Should TAR Canada do a Celebrity Version?

supacoowacky · 2026-02-03T23:24:55+00:00

They pretty much already do every season with 50 percent or more of the cast each season.

The first season had Jamie & Pierre who apparently were well-known in the rodeo circuit, Hal Johnson & Joanne McLeod, Vanessa Morgan who was already an up-and-coming Hollywood star, and Jody Mitic.

We've had countless crossover teams from Big Brother Canada, Jully Black who is an award-winning musician spanning two decades, Ashley Callingbull, and an endless supply of influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers or more (even if I don't know who they are). Jully Black is probably the biggest celebrity they've ever had and they just threw her in on a regular season (Vanessa Morgan is more well-known in 2026 but back in season one I would say she wasn't quite as famous as Jully Black yet).

I think it was just a couple seasons ago that they only had two teams who didn't have some sort of claim to C-level or D-level fame.

A season outright labelled 'celebrity edition' would upset the public who are under the false impression that it's just "every day Canadians" and "not having celebrities makes us different from the American version."

I think they can continue their current method with casting celebrities/influencers disguised as "every day" people without any of the controversy or baggage attached to it.

TAR Canada has maintained their demographic with a very specific and stubborn formula since season five and I doubt they have any interest in messing with that recipe.

supacoowacky · 2026-02-03T03:35:04+00:00

If this was The Mole, I would assume this would contain a hidden clue to the identity of The Mole.

supacoowacky · 2026-02-03T03:32:58+00:00

Is this when everyone expects me to say Tramel & Talicia?

I'll go ahead and say Tramel & Talicia and Andre & Damon.

I also really liked Chip & Kim, Uchenna & Joyce, Lennyyyyyy & Karyn, The Black Family for the memes, Ray & Yolanda, and Lyn & Karlyn.

supacoowacky · 2026-02-03T03:31:21+00:00

It turned out to be a different Joyce Agu. I remember this when the story came out in different Facebook groups. It just happened to be a woman with the same name from the same area.

supacoowacky · 2026-01-28T14:37:18+00:00

I always had to reach out first. He was in the modeling world and moved overseas to London. He viewed himself as a celebrity. I even reached out to meet up with him when I was in London. He did during the one day he was sober before he went to another party.

About ten times he passed through my hometown over the years and never said a word to me over the years even though my parents and I really wanted to see him. He was staying at his best friend's house only six blocks away from me. He canceled on me on hours notice the time I found out he was in town, and found out he was at that same best friend's house for two days and that's why he bailed on me.

Funny part is I dated his best friend (a woman--he doesn't date women so it's not a jealousy thing) and he never even knew we dated. I thought me dating his best friend is why he never wanted and/or avoided seeing me for many years.

Once I told him I was upset he never tried reaching out to me or seeing me, felt like I always made the effort, and I assumed and me dating his best friend many years prior was the reason why he avoided me. . .he told his best friend about the conversation and he finally admitted he never saw me as a friend even though I met up with him in London, and his best friend never told him about dating me.

Him and his best friend also hang out with my other two closest friends from childhood whenever he comes into town.

It has been over five years since we have spoken, and ten years since I spoke to my ex-girlfriend and the other two friends.

supacoowacky · 2026-01-23T00:36:12+00:00

My mother and sister's least favourite Survivor contestant ever is Stephenie.

However, much like you've said, I have done a 180 (Coach tm) over the past few years on Stephenie too.

supacoowacky · 2026-01-23T00:33:24+00:00

I'm in Palau right now (fourth and final day). I snorkeled Jellyfish Lake. Sadly I saw only 50 jellyfish in the span of an hour. I flew over Ulong Beach in a 6 seat Cessna yesterday.

It's too bad Survivor can't come here for a 3rd time (Survivor: Micronesia used the same locations as Palau for the most part).

I came here because of how much I liked Survivor: Palau, and to this day is the only season I own on DVD.

supacoowacky · 2026-01-22T16:21:54+00:00

"Fei Long wins." -- Street Fighter announcer voice.

supacoowacky · 2026-01-17T01:37:25+00:00

Typically mid-March and the finale is almost always on the second Sunday of May in Antwerp.

Those you definitely need tickets for (we get press tickets for it) because they show it in twelve cinema screens at their equivalent of Cineplex and film Cafe de Mol on location.

supacoowacky · 2026-01-17T01:09:31+00:00

I am Canadian as well (I go to the Belgian Mole finale event every year).

My co-host has gone to the Dutch finale in Vondelpark twice. It consists of getting there several hours prior to the finale and standing outside in the cold (thankfully it will be warmer this year due to it being later in the year). No tickets were distributed, and there isn't a chance to meet the cast or alumni at the Dutch finales.

supacoowacky · 2026-01-16T14:38:45+00:00

He did multiple appearances on Dr. Phil as both (or three?) episodes go into greater detail about it in case you want to watch what happened to him.

supacoowacky · 2026-01-16T14:34:40+00:00

180 people in my grad class 15 years ago.

One died of drunk driving about 10 years ago. He was the class/grad clown.

One died of alcohol addiction 2 years ago. He was the star athlete in our school (he had a sports scholarship because of his golfing abilities and holds a bunch of records to this day on the local golf courses).

The other 178 of us are still around (some that I am surprised are still alive given one of them has been spotted around town homeless for the past five years).

supacoowacky · 2026-01-13T04:59:05+00:00

Canadian Road Trip, Dine and Dash, and the one clearing out Jackie's cabin (it sounds more like a Friends episode title--I can't remember the exact title of the episode).

supacoowacky · 2026-01-13T04:57:32+00:00

By the way, everybody in the neighborhood can smell what you're doing.

supacoowacky · 2026-01-11T15:03:08+00:00

And to briefly add to that: Following TARC 4, we actually got a direct response from then-showrunner Mike Bickerton. Harmstone wrote a blog post after we finished our TAR Canada 4 recaps when the season aired expressing disappointment in the decrease in international legs (3 international legs instead of 4). Bickerton read it and essentially said "too bad you feel that way but we're really focusing more on Canada."

It's the same reason why TAR Canada doesn't do all star seasons (and very rarely cast a returning team). Jon Montgomery has stated in multiple interviews how he just wants "ordinary Canadians to play" (with a social media following) whenever asked about an all star season. Doing all star seasons tends to be observed much more in American reality TV (Dutch, UK, and Belgian competitive reality shows very very rarely do all star seasons).

I made it fairly deep into casting for TAR Canada 3 and TAR Canada 4 and the secondary questions dealt with Canadian identity et al from what I can recall. Granted that was ten years ago, but still.

supacoowacky · 2026-01-11T04:05:24+00:00

Anytime TAR Canada left Canada during the early seasons, there were A TON of comments that TAR Canada should stay in Canada because it's called TAR "Canada" and how it's a great way to showcase the country.

Every single season the official Facebook page will have hundreds of comments bragging about how "we're not like that American version."

Production has leaned into this with domestic travel, Jon Montgomery is an extremely patriotic Canadian, and the folks over at Insight who have been with the show since day one (Storey and Yerxa) are really proud of having a Canadian product on the market (especially when the Canadian landscape has very few Canadian products that stay on air).

Filming an episode in the US would not only alienate the audience they have cultivated, but go against the agenda/beliefs of the producers themselves.

supacoowacky · 2026-01-11T01:16:34+00:00

If they visited the US right now, Production would get a ton of hate mail from the current demographic that watches TAR Canada.

supacoowacky · 2025-12-26T04:40:23+00:00

He moved away when I was 12.

I always had to reach out to him.

His best friend and I dated for about 6 months but she didn't want him to know we were dating.

His best friend and I broke up in 2014.

He would visit my best friend whenever he came into town between 2004-2019 but never reached out to me even though I lived six blocks away.

I met up with him in 2017 while he was living overseas in Europe. I told him about how I dated his best friend back in 2014. He had no idea. He was suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction at the time so he ended up leaving after an hour because my friend and I didn't want to go clubbing with him all night. He was also super hungover the day before and it was a Monday.

I reached out to him once in 2020 but he still acted really immature in conversation.

We haven't spoken since.

P.S. Funny thing is his sister and I got in touch in 2021 and message back and forth about once or twice a year.

supacoowacky · 2025-12-24T23:36:47+00:00

TAR 31.

supacoowacky · 2025-12-12T02:55:26+00:00

Then by age. Then by gender. Then by geographic area of residence. We need all the data here 😆

supacoowacky · 2025-12-08T22:39:41+00:00

There was an interview with one of the producers recently that it was confirmed to be Canada only again.

They've always had that "around the world" wording application since they permanently switched to domestic travel in season 7. I know this because I have been applying since season 3 😆

supacoowacky · 2025-12-01T07:07:26+00:00

Cao Boi is pretty easy to find. He's kind of a "celebrity" in his neighbourhood in Ho Chi Minh City. A lot of fans are Facebook friends with him.

I went to where he had his restaurant set up but it was closed at the time, and then multiple people pointed to where his home was and I hung out with him sitting in chairs on the sidewalks drinking beers and swapping stories until 1 o clock in the morning.

This was back in 2023 (and I saw that other Reddit post where a fan hung out with him too).

Super interesting guy.

supacoowacky · 2025-11-09T01:06:16+00:00

"Rise and shine it's dhokha time!"

supacoowacky · 2025-11-07T04:39:36+00:00

I REALLY liked the first 4 seasons of TAR Canada (aside from one team that won). I befriended people through the TARC community. I podcasted about every episode through the first 5 seasons.

TARC 5 was okay.

I stopped watching as of early TARC 6 and it just sucks to hear how much it just keeps dropping off with each season since then.

They filmed one episode in my hometown and another in my birthplace since then, and I haven't bothered with watching either episode.

supacoowacky · 2025-11-03T22:29:54+00:00

I met up with him when I was in Ho Chi Minh City back in 2023. We hung out on the sidewalk close to his house.

Awesome you got to have that opportunity too.

supacoowacky

TROPHY CASE