For die-hard Canadian reality-TV fans, it’s not officially summer until The Amazing Race unleashes detours, fast-forwards, roadblocks and U-turns.
And Tuesday night, handsome Jon Montgomery kicks off the season as he returns as host of one of the most popular and watched shows in Canada.
Last year, ARC averaged 1.9 million viewers a week, making it the number-one TV series of the summer for four straight years. The reality competition show that pits teams of two against each other as they travel the globe competing in daring challenges for a grand prize also gave us some great winners least year. Lawyer Steph LeClair and account executive Kristen McKenzie, girlfriends from southern Ontario, showcased humour, grace and a cunning edge while dominating season 4 and becoming the first all-female team to take the title.
Will we see a repeat of that reality-TV magic? With an intriguing cast of players ranging from funeral directors to fitness gurus and a new interactive way for Canadians compete alongside them – it looks like The Amazing Race Canada is set to keep its gold medal status.
Postmedia Network ziplined our way to chat with the adventurous Montgomery (who knows a thing or two about gold medal racing) where he painted an even brighter picture for the upcoming season. The charming, beer-loving Olympian let us know why he doesn't choose favourites, how you can run the race from your couch and why he loves his job so much he wants to be fired from it.
Has working on the show begun to feel like a job yet?
No, I get as wound up and excited about what is unfolding on the race each and every day as I did on season one. The nice part about it now is there is a level of familiarity so I get to enjoy the moment a little bit more than I used to.
Any early favourite teams yet?
I don’t pick favourites because I don’t really know these people on a personal level well enough to align myself with somebody in terms of personality traits but I do try and identify those whom I think are exceptionally strong and those whom I think would fall in towards the bottom half. I sort of split them in two – and always without question – somebody from the top half always finds themselves in the bottom half and somebody in the bottom half always find themselves in what I would consider the stronger group. I would say I am batting about 500 in terms of my ability to nail it.
What type of relationships tend to do the best?
I’d say people who can fight well and get over it. I think family members have a tendency to do better at that than friends. Family members really love each other unconditionally, and if you have a disagreement or a bit of a fight, you usually don’t take it to heart and you can move past it quite quickly, which is imperative in navigating this show. I would say the only couple that I don’t see having strong capacity to do well would be former lovers because they tend to quarrel and you’re honestly a bit bitter or vengeful perhaps and you don’t fight nice.