The Making Of: Amazing Race Canada audition

Kate and I are applying for the Amazing Race Canada … have you heard? (sarcasm)

Well, if you follow us on any social media platform (or any of the nuts and affiliates, for that matter) then you probably already know we submitted our application.

In fact, I am grimacing, slightly, as I write these words.

Don’t get me wrong, the entire process – from our first few clips (weak attempts, at best), to getting the opportunity to talk about our team, today, on CBC Radio & CTV – has been an absolute blast. But, it’s also, somewhat, taken over our lives.

Kate & I are used to being in each other’s pockets – or at least, we were used to it. At one time, we went to school together, worked together AND lived together. Not to mention, rolled in the exact same social circle (707 mutual friends on Facebook!). But now, living on opposite ends of the city, sometimes having different work schedules and varied interests, it’s been a little while since we spent every. waking. moment. together.

Enter: Amazing Race Canada crusade.

I knew as soon as I saw that first tweet – emailing it silently to Kate, from the next desk over in the office we share at our newspaper job – that we HAD to submit an application. Probably about five years ago, fresh off of backpacking Australia (travel bug wholly ingested), we looked into applying for the American version of the Amazing Race. Our quest was stopped short when we realized in order to even apply you had to have American citizenship. Boo.

So the idea was shelved, until CTV announced that a Canadian version was coming to the great north strong and free. Elation ensued.

This initial discovery was made in mid-December, but, true to form, we waited until the last possible moment to start putting a video together. Panicking – after seeing some of the high-quality auditions, already on YouTube – we started to put our heads together. The main thing we wanted to focus on was our unique dynamic as friends. That day to day banter that, so often, makes our friends double over with laughter.

Because we ARE best friends and in a lot of ways we are very alike, but in just as many ways, we are very different. Kate is high-energy, intense, competitive and wears her emotions on her sleeve. Whereas I’m a little more laidback, calculated, cautious but (almost) always down to try anything.

Together we make a great team, but we also often disagree on how to approach things. So, how do you capture that on camera?

Well, we had many different ideas in the early stages, almost all of which we look back at now with embarrassment. So we decided to work on our script. Get what we wanted to say down pat before taking the conversation to a more exciting location (ie. The Eternal Flame – so cool, come on). So we set up our camera and recorded us practicing what we wanted to say in my kitchen, at home. Neither of us looked particularly nice, and, not to mention, it was one in the morning. After two hours, and deciding that we were definitely too tired to be doing this – we gave up and decided to watch back the footage. What we discovered is that, somehow, through the giggles, yawns and bickering back and forth, we had captured the exact essence of our friendship.

And so the rest of the video was a breeze – get in bikinis, skate the canal, reach the mayor’s office, convince him to shimmy shake with us to Rack City – you know, the usual.

The editing process was painful, carefully selecting what clips to use of the over-zealous amount of footage we took. Should we include the scene of us milking a cow? Should we talk about our travels together, like every other team has? Highlight the fact that we’re completely afraid of almost every task ARC could throw our way? That I’m a super fan but Kate’s hardly seen a full episode of the show?

In the end, we did what we could, made executive decisions and (barely) submitted the video on time – one that, no matter what happens, we are proud of and had fun making.

And by just trying, we’re also fulfilling our two personal, but similar, goals to shake things up in 2013. Sometimes, when you’re a little lost, a new adventure is the best way to find yourself again.

Obviously our ultimate goal is to end up on the show – “putting on for our city”, representing this blog, the amazing friends behind it, and all those who have encouraged us along on this, already, wild ride – but if that doesn’t happen (and hey, let’s be honest, it’s a long shot), we were able to think about, and answer, the question: What makes your friendship so special?

A question we should all contemplate every once and a while.

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If you haven’t seen it already …

NEW deleted scenes PREMIERE: (don’t judge too hard)