‘Amazing Race Canada’ visits Lake Louise; Calgary brothers channel their inner cowboys

Esosa and Osas Igbinosun are brothers from Calgary competing in season 11 of Amazing Race Canada.

A pair of Calgary brothers worked overtime to get in touch with their inner cowboys as Amazing Race Canada travelled to Lake Louise on Tuesday night.

The popular CTV reality program launched its 11th season last Tuesday night in Red Deer, then this week, contestants boarded two buses that took them to Lake Louise in Banff National Park.

Among season 11’s contestants are Calgary residents Esosa and Osas Igbinosun, who spoke to CTV Morning Live earlier this week about participating in the adventure that is Amazing Race Canada.

It turned out that Osas was actually the second choice of his big brother Esosa to participate in the show with.

“This guy actually never really wanted to bring me on the race,” he told Morning Live’s Jodi Hughes.

“He asked his twin brother first,” he added, “and his twin brother said ‘no’, and then he brought me in!”

Both brothers are funny and playful but said it took a minute to get used to being on camera while they chased victory.

“Initially it felt strange,” Esosa said, “but after a while, you forget cameras are on and your natural behaviour just comes out -- and it was just the best experience.

“At some point, it doesn’t even feel as if there are cameras,” Osas added, “because your mind is just so focused on racing and you’re aware of where everyone (else) is in the race -- so you’re just trying to make sure you’re on it!”

On Tuesday’s episode in Lake Louise, the brothers had to chop through huge blocks of ice to chase an “express” pass, then locate their inner cowboys, which mainly involved testing their roping skills.

Osas who works as an arborist, said he uses ropes to help climb trees at work -- but translating those roping skills in the snow and ice of Lake Louise proved challenging.

Following the Lake Louise portion of the episode, the contestants all travelled to Golden, B.C., which is surrounded by six national parks, for the next stage of Amazing Race Canada.

Amazing Race Canada airs Tuesday nights on CTV.