Amazing Race Canada’s Jon Montgomery reflects on his decade-plus journey as host of the homegrown reality show

The Amazing Race Canada has embarked on its 11th season this summer — and former Olympic skeleton racer Jon Montgomery can barely believe it has been more than a decade since he became host of the hit reality battle. “It doesn’t sound real to say out loud,” he tells TV Week. “It feels like we’ve jumped into the Quantum Leap time machine and missed a bunch of years, but here we are.” Having already helmed the show 10 times, Montgomery still finds no difficulty keeping the experience exciting. “Without effort, it feels fresh year over year,” he says. “The formula is what folks have come to know and love, and all you need to do is breathe new life into it by bringing new racers, going to new places and trying new challenges. Every season is brand-new.” We caught up with Montgomery to discuss the ongoing season and life lessons only The Amazing Race Canada can teach.

What is it that continues to make The Amazing Race Canada a unique series in this television landscape?

I think the fact that people can see themselves on the show season after season, living vicariously through the racers and being able to go places that they’ve heard about, is compelling. They know that this is home and these people are their neighbours from across this land. I think that’s why audiences continue to enjoy it, because they can literally insert themselves into the drama when they’re watching it. “Oh, you would do this, I would do that.” Whether you’re four or 104, you can get behind and enjoy The Amazing Race Canada on some level.

What’s the highlight of season 11?

Going above the Arctic Circle. We’ve never done that before. We are visiting our third coastline and can truly say now, “From coast to coast to coast,” after season 11. And we have new brilliant teams, dynamic relationships, some new creativity from the producers of The Amazing Race Canada, making some special stuff just for us that other franchises don’t have — but they will next year because they always look to Canada for creativity and they steal from us [laughs].

What would you say is unique about the Arctic Circle endeavour?

First and foremost, when you go to a far-flung place, there are already people there. It doesn’t matter where you go, somebody is calling it home. To go to a place so deeply rooted in tradition and to be in a community that has such reverence for Mother Earth is captivating to me, because I share reverence for those types of ideas, practices and the planet. I always get to ask questions about the community, about the land, about the people — and going to the north is truly special. For me, that’s what travelling is always about: going somewhere that you haven’t been, somewhere outside your comfort zone, meeting somebody new and doing something new.

What stands out about the contestants this season?

Oh, we’ve got amazing relationships. We’ve got our first grandmother on the show this year, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find her amongst the lineup. You’ll be like, “I don’t see a grandmother, but I’ve got to go with Marie because she’s the only one here that has an adult son.” But Marie and Lou — I mean, I’m a mama’s boy just like Lou, so we had that meeting of the minds — but I could only imagine what it would be like and how hard it would be to run the race with my mother. What a truly special bonding experience for the two of them. And she is the oldest female competitor that we’ve had on The Amazing Race Canada. We’ve had a couple of other gentlemen who have exceeded her odometer, like Tim Sr. from Winnipeg in season one. And we all know the Tim and Tim journey — becoming our first champions. So, age is but a number . . .

Who else is competing?

We’ve got Ika and Demetres, a married couple from Toronto. They started addressing fears before they even came on the show. Ika, particularly, doesn’t love heights, so she stood on the corner of her bed and looked down at the floor, and that was the beginning of her journey. I’ll tell you right now that it doesn’t stop at the edge of the bed. We continue to push her. Because I am a husband, I like to watch the husbands and wives compete to see how Darla [Montgomery] and I would do. What I think we take for granted, knowing one another so well, is that split-second to check what it is that you’re going to say before you actually say it. We lose that filter with those that we love the most, because we know inherently that they’re going to love us in spite of our warts.

Your life has changed so much this past decade. How have you changed since the start of The Amazing Race Canada?

I have a better haircut, but less hair. I still can’t tan. You will always see me crimson red on the first day — because the day before we are out practising and I usually get scorched. So, that hasn’t changed, but my perspective on life, from having children to what’s truly important, those are the types of things that have changed about me. And my capacity to perform in the role as host. I continue season over season to find my way in the role, my voice, my pace, my capacity to perform and do the job that’s being asked of me. I love the challenge, and I will not stop trying to level up.

Would you say you’ve ultimately learned life lessons from the show?

The life lessons are abundant. How we talk to ourselves is so pivotal in our capacity to get anything done in life — and the realization that we’ll never get anything done alone. It is always going to require some level of synergizing. You might be the one that’s tasked with performing in the moment, but you need to pool your resources, collaborate with others to get monumental things done. Winning The Amazing Race Canada is one of those things. Raising children is another one of those things. And it doesn’t matter what it is, you’ve got to be ready to fall short to put the best of yourself out there. If it doesn’t measure up, you learn what you’ve got to do for a valiant second attempt, a third, a fourth, until you finally get the outcome that you’re seeking or become that person that you weren’t prior to striving to perform and achieve.

Do you think this job has overtaken your Vancouver Olympics beer pitcher legacy?

I hope not because, damn, I love that beer legacy! But they’re maybe becoming on par — the guy that drank the beer [at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games] is also the guy that is on The Amazing Race Canada. If all I’m ever known for is being the guy that drank the beer, I’m already lucky. But if I get to be known as the dude that hosted The Amazing Race Canada for however many seasons we get, I’ll be a very, very lucky lad.

The Amazing Race Canada airs Tuesday, August 12, on CTV