The stakes just got higher for the Canadian spinoff of The Amazing Race.

The Amazing Race Canada will premiere on CTV on July 15 with what producers say is “the biggest prize ever awarded for a Canadian competition television series.”

The grand prize will be $250,000 cash plus the chance to travel first class free for a year to anywhere Air Canada flies.

There are also two 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingrays up for grabs. And special “pit stop” prizes will be announced in coming weeks.

“The stakes are real, the grand prize is eye-popping and I fully expect teams to lay it all on the line from the start of the race to the finish line,” said John Brunton in a news release. His company, Insight Productions, is bringing the show to air in association with CTV.

Unlike the U.S. version, where contestants travel around the world for a chance to win $1 million, the Canadian version will stick to travel within our borders. Thousands of applications to participate have flooded into CTV since it announced the production of the show.

While the network has gone to great ends to keep the teams, the hosts and the locations secret, details have been trickling out through social media.

Last Friday, a bystander posted a video of the contestants picking up their knapsacks and charging toward their cars to kick off the contest in Niagara Falls.

Later in the day, contestants were spotted on a flight to Vancouver. Fellow passengers were possibly tipped off by the camera crews onboard.

On Saturday, they were again spotted at the airport, this time heading to Kelowna.

Stay tuned to the #RaceCDA hashtag on Twitter, follow @AmazingRaceCDA and check the CTV Facebook page for updates.