The Amazing Race Canada scouts out the country’s most exciting locations, and it comes as no surprise that contestants found themselves competing in the South Okanagan.
The most recent episode left saw the remaining contestants finish the previous leg of the race in Saskatoon. From there, the six remaining teams headed westbound to take on the culture and landscapes of the Okanagan in an episode that airs Sept. 9 at 6 p.m. on CTV.
Local viewers will recognize five locations from the South Okanagan; Covert Farms; the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre; Summerland Waterfront Resort; D’Angelo Estate Winery; and the Osoyoos Desert Model Railroad, as confirmed by a communications co-ordinator at CTV.
“(The idea to film at) the model railroad in Osoyoos came from Tripadvisor,” said supervising producer Mark Lysakowski. “it’s one of the coolest things there is – it’s one of those gems that no one knows about.”
Lysakowski was tasked with scouting the best locations around the country to film, and said he sometimes feels like a professional tourist.
“When I got off the plane in Penticton, we got to that small airport where you get off and you enter onto the tarmac. It was 11 p.m., the last flight in, and I got there, took a deep breath and saw beautiful interior B.C. – it’s like, oh thank god I’m home.”
“Tune in to @AmazingRaceCDA next Wednesday see the teams take on Freak’n Farmer at Covert Farms!” reads a tweet from Hoodoo Adventures.
A Sept. 8 post from the program’s Twitter account gave viewers a sneak peak of the upcoming episode – featured is a picture of a contestant wake boarding, and familiar Okanagan mountains are seen in the background.
“Lake Okanagan, vineyards, farmlands – it’s just beautiful,” Lysakowski said. “I hope that’s what we articulated when they watch the show tonight.”
Amazing Race Canada is a spinoff of an American reality show that pits 11 teams (12 in Canada) of two against one another, where they’re tasked with getting from point A to point B the fastest. Teams are eliminated periodically; to ensure they advance into the next leg, pairs must use many forms of transportation to reach the finishing point in a timely manner – though each teams’ progress is boosted or hindered depending on how they perform in challenges.
The winning team will take home the largest prize in Canadian television history — nearly $1 million in cash and prizes.
