***Spoiler Alert***
When it comes to reality TV, the cast is generally in on the joke: they know there’s an expectation to ramp up the emotions and produce epic one-liners that will keep us tuning in.
In turn, Twitter takes the joke and runs with it—sometimes in the form of its own one-liners—as we saw in this week’s trending hashtag for Amazing Race Canada #NamasteStrongBrent.
It all started when contestants travelled from Saskatchewan to Vancouver, to Tokyo, enroute to Kolkata, India — formerly known as Calcutta.
During filming in Kolkata, the country was suffering through a horrible heatwave—even by India’s standards—so contestants were pushed to their limits.
In the sweltering heat, contestants had to perform tasks, such as assembling a garland of flowers in the Mallick Ghat Flower Market, finding an idol, delivering goods by rickshaw, or performing yoga.
In the case of Brent & Sean Sweeney, their difficulty with yoga poses caused Brent’s emotions to get the better of him.
RT to send good vibes! #NamasteStrongBrent, you got this! #AmazingRaceCanada https://t.co/ldcfGP68Bk
— Amazing Race Canada (@AmazingRaceCDA) August 27, 2015
In fact, the number one tweeted and retweeted clip was of Brent crying. I have attempted yoga a few times and I’ll admit it is really though. I was warned that for some people, a lot gets released—from gas to tears—so I felt a bit sorry for the guy. Stats show I wasn’t the only one: most people on Twitter were sympathetic. In fact, the hashtag #NamasteStrongBrent was tweeted 86 times and the yoga segment helped propel Brent and Sean to become the most mentioned contestants during the episode. But not everyone was so compassionate. @Janilez tweeted that “there’s no crying in yoga,” a reference to the 1992 movie, A League of Their Own.
There’s no crying in yoga…sheez. Really now. #AmazingRaceCanada #yoga #growapair — I need a nap (@Janilez) August 27, 2015
Yes, sometimes at MediaMiser, we come across a good chuckle in our day-to-day media analysis.
The episode focused heavily on the ancient practice, with contestants visiting a statue of Swami Vivekananda, the person most credit for introducing yoga to the Western world.
Did you know: Swami Vivekananda is credited with bringing the art of Yoga to the Western world! #AmazingRaceCanada pic.twitter.com/73qIUJwulu
— Amazing Race Canada (@AmazingRaceCDA) August 27, 2015
Yoga references represented 74.3 per cent of social media activity in context of roadblocks or tasks. This is not surprising. According to Statistics Canada, the popularity of yoga has been growing steadily.
The number one yoga brand, Lululemon, happens to be Canadian and not surprisingly, Yoga is most popular in our country.
So how can data like this be leveraged? Numbers resulting from media analysis might interest brands like Lululemon, Prana, Shakti and Fabletics as they look for spontaneous PR and marketing opportunities.
By the numbers
Twitter activity compared to last week’s episode: Down 43.7%
Top Twitter activity during the episode:
Social media activity by city
| Toronto Ontario Canada (GTA) | 28.9% |
| Winnipeg Manitoba Canada | 10.2% |
| Sudbury Ontario Canada | 5.5% |
| Edmonton Alberta Canada | 4.7% |
| Hamilton Ontario Canada | 3.9% |
| Barrie Ontario Canada | 3.1% |
| Halifax Nova Scotia Canada | 3.1% |
| London Ontario Canada | 3.1% |
| Ottawa Ontario Canada | 3.1% |
| Calgary Alberta Canada | 2.3% |
| Brandon Manitoba Canada | 1.6% |
| Manitoba Canada | 1.6% |
| Montreal Quebec Canada | 1.6% |
| Sarnia Ontario Canada | 1.6% |
| Vancouver British Columbia Canada | 1.6% |
| Other | 22.7% |
Contestants’ Share of Voice
1. Brent & Sean Sweeney 25.3%
2. Nick Foti & Matt Giunta 24.3%
3. Jesse & Gino Montani 20.9%
4. Dujean Williams & Leilani Ross 12.5% (Winners)
5. Brian & Cynthia Boyd 11.1% (Eliminated)
6. Simi & Ope Fagbongbe 5.9%
MediaMiser actively blogs about Amazing Race Canada, and leverages MediaMiser Enterprise to compile analysis on the show.
