The Amazing Race Canada RECAP of Episode 6 'Check the Canons'

The five teams left Regina with the following start times:

Jet and Dave 6:15 a.m.
Tim and Tim 7:56 a.m.
Vanessa and Celina 8:26 a.m.
Jody and Cory 8:40 a.m.
Holly and Brett 9:15 a.m.

The clue tells them to make their way to Levis Fort No. 1, just across the river from Quebec City and search the grounds for their next clue. Apparently Dave has been practicing his French...he says "We want to be 'les champignons' at the end of the race." Great. Now I can't get that Queen song out of my head. You know the one I mean...'We Are the Mushrooms'. Wrong Dave. You must have paid about as much attention as I did in school. But at least I have read the labels on many a can of mushrooms. Dave...for future reference, some words are the same in French as in English. They just sound prettier in French. We also get to hear Holly and Brett explain the advantage they will have. They're from Montreal, you know. They speak French. Jet and Dave, have a 2 hour lead and are able to catch the first flight out. They will arrive in Quebec City at 7:43 p.m. The Tims and Vanessa & Celina catch the next flight and will arrive at 10:43 p.m. while Jody and Cory and Holly & Brett will arrive last after midnight. All 3 of these flights connect through Toronto. Holly & Brett and Jody & Cory must have learned one lesson from Hal and Joanne. They manage to re-route their flight through Montreal, to arrive at 8:45 and ahead of the girls and Tims.

Just like I thought, Jet and Dave get to the fort ahead of the others. The Fort itself doesn't open until 10 the next morning...which means the teams will start the next day all even. Thems the breaks. Looks like Jet and Dave will just have to work a bit harder if they want to be mushrooms. With none of the other teams there yet, they must spend the night in one of the fort's rooms. They get bored and decide to set up a false clue - as a joke. They call it team-bonding or something. They try their best to translate "check the canons" and write it in a bin of sand that has a lid. They know Holly and Brett will see right through it, but they think if anyone falls for it, it will be the girls - "they'll be running around (the fort) like ding dongs." Well that's not what happened. It was Jody and Cory who got there next and started looking for a clue. Jody checked the bin of sand and he and Cory took off looking for the canons, fully convinced they found the next Route Marker. Jet and Dave at first played dumb..."Hey where are you guys going?" They started running around too, like ding dongs, but finally fessed up to Jody and Cory that they wrote the clue. It's a good thing Jody and Cory can take a joke well. Some people don't.

The teams are off at 10 a.m. the next morning. The real clues are hidden throughout the grounds of the fort. Jet and Dave find theirs first. The funny thing is that there was a real clue hidden in one of the cannons, and Vanessa & Celina found it. Maybe they actually believed the guys' fake clue and they just got lucky. Maybe production was playing their own joke. This clue tells them to catch the ferry back to Quebec City, ride the funicular up the cliff and search for the statue of Samuel de Champlain in front of the Chateau Frontenac. Beautiful! The Tims are the last team out of the fort. Jet & Dave and Vanessa & Celina get on a ferry - the other 3 teams must wait 30 minutes for the next one.

The clue here is the Detour located back down at Place Royale in the lower town. Sculpt It or Spot it. Sculpt It is carving out blocks of ice with a chisel in either a star, a house or a sailboat shape. There are completed samples and each block has a traced outline. No brain work here. No French words. Spot It involves studying a wall mural then placing French word labels for missing items on a miniature version. There is some running back and forth here.

Jet and Dave pick Sculpt It and do the star. They call for the judge a couple of times but he keeps telling them "a little bit more".
Vanessa and Celina originally try Spot It, but when they see the guys doing the carving, they switch. Looks like they are sticking with the leaders which is probably a good call. About half way through, when the carving gets a bit rough, they wonder why they switched.
Holly and Brett do Spot It. Who didn't see that one coming? Cos they are doctors. And they live in Montreal. Just in case you didn't know. But there were a few words they didn't understand...Poele a bois. If it's any comfort guys, my on-line translator didn't know it either. The running back and forth made this task more physical than they thought. Holly runs funny. It's more of a running shuffle. Odd.
Jody and Cory do Spot It alongside of the Docs. Their French language skills are much better than Jet and Dave's. That's for sure. But they ask for help from a passerby, and get it.
Tim and Tim do Sculpt it. Also a good call. They do the house, make a mistake but work around it.

The clue they receive here sends them to a Road Block at Place de l'Universite-du-Quebec. The clue says, "Who's ready...Batter up!" It's not baseball. It's making crepes. Four of them to be exact, and they must all be served at once. One person from each team has to take orders - in French of course, and there are a variety of fillings that the "customers" will ask for. There is some skill involved here because the judge is a chef. Plating and presentation are a factor. At least they are supposed to be.

Dave - has a very hard time with the translation, particularly over the word for 'spinach'. But he eventually reasons it out. I know...hard to believe. Also, it helps to turn on the crepe pan before you spread the batter. They lose a big lead when other teams start to show up. He's good on his 2nd attempt and they are the first out of there.
Holly - not a cook. Brett reminds us again that they are doctors and used to pressure. Cooking is not their forte. He's starting to remind me of Dr. McCoy. I half expect him to say "Damn it, man, I'm a Doctor. Not a pastry chef! They only cook 3 or 4 times per year. Umm. No excuse Bones. You eat everyday, don't you? So you can cook everyday. Tsk, tsk. I want to smack him for being a bad role model for the kids he treats. But Holly gets it done and they are in second place.
Cory - this guy can cook. His only problem was not serving all four crepes at once. He takes note of Holly's plating and finally clues in. He is done in third place, right behind Holly and Brett.
Vanessa - Oh my Oh my. It's not pretty. She picks the crepes up with her hands and tosses them on the plates. Gently Vanessa, gently. A crepe is a time-honoured work of art. You must treat it with love and tenderness! She is really hung up on 'cerise'. She thinks it's strawberries. If she could just focus on nail polish colours, I bet she'd get it. Instead, she asks Tim Jr. and he tells her! She finishes and they are now in fourth place.
Tim Jr. - Tim...repeat these words after me..."I don't know". That's what you say from now on whenever anyone asks you anything. He gets flustered when Pappy asks him what he's doing. He forgets all the garnishes and the icing sugar. Then he gets it right. They are the last out.

The clue they get here directs them to the Plains of Abraham and a little lacrosse. Each team member must catch a pass, then make a shot and score. The one good thing is the net is empty. Everyone actually does pretty good here, although Holly gets a bit flustered and Brett feels like he has to give her advise again. The clue here sends them to the pitstop. It's on the hilltop at Battlefields Park on Avenue St Denis. Here's how they finished:

Jet and Dave in first place. Oh sorry, I mean they're mushrooms again. Jon points out they now have a hat trick. They have won two round trip tickets on Air Canada to any European destination.
Second place is a tie between Holly & Brett and Jody & Cory. Jody says, "That's the last time we finish at the mat with Brett and Holly." Hmmn, interesting. Noted.
Vanessa and Celina finish in third place. Hey, no tears in this episode. Less whining too. Now just calm down.
Tim and Tim finish last. Jon starts his speech. "I'm sorry to tell you,...<long infuriating pause>...but your wives will have to wait a bit longer to see you." Damn it Monty! You had me going and I KNEW they weren't getting eliminated.

The Tims finish last in a non-elimination leg for the second time. And you know what that means? They have to complete a Speed Bump at some point on the next leg. That next leg is in Iqaluit, Nunavut. I's not going to be easy. Well, I don't think it's going to be easy for any of them.

Check my homepage on the weekend for my preview and spoilers of Episode 7.