Anthony Forrest is a man on a mission, and that mission is two-fold: to become a contestant on the first-ever version of The Amazing Race Canada — set to air this summer on CTV — and to find his long-lost missing brother.
A police constable with the Barrie Police Service, Anthony, 37, has been on a quest for the past eight years to locate his younger brother Hal.
Missing since February 28, 2005, at the age of 24 Hal Forrest left a note for his parents saying he was leaving home to “find himself” after ditching the family car at a local bookstore with the keys inside. He took his clothes and computer with him, but left his wallet and IDs behind.
Since then, the University of Waterloo dropout seems to have vanished off the face of the earth, despite intensive searches across Canada and the U.S.
Hal Forrest has been missing from his Barrie home since 2005, help us find himbit.ly/KCIGw6twitpic.com/9iu7d7
— Barrie Police (@BarriePolice) May 8, 2012
In a bid to raise awareness and in hopes of finally finding his brother, Anthony teamed up with long-time friend and fellow Barrie cop Jonathan Waugh and submitted a 3 minute YouTube video as their audition tape for The Amazing Race Canada.
Anthony told the Toronto Star that while he’d love to be a contestant on the hugely popular reality show, he mainly hoped to get exposure for his brother’s case and encourage him to return home.
An age-enhanced image of missing person Hal Forrest (Via Barrie Police Service)
On the video he addresses his motivations.
His name is Hal Forrest and he’s a missing person. My family hasn’t had any contact with Hal since 2005. I don’t know where he is, I don’t know whether he’s even alive. Being on The Amazing Race would not only fulfill a dream of mine as I’ve been a fan of the show, but it would also provide my family the opportunity to let Hal know that we’re still looking for him and that we haven’t given up on him. At the same time, it would also demonstrate to my young boys not to be afraid of this world, but to value it.
Anthony’s father, also named Hal Forrest, is a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and has been on his own quest to find his missing son, using his days off to drive around nearby Waterloo and Toronto searching for any sign of the younger Hal. He told the Star:
Not a day has gone by where we have not thought about him . . . it’s a nightmare.
The Amazing Race Canada will be the 12th version of the Emmy award-winning reality show, and producers have received thousands of applications since the casting call went out in December. Audition tapes and applications are being accepted until February 28 and filming is expected to begin this spring.
#Ready, set, GO! Apply for #RaceCDA on #CTV before Feb 28! Details here: ow.ly/hEwKs @bodybreak have you applied yet?
— Amazing Race Canada (@AmazingRaceCDA) February 12, 2013
