Canada's Ultimate Challenge amps up the game with exciting new twists
Here’s why the new game may be the most exciting reality TV series you’ll watch this year
The first episode of Canada's Ultimate Challenge has finally dropped on CBC Gem and wow, it is a banger.
Twenty diverse, fit, competitive Canadians are grouped into five teams and travel from The Rock to Vancouver Island to compete as the country becomes one massive obstacle course. "We love reality television," says host Brandon Gonez who was there to experience all the action, "the competition, the contestants, and their stories. We get to see the rawness that happens. And that's what's really exciting."
This year, the show kicks off at Cabot Tower in Saint John's, Newfoundland. Each team selects a player who takes a zipline down Signal Hill where they must locate binoculars. Their task? To spot a ship on the harbour outfitted with five signalling flags. Team players need to memorize the flags before they are hauled back up the hill to solve a puzzle. Sounds easy, right? Not so fast. This is where the fun starts.
Watch | "I thought this was going to be easy."
"What they didn't know is that there were bogies, so there were flags that looked a lot like the flags, but a little bit different. So a lot of teams struggled at that point. Nobody got it right," says showrunner Erin Brock.
This challenge was not what the players were expecting. "It was really, really tricky. It required strength. It required endurance. It required attention to detail. It required memorization. We really wanted it to test a lot of different skills," says Brock.
Canada's Ultimate Challenge is a new game this season that's bigger and more exciting than ever. Here's why.
Players were sequestered when the cameras weren't rolling
When the 20 players arrived in Toronto for filming their phones were taken away and they lost contact with the outside world. For 30 days!
The first time they met was right before the first challenge in Newfoundland — and it was all captured on camera. "[This] brings them into the bubble of the show," explains Brock, "you want to save the best stuff for the television show for the audience to enjoy."
Teams were kept separate between challenges to ensure that cameras captured all the juicy behind-the-scenes scheming.
The teams control the game — by choosing their own captains
"The training wheels are off," says Gonez in the season trailer. Instead of celebrity coaches, the players are on their own to run the gameplay. "We knew that appointing someone as a captain would create drama," says Brock. "When teams work together, they rise together or they fall together. And that is inevitably very interesting television and it's relatable to all of us."
Watch | Team Green runs into some leadership issues
Teams need to form alliances to avoid elimination rounds
At the end of every region (there are three in total), two teams go head-to-head in an elimination challenge. But there's a twist. The team at the bottom of the leaderboard goes head-to-head against a team selected by the team at the top of the leaderboard. "You're not safe unless you're in first place!" remarked Ottawa player Jenny Laviolette when the news was revealed.
"Your social game matters," says Brock, "the relationships and the alliances are new to the show this year. TV shows aren't meant to be fair. They're meant to be entertaining, fun to watch and exciting."
The challenges are bigger — and tougher than ever
Teams complete a total of 16 epic challenges. But this season, they're tested in exciting new ways.
"We tried to have a lot of variety in the challenges so that we could tell different stories," explains Brock, "so you can be a smaller player and still be the leader on your team. And you could be a big physical player [but] the weak link on your team, depending on the challenge."
On top of the physical challenges, there are now endurance, mental and especially teamwork elements. "A lot of the challenges require you to think and have a level of strategy to what you were doing," says Brock.
The new and improved game is an exciting, compelling and satisfying watch. "We wanted to create something where there was more layers and more story," says Brock, "I think [we] made it a really incredible series this year."
Do not miss out on all the action — and some exciting new game play twists that are top secret — just for now!
Watch Canada's Ultimate Challenge now streaming free on CBC Gem.
