SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses the outcome of Tuesday night’s Season 12 finale of The Amazing Race Canada. A nationwide audience got a televised tour of Calgary on Tuesday night, as The Amazing Race Canada finale put a few local landmarks and small businesses in the spotlight. Tourism officials hope that exposure will translate into more visitors, while businesses featured in the episode say they are already hearing from customers who saw them on TV. The final three teams raced through locations including the Calgary Stampede, Inglewood and Heritage Park before the season ended at Spruce Meadows. Hamilton, Ont., twins Tina and Liz ultimately reached host Jon Montgomery first at the Spruce Meadows finish line, becoming the Season 12 champions and taking home $250,000. For Calgary’s tourism sector, however, the value of the finale goes beyond who won the race. “Tourism is all about putting our city and our destination on the global stage and encouraging people to see what our city is all about,” said Alisha Reynolds, president and CEO of Tourism Calgary. “Calgary is a place that is so rooted in community, and Amazing Race was the perfect opportunity for us to show off small businesses, incredible pockets of Calgary and stories of Calgary that will inspire others to plan a trip here.” Calgary showcase The finale opened at the Calgary Stampede Grandstand, where racers took part in a ring-toss challenge. From there, they headed to Inglewood for a hat-delivery challenge involving several local businesses, before travelling to Heritage Park for a memory challenge. The final clue sent the teams to Spruce Meadows, where Tina and Liz arrived first. Reynolds said the show’s reach could help build Calgary’s tourism profile well beyond the episode itself. “The Amazing Race has huge national profile and huge reach,” she said. “We know that viewership is in the millions and that coast to coast Canadians love The Amazing Race Canada.” “Calgary having the opportunity to be featured in the finale is going to continue to build the profile of Calgary and build visitation for years to come.” Tourism Calgary says the city’s visitor economy employs 84,000 Calgarians and generates $3.3 billion in visitor spending each year. Its goal is to double that figure to $6 billion by 2035. Reynolds said domestic visitor spending from outside Alberta has also been increasing. “We have seen domestic visitor spend from travelers outside of Alberta topped $700 million this year, which is almost four per cent up over last year,” she said. Inglewood spotlight The episode’s Inglewood challenge put several independent businesses directly into the race. Racers picked up specially prepared cowboy hats from Smithbilt Hats and had to memorize where specific hats needed to be delivered throughout the neighbourhood. Smithbilt hatter Michael Coles served as the clue giver, checking whether teams had completed their deliveries correctly. “It was a lot of fun to kind of have the whole production roll in and obviously very exciting on the day when they were actually shooting,” he said. “The contestants brought a lot of energy into the store, and it was kind of interesting just to experience the whole thing.” The exposure was noticed almost immediately after the episode aired. “There’s been lots of people calling and texting, just saying, ‘Oh, I saw you last night, you know, you’re a big star,” Coles said with a laugh and a smile. He added that it’s too early to know what the financial impact will be, but said, “any time we get that kind of exposure, it’s exciting.” Meanwhile, STASH owner Veronica Murphy said her yarn shop was also approached by the production and became one of the locations where racers delivered hats. She hopes viewers who caught a glimpse of the store will decide to visit. “We also let our customers know that we would be on to keep an eye out for glimpses of us, so hopefully some people discover us that way too,” Murphy said. “It’s really cool if people see this charming little yarn shop in the background and decide to come check it out.” Murphy noted that she was also particularly pleased the production focused on independent businesses rather than a larger commercial area. “One of Inglewood’s strengths is that we’re a lot of independent businesses,” she said. “And I really think that the results are going to contribute to these local areas like Inglewood. I think it does a lot for those communities.” Recordland senior employee John Schultz also saw customers talking about the store’s appearance after the finale. “A couple of customers have come in today already after seeing the finale,” he said. “And they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s really good, that, you know, you guys got some nice publicity, out of the show because it’s a highly rated show.’” Schultz said he hopes the exposure brings new people into the store. “Maybe regular folks who don’t necessarily have a turntable or looking to get into the music area that way, you know, maybe this will sway them or interest them,” he said. Kristen Shima, executive director of the Inglewood Business Improvement Area, said the production was another opportunity to showcase the neighbourhood’s independent business community. “It really is a huge opportunity for Inglewood and the community and the businesses to be a part of that,” she said. “It drives a lot of attention down here.” The BIA represents more than 220 independent businesses in the neighbourhood, Shima said. She added that Inglewood has also seen more businesses open along Ninth Avenue and increased traffic in recent years. “We are seeing a lot more growth here since COVID,” she said. “We’ve noticed a lot more businesses opening along Ninth Avenue and we’ve been hearing from the business community that there’s a lot more traffic.” Calgary contestants proud to represent the city Calgary couple Filipe Masetti and Clara Davel were eliminated from the race in the eighth leg of the race, but remained part of the finale as the competition returned to their home city. For them, seeing Calgary featured on the final episode added another memorable moment to an already unusual experience. “It was amazing to compete together, represent Calgary and to represent our story as immigrants with me being from Argentina and Filipe coming from Brazil,” Davel said. Masetti said the couple was proud to represent the city across Canada. “We feel super proud and we had the time of our lives,” he said. Masetti, who was named the honorary 2020 Calgary Stampede Parade Marshal is known for completing an epic eight-year, 25,000-kilometer journey on horseback across the Americas. He’s no stranger to travelling the world but says Calgary will always be home. “It was such an incredible experience to be on this show, and I know the finale will make even more people want to see Calgary for themselves.” All seasons of THE AMAZING RACE CANADA are available on Crave, with an encore of the Season 12 finale airing Saturday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CTV. The series has officially been renewed for Season 13 with casting details to be announced soon.
