When the finale of “The Amazing Race “Canada played out last week there were a few fans in Hussar who were cheering louder than most.
“The Amazing Race” wrapped up and Calgary couple Ty Smith and Kat Kastner were the winners of the reality show on CTV.
Many in the area will recognize Ty Smith. He was one of the survivors of the Humboldt bus crash. He was through the area in February of this year, as a presenter for the Rural Mental Health Network.
He runs his company “Not Alone Co” which bills itself as a Mental Health Awareness Community. This includes his speaking engagements, a blog, and a clothing line that focuses on the message that you are “Not Alone” and “It’s okay to not be okay”.
His partner in the show Kastner is the niece of Kim Larsen of Hussar.
“It was pretty exciting, I don’t know what I am going to do with my Tuesday night,” laughs Larsen. “We would go to someone’s house or a bunch of us came here, it was pretty crazy.”
She brought along some new fans.
“All the support from all the people in the area. People started watching ‘Amazing Race,’ who had never seen it before,” said Larsen.
She says the couple worked well together on the show.
“There was no negative. Sometimes when one was a little negative, the other one would snap them out of it,” said Larsen. The connection they had just worked so well together.”
She also notes there was time between the end of the taping of the show and the announcement where they had to keep the results a secret. Larsen didn’t know they were even on the show until three days before it premiered.
She chuckles at the suggestion that the show didn’t end with a proposal between the couple.
“When I went and saw Ty speak in Drumheller, because a bunch of us had taken him out for supper beforehand, when the question period came I put up my hand and said ‘You talk about your girlfriend quite often, and I hear she comes from a great family. Are you planning on proposing any time soon?’” she laughs. “I honestly thought that’s how the show was going to end, but who knows? They are travelling around the world.”
