AMAZING COUPLE  Kristen Idiens and Darren Trapp from Fairmont Hot Springs make their hometown proud during intense competitions around the country while starring in The Amazing Race Canada. Photo submitted

AMAZING COUPLE Kristen Idiens and Darren Trapp from Fairmont Hot Springs make their hometown proud during intense competitions around the country while starring in The Amazing Race Canada. Photo submitted

By Dan Walton

Pioneer Staff

If you’ve been watching The Amazing Race Canada, then you know to root for Kristen Idiens and Darren Trapp from Fairmont Hot Springs.

Hometown viewers rejoiced after witnessing Kristen and Darren dominate their competition and take first place on day one, which awarded the couple with a trip to Sydney, Australia and a head start on the next challenge.

“That was a good feeling,” Kristen told The Pioneer. “We had no idea that there would be prizes for each leg it was so exciting.”

But since, their strong performance has been met with a couple of hiccups, stirring back-and-forth

action early on.

On the second leg, unexpected mishaps occurred. Their hard-earned early start was rendered moot when the teams discovered a flight from Kelowna to Vancouver was required and five of the teams, including Kristen and Darren, were all able to make it on the earliest possible flight.

Once in Vancouver, public transit let Kristen and Darren down as they exited Vancouver’s SkyTrain too early, and then failed them again when a cabbie delivered them to the wrong location.

To the camera, after citing Fairmont’s population of roughly 300 people, Kristen said, Were used to deer crossings, not human crossings.

Both have spent time living in and navigating through cities, “but our confidence is definitely there when we’re in physical challenges in the mountains or in the forest,” Kristen said. “In the city, you have to rely on other people like when you’re taking taxis, which clearly didn’t work for us.”

However, Kristen and Darren weren’t deterred by the challenges, and landed in fourth place after the second episode. Only seven teams remain.

“After all the challenges we came across and the constant frustration that we felt, we’re pretty proud of ourselves to be able to persevere through all of it and come in fourth,” she said.

For viewers who can hardly wait for the next show, Kristen hinted at what’s coming up on July 29th: “You

will see Darren get back to his Alberta roots and you’ll see him in purple bellbottom pants a dreaded cowboy, what more could you ask for?”

She said they keep in touch with other contestants over email, and hope to travel to Ontario at some point to visit Body Break’s Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod.

The local contestants, who are now back home, have attended the Bear’s Paw Bar and Grill at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort for the airing of the first two episodes. While other obligations will prevent them from watching every new episode at the Bear’s Paw on Monday nights, the two are going to be there for as many shows as they can.

The next Amazing Race Canada show airs on CTV on Monday, July 29th at 9 p.m. MST.