The race was amazing but now it’s over.
Pelham native Gracie Lowes and her best friend Lily Bateman, of Canning, Nova Scotia, have graciously bowed out of The Amazing Race Canada after five episodes, ending a journey that took them through incredible Canadian locations and even won them a follow-up journey to Norway.
“Lily and my time on the Amazing Race was an absolute blast,” says Gracie. “Every leg was so much fun, even the leg that resulted in our elimination. The first leg when we came in second gave us that boost of confidence that we knew we were good competitors. When we won our leg in Whistler and won the trip to Oslo, Norway, that was a huge and was definitely a highlight for us. We were euphoric and really over the moon. But the thing that makes the Amazing Race so much fun is that it is so unpredictable. There are these things in place to shake things up and ultimately I would say our final fall was a result of some good-spirited sabotage.”
Over the course of the pair’s final episode, which aired last week and was filmed on Vancouver Island, contestant challenges included diving for clues in the chilly waters off the island, harvesting kelp in Tofino, shoveling 80 pounds of crushed ice onto massive pallets of fish in Icluelet and delivering the fresh product to local businesses, and pole dancing from century-year-old giant Sitka spruce trees.
The end of the road for the pair came when they were given a pass (not a good kind of pass) by another team and were forced to wait in a penalty setting before continuing on with the race. This ultimately resulted in their finishing the leg in last place. Each week, the final team across the line is eliminated.
The pair said that, believe it or not, the real highlight of their experience was after filming was complete and both had returned to Pelham in early August.
“A lot of people from Pelham gathered every week at Peter Piper’s bar to watch,” says Gracie. “For the last episode when we were eliminated, Lily and I got to go and watch with everybody. It was literally like a crowded room of people who have watched us compete every week, and to get to be there on our elimination episode was so meaningful.”
