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By Shari Narine
Sweetgrass Contributing Editor
TORONTO
September 14, 2016.
Ashley Callingbull was both unapologetic and firm in her decision to be “ruthless” as she and her father Joel Ground were on the verge of advancing as one of three finalists in the last leg of The Amazing Race Canada.
But pulling out all stops didn’t result in Callingbull and Ground winning the $250,000 in the fourth annual television event. The pair finished third in what Callingbull referred to as the “best time of our lives.”
“It was such a tough race. We struggled so much but we didn’t give up,” said Ground, after he and Callingbull ran the gauntlet of eliminated teams to touch the race-ending mat.
“You guys have inspired me. You’ve inspired an entire country,” said host Jon Montgomery.
“This race really like pushed our limits but we’ve gone above and beyond what we thought we could do. Just goes to show that you can overcome anything like that in life, too. Whatever’s thrown at you, you can overcome it,” said Callingbull.
Callingbull, who is the first Canadian woman and first First Nations woman to hold the title of Mrs. Universe, has had a life of struggle before her mother Lisa Ground married Joel. Callingbull, her mother and Callingbull’s younger sister were all abused.
In After the Race Tuesday night – a one hour event that re-united all 10 teams - Callingbull told the mother-daughter team of Frankie and Amy that she needed to support her father and did what she had to do when she led them astray. The challenge in question involved being blindfolded and learning the names of plants and herbs, which could be identified only by touch and smell. The instructions given to each competing team clearly stated the names needed to be learned in English. Amy learned the names in Latin. When the event judge told them they had learned the wrong language, they were still unclear as to what they needed to do. Callingbull said they needed to learn both the English and Latin names.
When questioned by The Social members, who hosted After the Race, about the deception and if she regretted it, Callingbull said, “I don’t regret any choices I made because it got us to the finale and that was the goal…. It’s just a part of the race.”
On the flip side, Callingbull and Ground were u-turned by eventual winners Steph and Kristen after the pair had struck a deal with the father-daughter team. A u-turn is when a team has to do both challenges after completing the challenge of their choice. Although Steph and Kristen kept their word at the first u-turn board, they forced Callingbull and Ground to do both challenges at the second u-turn board.
“I expected more betrayal as the game went along because it got more and more competitive because, you know, we’re all here to win,” said Callingbull.
Asked if they regretted u-turning Ground and Callingbull, Steph and Kristen also said no, and made it clear that they considered the father-daughter team a “huge threat.” Steph and Kristen, a dating couple, who live in Toronto, became the first all-female team to win The Amazing Race Canada.
In a light moment, when Callingbull was questioned about “screaming her way through the challenges,” she smiled and said, “I was just trying not to swear!”
Placing second were Jillian and Emmett, who met three years ago in the Big Brother Canada house.
Watch this space Thursday for an interview with Joel Ground.