THUNDER BAY — Competitors in the British reality TV show Race Across the World got a taste of life in Northwestern Ontario when their cross-Canada journey took some of them to Kenora and Thunder Bay.
The city's marina and parts of the region's natural environment — such as the Sleeping Giant — were highlighted, but the episode televised recently (the Thunder Bay section is about 46 minutes into the program) by the BBC also contained a cringe-worthy sequence in the washroom of a typical local arena, which two visitors from the UK cleaned to earn some money to fund their journey.
"There's some beautiful Northern Ontario scenic shots. There's some good aerials ... It certainly showcases the landscape of the Thunder Bay area and the whole Northern Ontario region," said Paul Pepe, manager of tourism for the City of Thunder Bay.
Pepe added that the washroom scene "doesn't thrill me too much" but noted that the same part of the five-minute-long Thunder Bay segment also demonstrated the importance of hockey in the community.
Two other competitors found work polishing up a boat at Prince Arthur's Landing.
The program has five couples make their way across the country from the west coast to the east coast using any means of transportation except air travel.
They have a limited amount of money to start with, but can receive more from the producers of the BBC program by doing menial jobs along the way.
Pepe said the producers contacted Tourism Thunder Bay last year to learn about permit requirements for shooting the program in the city, but the city had no role in determining the show's content.
"Given the nature of these shows, they keep the details very, very close to the chest. We weren't aware of how it was going to look or exactly what they were going to be doing," he said.
Pepe said that although he feels the tourism value of the program is likely fairly limited, Britain nonetheless is a key market for tourism promoters, and the show has raised awareness of the region's unique geography among BBC viewers.
Sail Superior owner Greg Heroux was approached by the program last summer to participate as a "workplace" for two of the competitors.
A representative of the producer working out of Toronto told him, "We know about Thunder Bay and we know about your business, and we'd love to have your company involved. We worked at it for a couple of weeks to make sure we could provide something that was filmable."
The tasks the contestants were given included washing Heroux's three Newfoundland dogs and polishing up a boat that Sail Superior uses for tours.
He said the dog's bath didn't make the cut even though he found it humorous, noting that one of the competitors doesn't like dogs to begin with, and working with wet dogs on a rainy day proved to be a bit of a fiasco.
Heroux is glad he participated, despite the fact Sail Superior didn't get a mention in the show.
"Thunder Bay got on the radar ... Maybe somewhere down the road people are coming through Thunder Bay saying 'You know what? Let's go sailing. I saw them on a boat. Or let's go to Fort William First Nation.' You never know what the trickle-down is going to be. So when someone approaches you with a wide audience base like the BBC, you pretty much say 'yes' and go with it that way."
