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.