Take a sneak peek at new locations and challenges for Season 3 of Canada's Ultimate Challenge
From Tofino, B.C. to Halifax, N.S. the team builds a mind and body-bending obstacle course
Canada's Ultimate Challenge is back for Season 3 as host Brandon Gonez and 20 fit, young Canadians travel across our breathtaking country to participate in the ultimate obstacle course.
Showrunner Erin Brock and a team of producers spent months scouring Canada for the best locations and preparing for the most exciting course challenges. "This country has such an incredible range of landscapes, and we want this series to showcase that diversity," says Brock. "A great location for our show not only has to have natural beauty and lots of potential to build multiple challenges, but it also has to answer the question 'What makes this a unique location that reflects Canada?' When a location has that kind of meaning, it makes the competition feel even more epic for the audience."
This season, we'll travel along to seven all-new and epic locations, starting with Tofino, B.C. Let's take a look.
Ocean swim and high-flying banner assembly in Tofino
"I was really passionate about kicking things off in Tofino. It's one of the most breathtaking places on the planet," says Brock, "and I knew it would set the perfect tone for the season."
The game begins, of course, on Tofino's spectacular Tinwis (also known as MacKenzie) beach.
Players swim to shore, meet their teams and then work together to assemble and hoist a completed 20-foot tall banner in the water.
Challenge producer Liz Cyrus breaks it down in this video.
"We start with the landscape, what's gonna truly challenge these players? Sometimes it's a massive, obvious feature like a mountain or a skyscraper, but other times, it's something small that sparks an idea, like the shape of a cliff or the history of an old heritage building," says Brock.
Show producers have a challenge team of men and women of all shapes and sizes to test out the challenges in advance to ensure they're doable and pinpoint possible problems. "We design challenges with the idea that anyone with a solid level of athleticism can take them on. And the challenges vary across the season, some lean on endurance, some on strength, some on agility, so different types of players can get their moment to shine," explains Brock.
High stakes solo sky hang in Vancouver
After Tofino, it was off to Vancouver where some players had plenty of time to take in the breathtaking city views from a rope extending over the edge of a 24-floor high city skyscraper!
"I'm deathly afraid of heights," admits Gonez who viewed the challenge from the rooftop with the other players, "it was a fantastic challenge and people are going say, "I can't believe you guys did that to them!"
Digging for dino bones in Drumheller
Alberta's Drumheller is a must-see destination located on the Canadian Badlands, an eerie and otherworldly landscape that features multi-hued canyons and wind-sculpted hoodoos.
It's also home to the largest deposits of dinosaur bones in the world. Prehistoric predators lived and died there some 100 million years ago when Alberta was a giant sea surrounded by tropical forests.
This fall, 16 players scoured the hills and waded through mud pits to collect the pieces they needed to assemble a giant three-dimensional dinosaur puzzle.
Steel bridge mindbender in Saskatoon, Sask.
Affectionately known as "Bridge City", Saskatoon has 10 bridges that span the South Saskatchewan River.
At the historic Traffic Bridge, the first to allow motor vehicles to cross back in 1907, teams ascend to the top and navigate a hoop along a rope wrapped around the steel girders. It's a mind-bending puzzle designed to frazzle and frustrate.
Slackline over the Sault Ste. Marie Canal
The Sault Ste. Marie Canal, built in 1895 was once an integral part of the shipping route from the Atlantic to Lake Superior. Now used for recreational and boat tours, it is a designated National Historic Site.
Our remaining teams travelled there to paddle up the canal and then cross it from side to side on a slackline, in high winds, again and again … and again.
Grand Prix push at Mont-Tremblant
Circuit Mont-Tremblant is the second-oldest existing race track in Canada. Set in the shadow of a nearby ski hill, the 4 km long, 15-corner track follows the natural topography of the land.
It was the scene of a gruelling cart race where teams had to lap the entire circuit a total of three times to win.
Rum barrel roll in Halifax Harbour
The nail-biting finale starts at Halifax's Queen's Marque, a new waterfront district and grand public space on the edge of the historic harbour.
The three remaining teams swim into the harbour to collect 12 huge wooden barrels floating in the harbour and roll them onto the Marque's numbered steps. The trick is, they have to decipher clues located on the barrels to solve the puzzle and place each one on the correct step.
"Our teams are balanced in terms of gender and skill sets and most challenges have multiple components happening at once. That means Teams have to be smart about who takes on what. More often than not, good strategy is what makes the difference between winning and losing," say Brock.
Watch Canada's Ultimate Challenge coming to CBC Gem on March 6.
CBC Gem is available for free as an App for iOS, tvOS, Fire TV, Android TV, Android phones and tablets, LG and Samsung Smart TVs, Roku, and Xbox One/S/X and online at gem.cbc.ca.
