Village Gamer

The introductions are over, it’s time to race! CTV has announced the final pairing of competitors for the first-ever season of The Amazing Race Canada, this summer’s most-anticipated television series. Hosted by Olympic Champion Jon Montgomery (@jrmonty12), the final teams announced to embark in the riveting, all-Canadian race around the country are actress Vanessa Morgan (My Babysitter’s A Vampire, DeGrassi: The Next Generation) and her bikini-model sister Celina, a pair of feisty siblings from Ottawa. Joining them are Tim Senior, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease three years ago and his son Tim Junior from Winnipeg.

The two teams round out the cast of nine pairings in the race for the historic half-a-million dollar grand prize. Previously announced teams include dating couple Kristen and Darren, brothers Jody and Cory, twins Treena and Tennille, two sets of best friends – Jet and Dave, and Jamie and Pierre, fitness icons Hal and Joanne and doctors Holly and Brett. Set to anchor CTV’s Summer 2013 schedule, The Amazing Race Canada airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT beginning July 15 on CTV and live on CTV Mobile (visit CTV.ca to confirm local broadcast times).

Vanessa and Celina – Sisters

Name: Vanessa Morgan
Age: 21
Hometown: Ottawa, ON
Current occupation: Actress
Twitter: @VanessaMorgan, #vanessaandcelina

Name: Celina Mziray
Age: 30
Hometown: Ottawa, ON
Current occupation: Bikini Model
Twitter: @CelinaBallerina, #vanessaandcelina

Motto: “We are mini but mighty.”

How will they plan to win the Race: “We may come across as naive or clueless, and we will use this to our advantage as we are not. Also we have lots of experience travelling and in airports.”

Tim SR. and Tim JR. – Father and Son

Name: Tim Hague Sr.
Age: 48
Hometown: Winnipeg, MB
Current occupation: Registered Nurse
Twitter: @timtimearc, #timtimearc

Name: Tim Hague Jr.
Age: 23
Hometown: Winnipeg, MB
Current occupation: Sales
Twitter: @timtimearc, #timtimearc

Motto: “Just because you’ve been given a diagnosis does not mean the end of your life.”

How will they plan to win the Race: “Have an amazingly fun time and see how far we can get, build each other up at all times!”

Thousands of teams have entered, but only one team will run away with the historic grand prize for The Amazing Race Canada. Valued at more than half a million dollars including $250,000 in cash, the prize also features the opportunity to fly free for a year for two anywhere Air Canada flies worldwide (175 destinations) in Executive First Class (based on 10 trips for two), and two 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingrays. In total, the prize is equal to 167,224 hockey pucks, 178,572 cans of beer, and 33,356 half-liter jars of pure Canadian maple syrup.

With the knowledge that most Canadians have not travelled beyond their own province, The Amazing Race Canada gives Canadians the opportunity to race around Canada and discover the country they love in a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Teams will race to the finish line, criss-crossing up to 23,000 kilometres. A stunning depiction of the Canadian fabric, the teams will travel through both the country’s urban centres as well as the most remote outposts in the land, all while exploring its broad cultural and ethnic diversity, wildlife, and iconic landmarks. Fans are encouraged to follow @AmazingRaceCDA and stay tuned to the CTV Facebook page for updates.

The Amazing Race Canada will also air TSN on Tuesdays at 12 a.m. ET/PT beginning July 16, on RDS2 Wednesdays at 6 p.m. ET beginning July 17, and TSN2 on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT beginning July 17, as well as on demand across CTV’s digital platforms: including CTV.ca, the CTV App, the CTV Mobile channel on Bell Mobile TV, and through video on demand partners such as Bell Fibe TV following the broadcast.

The four top-tier sponsors for The Amazing Race Canada are

• Air Canada
• BlackBerry^®
• INTERAC^®
• Chevrolet Canada

The Amazing Race Canada is based on The Amazing Race, the nine-time, Emmy® award-winning, hit program created by Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri that premiered in 2001 in the United States. van Munster, Doganieri, and Mark Vertullo are executive producers for Worldrace Productions, a division of Profiles Television. Jerry Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman are executive producers for Jerry Bruckheimer Television. The program is produced in association with ABC Studios. The U.S. version of The Amazing Race was a Top 3 series last fall on CTV and is this season’s #1 reality program in Canada with an average audience of 2.7 million viewers.

The Amazing Race Canada will be the 12^th international version to launch outside of the United States, joining Asia, Australia, Brazil, China, France, Israel, Latin America, Norway, Philippines, Ukraine and Vietnam as territories with an original The Amazing Race production.

The Amazing Race Canada will be produced by Insight Productions in association with CTV and with the support of Profiles Television. Executive Producers for Insight Productions are John Brunton and Barbara Bowlby, and Supervising Producer is Mark Lysakowski. Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri are executive producers for Profiles Television. Robin Johnston is the CTV Production Executive. Corrie Coe is Senior Vice-President, Independent Production, Bell Media. Mike Cosentino is Senior Vice-President, Programming, CTV Networks. Phil King is President, CTV Programming and Sports.