Coming up on the end of Season 2 of Amazing Race Canada. Everyone knows what happened last episode – awkward! – followed by Ryan and Rob getting their second non-elim. Will the Bartenders make it through? And will Sukhi and Jinder continue their winning ways? What about the other teams? Holy soap opera, Batman.

Enough already, on with the show cause there are no more non-elims; if you finish last, you are out. Teams leave Montreal and fly off to PEI, home of Anne of Green Gables and Potatoes. Teams head to airport, the Dudes discuss their lives, the Olympians discuss performing under pressure, Ryan and Rob surprise everyone by showing up at the airport. Everyone on the same flight. In Charlottetown, they have to find a Chevy and search for the clue inside the car. Guess it’s where you hide your valuables when you park. But now we all know, so that secret is out.

Race out of the plane, race through the airport, find the cars, clue spotted easily. Head to Red Shores Racetrack. Tires squeal, race track found. Rob shows he’s a fast runner. Says nothing, but he can run fast. So he’d probably great for this task, which is just like harness racing but instead of a horse you have pull your partner around the track twice. Gord’s got long legs but he hates to run. And I’m in better shape so I could so this. Be tiring but once you get the wheels moving, just keep the momentum going.

Natalie is off first, bashing the wagon on the way out. No problems for these girls on this, they got the hockey legs. Jinder’s pulling Sukhi, Alain’s pulling Audrey and Mickey’s pulling Pete. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Mickey’s the blonde one right? Yep, he’s the ex-track athlete in high school but weren’t we all. And he’s lapping the Olympians so they switch. Finally, we see Ryan and Rob with Ryan pulling. Really? Did you see Rob run to that clue box? Maybe he burnt himself out with that and can’t run anymore.

Jinder is out, which is kind of sad cause he’s not even 30 years old. But Sukhi takes over as Meaghan passes Mickey. Alain is fading while Audrey asks him to go faster. The Olympians are switching again, really? I thought they were Olympic athletes, where’s the energy. Though hockey is more of a sport with quick bursts of speed. But man, Mickey is still going, still keeping the same steady pace. Nice work, dude.

And the Dudes come in first. Find Province House, where the Fathers of Confederation gathered to discuss the creation of Canada. Olympians are second, Bartenders are third, the Siblings have switched again but come in third. Alain and Audrey are last. Guess stuntmen don’t need have much cardio either.

Over at Province House, it’s a Roadblock, a historical one no less. They must walk around and meet friends and family of the Fathers of Confederation, get some description and then find the dude in the house. Either one of us could do this task although Gord’s got a better visual memory than me. Pete jumps in as does Meaghan. Although Pete doesn’t read the clue and thinks he only has to memorize their names. We know Meaghan read the clue because once again –  I can’t remember how many times this has happened this Season – one of the Olympians describes the task only seconds after Jon has done the same thing. Monotonous. Especially since they keep it going, continually cutting away to her describing the task as she goes around talking to people. I don’t blame the Olympians for this, they are just racing the race, responding to questions from the interviews. It’s how the show is edited and this technique is getting tiresome.

She fails her first try as Ryan and Rob show up, followed quickly by the other final two teams. They quickly start on the task, while Pete is still failing even though he doesn’t know it. This is the first major violation in this season of the Number 1 Rule of Amazing Race, be it Canadian or otherwise: Read The Clue. Teams have lost legs because of this and if Pete doesn’t figure things out, the Dudes are in big trouble. And I’m not sure if anybody saw it, but when Pete gave a friendly tap to one of the actors, Alain and Ryan were conferring in the background. Make sense to team up on this one. I know Gord and I might have done that with a team. It’s a good plan if they pull it off.

When Pete heads up for an attempt, he realizes his screw up. Ryan fails his first try although he’s followed by Sukhi so maybe he didn’t team up with Alain. Fail and fail and fail. Sukhi’s using mnemonics, some of them really funny – I’m talking to you Mr. Robert B Dickey – and it works out. She nails it with confidence. Although we all know a person of her gender and racial background would not have been invited to such a meeting in 1864. Just a bit of history for all you folks out there.

Okay, then you gotta go fill up your car with gas. All right, great Sukhi and Jinder task cause they tried this in Tofino with the electric car. Ryan is also done, great job on the second try. His ability to make and serve the proper drinks to the proper customers came in handy. They are off to the gas station. The Olympians are not. Another fail by Meaghan. And Alain. But not for Pete. He’s made up for his mistake and the Dudes are off.

Over at the gas station, the Siblings fill-er up and get the clue. Of course we know this is just another commercial. Would have been more fun to get them to check the oil, clean the windshield, but heck, bills need to be paid. And finally, we get the penultimate PEI task: head over to Lucy Maud Montgomery’s birthplace in New London. If you don’t know who that is before Jon tells you, then shame on you. Nice to see a novelist be part of a task. Maybe one day, long into the future, in Amazing Race Canada Season 87, they’ll be sent to my house. One can dream, although this novelist would rather run the race than be part of clue. Of course if I sold as many books as Lucy, I wouldn’t complain here. And if the Amazing Race Canada can put a commercial in their show why can’t I in my blog. Find my books, Fall From Grace and A Killing Winter, here.

Anyway, the Bartenders get gas while Meaghan is soooooo close, but pronounces it Tapper instead of Tupper. Ouch. Alain almost makes the same mistake but fixes it and gets his 10. And for the first time in this Season, the Olympians are in last place. Bet you didn’t see that coming. This is where the pressure can get to you. Running at the front of the pack through the entire race is one thing, but to be in last, and struggling for a task, that’s totally different. Hopefully, they can pull it out cause if they stay too long here, they’ll be out.

Still stuck on Tapper. But not for long. One of the actors corrects her and it’s easy peasy from there. Although they have to play catch up. At Lucy’s house, it’s a Detour. Mussel or Mass. Although I had no idea what the task was when I wrote that, I know that since we are in PEI, the word is mussel, not muscle In Mass, you gotta calculate the total weight of shitload of potatoes, armed only with a tape measure. Yeesh. Maybe the fact Gord’s married to a math teacher could help but this could be tough. Are we talking tons? Or tonnes? And yep, mussel is mussels. Process 1800 pound of muscles. Hey, have they been using imperial measurements all this time? Shouldn’t it be 800 or so kilograms of mussels? Oh well, like the potatoes, it’s a shitload, which is a classic Canadian measurement wherever you go.

The Siblings to mussels, Alain and Audrey have a tiff (no not the film festival) because of a wrong turn but make up. The Bartenders find their speed bump and it’s made for the these two purveyors of spirits to the public. They have to find three bottles of moonshine in a big pile of crap. At least they got some good music. And Rob makes a funny. Wow. Hooray. But no Hooray for Alain and Audrey because of their directional challenges, the Olympians get to the gas station first.

The Siblings are at the aqua farm and start stripping, though this week it’s stripping mussels. Jinder says the obvious about this task not being easy but they are getting into it. Pageant winner Sukhi looks a bit homeless after a few moments of this task. Dudes take mussels while Ryan and Rob are digging through the crap. Ryan finds one so does Rob. The Olympians arrive and do mussels. As do Alain and Audrey. The Bartenders find the final jar (I’d take a quick swig after that) and head over to mussels. Cool, all the teams will be there and if the Olympians didn’t like the smell of mussels, they are going to hate the smell of Ryan and Rob. Now I’m wondering who has the clean the cars after this leg cause it ain’t gonna be pretty. Welcome to the world of television, intern.

And again, who would have thunk it, the big two competitors in this task are the Olympians and the Siblings. Nat and Meag against Sukhi and Jinder. That’s fun. Great TV there. And it’s Sukhi and Jinder! I’ll admit to cheering for them cause they are the team with the best personality out there. They can be endearing goofballs but when they need to push hard, they do it. Off to the pitstop at Farmers’ Bank in Rustico. But will the Olympians finish and catch up? Possibly because they are done, but we have no idea what the time difference was. Could be a minute, could be five, could be longer. That’s the magic of editing. But nope, it’s really close because the Olympians are right behind them.

Not far behind are Mickey and Pete, probably fine with being in third. Better than last. Off to the bank. Unfortunately, the Siblings don’t know where they are going and ask for directions. That’s enough for the girls to catch up even though the Siblings try a bit of misdirection. Good map reading skills from the Olympians and smart of them to ignore another team and focus on their own game. Sukhi squeals out to chase down the girls. Whatever you think of any of the teams, it’s great to see these three women covered in dirt and mussel extract, fighting hard to come in first place. Girls rock! That’s what I keep telling my kid.

And come on, Olympians, that wasn’t a cheap move to try to confuse you. That’s playing the game. You guys are tough Olympians, you know how competition works. Both teams arrive at the same time and it’s a a foot race across the field to the mat. The Siblings are in first, bags are dropped and man what a great finish no matter who you were cheering for. Both teams played hard and tough.