February 16, 2008 | 12:00am
After crossing multiple continents, and gracing the shores of 10 countries, from Singapore, New Zealand, Germany, Hungary, South Africa to the Philippines, three teams made it to the top three spots, but only one team won The Amazing Race Asia.
Philippines’ Marc Nelson and Rovilson Fernandez, whose charm and ability have put them in first place in eight of the 12 pitstops, placed third in the second season of “The Amazing Race Asia.” They came behind winners Adrian Yap and Collin Low of Singapore and Pamela and Vanessa Chong of Malaysia in the race to the finish line. Adrian and Collin won 100,000 U.S. dollars.
With their impressive track record, the12th and final leg of the race actually held a lot of promise for the model-tv host Marc and model-magazine editor Rovilson, who had so far fulfilled two of the four goals they had set for themselves, namely not to get eliminated and to be in the top three teams.
They went off to a good start as the race kicked off from Aquila Game Reserve in Cape Town, South Africa, always arriving first to get a clue and complete a challenge. But it was the final roadblock that led the downfall of what has been touted as the strongest team on TARA 2.
The roadblock was situated at a Singapore beach, where one team member must place national flags in the sand, in the order of the countries they have visited since the start of the race. The first to arrive at the roadblock, Rovilson picked up the challenge and Marc was disappointed to know that it was basically flag recognition challenge. Rovilson, he said, is not ever good with flags. Explained Marc, “It’s very frustrating to watch this, especially when you know the flags and see your teammate picking the wrong one.”
“I have seen the flags come up for countries that we haven’t been to and it was a little frustrating. But I know it must have been so much more frustrating for Rovilson,” he added.
Even if Collin and Adrian were the last to arrive, the latter, on the other hand, simply rushed to the flag area and completed the roadblock to perfection to the amazement of the other teams.
So how did Adrian finish up in record time? “When I was a child, I had a very big passion for knowledge all over the world. So I remember my mom bought me a book of the flags,” he explained. And that was how Adrian and Collin, who has a hearing impairement, became the first to receive the final clue of the race.
At the final pitstop at the Chinese Garden, Adrian and Collin were greeted by the other teams who were eliminated along the way, including another Filipino team made up of Henry, a retired US serviceman, and his Filipina wife, Terri. The gym buddies rushed to a waiting Allan Wu, TARA’s host, who informed them that after travelling 10 countries, 15 cities and 51,534km, they were the winners of The Amazing Race Asia.
They were followed by sisters Pamela and Vanessa, then Marc and Rovilson. It was still a proud moment for the Filipino fans who have followed the duo on TARA. Despite being painfully aware that victory had already slipped from their grasp, they continued to parade as they walked towards the final pitstop waving a small Philippine flag—the only team to do so.
The race started in Singapore and the teams went to the Philippines, China, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, South Africa, then back to Singapore which served as the last pitstop.
Amazing Race Asia is based on the worldwide hit American reality TV series Amazing Race.
In the first Amazing Race Asia, the Philippines were represented by ABS-CBN publishing couple Ernesto and Jill Lopez and buddies Aubrey Miles and Jacqueline Yu. Unfortunately, the RP teams were the first two teams to be eliminated. (With reports from AXN-ASIA)
