Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Article content Calgary lovebirds and first responders Courtney Berglind and Adam Kovacs were the surprise winners of the sixth season of Amazing Race Canada. The series ended Tuesday night with an action-packed finale that took place in Calgary and Banff, which was home turf for the winning team. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Calgary's Berglind-Kovacs is last couple standing on Amazing Race Canada Back to video Nevertheless, they were considered underdogs, having not won any of the legs leading up to the win. Sibling Mounties Taylor and Courtney Callen had won five legs by that point and took an early lead in Tuesday’s episode, which was filmed in a secretive shoot in mid-May. “It is very weird,” said Berglind, a few hours after crossing the finish line in an interview with Postmedia. “It has not set in yet. We are little bit sleep-deprived. It’s just a very odd feeling.” The series started with 10 teams when it debuted in July. By the time the production hit Banff, it was down to three: Berglind and Kovacs, the Callens and Fort McMurray youth mentors/coaches Kwame Osei and Dylan Elias.<doc-sep>Share this Story: On the trail of Amazing Race Canada to its manic conclusion in Banff On the trail of Amazing Race Canada to its manic conclusion in Banff Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Article content It’s late afternoon on the picturesque fifth hole of the Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Course and John Brunton is near giddy with excitement. The elaborately mustachioed executive producer of Amazing Race Canada is driving a golf cart towards the crew and most of the eliminated competitors from the show’s sixth season to the spot where the winning team will eventually be crowned this year’s champs. It’s not over yet, of course. But by this point, it is becoming increasingly clear that Rockyview General Hospital nurse Courtney Berglind and Calgary firefighter Adam Kovacs will likely score a major upset and pass frontrunners Taylor and Courtney Callens, the highly organized, calm-under-pressure team of sibling Mounties from British Columbia. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or On the trail of Amazing Race Canada to its manic conclusion in Banff Back to video Brunton is a veteran when it comes to this sort of thing, having executive-produced not only six seasons of Amazing Race Canada but also reality competition programs such as Canadian Idol and Top Chef Canada. Still, he seems legitimately jazzed about this surprising turn of events. So excited, in fact, that crew members report seeing him nearly hit a tree while driving the cart haphazardly towards the finish line. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content “What a great ending!” he yells, after steering the golf cart back on track. “We thought it was a fait accompli!” By now, fans of Amazing Race Canada know that engaged first responders Berglind and Kovacs were the unexpected winners of Season 6. In Tuesday’s season finale, which took place mostly in Calgary and Banff, the pair surprised everyone by pulling ahead of the Callens, who were stymied by a strangely intense souvenir hunt along Banff Avenue. The Callens had won five legs of the globe-trotting adventure series this season. When the episode began, Berglind and Kovacs hadn’t won any. But they had managed to avoid elimination week after week. By the final episode, they were the underdogs in a three-way competition with the Callens and musclebound Fort McMurray youth mentors/coaches Dylan Elias and Kwame Osei. On May 19, the teams complete this leg in Banff and I was invited along to witness the fast-paced, behind-the-scenes action. The first hint that Berglind and Kovaks were nearing the end was the helicopter whirling above the golf course. I join members of the crew who have retreated to a wooded area on the course to keep out of sight of the cameras. Eventually, we see the triumphant ending. When they come into view, Berglind is being carried piggyback-style by Kovacs. But they cross the finish line together and make their way to beaming host Jon Montgomery on the champions’ mat. Their former competitors — the seven eliminated teams — are all there cheering them on. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Hours later, after the teams and crew have eaten dinner, recorded their final thoughts and have returned to the clubhouse for an interview with Postmedia, the sleep-deprived champs still seem bewildered by their win. But they are looking forward to having unsuspecting family and friends watch them in action. “For the whole race, it’s been so up-and-down,” says Berglind, 28. “We kind of raced at the bottom of the pack for most of the race. I think every episode that we watch, maybe other than one or two, our family is going to think we’re going home.” “I wouldn’t say it has sunk in yet,” adds Kovacs, 29. “It feels like my contacts are cloudy or something. I just feel like I’m being led around.” By winning, Berglind and Kovacs take home not only $250,000, but also matching Chevrolet Traverse Redlines and earn a trip around the world. Not a bad haul for a couple set to be married in November. Tuesday’s episode began in Fredericton, where the Callens were the first to fly out of the city to Calgary to their first roadblock/challenge. It took place in the Calgary International Airport’s air traffic control tower. One member of each team had to memorize an automatic terminal information system transmission about the weather and meteorological conditions, a 30-second clip chock-full of technical terms. Courtney Callen breezed through it with surprising ease. But it proved difficult for both Berglind and, in particular, Osei. “It was just a word I couldn’t pronounce properly that I had never heard before,” says a dejected Osei, later that day in a post-race interview with Postmedia. “I think it’s going to haunt me for a while. I feel like had I gotten that we would be the winners right now. I feel like I let our team down. It’s something that’s going to take me a while to get over.” Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Photo by Mark O'Neill / Mark O'Neill From Calgary, the teams were flown by helicopter to the top of a mountain in Kananaskis, where they received marching orders directing them to Sunshine Village for a two-part adventure involving skijoring, which combines dog-sledding and skiing, and gliding down the mountain on a GT Racer over a frigid pond of slush water. This is where I was supposed to start the day. But in a classic moment of Amazing Race misdirection, my driver and I ended up at the day’s production headquarters at Banff Centre, where a group of perplexed producers informed us we were in the wrong place. We followed the frontrunner Callens up the gondola and arrived just in time to see Taylor sailing over the slush pond with a spectacular somersault and faceplant that left him with a nasty, reddish bruise on his face. “How’d that look?” Taylor asks later that day, when discovering I had witnessed his epic spill. “I’ve got makeup on to cover that.” Hoping to keep up with what is, at least at that point, the winning team, we chase the Callens down the mountain via the gondola and eventually make our way to Banff Avenue for the teams’ final challenge, which found them searching Banff’s glut of gift shops for trinkets that represent the 11 separate legs of the season. Over five weeks, the teams travelled to Victoria, B.C., Cavendish Beach, P.E.I., Dawson City, the Yukon, Mexico City and Jakarta, Indonesia, among other spots. Each challenge was to be represented by a trinket hidden among 10 stores down Banff’s main drag. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Photo by Mark O'Neill / Amazing Race Canada Granted, watching people frantically search for souvenirs is about as exciting a spectator sport as it sounds. I spend a good part of it with publicists and producers sitting on city benches, occasionally going into the stores to dodge the cameras following the teams up and down the aisles in the cramped stores. We studiously avoid questions by perplexed tourists about why camera crews are chasing these sweaty duos through the stores. Still, thanks to some creative editing, the segment is much more exciting on TV than in person. And it was truly a turning point. The teams are to end the challenge at the Banff National Park Administration Building where they were to put the objects they found in the stores in the correct order of the legs, whether it be the Indonesian flag or a figurine representing the game Jai Alai, which the teams played in Fronton, Mexico. This is where Berglind and Kovacs take the lead.<doc-sep>Share this Story: 'People will be shocked': The Amazing Race Canada's Leanne and Mar talk stunning exit 'People will be shocked': The Amazing Race Canada's Leanne and Mar talk stunning exit Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Article content Battling zombies might be fun on The Walking Dead, but on The Amazing Race Canada it’s the stuff of nightmares. Just ask Toronto Argonauts cheerleaders Leanne Larsen, 25, and Marielle “Mar” Lyon, 26, who were racing to create awareness for anti-bullying initiatives in schools as part of the Argos’ Huddle-Up program. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or 'People will be shocked': The Amazing Race Canada's Leanne and Mar talk stunning exit Back to video The duo was the fifth team eliminated from this year’s edition of the popular reality series after they fell apart during a zombie-themed paintball challenge in P.E.I. “I definitely think people will be shocked,” Mar says following their stunning exit on this week’s episode, “but Leanne and I know each other backwards and forwards and when we were faced with that challenge, we both broke down.” But there are no hard feelings, she adds. “When people say East Coast Canadians are the nicest people in the world, it’s no understatement. They are actually the nicest people.” After a jaunt that has seen teams racing across Canada and to far-flung locations like Indonesia and Mexico City, on Tuesday’s episode Leanne and Mar, who were considered frontrunners to win it all, took a two-hour penalty when Leanne appeared to suffer a panic attack during a paintball challenge. Tethered together, teams had to make it through a gauntlet of paintball firing zombies to get their next clue. But she couldn’t stomach it. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content “It was both of us or none of us,” Mar says. “I’m totally comfortable and happy with our decision not to go through with that challenge.” We caught up with Leanne and Mar following their ouster to find out what went wrong, who they are rooting for and to get their take on this year’s Grey Cup. I think people are going to be surprised that you went out following a paintball challenge. What happened? Mar: I know in the episode it looks like it’s Leanne that can’t do it, but we both couldn’t. Something triggered in us and we knew we couldn’t go on with it. We said going into the race that we would push and push and push, but if anything was going to affect our mental health in the long run after the race, we said we wouldn’t do it. If we had pushed through with that challenge, we really would have suffered afterwards. So we knew that it was the best for our own health and our own well-being to take a time penalty for that challenge. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Leanne complains of being claustrophobic in the episode. Did you both know about that phobia going in? Mar: I’m claustrophobic too and that was definitely one of the things going into it that I was scared of. There were two things I didn’t want to do in The Amazing Race: anything that would make me claustrophobic and anything that involved horses (laughs). Those were my two and I know Leanne’s was anything that would make her claustrophobic and anything that made her have to eat bugs. I think for Leanne there was a feeling of claustrophobia and wearing the helmet and being tied together that she didn’t like. For me, it was the people closing in on me. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or How did you both prepare going in? Mar: Leanne and I went in wanting to emulate (Season 2 winners) Mickey and Pete. They had a fun-loving energy and way about them. They were a team that worked as hard as they could, but they understood that there would be things they couldn’t control. That whatever happened, happened. We took this as an opportunity to see the world. We stared out the window when we were in Indonesia as we were in a cab going from one place to the next and we just took it all in. That was a great way to do it. We weren’t stressing over the things we shouldn’t be stressing over. We just got to enjoy being in this amazing and beautiful place. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Would you try out for an Amazing Race Canada All-Star Edition? Leanne: As long as there’s no paintballing in it, yes (laughs). Now that you’ve been eliminated, who are you rooting for? Leanne: I love a good underdog story. The Argos have been underdogs for years and years and then we won the Grey Cup. So I absolutely adore Martina and Phil. If they win, they are going to put the money to amazing causes, so I’m rooting for Martina and Phil. The Argos are 3 and 5 on the season — can they still win the Grey Cup this year? Mar: 100%. You never know what can happen. Leanne: The CFL can turn on a dime and the teams you didn’t think could win, win. Look at the Red Blacks in 2016? No one thought they’d win. Look at the Argos last year … same thing. Everyone thought the Stampeders were going to be undefeated this season and they lost on Sunday. The Roughriders came in and snatched a victory from them. As we like to say, a football minute is a long minute and a CFL season is a long season. Anything can happen. The Amazing Race Canada airs Tuesdays on CTV. mdaniell@postmedia.com Twitter: @markhdaniell We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Share this article in your social network Latest National Stories Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Toronto Sun Headline News Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Toronto SUN, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. 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Share this Story: 'I cried, I ached and I bled': The Amazing Race Canada's Martina and Phil stay positive following elimination 'I cried, I ached and I bled': The Amazing Race Canada's Martina and Phil stay positive following elimination Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Article content Fans of The Amazing Race Canada bid farewell to the funniest and most endearing team this week. But Martina Seo, joined by her brother Phil on this season’s Heroes Edition, is still surprised the siblings were such fan favourites. “Who knew we’d be so funny?” Martina says laughing the day after their elimination episode. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or 'I cried, I ached and I bled': The Amazing Race Canada's Martina and Phil stay positive following elimination Back to video The Seos were the seventh team sent home this season and narrowly missed out on their chance to appear on The Amazing Race Canada’s finale next week as racers headed from Mexico City to Fredericton, N.B. But the teacher and banker, who give to children in need all over the world, won Canada over with their unbridled positivity and never-say-die spirit. “Everything hurt all the time,” Martina says. “I cried, I ached and I bled. But it was the best time of my life. It made me a better person. I just want people to be kinder, more loving and more compassionate to one another.” Before next week’s Season 6 champ is crowned, we caught up with the brother-sister team to talk about exceeding their own expectations, the hardest challenge they faced and the team they’re rooting for to win it all. Article content It seems you had a lot of chances to get yourself into the finale, but you couldn’t catch a break. What was going through your mind as you relived it all watching this week’s episode? Martina: I had trouble landing the helicopter because my arms are really short and the landing lever was too low for me. When we finally landed it was my brother that pushed the lever down. Also, we don’t play video games. Phil: When we landed we were like a millimetre from falling off again. You were the seventh team eliminated and almost made it to the finale. Were you happy with how far you got? Martina: When we started the race, I just hoped we’d get to the third episode. I didn’t want to get injured and I didn’t want to die. I’m not very athletic. The other people competing were first responders, navy officers, military officers, RCMP officers, cheerleaders – those girls had six packs, I don’t have a six pack. But I’m just thankful that we got this far. We had the time of our lives. Article content What was the hardest challenge this season? Martina: I’m into baking and sewing, so climbing the 80-foot pole in the first episode was hard. At one point I thought I might just quit and take a penalty. But at that moment, I saw Kwame go roaring up the pole and I thought I’d just copy him. After I was able to do that, I realized that I could really accomplish anything. It gave me the confidence I needed to get to the 10th leg. Phil: That was a defining moment for us in the race. It helped put us on the right trajectory. How did you prepare for The Amazing Race Canada? Martina: My brother signed us up for group training. I just complained non-stop to my trainer. But we did go to the gym. Phil also made me watch every episode from the past five seasons because I had never watched it before. Article content Phil: Aside from that, we bought a map of Canada and tried to guess where the show might go this season. I think that helped us out. I also took game theory classes and I think that helped us go far. Okay, no spoilers, but who do you think is going to win it all? Phil: I think the three teams that are left are strong for different reasons. Dylan and Kwame, they’re physically strong; Courtney and Adam, they’re resilient; and Taylor and Courtney are both smart and strong. They’ve won five out of 10 legs.