Interview ‘The Amazing Race Canada’ finalist contestants Jesse & Jonathon

Jesse & Jonathon, one of the four finalist teams from “The Amazing Race Canada,” shared their reflections on their journey during an interview with “The Extra Mile”

TEM (The Extra Mile): How does it feel making it to the top four?

Jonathon:  I mean, it feels surreal, but like in the moment we were just like,  is this actually happening? Like it’s something that I wanted for a very long time,  something that we wanted together for a very long time.  And so the fact that we made it to the finale is pinching us. We were pinching ourselves.

Jesse: Yeah, like something that’s unique about the Amazing Race is like none of your performance the previous leg guarantees anything.  So maybe we had won a couple legs, but it gives you no advantage of getting to the next leg.  So we were just like so excited to hit that mat  and hear Jon say they’re going to the finale.  It was it was just amazing.

TEM: Well, whose idea was it to go on the Amazing Race Canada?

Jonathon: Yeah, mine. I’ve been obsessed for a long time.  Like I organized my own events in Vancouver,  like just like fun little races around the city and things like that.  So when I got my cast,  when the cast was announced, like a bunch of people from high school were like, oh, I remember you organizing races in high school. Like I had forgotten about that. (So, yeah, it’s been it’s been a passion for a long time.  And I knew that Jesse and I would just have such a fun time doing it together. And so I knew I wanted to do it together.

TEM:  Jesse, did you need a lot of convincing?

Jesse:  Um, no, I just thought it was really silly.  I was like, OK, let’s make like an audition video.  Like we’ll never get on. And we made an audition video. Surprisingly, we got on. The entire thing just felt very surreal  until we were really on that starting line in Edmonton at the Commonwealth Stadium. I was like, John, we’re about to do this.  It was that’s when it started clicking. I was like, what are we doing?  What are we doing? And we shouldn’t be doing this.  But we’re here.

TEM: Would you I mean, you know, at this point in the season,  would you guys say it’s more of like a strategy or survival game at this point or kind of a bit of both?

 Jonathon: I mean, you know, like the game like Amazing Race Canada  is unique with a lot of reality shows. It’s really just testing like your performance  on the day of like, as Jesse said,  like your performance one day doesn’t determine  your performance the next since you really need  to bring it every single day. There’s obviously been some strategy during the race  and we’ve been able to employ that.  You know, we had a really fun strategic deal with Louis and Marie, and we love those two. And we’re glad that we could both benefit from a from a deal doing the Express Pass exchange.  And we had a deal with the Rebecca’s.  And so we brought strategy in. But, you know, at the end of the day,  if you’re not performing well in the challenges, you’re going home. So, you know, strategy hasn’t been our main focus,  but we’ve definitely had to use it  because we’ve been targets. 

Jesse: It keeps on going on.  I mean, like, yeah, if we were really that strategic, we may have not placed such a massive target  on ourselves in those first three episodes that really just carried on the entire season  of people being like, well, they need to go home.  And I’m like, please stop. Please stop. We would just like a chill day.  We’d like a nice day. But we’re happy we made it. 

Jonathon: And, you know, the most satisfying wins were the wins where we had been U-turned in one and we had been passed in one.  So, you know, like the things that are worth doing  are the things that, you know, you want to fight for. ( And so those roadblocks, pun intended, really made it more satisfying when we did get the wins.

TEM: Did you guys do anything particular to prepare or was that just like, you guys are just naturally skilled?

Jesse: I did not.  I was like, Jonathan was like,  Jessie, I’m going to go take some dance classes.  I’m like, I’m just going to vibe. But I think for myself,  a lot of the mental game going into it  was thinking about transferable skills. I’m like, I’ve done a wide range of random things in my life.  And like, where can I find an experience that might be applicable in this moment?  Lariat roping, wouldn’t think that that would come in,  but I was like, okay, I’ve done this before. Remember some skills from that.  And that kind of got me in the headspace. But Jonathan was the dance queen and we needed that.  It got us a win for leg five. So very grateful for Jonathan’s preparation.

Jonathon: Yeah, like I took dance classes.  I switched my language up to French.  I was like, I’m going to go bowling just in case that comes up. Or I’m going to go mini putting  in case that’s like a face-off. So I just tried to do a lot of like,  I just was like having fun with the preparation. And maybe it was just an excuse to go do fun things.  But it was like, this could come up. This random thing could come up.  So I’m going to go do it.  And so that was how I prepared.

Jesse: Also rewatch the seasons, rewatch the seasons.  That is a very good preparation.

Jonathon:  Which are all coming out on Crave Soon. So the next people can watch all the seasons.  So that’s exciting. 

TEM: Out of all the challenges, what was your guys’ favorite and least favorite?

 Jonathon: I mean, I think the least favorite is pretty clear from the last episode,  which is hilarious because we are obsessed  with Come From Away.  Like we are obsessed with Come From Away, the musical. I watched it three times.  I will watch it again.  But that challenge destroyed us. I nearly destroyed our game. So that was extremely stressful. But again, kind of what I said  about the U-turns and the passes, like it made making the finale so much more satisfying  that we had such a down moment and we still pushed through.  So that was my least favorite. Maybe you want to share your favorite.

Jesse: I think my favorite challenge was,  oh, that’s so hard to say. Um, I think my favorite was..

Jonathon: I’ll say, yeah, I would say the one,  the one in Langley at the Martini Studios,  where we got to like sing to each other  and we had the cute little like outfits on. We were having so much fun with that. We also had just gotten the Express Pass from Louis and Marie.  We were feeling down, then we were feeling up.  And then we rocked that challenge  and got out of there in first. And we were just having so much fun that day.  So yeah, I think that was, I also got to jump out of a helicopter.  That’s pretty cool.

Jesse:  So that was very, very cool.  Um, the rappelling between this, towers was very fun, um, and doing that.  But on the Langley day, I grew up playing hockey and I hated it so much. So getting a chance to relive my hockey fantasy and not fail was really fun.   Yeah, the childhood trauma really melted away.  Um, I got to expose my gams on the rink with my little short shorts and my jersey.  I was really feeling a fantasy.

TEM: What would winning the Amazing Race Canada mean to you guys personally?

Jonathon:Oh gosh. Um, I mean, we obviously were thinking about this a lot going into the final leg and, you know, win or lose, like the fact that we got to run the whole race  is just so incredible.  Um, but the idea of winning, like just to, to be able to live a lifelong dream  and do so well at it, um, it’s just really validating and it’s just really exciting. Um, also, you know, the prize is a really good prize.  So that would mean a lot, but also just to be able to have that title, uh, of winners of the Amazing Race Canada season 11  is just, um, like that’d just be so cool.

Jesse: Yeah, and I think like what you realize through life  is like so many moments are better shared. And so winning would be really amazing, but being able to share a moment like that with your friend or whichever team wins,  whichever type of relationship you have, um, be able to look at each other and be like, we did that.  I think, um, that’s the moment when you realize  that you didn’t succeed alone,  you succeeded together. And I think that is what winning the race would mean  is that you’ve done something together with somebody that you love a lot. 

TEM: So we’re all about going the extra mile. How do each one of you guys go the extra mile or what does that mean to you?

Jesse: I think for me going the extra mile, something that me and Jonathan committed to the first leg  was that there was no I, it was all we.  And so we win together, we lose together.  It’s never blaming each other. And for me, like going that extra mile  is be able to recognize when you can show up for your friend  without ego and just help.  It’s not they’re failing, but I want to help us win. And I think going the extra mile is showing up  for the people in your community,  your friends, your family, and just cheering and celebrating them and helping them get further. Because when you help one person get,  get further, we all go forward more.  So for me, that’s going the extra mile  is just being there for the community  that you are in with, without an ego.

Jonathon: Yeah, and our team motto was focus on the fun  and the wins will come. And I think that’s really going the extra mile for me  is just, and I think for us as a team was just really focusing on the silliness and focusing on the fun of it all.  And that just allowed us to stay in the moment a lot more. And when we did have moments of stress and frustration, as Jesse said, we put those on the moment.  We didn’t put those on each other. And we just kept reminding each other to focus on the fun. We’d be in a stressful situation.  We’re like, this is fun. This is fun. This is fun.  And that just really helped us stay in it and stay present and push forward and go that extra mile.

The final episode of THE AMAZING RACE CANADA airs at a new time next week!! Find out who the winner is on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app, and streams next day on Crave