Maestro Fresh Wes finds The Amazing Race Canada 'humbling'

JUNO Award winning rapper says competing on television series brought new challenges to he and his partner

Article content Editor’s note: This story contains spoilers from this week’s episode. Rapper. Music producer.

Author. Actor. And, now, Maestro Fresh Wes can add another title to his resumé: racer.

The Canadian entertainer joined the long-running television series The Amazing Race Canada for its 12th season, which premiered last week on CTV and streaming service Crave. The show features 10 teams of two competing in challenges in communities across Canada for the chance to win OneKeyCash from Expedia for a trip around the world, a quarter of a million dollars, and the coveted title of champions. In an interview with Brunswick News prior to the season premiere, Maestro said he approached the show with a personal goal, too.

“The thing about me, I’m all about reinvention. “I came out in the game as a hip-hop artist in the ’80s and I transitioned into doing film and television in the ’90s from an acting perspective and then, next thing I know, I’m doing a show called Race Against the Tide where I’m hosting stuff.... I’ve always been the type of artist where I use hip-hop as the catalyst or the launching pad for everything else I do, so when this opportunity came around I thought it would be something cool for me to do because it’s totally outside my comfort zone.”

That type of personal challenge, he said, proved to be extremely beneficial as he learned about himself, met some “incredible people” and had “one of the greatest experiences” of his life on the hit reality competition show. However, he admitted, the physical aspect of the series was a bit more than he had expected. “Maybe I thought I was in better shape than I really was,” the 58-year-old said.

“I thought I was in shape. You know what it is? It’s how many times you’ve got to do something over.

I’m good for one run but, on this, I have to run like 20 times. So, I thought I was in shape but even if you’re in the best physical condition it’s stuff that, cerebrally, will catch you as well. There’s no way to really prepare for this.”

While Maestro has travelled Canada as a performer the show also provided him an opportunity to see parts of the country he’d never visited and, with that, came meeting people he said he’ll never forget. Among those are his teammate for the show, two-time Guinness World Record holder Duane “D.O.” Gibson. Gibson is a motivational speaker, author, and record-breaking freestyle rapper who has reached students across Canada with more than 4,000 school performances, assemblies, youth conferences, and educational programs.

“It was great working on this with him because The Amazing Race Canada is something totally outside both of our comfort zones,” Maestro, who has lived in Saint John since 2020, said. “This was a whole different lane for me, altogether.” And that change was good in a challenging way, said Maestro.

He said looking back on shooting the series he’s proud of the challenges he faced and proud of the entire cast and production crew. “When you think of the cast and you think of the other teams and their own, individual journeys that they’ve been through too and it’s ‘Wow.’ I’m humbled,” he said.

“I think with me, pushing the envelope and reinvention of my career is what the Maestro Fresh Wes is all about. It’s longevity, perseverance and Canadian heritage and I think The Amazing Race Canada symbolizes that.” The main thing he’ll take away from the experience, he added, is perseverance and the drive and push to keep reaching for the goal, whatever that may be.

“Never quit. It’s easy to quit,” he said. “Extraordinary people have extraordinary challenges and they selected 10 extraordinary teams for this extraordinary, amazing challenge.

The easiest thing to do was quit but to keep going forward until you think you’re about to crash out on your teammate, cry, laugh.... It’s something I’ll never forget because I might be known through music and stuff that I’ve done where I’m a master of certain things, but this was something where it’s humbling because, like everybody else, it’s the first time we’re doing all these things.” The Amazing Race Canada airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ADT on CTV.

This week’s episode, where Maestro and Duane are eliminated from the race, is currently streaming on Crave.