Spoiler Alert!
On this week’s episode of Amazing Race Canada, contestants flew from Buenos Aires, Argentina back home to Canada, landing at Halifax Stanfield International Airport.
The show saw a 5.0 per cent decrease in social media activity compared to last week’s episode.
Contestants competed in tasks, known as Roadblocks, throughout the city of Halifax, tasks such as climbing the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge, finding art at Halifax Central Library, visiting Citadel Hill, fishing lobsters from the Dalhousie University Aquatron, drinking Orange Julius, and delivering beer to pubs from the Garrison brewery.
Unlike the original Amazing Race, Amazing Race Canada focuses primarily on Canadian destinations, although, the past two seasons have seen contestants traveling overseas. Social media from the Canadian locations where the show is visiting tends to dominate social chatter.
Not so coincidentally, besides Ontario (which is the biggest media market in Canada), viewers from Nova Scotia, the province the contestants were visiting, dominated the discussion on Twitter this week.
I’m sure the producers of Amazing Race Canada were very well aware of this fact, as most of the production’s focus was on contestants from Nova Scotia: Hamilton Elliott & Michaelia Drever, Brent & Sean Sweeney, and Dujean Williams & Leilani Ross. (Note: Dujean and Leilani live in Toronto, but Leilani grew up in Halifax.)
During the show, most of the attention was on Hamilton and Michaelia — especially since Hamilton left his Amazing Race Canada passport on the airplane at Halifax Stanfield International Airport and the rules state that you must have the passport with you.
The passport was eventually located by Air Canada, which ended up being a great unscripted plug for the airline. However, because of Hamilton’s mistake, he and Michaelia ended up being eliminated.
Thank you for finding my passport @AirCanada! #AmazingRaceCanada @AmazingRaceCDA
— Hamilton Elliott (@HamCElliott) July 30, 2015
Many of the fans were upset to see Hamilton and Michaelia eliminated from the race. In fact, they were overwhelmingly the fan favourites on social media, replacing Nick Foti & Matt Giunta. Nick and Matt had been dominating Twitter conversations, but the focus on Nova Scotian participants had obviously taken focus away from them. Ironically, Nick and Matt commented during the show that they consistently finish third; this week, not only did they finish third during the race, but also on Twitter, ruining their chance for a three-peat as the episode’s most popular contestants.
@Asylum1240 @mattrlp123 3RD Place Again!!! You guys Will Get There!!! Your A Great Team! 😀 #AmazingRaceCanada — GARY123 (@GaryStardust123) July 30, 2015
In the end, Dujean & Leilani won the fourth leg of the race. They also saw increased popularity on social media.
With the loss of Hamilton & Michaelia, and with Dujean & Ross eventually winning the race, the Halifax homecoming was definitely bittersweet, not only for Nova Scotians, but perhaps the show as a whole. However, as the show travels to other Canadian locations, it’s a chance for other fans and contestants to engage on social media, no doubt crowning new fan favourites.
Contestants’ Share of Voice:
- Hamilton Elliott & Michaelia Drever 47.7% (Eliminated)
- Jesse & Gino Montani 11.9%
- Nick Foti & Matt Giunta 9.3%
- Brian & Cynthia Boyd 8.8%
- Dujean Williams & Leilani Ross 6.4% (Winners)
- Brent & Sean Sweeney 5.6%
- Nic La Monaca & Sabrina Mercuri 5.2%
- Neil & Kristin Lumsden 4.7%
- Simi & Ope Fagbongbe 0.6%
MediaMiser actively blogs about Amazing Race Canada, and leverages MediaMiser solutions to compile analysis on the show.
