, so the episode had just about everything! SPOILER ALERT: Details about what occurred are going to be discussed. Wrestlers Taylor and Katie – who had been saved in the previous episode because it was a keep on racing episode, and wound up winning this leg – were the first to arrive at the Double Pass. They put up Kevin and Gurleen, who subsequently put up Michael and Tyson. Michael and Amari were near the back of the pack when they arrived at the Detour, and almost immediately they regretted having picked the kilt challenge. They even dropped and couldn’t find one of the pins that was needed, so they decided to switch to the money challenge. But the pressure was on, too much time had passed, and Michael and Amari even had a moment when they considered switching back to the kilts. Despite finally getting the correct change, they still didn’t have enough currency to stay in the race. Here’s what Michael and Amari Linklater, a basketball-playing father-and-son duo from Saskatoon, had to say about their experience: Q: How do you look back at your time on the show? MICHAEL: “What sticks with me is just the amount of fun we had with each other. We found joy and happiness in everything that we were doing. And now, having bumped into so many people who’ve been supporting us, they really enjoyed our First Nations humour, in terms of us laughing at difficult situations.” AMARI: “Same thing, just the amount of fun we had. There were moments that were stressful, but just finding the joy, even in those moments, was probably the biggest thing for me.” Q: Did you find out anything about each other that you didn’t know before? MICHAEL: “Honestly, I don’t think there’s anything we found out about each other, because we have such a close relationship, and we spend a lot of time together. We’ve competed and travelled together. But I think one of the things, looking back, is I didn’t realize how funny my son is. I know he’s funny, but actually watching the episodes, he’s hilarious.” AMARI: “Like he said, we’ve travelled and competed together, and gotten off planes and had to go and play a basketball game right away, so that was almost a familiar feeling. But something I learned was, we’re both terrible at math skills. Thank God we have phones with calculators on them now, or I’d be screwed badly.” Q: Do you think it was the switching of Detours in mid-stream that led to your demise? AMARI: “I think initially we should have started with the coins. We went with the kilts because we thought, I don’t know … we kind of psyched ourselves out a little bit with the math. We just didn’t want to deal with it at all. So we went straight for the kilts, but if we had gone for the coins first, I think we would have been able to figure it out.” MICHAEL: “Also, for me personally in that instance, the heat was difficult. We had been racing in cooler conditions, and I’m okay with cool weather or lower temperatures, but being in that heat when we first arrived at that kilt was affecting my memory, and my ability to fold that thing properly. I think Amari had it down pretty good, so I should have just followed his lead.” Q: Any advice for others who might be considering going on THE AMAZING RACE CANADA? MICHAEL:  “Amari has some great advice to give for this one.” AMARI: “The biggest thing is to be yourself, and not put on an act, like a character for the TV camera. Be your true self, because when you get into those stressful situations, you will show your true colours. So if you’re putting on an act, and then you get put into a situation like that, you’re suddenly going to look like an entirely different person.” Q: There was a touching bit right at the end, when you both dropped your backpacks and raced each other to the mat. Then Michael broke down, talking about how proud he was of Amari, which led to Amari’s hilarious line: “he’s crying because I beat him here.” MICHAEL: “Again, that speaks to First Nations humour. Our people have gone through a lot, you know, since the creation of this country. There’s a lot of trauma that is passed down through our generations, through the legacy of residential schools. In our communities, laughter is medicine. You always find the joy and the humour, and it really speaks to our family, because we’re always joking and teasing and very playful with one another. So yeah, it didn’t surprise me that he was so quick-witted and came up with something like that.” Q: I have to be fair and give you some props, too, Michael. It looked as if you won the race back to the backpacks. MICHAEL: “I definitely did!” AMARI: “I literally stopped running! I was coasting, with cruise control on.” There are only two episodes remaining in Season 10 of THE AMAZING RACE CANADA, with the semi-finals taking place next Tuesday, Sept. 3 at 9 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app. billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv