Amazing Race Canada returns to Canada and chances are the race won’t be leaving our home and native land. Five teams are left. Will the Olympians dominate till the end? Will the love of Alain and Audrey prevail? Will underdogs goofballs Sukhi and Jinder surprise? Will Mickey and Pete start talking like normal dudes? And will Ryan and Rob get more airtime as they move on? Teams open their clues and it’s off to Montreal. No doubt all teams will get the same flight to Canada via Air Canada because that’s how it works.

So the Olympians are first (duh!), and discuss the later legs, comparing them to a hockey tournament with the big game against US at the end. Which allows me to bring up another matter. At the same time TAR Canada is airing, so is TAR Australia. And this season (their third), they’ve been using the local rivalry and calling it Australia vs New Zealand. It’s a pretty cool season, some great moments, but wouldn’t it be cool if somehow we could have a Canada vs US season. Just putting it out there in case any producers are reading.Anyway Sukhi and Jinder leave Paris on Jinder’s birthday (nice) and a bad pronunciation of de Gaulle. Mickey and Pete are tired of scrapping by, saying it’s time for the Good Guys to start winning. Guess they don’t consider the Olympians the good guys despite the fact Natalie and Meaghan are fan favs. Alain and Audrey kiss, and then kiss again and are heading home. That can be good, or bad. And then we get info the Sukhi isn’t just your average racer like many of us thought. She was Miss British Columbia, which means there were a lot more “celebrities” on this race. That also makes two pageant queens on this race because Rob was Mr. Gay Canada a few years back.

Hugs all around at the airport as teams hear about the engagement. But the drama comes when Ryan and Rob claim annoyance about being U-Turned by Sukhi and Jinder even though they admitted in a bonus video that there was a plan between them and Alain and Audrey to U-Turn Sukhi and Jinder in Paris. So don’t get all PO’d about that when you were just beat to the U-Turn. Good to see some drama though from the boys; they’ve been too damn quiet.

And yes, all teams are on the same flight and must find the priority check in counter for the next clue. First teams are running all over the place and pretty much get the clue at the same time. They must head to the old White Elephant Airport, I mean the Mirabel Airport, which is home to Circuit ICAR. This is where the car racing bit starts. Race for the taxis, race through the streets, Alain and Audrey arrive first. Roadblock: the team members must participate in Canada Worst Driver Tasks:  a quarter drift and then a reverse 180. Fun things to do but not as easy as they look.

Alain starts just as the Olympian arrive. Meaghan is in the driver’s seat. Alain’s reminds us of his stuntman profession and says he’ll do his easily. Yeah, remember Dr. Brett’s rule about tasks related to your profession? Not surprisingly, he spins out. The Siblings arrive and Jinder decides to drive. More fails from Meaghan. More spins, Bartenders stuck in traffic, Dudes are in. Traffic wasn’t so bad and Bartenders are also in. Alain fails, but Meaghan fishtails correctly. Off to reverse 180 for her. Couple more fails then Jinder passes. Meaghan does the 180 in an instant, putting the Olympians where everyone? You know the answer. Make your way to Atwater Market and search for clue. Alain the stuntman fails over and over and over, not only falling back in his hometown but in his profession. Jinder gets it on the second try, keeping the Siblings in second place. Audrey doesn’t look happy as Mickey nails it the drift.

At Atwater, the Olympians are searching and finally Alain gets the drift, with Rob right behind him as he passes his quarter drift. The Olympians find the clue just as the Siblings arrive. Ohhh, a Fast Forward. Both teams first decide to do it and must find the Parisian Laundry. However, since the Siblings just arrived, they still have their cab and are gone as the Olympians vacillate. Instead they decide to do the Detour. Flamed: Find the Espace Verre Gallery and must create five glass beads. In Grilled, teams must the Lachine Canal and must taste 10 marketed grilled cheese sandwiches, then run to the food truck and recall them in an unmarked presentation. Just like the sausage task from Season 1. Tough call on this one, Gord’s an artist but we both like to eat and cook, and have sensitive tastebuds. I’d cede to Gord’s choice.

Back at ICAR, Mickey nails the 180, Alain fails while Rob passes. Total Dr. Brett Rule man. From first to last on a stuntman task. But he gets it and off to Atwater. Olympians arrive at cheese and seem to be in trouble, not able to figure things out. Traffic messes up with all teams and the Dudes make a couple of totally lame jokes. I mean the worse jokes about cheese ever.  I’m actually preferring Silent Rob to the Bill and Ted talk from these guys. Enough already. And that’s the attitude of the Bartenders, enough not winning a leg, off they go to the Fast Forward.

All the other non-FF teams are at the cheese, although Alain and Audrey quickly switch. Not sure if there are rules on how you must do the task but I think the better way would be to just taste a couple, head over to the other spot and try to find those. Then go back and forth like that. But the rules might prevent teams from doing that, don’t know. Sukhi and Jinder arrive at the FF and it’s not an laundry it’s an art school. Teams must slowly get naked as they are sketched. They don’t know this but heck if you want to sketch Gord and Wayne naked, knock yourself out. This is also a variation of a FF task from Amazing Race Australia. But in the Australian one, teams had to strip down from the start and pose for about 20 or so minutes. I think I like the Canadian one better cause teams aren’t told they have to get naked until the end. Although, if you know anything about art school, you probably should be able to figure that one out.

The Siblings think it’s easy not knowing what’s coming. Rob talks about how, as an ex-model, a modelling task would be simple for him. Holy crap, will it be a Double Dr. Brett rule night? And wow, drama on a FF because you have no idea if one of the teams will chicken out. Alain and Audrey are at Flamed and yep, it’s much harder than it looks. The boys run over to the cheese test, get six out of ten but don’t know which one. The Olympians blow their first cheese test.

Meanwhile, as the Siblings are asked to remove their clothes down to their underwear. Sukhi first worries about whether she shaved her legs but then doesn’t care. And the boys are told the same thing. But then we’re told about Ryan’s battle with cancer and finally we get more insight into him, a little late in the season but better than nothing. Although this could be a sign of elimination, you never know.

Back to the Cheese, the boys and the Olympians are stuck at 6 out of 10. Alain and Audrey only get one out of five beads. But unlike the cheese, they at least they know which one. Maybe this task is easier. I’ll wait to see what Gord says on his blog. And then the other shoe, or underwear rather, drops for the Siblings. Get naked for another moment of sketching. Will they or won’t they. Like I said earlier, Gord and I would drop them in a second but Sukhi and Jinder…?

Did Sukhi and Jinder get naked? Cue dramatic music. And classic Twitter hashtag #siblingawkwardnes. They decide to get it done with one of the best pieces of dialogue in the race. “Don’t look back,” Sukhi says. “Don’t look forward,” replies Jinder. And the shot of their lower legs shows that Sukhi did not shave her legs. But whatever, they do what needs to be done and get the Fast Forward. Wow, will the Siblings get a first place? That would be cool. I have to admit, even with the discovery that Sukhi is a bit of celebrity and that may have helped her get attention to get on the show, they are my fav team. Off to the pitstop at Le Belvedere at the Montreal Science Centre. Off to the Detour for the Dudes.

The Olympians fail again as the Dudes figure out a plan but still fail. Alain and Audrey now have four out of five. Getting close. So are the Siblings who arrive at the mat in first place. Happy Birthday Jinder, underdogs move up to the top. The Siblings win a trip to Milan and $3k to spend. And I’ll admit to being wrong about Sukhi and Jinder not making it this far. I’m actually rooting for them to win.Back to the cheese, the Olympians ask the Dudes for help. Wonder about those folks who complained about Sukhi and Jinder and their asking for help will say about that? Still, Not sure how I’d respond to this because it’s a tough task and it might be good to team up just for this. Unless I knew we had it and didn’t need help. And that seems to be how the Dudes were thinking because they are done. Head to the Square Victoria Metro entrance. The Olympians don’t look too happy. And very confused. But not for long. They decide to try each other’s and that works for them. Off to the Metro, which is not really a task, just a clue to the Pitstop. Not sure why this step, but whatever, I’m not a TV producer.Dudes come second, Olympians are third and it’s down to Alain and Audrey and Ryan and Rob for last place. But doesn’t look good for the Bartenders because Alain and Audrey complete the beads, and see Rob and Ryan as they drive by. The Montrealers are 4th which isn’t a good thing for their hometown but it’s a variation on the Dr. Brett Rule. More shots of the Bartenders failing and they decide to switch. Drag out the ending, drag out the commentary, the most these boys have had for the entire race. That kind of editing, in which we see teams talking about not giving up, saying they will never forget the race and all that tells me one thing: non-elim. Yep, it is. That’s a second one for them and a Speed Bump for them on the next leg. Some may see this as a bad sign but I have on three words for them: Tim Sr. Jr. That’s exactly how many non-elims they got and they won Season 1. So don’t count out the boys yet. Don’t count out anyone yet because based on how teams finished in this leg, it’s anybody’s race. Did anyone imagine Sukhi and Jinder winning a leg? I don’t think so.Next week, over to PEI where there’s crap, human harness racing and a bit of history.

This post, along with other recaps, video recaps, team interviews and other stuff, is also available at Amazing Race Canada with Gord and Wayne.