‘We Have Inside Jokes Until The Day We Die’ – New Champions are Crowned in an Epic Season 9 Finale on THE AMAZING RACE CANADA

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede There are literally a hundred reasons to celebrate THE AMAZING RACE CANADA, which wrapped up Season 9 on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app with the 100th episode of the acclaimed and beloved series. Three teams – Tyler and Kayleen, Ben and Anwar, and Ty and Kat – were still in contention for the Season 9 crown when the episode began. But which team battled through the obstacles the quickest, and thus were the first to come face-to-face with host Jon Montgomery at the finish line? SPOILER ALERT: Details of what happened follow. The remaining racers travelled from Toronto to Halifax, where they endured a series of challenges that involved helicopters, books, three different dances, and a floating balloon zebra. Ty and Kat had a few minutes of despair when they left their backpacks in their taxi, only to discover that they needed a form of identification to get on a jet-ski. But Ty was speedy once he was on board, and soon had the elusive zebra in hand. With Ben and Anwar having fallen off the pace at the dance challenge, it was a two-team battle at the final test: a 25-clue crossword puzzle, based on all the previous locations and tasks during the race. Ty and Kat were the first to get it done, barely ahead of Tyler and Kayleen. With Montgomery waiting, alongside all the racers who had been eliminated in previous weeks, Ty and Kat arrived first at the Bonaventure Anchor in Point Pleasant Park in Halifax, and were declared the Season 9 winners of THE AMAZING RACE CANADA. They were followed by Tyler and Kayleen in second place, and Ben and Anwar in third place. Here’s what newly crowned champions Ty Smith and Kat Kastner had to say about their victory, and much more:   Q: Now that the finale has aired, will it be nice to finally talk openly about your triumph? KAT: “Yeah, I think that’s probably what we’re looking forward to most, is just not carrying this secret any more. But it has been so much fun to watch it with everyone, week by week.”   Q: Speaking of that, has it been weird to see the episodes as they roll out? TY: “I wouldn’t say weird, but it has been unique to see some of the things going on with the other teams that we didn’t get to see during the race, and had only kind of heard about. It’s always interesting to watch yourself on TV, but the most riveting part for me is to see how the other teams went about challenges, and what kind of struggles they faced, compared to the struggles we faced. Like, in the (second-last) episode, at Kensington Market (in Toronto), we saw that Tyler and Kayleen did it right. They used the cab the whole time, and looking back on that, we kick ourselves, because we should have done that, too. But you get ‘race brain’ sometimes, and you just forget those little details. So that has been the coolest part for me, just to see what the other teams did.”   Q: Quite a few of the other teams were allied against you, because they had identified you as the favourites. Did you know that was happening? TY: “Honestly, I was still just happy to be there. I thought everybody was just friends. And we are – I still have so much love and respect for everybody who competed this season. We do share a special bond. But during the race, I truly had no idea. I was just kind of ignorant to the fact that people might be plotting against us. We just wanted to focus on us. Amanda and Deven said it perfectly: there were so many belly laughs, and so many memories. We have inside jokes until the day we die. We just got so much enjoyment out of doing this together, that maybe – for me, at least – it sometimes got in the way of me thinking, ‘all right, we’re still in a race here.’ ” KAT: “I think we had a target on our back by winning the first two legs early on. And we surprised ourselves with that as well, because we didn’t know what kind of racers we would be. We wanted to see how far our ‘kill ’em with kindness’ strategy could take us. When it comes down to it, it’s a competition, and everyone wants to win, and if there’s a team that keeps on winning, then you’re probably going to do your best to get them out. So I guess I respect their game plan and their strategy, but I’m glad it didn’t work out.”   Q: Ty’s story was highlighted during the race, as a survivor of the Humboldt Broncos bus tragedy. But Kat, can you talk about why you, personally, were running the race? KAT: “I think first and foremost, we were both running it for the Bronco family, and it was an honour for me to be a part of that, and get to do that with Ty. With that said, one thing I think we really learned throughout the journey is the importance of mental health. I have actually struggled with depression and anxiety since I was 19. Luckily, I had a great team of people around me who helped me. It’s still a battle every day. There have been so many times where I’ve been put in a box, because maybe my anxiety or depression will stop me. But being able to work through that each day on THE AMAZING RACE CANADA, I just set new limits for myself, and learned so much more about what I can do, and to not let that stop me. That was probably the biggest takeaway for myself.” TY: “As you mentioned, my story was showcased, and a lot of people do know my story. But a big thing that I wanted to try and achieve was being able to motivate people to empower their partners. Kat has done such a good job of challenging me, and pushing me outside of my comfort zone. And to watch her grow throughout this competition, and just take everything head-on, it was a perfect way to show what it’s all about. Kat’s story really does matter. And this is something that we will always look back on, and hold such fond memories of, because this is a chapter of our story together.”   Q: So have the two of you looked into trademarking your catchphrase, “light the candle?” KAT: “I think we just came up with that on the spot one morning. We were like, ‘let’s just light the candle.’ I don’t really know where it came from, but it really stuck. It was a nice grounding phrase for us.” TY: “I’m still trying to remember where ‘light the candle’ came from – you do crazy things when you’re putting yourself out there. But I’m not going to lie, I’m probably going to get a little candle tattoo on my quad.”   For their victory, Ty and Kat won two all-new 2023 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 vehicles, an epic, round-the-world trip-of-a-lifetime for two courtesy of GURU Organic Energy, and a $250,000 cash prize from Samsung. All Season 9 episodes of THE AMAZING RACE CANADA are available for streaming on CTV.ca and the CTV app, and on Crave beginning Friday, Sept. 22. CTV also announced today that it has ordered a landmark 10^th season of the nation’s favourite summertime adventure series with casting details for Season 10 to be announced soon. billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv