There is no question that Nic La Monaca and Sabrina Mercuri were my favorite team on this season of The Amazing Race Canada. Despite being severely outmatched in most of the athletic detours and roadblocks this season, the dating couple managed to use their linguistic acumen and wit to always stay one step ahead of the competition. Unfortunately, after a fumbling their way through a forensic detour and CPR task in the last episode, the Montreal couple became the fifth team to be eliminated. I caught up with Nic and Sabrina to find out what went wrong.
Murtz Jaffer: You guys were my favorite team this season and it certainly seemed like you had a plan for almost any scenario. What I liked the most was that you recognized that taking a time penalty is sometimes the best strategic move that a team can make. Sabrina, what kind of preparation did you and Nic do before the race?
Sabrina Mercuri: Strategically speaking I have to deal with situations like this all the time at work so we tried to figure out different scenarios for as many situations as possible by re-watching previous seasons.
MJ: Nic, some Amazing Race Canada fans have said that you guys were the villains of the season. Do you agree?
Nic La Monaca: Absolutely not, I don’t know how you can see us being villains, we were always there helping when it was needed. I completely disagree with that term.
MJ: Sabrina, can you walk me through this last episode? It seemed like you guys were in decent shape until you got to the detour which is when you started to lose ground.
SM: We get to the forensics science and we just couldn’t figure out how to correctly use the tools given to us and because of that it gave us a very long time to complete the challenge. It was an accumulation of all the tasks at hand that day.
MJ: Nic, what happened at the CPR task?
NLM: Everything was spot on except my compression rate. Because when I arrived Kristin was still there, Leilani was no where to be seen so my thought process immediately was ‘ you need to get this done as fast as possible’ which was my detriment. Should have followed that old saying, ‘slow and steady wins the race”
MJ: Sabrina, what was the toughest task for you this season?
SM: By far episode one at Ontario Place the water obstacle, just the fear of water and being able to overcome it and even seeing the fear in Nic eyes. I never said that I couldn’t do it, I built the courage and the encouragement that Nic had for me helped me overcome the fear.
MJ: Nic, the fact that you and Sabrina knew different languages seemed to be a major asset to you on the Race. How much of a factor was it?
NLM: Knowing four languages is a huge plus, again we didn’t know where we were going but once we found out we were going to South America it was a strong leg up on other teams. That really helped us out.
MJ: Sabrina, you and Nic have a strong bond despite the age difference. Where does that stem from?
SM: It stems from having the same values and morals and having an understanding for each other. Our love is very strong, like Nic said ‘the bond will never be broken’
MJ: Nic, do you think that the best teams are the ones that are still in the competition?
NLM: The 12 teams chosen were all 12 potential winners, it’s the last team standing. Regardless of whoever wins, luck needs to be on their side.
MJ: Sabrina, what’s next for you and Nic?
SM: Life goes back to normal, friends, family, school and work. And everything is just that much more amazing.
MJ: Thanks!
The Amazing Race Canada airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on CTV.
