An amazing tour around the country

MANILA, Philippines - Take the concept of Amazing Race, which brings participants to different destinations and allows them to experience diverse cultures, with exciting challenges to accomplish.

Combine that with the format of Survivor, which maroons players in an island and groups them as tribes. They are made to display their strength, agility, endurance, willpower and determination to complete the obstacles.

Those two internationally popular reality shows apparently became the inspiration for PLDT myDSL to launch Awesome Hunt, a competition that takes participants to eight cities around the country for a thrilling adventure.

Sixteen celebrities coming from a cross section of entertainment, sports, cyberspace and society are brought together for the first time in the much-awaited competition. The contestants are grouped into eight teams of two, with the challenge to come up with great online travel features.

This time, the web will play an integral part in the contestant’s tasks. After completing every challenge, the teams are required to creatively document each task and post it on the PLDT myDSL Watchpad before moving on to the next one.

The entries to be posted on the web should ignite anyone’s passion for adventure. Hence, the teams will be compelled to use their resourcefulness and imagination to the hilt to come up with the best coverage in each city.

Marco Alcaraz of My Lover, My Wife teams up with Machete leading lady Bela Padilla to rediscover the historic city of Butuan. MYX VJ Ton Vergel de Dios and GMA 7’s I Heart You Pare mainstay Ryza Cenon trek to the university town of Dumaguete.

Blogger Jayvee Fernandez runs with Luis Alandy to seek out challenges in Las Piñas, while mother-and-son TV hosts Dolly Anne Carvajal and IC Mendoza cover Laguna.

Controversial Manila tour guide Carlos Celdran and chef/TV host China Cojuangco revisit Quezon City. Starstruck’s Steven Silva and Eat, Bulaga! co-host Daiana Menezes check out Marikina.

Magic 89.9 DJ Mojo Jojo and Between Bites blogger Jane Chua prepare to get familiar with Rizal, while Mark Herras and champion race car drifter Alex Perez race through Cavite.

Hosted by Rhian Ramos, the treasure hunt will lead teams through four pre-determined venues in each city, like, for instance, a restaurant, novelty shop, ukay-ukay, a landmark, the public market or even anybody’s residence.

At stake for the winning team is P50,000 per member, a one-year free PLDT myDSL subscription, trip to a popular summer get-away, brand new laptop and digital camera.

Launched with the Department of Tourism (DOT), Awesome Hunt kicked off yesterday and every PLDT myDSL subscriber can also participate. Simply sign up for Watchpad, which comes free with the subscription. Then visit www.pldtwatchpad.com/awesomehunt to follow the progress of each participating team and vote for the one with the best online travelogue starting today until April 24.

An esteemed panel of judges will choose the winning travelogue and online votes from Watchpad users will also determine the winner.

For PLDT myDSL subscribers, at stake for the Awesome Hunt are laptop, camera and P50,000 in cash for the lucky voter who gets to pick the winning team.

Interestingly, Awesome Hunt is another PLDT myDSL’s innovative event to increase its subscriber base, with some 200,000 additional lines that have been installed to get more households hooked on broadband Internet.