Interview ‘The Amazing Race Canada’ winners Tina and Liz

Twins Tina and Liz took on Season 12 of The Amazing Race Canada as lifelong super fans who had dreamed of competing on the show since they were 10 years old. After applying since the very first season, their persistence finally paid off, with the sisters not only making it onto the race but becoming the first Asian twins to win The Amazing Race Canada. In this interview, Tina and Liz look back on finally seeing their win play out on screen, the preparation and spreadsheets that helped them throughout the race, and why their different strengths made them such a strong team. They also open up about the difficult ring toss in the finale, how the experience made their already close relationship even stronger, and why they believe there is no such thing as being too prepared or trying too hard when you’re chasing a dream.

TEM (The Extra Mile): How do you both feel watching back the episode?

Tina: Yeah, I mean, watching the episodes is so amazing. Seeing us on TV for a bit was very surreal, but we got quickly used to it. And it’s just, I love watching us just having so much fun and then remembering how much fun we had on the race. And then seeing all the other teams having fun as well was so special.

TEM: Was there was a kind of like a mutual decision to do the show together or like how did that kind of come about?

Liz: It’s been a dream of ours since we were about 10 years old, right? And then when we found out that the first season of the Canadian version of the show was starting, we applied for season one. We just automatically knew we had to do it. Kept applying, kept applying, kept applying, never gave up. And then finally this year we got to do it. And it was never a question of who we would do it with, it was always going to be each other.

TEM: Was there anything in the show that you kind or like during your time of the show that you felt like, I mean, I wouldn’t say anything that you learned particularly, but anything that like was more amplified about one another?

Tina: You know, it’s funny, we get this question a lot. And going on the race together just solidified that I’m like that Liz is exactly the person who that I think she is. Like she is just as amazing as I think she is. Our relationship is just as strong as I thought it was. And it really just solidified that, you know, we’re soulmates and best friends.

TEM: Which one of you guys are more competitive?

Liz: We are both equally competitive, I would say, right? And that’s why it worked out so well for us, because we both had that same competitive edge. We both know how hard we’re going to work, what we’re going to sacrifice to make this dream come true. we by just So we never had to deal with like, oh, I’m, you know, the spearhead and I have to force Tina to do whatever with me. Like we’re just both on the same page always. And so that was our biggest asset, I would say.

TEM: Was there something that maybe you guys kind of leaned on each other more that like one of you kind of have a more stronger kind of skill set or something like that?

Tina: That makes sense. Oh, yeah, for sure. We definitely, we are very, very similar, but we have small differences in skills here and there. Liz is a lot more handy than I am. any construction challenge and, you know, the soldering, she took the reins on that. And I was like, oh, I’m your sous chef. I’ll just tell me what to do and I’ll do it. And then anything involving animals was my task. Yeah. So getting the tails off of the calves, sorry, getting the ribbons off the calf tails, the fish, catching the fish with your bare hands. We just knew, you know, this is, this is Tina’s time. This is Liz’s time to really shine. And the other person is the supporter.

TEM: Is there any challenge that you guys kind of prepped for that you feel that you didn’t get to do, like maybe based on like previous seasons that you’ve seen?

Liz: Yeah, well, we went into the race saying that we really want dance challenges and we really want math challenges, which is actually kind of funny because a lot of teams hate dance and math, whereas like we love dance and math. So we got to dance a lot on the race, which we’re so happy about, but we didn’t get to do a math challenge. We were so bummed about it. We would have loved to do that. So that’s the one thing we wish we could have done more.

TEM: The one cool thing about this season, obviously, was the whole express pass in the beginning of the season. Do you have any regrets of kind of when you guys used it or how did you feel about that whole new kind of twist?

Tina: Yeah, the twist was so surprising to us as super fans. We had never seen this before. And we honestly had never thought going into the race that we would have to deal with using an Express Pass. So really, that very first day, we just thought, wow, we have to now think about something that we never thought we’d have to worry about. Hindsight is 20-20. We are very happy with how we used our Express Pass. We used it for a rainy day. Could we have kept it a little longer? Maybe, but ultimately it all worked out and we’re really happy with how we used it.

TEM: What was your most favorite challenge and your least favorite challenge?

Liz: Ooh, that’s a great question. I would say my favorite challenge was the ski dance in leg one. That was our real first challenge after we had to dig for the clue in the snow. And we just both love dance so much because it’s so fun. It’s so uplifting. So for us to be able to do that right off the bat and then essentially jump over everybody ahead of us at the other detour and run past… and get to first place yeah that was an incredible feeling and such a great way to start off the race yeah that was your favorite ?

Tina: um my favorite task is honestly anything where liz was doing a roadblock and i got to watch her especially the the one roadblock specifically in digby when she had the scallop shucking roadblock and immediately we got told it was a double elimin so everyone’s freaking out but i was so calm because i trust liz a hundred percent i knew she had it so i was just standing there and everyone’s you know worried because the people who are not doing the roadblock have no control but i’m just there being like yeah i trust you with my life you got this and i was so calm it was amazing

TEM : What was your least favorite challenge then

Tina: yes um my least favorite was probably the ring toss in the finale and i think think Tina would probably agree. It was hard for us for different reasons, right? Tina was hard for her because she was actually doing it and she felt like she was letting me down even though she would never do that. And then it was hard for me as, you know, someone that loves her so much to have to stand there and watch her go through that, watch her like tearing up up there. When I couldn’t do anything for her, I had to just stand and watch. So that was probably one of the hardest moments that we had.

Liz: Yeah, it was that or the greenhouse challenge in Laval was really rough for us, right? We got out of that challenge second last and we were just so rushed and discombobulated and didn’t pay attention to detail. So after that, we really said, you know, we have to just take our time, pay really close attention. And we learned a lot from that day.

TEM: is there anything that you guys want to tell the future contestants that want to try out for the show or anything like last words that you want to say?

Tina:  Yeah, I mean, we just want to tell everyone to chase their We had this dream from when we were 10 years old. We worked hard for it. We prepared for it. Our mom always taught us to attack and work hard. And, you know, never let anyone tell you that you’re too intense or too prepared or you’re doing too much. So just chase your dreams and go after what you want.

TEM: So how do each of you go the extra mile? What does that mean to you?

Liz: I think it just means to be the most prepared you can be. You know, I would say a lot of people will call those spreadsheets that we made the very meticulous spreadsheets going the extra mile, right? So just echoing what Tina said, don’t be afraid to be too intense, to be too prepared to do too much work because there’s no such thing as trying too hard.

TEM: Anything else you want to add in?

Tina: We just want to say thank you to everyone who supported us, to our parents. We owe them everything. We’re like so blessed to have the best family in the world. And remember… We’re so happy they chose to come to Canada and that we get to be Canadians and live in this beautiful country.