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Amazing Race Asia 2 Finale Party |
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Written by Genevieve Jeffrey
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Fans, family and friends totaling 400 gathered at IndoChine, The Forbidden City to watch the final episode of the thirteen-part reality series that was aired on AXN and, of course, to celebrate the culmination of the season in an exclusive invitation-only party.
Undercurrents of excitement making the periodic waves in an otherwise relaxed atmosphere, characterized the vibe of the party. Wine flowed freely along with conversation and the party slowly picked up its pace with distinct groups of supporters forming camps, though the flags were well hidden out of sight for most of the time.
The Amazing Race Asia 2 brought contestants around four continents, across the distance of 50 000 kilometers. The race brought them to South Africa, Germany, Czech Republic, New
Zealand, Japan, Philippines, Hong Kong, Hungary, Singapore and Korea, requiring them to complete a series of tasks designed to challenge them physically and mentally.
Escaping elimination was foremost on the minds of most teams. As the tension proved to be too much to handle and sheer good luck became elusive, teams were eliminated one by one as they came in last in rounds pre-designated as elimination rounds.
The three teams left to compete in the final leg of the race were: Malaysian sisters - Pamela Chong, 24 and Vanessa Chong, 29; Singaporeans - Adrian Yap, 28 and Collin Low, 35; and hailing from the Philippines, Marc Nelson, 31 and Rovilson Fernandez, 30.
All three teams were strong contenders with all teams having won at least one leg of the race prior to the final round, as Vanessa from the Malaysian sister duo pointed out. The Filipino team was considered the strongest going by them having won eight legs and coming in a close second in the other rounds. The Singaporeans, however, were always hot on their heels.
When it came down to the final task, even though the Filipino team was the first to arrive, they were the last to leave. The Malaysian sisters arrived next, followed by the Singaporeans who lost their early lead as they let their taxi go and spent twenty minutes trying to hail a new one.
Despite being the last to arrive, Adrian set out to quickly finish the task of arranging the flags in the order of the countries they had visited within three minutes, thereby successfully managing to demoralize the other two struggling teams.
The Malaysian sisters finished second and the Filipino team finished last. Since this task was the last task that the teams had to complete before rushing to the final pit stop, the sequence in which it was completed by the team effectively determined their final placing.
Unsurprisingly, the Singaporeans emerged the champions, followed closely by the Malaysian sisters, and lastly the Filipino team. The complete reversal in the positions of the leader and laggard teams from the previous challenge is just the sort of excitement that fans of the Amazing Race have come to expect and thrive on.
Brains trumped brawn once again, as the underdogs leapt to a spectacular win, Adrian's disability notwithstanding. As Colin mentioned on stage after the results were announced, "...disability is nothing. Adrian did us proud... (and now) anything is possible!"
With such a heartwarming finish, the atmosphere in IndoChine expectedly ratcheted up several notches.
As the prizes were presented, Adrian and Colin were presented with US$100 000. To the pleasant surprise of everyone in the room, they were presented with an additional US$2 500, as a result of their US$100 000 prize being put in a high interest account, since shooting wrapped in July.
Pamela and Vanessa were presented with the Nokia N95 and N81 phones each, as were Adrian and Colin. Despite coming in third, Marc and Rovilson had no reason to feel bad that night, given that they were presented with all the prizes they had won from winning eight legs of the race. They were each presented with free fuel for a year, a holiday in Africa, 2 Sony Handicams and US$10 000.
Talking to the three teams after the excitement died down, Hooked was able to explicate a more concrete snapshot of the dynamics between the final three teams. The good camaraderie between all three teams seemed genuine, as all of the members were friendly and forthcoming with each other, and with Hooked as well.
Hooked first spoke to the Malaysian team, who were constantly joking. They said they were happy for Adrian and Colin's win since "they have such good hearts" as opposed to their own "normal hearts".
They kept reinforcing how despite coming in second, they still "felt like we won" and even took a jab at the Filipino team when they claimed that they felt that way because "we beat Marc and Rovilson!"
Being able to travel and realize the limits to which they could push themselves were some of the valuable things that they gained from the race. When questioned on whether any romance blossomed between them and the Filipino boys, all they said was that they "raced and raced and raced, no alliances," even proclaiming that the Filipinos were "the enemy, our competitors!"
Given that their predecessor, a Malaysian female duo won The Amazing Race Asia 1, Hooked wondered if they felt that they had let their country down, but they said that it was more of a personal race and they were not really representing Malaysia.
Taking a totally different stance, Marc and Rovilson were all about representing the Philippines. As they ran to the final pit stop, they unrolled the Philippines flag, displaying it proudly.
"We are happy to represent the Philippines," quipped Marc, as it has been "a good home and opened so many doors."
When questioned about how he felt as Rovilson struggled through the last task, Marc politely said, "I knew it was infinitely harder for him and I couldn't be happier and prouder to have such a teammate."
The "big, bad team from the Philippines" as the boys call themselves is all about "humor and fun," "being idiots and making fun of each other." Yes the teasing did not stop, as although Marc was forgiving of Rovilson's lack of knowledge on national flags, he did not stop the teasing throughout the night.
As it was also Marc's birthday that night, a cake was brought out for celebration. This Amazing Race themed cake had tiny flags representing the countries they visited. Marc lovingly took out the flags one by one and teased Rovilson saying that he needed the flags more and identified each one for him, taking a poke at Rovilson's lack of knowledge in flags that had cost them the race.
Finally, Hooked caught up with the winners, Singaporeans Adrian and Colin.
They attributed their success to being prepared. They identified each other's strengths and which sort of tasks would suit each person best, so when it came down to it, at that moment they knew who would be best suited for each task.
For the final task of identifying the flags of the countries they had visited in the correct order, Adrian thanked his mum for his impressive knowledge about national flags as she had bought him a book on flags when he was little and he excitedly studied it.
They claimed not to have had any home ground advantage due to traffic jams and the lack of taxis that put them on par with the other foreign teams. It was also sheer coincidence that Colin had completed his share of roadblocks, which left Adrian with no choice but to do that task.
After they won, they were really tired and life returned to "normal", since they could not tell anybody about their win, not even their immediate family members. They mostly wanted to tell their mother and sister the good news but could not.
 As Colin said, "It was a beautiful moment, running through the Chinese Garden, indescribable, heavenly." They felt the same feeling once more as they watched the final episode with the other teams and everyone who was present cheered them on.
Although the deadline for applications for the Amazing Race Asia 3 has passed, there is still Amazing Race 4 to look out for, hopefully.
 Vanessa Chong advised those interested in participating in the future seasons to watch the prior seasons of the race, and choose a partner who has the same thirst for adventure, the prize money and most importantly, one who has the tenacity to push his/her endurance levels to the limits, in a bid to outlast the other teams in the competition.
Differentiating one's team in the application video is a must as well. The Malaysian sisters did a little skit from their home to the post office to mail the application and attribute their irrepressible sense of humor as one of the reasons they were selected.
So go ahead and give it a shot! You never know what might happen or what adventure lays in store for you! HOOKED
Photography by Alvin Zhang of the NUSSU Video and Photographic Society
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