An indigenous Mrs. Universe and her stepdad. A Big Brother Canada winner and her runner-up ex. A visually-impaired psychologist and his speech pathologist wife and a dating pair of women’s softball athletes.
These are a few of what may be your favourite teams in Season 4 of The Amazing Race Canada. The top-rated show in Canada, The Amazing Race Canada has gone international the past two seasons – with out-of-country stops in Hong Kong, France, India, Chile and Argentina.
Here’s a rundown of the 10 teams.
ASHLEY CALLINGBULL & JOEL GROUND: Ashley has had all the headlines – as Mrs. Universe, as an actress on APTN’s Blackstone, and a speaker on aboriginal and social issues. (She and Joel are Cree nation).
“I’m used to taking pictures and holding her stuff,” says the proud stepdad.
But she credits him for a lot that went right in her life. “I keep her on track, I try to be a cool dad,” he says with a grin.
“He tries,” she says rolling her eyes, smiling. “But growing up, he always seemed to know what was going on and what I was up to. My mom didn’t, and if she wanted to know, she found out from him.”
If she gets flustered mid-race, Ashley says she knows he’s got her back. “He always calms me down. On my wedding day, everybody was asking me, ‘Did it hit you yet? Are you freaking out?’ And it did right before I went out the door. And he started singing this song that I sing to annoy him — Lovely Day by Bill Withers. And it calmed me right down.”
JULIE & LOWELL TAYLOR: “I consider myself a sighted person – right up to the point I walk into a wall,” says the upbeat Lowell, a self-professed “sensation seeker.”
Dealing with progressive and incurable retinitis pigmentosa hasn’t slowed down the Lethbridge couple.
“Dancing, or anything in darkness or driving, those are my three Ds. We’re word nerds,” says Julie.
“Anything strength and stamina, Lowell’s got a good problem-solving mind, those are Lowell’s areas. He’ll do anything. If it’s going to be jumping off of something or eating something or doing something crazy you don’t need vision for, he will do it.”
Says Lowell, “The statement is that anybody with any disability — mental physical, emotional — anybody can do more than they think they can. We want people to see this as an inspiration to overcome their hurdles.”
JILLIAN MacLAUGHLIN & EMMETT BLOIS: Big Brother seems completely opposite to Amazing Race. “I know, one’s trapped in a small space and one goes everywhere,” says Emmett, who made reality-TV waves when he and eventual-winner Jill hooked up on Season 1 of Big Brother Canada.
“But it’s a high-stress situation all over again,” says Jill. “That’s how we met, and that’s how we bonded.”
As we speak, the smalltown Nova Scotia couple had not officially announced their separation to BB fans after three years together.
“It’s six months now, and we don’t post pictures together anymore. So they suspect. We get asked and it’s been the one question we don’t answer.
“But for sure our fans will be coming over (to The Amazing Race Canada),” Emmett says.
Yes, they predict, they will bicker. “But not because we’re exes,” Jill says. “We’re not going to be that couple who’ll go in and say we won’t fight. We will fight, we will yell, we will freak out. Because we want to win.”
KELLY XU & KATE PAN: Pound-for-pound, they predict they’ll be the best players in the race. How could they not be?
“We are small, we are sooo petite!” says Kelly after a sit-down in a holding room with the other teams.
“We are physically small, the other teams are bigger, and have bigger frames,” adds Kate, her partner in a Toronto fitness program for Chinese nationals and foreign students. “We may not have strength, but we have endurance from working out.”
And they had a novel mental preparation regimen. “We bought a bunch of things from IKEA to try to assemble them,” Kate says with a laugh.
If they turn out to be giant-killers, Kelly and Kate will be firsts on a couple of counts. “There haven’t been any Chinese in this race,” Kelly says. “We’re going to be the first. A big reason we entered, was to represent the Chinese community.
“And be the first girls to win the race!” Kate enthuses.
RITA & YVETTE YAKIBONGE: Twin sisters and Service Canada agents in Edmonton, whose family came from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rita and Yvette are mixed about whether they have an advantage.
“There isn’t much that has to be said between twins,” says Yvette.
“But sometimes when we play sports like badminton, it gets bad because it gets too competitive and we go a little too hard,” Rita adds.
“It goes with the territory to hurt each other’s feelings,” Yvette says. “We know we’ll always be together anyway.”
Avid athletes, they’ve got the physicality covered. What about mental preparation? “We probably should have done more of that,” Rita says with a laugh.
And maps? “I’ve never used enough maps to really know,” Yvette says.
“Oh my God, it’s going to be a disaster!” Rita says, laughing again.
FRANKIE & AMY GASSLER: There could not be a mother-daughter team more like sisters than the literally-colourful, Frankie and Amy, a hair stylist and barber from Aldergrove, B.C.
Frankie, who was a teen mom, admits her daughter is more mature.
“Certain things,” Frankie says. “She’s very good at paying off her credit card debt every month, where I’m not as good. She’s an old soul.”
“Just growing up, having a single mom,” Amy says. “I didn’t want to put more on her plate than she already had, so I did things myself.”
As for following her mom into hair, “I didn’t want her to do it. Just putting that out there,” Frankie says. “She was an honour role student. I was an ‘80s street kid. I got Cs. So I thought maybe she should be a doctor.”
And competitive? Amy was a high school rugby player. “I accidentally broke a girl’s foot and I dislocated her shoulder. By accident,” Amy says.
ANNE MORRONE & TANYA MUZZATTI: From Woodbridge, Ont. – a town synonymous with Italian-Canadians – come two single moms who’ve been best friends since age 5.
Anne is a former opera and pop singer, an alumnus of the Boston Conservatory, who decided, “when I had my son, it was time to stop (traveling).”
Says Tanya: “Through 36 years of dealing with the highs and lows, we always say we communicate in four ways, through our mouths, our hands, our eyes, and telepathically. “Somehow, we always show up with the same outfit, the same something.”
And they’re in top shape, after each losing 70 pounds of baby weight together. “We carried 140 pounds between us,” Tanya says.
STEPHANE & ANTOINE TETREAULT: Moving away was a moot point for Antoine, who regularly makes the drive from Montreal to his dad in St. Hubert to watch wrestling or The Amazing Race Canada.
“We are a very close knit family, so Antoine is over every week for supper, watch TV, says hi, grabs some groceries,” Stephane says.
“Obviously the wrestlers (last season’s Nick and Matt) were favourites of ours,” Antoine says. “I always said if I were ever on the show, it would be with my dad.”
Support is Stephane’s motto, something he applied a few years ago when Antoine came out as gay. “We will do anything for our kids to be happy. Support for us is an automatic. We do not judge. Live life to the fullest, and you are who you are.”
ANTHONY LIMBOMBE & BRANDON CAMPEAU: The two pals are both servers at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Windsor, Ont. And they’re in the race for the best intentions.
“Our primary motivation was a little girl named Zoey,” says Anthony. We want to raise awareness and raise money with our winnings.
“She’s our boss’s niece, she’s a six-year-old little girl with Down syndrome, and she also has brittle bones, which were diagnosed when she was two years old.”
To that end, Brandon and former college basketball player Anthony, have been hitting the gym hard.
And hey, slinging wings is sort of preparation. “Working in the restaurant industry, things get hectic,” Anthony says. “If you don’t slow your mind down you’ll go crazy.”
“Obviously The Amazing Race Canada is not the same as working at Buffalo Wild Wings, Brandon adds. “But if we apply the same mentality, I think we’ll be fine.”
STEPH LECLAIR & KRISTEN MCKENZIE: “Dating” is an Amazing Race Canada euphemism, but articling lawyer Steph and account executive Kristen have been living together in Toronto for a year and a half.
“We do say ‘dating,’ ‘going steady,’ ‘going out.’” Kristen says. I suggest dating implies showing up at the door with flowers.
“Well, I never got any flowers. What’s up with that?”
They knew each other as children in Toronto, but their relationship began when both were varsity softball athletes in Detroit and Pittsburgh respectively.
Weaknesses? “I’m nervous about a little bit about dancing,” Steph says. “And we’re nervous about directions.”
“I’m the navigator,” Kristen says.
“I think the map will be a challenge,” Steph adds. “Kristen gets motion sick, so she’ll be driving too.”
“We’ll see,” Kristen adds.
“Whatever happens, we’ll be bringing the enthusiasm.”
The Amazing Race Canada Season 4 debuts June 28 at 8 p.m. on CTV and CTV GO.
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