Episode 3 Recap: "Hoodoos and Hoodonts"

Brett and Holly first to leave and we’re going to Calgary! Too bad my brother and I didn’t make it onto the show as we would have had such a “hometown” advantage with all the places visited in this episode.

Kristen and Darren had to make a decision in this episode about who to give the extra Express Pass. Originally they had agreed with a small group in the first episode that whoever wins it would give the extra pass to whomever finishes in second place, which were Holly and Brett.

You know what’s coming, don’t you? After Darren mumbled something about wanting to be true to their word, they ended up giving the pass to Vanessa/Celina.

Right on cue, as if we needed a reminder of why Darren/Kristen felt they couldn’t trust Holly/Brett… at the airport, Holly/Brett hid all of the Alberta maps in one of the stores so other teams couldn’t find them.

Now in Calgary. Clue: Find a statue of the legendary Calgary rodeo bull named Outlaw to find their next clue. Wonder how many of the teams immediately thought of going to Stampede Park to find the statue? Nope, Outlaw isn’t there, wouldn’t have been a bad guess but going there would have cost a good 10-15 minutes.

After getting the clue at the statue, we’re off to Ranchman’s. Roadblock: “Get In Line,” which required one team member to learn a traditional country western line dance. There’s an Anderson Cooper look-alike who is judging the competition and he seems like a particularly tough judge. Jody/Cory said they were there for over 3 hours – “Anderson Cooper is so hard core!”

Brett is maddeningly annoying – repeatedly saying “Hol, just try to relax/focus” in a manner befitting a five year old being lectured to by a parent.

There’s a spat between Kristen and Brett as they discussed the Express pass – Brett said that his word would have meant something and he would have honoured the second place finishers if the shoe was on the other foot, and Kristen went into a snit saying how dare he insult them as their word do mean something! Uhmm, Kristen, you guys did go back on your word, no? Shut up.

Jet and Dave asked, “What does ‘exterior’ mean in Alberta?” It means your brain has escaped your head, dude, i.e. gone ‘exterior’ of the head.

Plenty of teams are having big-time trouble with the line dance routine – nobody seems to have aced it quickly other than Dave who had the advantage of being a former cheerleading national champion and Vanessa who did it in a reasonable time.

Hal and Joanne are the first to finish and clue tells them to go to the Hoodoos in the Drumheller area. This can only mean … a visit to the Royal Tyrrell dinosaur museum!

Detour: “Lump by Lump” (shovel a load of coal onto four carts) or “Bone by Bone” (see a life-size replica of a dinosaur, assemble a model of it from memory).

Hal and Joanne chose “Lump by Lump” and Joanne commented, “This is a great workout. Upper body, lower body, no wonder the coal miners are fit.” Only these two would say something like that.

As usual, the sisters got lost and went north on the highway when they should have been going east to Drumheller. They eventually got to Drumheller and also did the “Lump by Lump”. Hey ladies? It would have been much easier to put the coal ONTO the wheelbarrow to carry to the carts, instead of tossing them right over the wheelbarrow, no? And try toting more than ¼ of a shovelful at a time to go faster. They ultimately ended up doing it hand by hand at one point.

Hal and Joanne finished their coal-piling Detour a good distance of time ahead of the other teams and the final clue tells them to go to Horsethief Canyon for the Pit Stop.

Kristen and Darren loaded up their coal but were told their cart was not ready for hauling, not realizing they hadn’t correctly hung up the key tags on the side of the car.

Back at Ranchman’s, Jody finally did his dance routine and Tim Sr. took 9 tries to finally accomplish the routine.

Holly and Brett did the “Bone by Bone” at the museum, figuring their anatomy backgrounds would help them assemble the model dinosaur. Easy, right? Oh no, of course not! More Holly freak-outs and more “Hol, just stay calm” bleatings from Brett.

Vanessa and Celina, surprisingly, got lost looking for Horsethief Canyon. Meanwhile, Jet and Dave prove they’re dumber than a bag of hammers.

At the pit stop:

1. Hal and Joanne – win two tickets to anywhere Air Canada flies in the USA.
2. Kristen and Darren
3. Jet and Dave
4. Vanessa and Celina
5. Jody and Cory
6. Holly and Brett
7. Timmies – non-elimination leg, they’ll have to do a Speed Bump next episode.

Next week… we’re heading up to Yellowknife and one of the things they`ll be doing is a polar bear dip through ice. Fun!