With the elimination of Ann & Diane in The Amazing Race 2 Episode 12, we’re now down to the final three teams: Rovilson Fernandez & Marc Nelson of the Philippines, Vanessa Chong & Pamela Chong of Malaysia, and Collin Low & Adrian Yap of Singapore. This season has really been a story of the complete dominance of Rovilson & Marc, although unlike everybody else, Adrian & Collin have given them a run for their money. While it can be suggested that these two teams had it too easy, I’d argue they could take on the best players and still perform strongly.
Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.
First: Rovilson & Marc (5:09am)
Second: Adrian & Collin (5:25am)
Third: Pamela & Vanessa (5:34am)
Teams must drive themselves to District Six Museum in Cape Town, the home of the first black South African community, who were forcibly removed from their homes during apartheid.
Pamela & Vanessa point out something I had not realized previously. The teams remaining are the only teams to win a leg. Marc & Rovilson have placed first an astonishing 9 times (with three second place finishes). Adrian & Collin, who usually placed second behind them, managed to come in first two times. And way back in episode 1, before their various nervous breakdowns, Pamela & Vanessa won the first leg and came off as one of the early strong contenders.
The museum opens at 8am, and the drive there is long enough that the first team to arrive, Rovilson & Marc, don’t have to wait for the hours of operation. Once there, they need to figure out a computer password from a list of streets. Once they get that, they must read one paragraph about the history from the walls of the museum.
The detour is a choice between search or assemble. In search, teams must make their way through Scratch Patch and search through hundreds of semi-precious stones to find the designated race rocks. In assemble, teams must go to Bishop’s Wires & Bead Craft, where they will learn how to make a South African wire art radio.
Radio: Rovilson & Marc (after trying search), Vanessa & Pamela
Search: Adrian & Collin (turns out to be not as hard as it sounds)
From there, teams will drive to the soccer field at FC Kapstadt next to the construction site for the 2010 World Cup soccer stadium, where they will need to score three goals from the penalty line.
After that, they’ll drive to the Atlantis Dunes and ride quad bikes along a flagged course to search for a clue. There are 18 possible checkpoints. One has a clue. The others have an hourglass that must run out before they can move on. This game of dumb luck is potentially the opportunity the trailing two teams have been waiting for. Rovilson & Marc take the time to perfect their sand angels and sand breakdancing. Adrian & Collin are using the fact that they’re in second to their advantage, as they’re avoiding anywhere they believe Rovilson & Marc have already been. Having spent some time spying on Adrian & Collin’s strategy, once they do get the clue, Rovilson & Marc decide to wait and pretend it’s an hourglass. They don’t buy the acting, though, and grab the clue a few minutes afterward (after recovering from a wipeout).
Once they’re done playing in the sand, they’ll drive to Cape Point and go by Funicular to the Upper Station then walk to the Cape Point Historic Lighthouse. They have to tell the lighthouse keeper the country they think they’ll be travelling to next to get their next clue. When they arrive, Rovilson & Marc miss the point of the clue, allowing Adrian & Collin to take the lead. They find out they will be travelling to Singapore next, which gives them the home country advantage.
The airport is the great equalizer and makes the rest of the leg moot. All three teams are on the same flight to Singapore, 9700km away. The first stop is the Raffles Statue at the Asian Civilizations Museum. They will now head to Tanjong Beach at Sentosa Island by taxi. Rovilson & Marc, mere seconds ahead of Adrian & Collin, catch a break. They kept their taxi waiting while they read their clue, but the other guys didn’t.
The road block is to place the flags of the countries they have visited on the race in order. This turned out to be the difference between losing and winning for the hippies in The Amazing Race 9.
Road block (in order of arrival): Rovilson, Vanessa, Adrian
Rather than choosing to pick the person who would have done better, Rovilson & Marc stick with their strategy of alternating road blocks. While that’s worked well for them thus far, now’s not the best time for it. Eventually, the other two teams catch up, so the race comes down to who can finish it first. Adrian, who had a book of flags when he was younger, takes the lead by finishing the task first. Vanessa gets it next. Rovilson finishes, but it’s not looking so good.
The final pitstop for this leg of the race is the Rainbow Bridge at the Chinese Garden.
First: Adrian & Collin
Second: Vanessa & Pamela
Third: Rovilson & Marc
And The Amazing Race Asia 2 winners are Adrian & Collin. While they were a good team, it’s hard not to feel that Rovilson & Marc should have won this race after dominating it so much. Still, they ran a good race having won almost every leg, and they took the time to stop and smell the roses along the way, making them perhaps the most entertaining team from any season of The Amazing Race.
With the success of the first two seasons, it’s likely we will see The Amazing Race Asia 3. Applications are currently being accepted and are due February 25, 2008. Filming is expected to begin later this year. As with this season, stay tuned to dingoRUE for recaps.
A word of advise here.. If u are narrating something, it is wise, if not essential to leave out your feelings or perception. Form reading this, I can get that you are a disillusioned Filipino fan.
While I appreciate the feedback, I must disagree. Yes, some bloggers may perhaps censor themselves, but I do not consider the goal of a good blogger to be objectivity. In addition to informing, I let it be known who I like and who I don’t like, and if someone agrees or disagrees, that’s the point of having a comments area. Opposing viewpoints are certainly welcome.
I haven’t hidden that I’m a Filipino fan from the very beginning, which is not surprising because my history of posts on any reality show should suggest I like the people who play the game the best and/or who entertain me the most. I don’t think that necessarily makes me disillusioned, though.
I agree with Shane.
He is not purporting to be The Times of London or the Herald Tribune. He is perfectly entitled to express his opinions. I, while being neither Filipino nor Malaysian, would have preferred to see either Marc & Rovilson or Vanessa & Pamela win. The Filipino team because they were hilariously witty; the Malaysian team because their seriousness (combined with being outrageously good-looking) was charming and attractive. Well done to the Singapore team for winning, but I felt that they were the least appealing as a team – simply because they were focused on winning, without taking the time to show any sort of personality during proceedings.
the comment by shane was objective even though he favored the phils team. i also felt the phil team should have won since they have won most of the legs. it seemed unfair that they lost just because rovilson is not familiar with the flags. it was just luck and it didn’t require hard thinking and brawns.
My friends and I love A&C since the start of the race. Just because they’re not witty, funny, attractive, talkative, does not mean that they don’t fit as winners. They’re humble, nice and dedicated. The prize for their hard work is well deserved.
Note for Rovilson: You should have pay more attention to the flags instead of talking to the camera.
Note for Marc: Since you said you’re good in geography, why Rovilson’s the one who performed the final road block?
Anyway, you guys won 8 legs, there are already lots of prizes 😉
I totally AGREE with Silvana. I mean A&C totally deserved it. They were so hardworking, not to mention they played clean, never pretending to hide the clue, unlike SOME.. And don’t mention to me the cab matter!! What was wrong with so focused on winning? This is a RACE, ok! Maybe that’s what M&R AND P&V are missing. Winning most of the legs of the race, doesn’t mean you’re the real winner.It’s basically just making you not eliminated.. I’M so sorry, but I’m just so sick keep reading about how M&R should won the race since they had won most of the legs. come on guys,A&C totally deserve to win, because they made the right choice..
I think Adrian & Collin were deserving winners in that they were a smart team, and any other year, they probably would have been the best. I just had difficulty getting behind them because they weren’t particularly interesting.
As a Filipino, it was painful to see the team that was clearly the strongest lose in the final pitstop. In response to Ashley, a team that wins almost every leg of the race is obviously faster and, in this case, Marc and Rovilson definitely did deserve to win. I’m not saying that Adrian and Collin didn’t deserve to win because they were good the whole way too, but Marc and Rovilson were the strongest team and just because they didn’t win the whole thing doesn’t mean they didn’t deserve to. In defense of them, their hiding of the clue wasn’t dirty in the context as it was simply a counter to Colin and Adrian’s own sneaky tactics.
And in response to Silvana, would the race have been as fun to watch without Rovilson’s jokes?
Nevertheless, it was somewhat uplifting watching the handicapped team celebrate.
Note for Marc: Since you said you’re good in geography, why Rovilson’s the one who performed the final road block?
He had already performed 6 roadblocks. Original TAR rule imposed after season 5: A team member cannot perform more than 6 roadblocks in the whole race.
I don’t remember it being mentioned in TARA, but since no team member exceeded 6, it may have been enforced.
And as for my two cents: I heartily congratulate Adrian and Collin, but I agree with them being not too interesting. I didn’t laugh, feel bad, or feel anything for them that wasn’t connected with the disability.
Let’s admit, if a strong, competitive “gym buddies” team (sans disability, but had their exact personalities) competed instead, everyone would hate them. The same way everyone hates “frat boy” teams on Amazing Race US, despite us not knowing much about them apart from the “frat boy” label.
In the spirit of “disability is nothing,” I think Adrian could have competed head on with any of the stronger team players there. And yet he’s an underdog, because people do still think that disability is something.
is it just me, or is the ending just a bit, scratch that, a lot scripted? the oh so focused and serious underdog team, with the first differently abled racer, coming from behind just in the nick of time to snatch victory from the invincible alpha team… my eyebrows are up to my hairline! come on, that scenario has been done with and with more finesse by the hippie vs frat boys. the clues were there for the picking, rovi hinted about events being scripted, the references to their being mindless, to set up their eventual collapse. in fact, M/R are prepared students of the game, and flags are such obvious tasks. of course, it had to be the deaf guy to perform the heroic act. but it leaves a hollow taste. in spite of the editing to build up A/C, they were simply too stodgy and flat to cheer for. Marc and Rov have generous spirit indeed to tone down their competitive spirit and to give way, in the (mistaken) belief that a win by a disabled racer, even if not fully deserved, is a win for everyone. i do agree with teri, in my heart, i know marc and rovilson have won the amazing race.
wowww i love team philippines!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I personally was very disappointed to see Marc & Rovilson lose. Yes, I am a Filipino but there was definitely a lot more reason that just that to support them (let it be known that I wasn’t such a huge fan of Henry and Teri). Not only were they strong physically, Marc and Rovilson played it clean and played it smart, they were not mean / nasty to any other teams, they never bickered and seemed to have the most fun while being on the race. Adrian and Collin were strong too, undoubtedly, but I agree, they just weren’t so much fun.
yeah, ACs victory was just blah… no taste… anyway, i recently watched the rerun of the TAR 12 final where the flag challenge was the last task. There, a reference of the flags of the countries that they visited was displayed (without the countries’ names of course), and the team member who didn’t perform the roadblock WAS ALLOWED TO COACH HIS TEAMMATE. Tyler was able to tell BJ which flag was for which country. Had Marc been allowed to coach Rovilson, they would have finished the task in no time and would have won for them the race. But as they say, that’s all water under the bridge now.