Category: amazing race asia 3

Following on the heels of Natalie’s overdue departure, Niroo & Kapil both stopped trying in a disastrous performance throughout the leg in The Amazing Race Asia Season 3 Episode 4 and were eliminated.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Ida & Tania – 2:00PM
Second: Vince & Sam – 2:17PM
Third: Mai & Oliver – 2:53PM
Fourth: Henry & Bernie – 2:55PM
Fifth: AD & Fuzzie – 2:56PM
Sixth: Geoff & Tisha – 3:54PM

Mai & Oliver realize they argue over stupid things. Henry & Bernie say they’re calmer now and are taking a different approach. AD & Fuzzie seem to have a loose alliance with Henry & Bernie.

The first stop is Sony Style in the New Sogo department store, where they will search among 1000 Blu-ray discs for a clue, a dumb luck task of popping discs into players until they get lucky. It becomes even more hectic when multiple teams arrive. Sam & Vince finish quickly and easily. AD & Fuzzie finish next. Henry & Bernie are third. Ida & Tania begin discussing the penalty after a while. Considering Geoff & Tisha have arrived by this point, they’ve probably been there 2 hours already. They decide against the penalty and are the fourth to finish. Geoff & Tisha are next, leaving Mai & Oliver behind. When they realize that there’s only one disc left and that all the discs have been mixed together by everybody, so they’re unsure what has or has not been checked already, they’re demoralized, but Mai suggests just getting a bite to eat and then coming back and trying again. They keep plugging away but don’t make any progress. Eventually, the shop closes, so they have to stop searching and continue with the race. They’re a good distance behind everybody else, though.

From there, they can go for the first and only fast forward on the race. Having completed the first task first, Vince & Sam opt to do the fast forward. They’ll need to get a tattoo. Should be simple enough to complete, and they do, making first place pretty obvious.

The next destination is the New Pingshi Coal Mine in Shih-Fen. It’s a road block. In this road block, one team member must dig through hundreds of kilos of coal to find a souvenir. The first couple of teams find it with no problem, but the next two aren’t so lucky. Ida & Tania manage to get another police escort, but Geoff & Tisha have a breakdown, where she starts sounding like the quitters from the last two weeks.

Mai & Oliver don’t even bother with all that. They just follow a cab straight off. Except that cab breaks down on the way there. Completely exhausted from their day of searching, they decide to sleep in the car and try again in the morning. They’d have been better off quitting the last task and taking the penalty because this will put them half a day behind.

Road block (in order of arrival): Henry, Fuzzie, Tania, Geoff

Straight from the road block, they head to a detour, pick or pail. In pick, teams must retrieve three items from a wawachi machine. In pail, teams must deliver a filled bucket to the top of a hill, which will prove to be more physically demanding than they may think. Pick looks to be quite a bit easier.

Pick (in order of arrival): AD & Fuzzie, Henry & Bernie, Geoff & Tisha
Pail: Ida & Tania

The pitstop for this leg of the race is the Taipei Astronomical Museum in Taipei City.

First: Vince & Sam (win a golfing getaway in Thailand)
Second: Henry & Bernie
Third: AD & Fuzzie
Fourth: Geoff & Tisha
Fifth: Ida & Tania
Eliminated: Mai & Oliver

When morning arrives, Allan wakes up Mai & Oliver to inform them they have been eliminated. Strangely, I’m sad to see them go.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race Asia 3 episode 6, and don’t forget the live blogs of The Amazing Race 13.

Natalie proved to be one of the poorest casting choices ever in The Amazing Race Asia 3 Episode 3. After whining nonstop and apparently sabotaging their stay on the show on purpose, she was finally put out of her misery and was eliminated alongside her actually useful partner Pailin. Natalie’s efforts (or lack thereof) once again allowed Niroo & Kapil to hang on by the skin of their teeth. On the opposite end of things, Henry & Bernie managed to win another leg.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Henry & Bernie – 2:04AM
Second: Vince & Sam – 2:05AM
Third: Ida & Tania – 2:08AM
Fourth: AD & Fuzzie – 2:10AM
Fifth: Geoff & Tisha – 2:14AM
Sixth: Mai & Oliver – 2:19AM
Seventh: Niroo & Kapil – 3:00AM

Kapil tells us that people are now reacting to their position (that would be last) because they’ve seen how they can impact the others.

They will be flying to Taipei, Taiwan. Nobody has the hometown advantage, but Vince & Sam have the language barrier under control. They’ll have to kill 6 hours at the airport first. Ida & Tania opt to return to the hotel instead, which proves wise since there’s just one flight, and they’re rested and well fed. The journey of only around 3000km will take all day.

The detour is a choice between shoot it or shape it. In shoot it, teams must find their clue in the Miniatures Museum of Taiwan and photograph it. The museum contains countless lifelike miniature displays. In shape it, teams must make their way to a night market and create shapes out of an ancient Chinese puzzle called tangrams. The two-sided game is also called 7 boards of cunning. Neither option sounds particularly appealing. Either search for something, which could take hours, or try to solve a puzzle, which could take hours.

Shoot it (in order of arrival): Mai & Oliver (with the assistance of a local), Geoff & Tisha, Vince & Sam, Henry & Bernie, Niroo & Kapil
Shape it: AD & Fuzzie (switched from shoot it after having been told the museum’s closed)

Mai & Oliver have clearly seen a season or two of The Amazing Race. After getting a taxi to drive so they could follow him, they kidnap a local off the street to give them directions.

Henry & Bernie have difficulty with the traffic nightmare of being unable to make a simple left turn and are pulled over by a cop in the process. For their part, Niroo & Kapil have a nervous breakdown over, well, I’m not quite clear. Their keys get stuck in the ignition. Just leave it there and ask for a replacement. It’s not like it’s their car.

When they arrive at the museum, Mai suggests they all team up and work together and show each other when they find “it,” whatever “it” may be. As they all struggle to find their clue, AD & Fuzzie fly through the puzzle, which I’d have passed by as the more difficult detour. Having proposed working together, Mai & Oliver are the first to finish the camera detour, after which they pretend they can’t do it and are changing tasks. After some convincing, the others believe they have’t found it, but they’re still not happy with them because it looks like they quit for no apparent reason. Oliver says he doesn’t want to help Geoff anyway. The next person to find the clue is Sam, who inadvertently yells out “Ah!” and gives away the location, which allows Ida & Tania, Geoff & Tisha, and Henry & Bernie to complete the task.

While all this is going on, Niroo & Kapil say they quit and want to go back home. Huh? Kapil finally talks some sense into his father and tells him that they can just leave the car where it is, which is entirely true, as even if it does get stolen, it’s still not like it’s their car. Because of their delay, though, they don’t have anyone else’s assistance at the detour, and they’re on their own.

The next stop is the Institute for the Blind, where they must read a clue in Braille. One person is blindfolded and doing the reading, while the other person assists with the letters and writing. They can only communicate verbally, which Tisha has to keep a leash on Geoff about. Henry says he thinks Mai & Oliver already got the clue. Sam & Vince receive the clue that lets them present a check for $20,000 to the owers of the institute. Most teams blow right through this task, but Bernie struggles.

On this leg, there’s an awful lot of the paying a taxi to lead them going on. Most teams are picking up on the difficulty of driving around Taipei. Ironically, it backfires on Mai & Oliver on their way to the next clue, though, as their cab driver gets lost, which causes Oliver to lose it, but Mai remains calm.

The Braille clue tells them to go to Shenken, a small town in Taipei that’s popular for its enormous variety of food and drinks. Yeah, this pretty well sounds like bad news. It’s a gross eating challenge. In this road block, one person must eat one large bowl of stinky tofu, which contains duck blood, fermented tofu, spices, and vegetables. Let the vomiting and crying begin. This challenge seems particularly difficult for the women since not only is the food difficult to eat, but the amount of food is pretty substantial.

Road block (in order of arrival): Ida, Oliver, Vince, AD, Henry, Tisha, Kapil

Their earlier quitting looked to be for show, but this is a much larger gesture they can’t handle the race. Kapil takes one look at the bowl and doesn’t even make an effort, instead opting for the 4 hour penalty.

The pitstop for this leg of the race is City Hall Square in Taipei. Tania gets a police escort to take them there.

First: Ida & Tania (win N96 Nokia phones)
Second: Vince & Sam
Third: Mai & Oliver
Fourth: Henry & Bernie
Fifth: AD & Fuzzie
Sixth: Geoff & Tisha
Eliminated: Niroo & Kapil

With everybody else arriving around 2 in the morning, when Niroo & Kapil show up when the sun comes up, it becomes obvious just how far behind they’ve managed to get. That’s a moot point, though, as they have been eliminated. This is the second week in a row where the team already checked out of the race before they were ever eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race Asia 3 episode 5, and don’t forget the live blogs of The Amazing Race 13.

A gap in flights created a three way battle for last in The Amazing Race Asia 3 Episode 2, and Isaac & William were eliminated from the race. Mai & Oliver gave up their first place lead with a short-sighted decision for comfort that caused them to drop to the bottom of the pack, while Natalie whined about how life’s so difficult when you’re a drama queen.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Henry & Bernie – 5:00AM
Second: AD & Fuzzie – 5:35AM
Third: Vince & Sam – 5:40AM
Fourth: Niroo & Kapil – 6:02AM
Fifth: Geoff & Tisha – 6:35AM
Sixth: Ida & Tania – 7:08AM
Seventh: Pailin & Natalie – 11:30AM
Eighth: Mai & Oliver – 11:38AM

We’re still seeing the sizeable gap left over for the last two teams, one big enough to not be easily erased unless they get lucky at an airport or hours of operations.

From Ho Chi Minh, teams will head by bus to Hue, which at one time was the capitol of Vietnam. This 1000km trip will take about 25 hours.

Bernie believes it’s a 25 minute trip. She’s in for a surprise, as are Niroo & Kapil who believe it’s 90 minutes. It’ll seem even longer for those teams opting for a cheaper, non-air conditioned bus.

First bus (arrives first): Henry & Bernie, Niroo & Kapil
Second Bus (arrives third): AD & Fuzzie, Vince & Sam, Geoff & Tisha
Third Bus (arrives second): Ida & Tania
Fourth Bus (arrives way last): Pailin & Natalie, Mai & Oliver

When they finally arrive in Hue, teams must make their way on foot to Caltex. It’s an hours of operations of 9:30, which will eat away at about 3 hours of the lead over the last two teams.

Natalie’s not happy she’s not on Top Model. She claims she didn’t sleep on the bus, but Oliver says she’s a liar. She also says she didn’t sign up to race around the world, apparently. To make matters worse, neither of the last place teams is particularly happy that they’ve been walking around aimlessly for about an hour trying to find the Caltex. But the good news, except for Natalie who wants to be eliminated, is that their bus was apparently fast enough that the other teams aren’t that far ahead any more.

Once Caltex opens, they must replace the tires and change the oil on a marked Jeep. The women all complain they don’t know what they’re doing, but most of them are troopers and get through it. With the exception of Mai (who lets Oliver do the work, which he’s fine with since he does this kind of thing at home) and Natalie (who flat out refuses to help her partner for the most part, even though she really could use it).

When their work is approved by the driver, they will drive to Khai Dinh Tomb. Henry & Bernie, who finished the task third, break down on the way to their destination, so they could be in trouble. Meanwhile, Geoff & Tisha are generating the wrath of Ida & Tania (and vice versa).

The road block for this leg is to travel to the tomb of Emperor Minh Mang, where they will gather 7 coins representing the 7 emperors of the Nyuen dynasty. The grounds are 28 hectares (69 acres) and could prove difficult to search. They must make sure to note who the coin represents because if they get it wrong they will need to go back to the other tomb so they can get the correct answers and try again.

Road block (in order of arrival): Niroo, Vince, Ida, Henry, Geoff, AD, Oliver, Natalie

Geoff & Tisha know they’ve made a mistake since it would have been better to have her do this. Mai doesn’t even consider doing it. Natalie for some reason volunteers (sabotage?).

While Geoff’s doing the road block, Tania and Bernie take the opportunity to confront Tisha about him. She wants them to talk to him and work things out. They don’t care or want to. I think it’s safe to say they’re bringing this on themselves.

Henry is the first to finish the road block, and he agrees to help Vince to an extent, though he screws over Niroo and tells Vince to help Ida next. So Niroo goes around begging (aka annoying) everybody trying to get them to help him, first Ida, then Geoff, before finally realizing he should just go back and try to figure it out himself. Oddly enough, though, Vince left his coins in the right order when he left to help whoever happened to look (nobody in particular apparently). Ida, meanwhile, received AD’s pile in order, though she mixed it up. When Ida does figure it out, she says that Niroo should have just waited for her to finish so that he could get some assistance. Oliver finishes the task but says he can’t do anything more afterward because he’s too dehydrated, which would essentially make his team useless. Niroo finally finishes, and still nobody has noticed that Vince left the answers. Natalie can’t figure it out. She goes into the corner and pouts for a while, then decides, without consulting her partner, that she will quit and take the 4 hour penalty, which she rationalizes by saying at least she’ll get some extra sleep. She really doesn’t care. Pailin’s supportive, rather than smacking her upside the head (which I’d like to see).

The detour is a choce between sticks and stocks. In sticks, teams must make 10 incense sticks, which may look deceptively simple. In stocks teams must thresh rice stocks into kernels to fill two baskets, which will be physically draining.

Sticks (in order of arrival): Henry & Bernie, Vince & Sam, AD & Fuzzie, Ida & Tania, Mai & Oliver, Niroo & Kapil, Pailin & Natalie
Stocks: Geoff & Tisha (switched from sticks)

The next destination is Quoc Hoc Park where they will get their clue from a cyclo. Henry & Bernie, who finished the detour first, are having more car trouble, but only one team manages to pass them. They’d better hope they don’t need that Jeep for too much longer.

Once they arrive at the park and figure out that the clue is on a cyclo and not in a box, the teams must ride the cyclos to the next pitstop. The cyclos are dangerous and difficult to control.

First: Henry & Bernie (win HD Handycam camcorders)
Second: Vince & Sam
Third: Ida & Tania
Fourth: AD & Fuzzie
Fifth: Geoff & Tisha
Sixth: Mai & Oliver
Seventh: Niroo & Kapil
Eliminated: Pailin & Natalie

I liked Pailin, but good riddance to Natalie. She checked out of this race days ago. Pailin should have never agreed to let her do the road block, although if Pailin did it, she would have just been delaying the inevitable. Pailin’s disappointed. Natalie’s mostly just relieved that she’s done suffering.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race Asia 3 episode 4, and don’t forget the live blogs of The Amazing Race 13.

The two Indian teams struggled with cab drivers at the end of the first leg, and Neena & Amit were eliminated in The Amazing Race Asia 3 Episode 1.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Mai & Oliver – 10:35PM
Second: Geoff & Tisha – 10:38PM
Third: Henry & Bernie – 10:45PM
Fourth: Pailin & Natalie – 12:18AM
Fifth: Ida & Tania – 12:34AM
Sixth: Isaac & William – 12:41AM
Seventh: Vince & Sam – 12:55AM
Eighth: AD & Fuzzie – 1:20AM
Ninth: Niroo & Kapil – 1:29AM

The first stop is the Flight of the Gibbon, a jungle canopy adventure that will have them 50 meters above the rain forest. Mai assumes they’ll hit hours of operation and is in no rush. For that matter, they don’t even bother. They find a local place to relax for the night. Henry’s trusting his baby sister, reluctantly. Isaac & William hope to be the bumbling and silly guys who don’t know what they’re doing.

When they arrive, it turns out it is an hours of operation (9:30AM-5:00PM), but it’s also first come, first served. Vince & Sam arrive first. AD & Fuzzie are second. Ida & Tania are third. Niroo & Kapil are fourth. Henry & Bernie are fifth. Geoff & Tisha are sixth. Isaac & William are 7th. Pailin & Natalie are eighth. The well rested but not particularly bright Mai & Oliver are last, but at least they still have the home country advantage.

The next stop is a banana plantation. There they must find a backpack while avoiding paintball snipers (which can and will leave bruises) at the road block.

Road block (in order of arrival): Geoff, Mai, Bernie, Kapil, Fuzzie, Tania, William, Sam, Pailin

Teams will be leaving Thailand and heading to Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon), Vietnam, where they will go to the Saigon Opera House. This flight will remove the home country advantage from any of the teams.

First flight (Chiang Mai to Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh, 1500km): Tanya & Ida (finished the road block first)
Second flight (to Ho Chi Minh via Siem Reap, Cambodia): Henry & Bernie, Geoff & Tisha, AD & Fuzzie, Kapil & Niroo, Sam & Vince
Third flight (to Bangkok, where they will wait 15 hours for the 9AM connecting flight): William & Isaac, Pailin & Natalie, Mai & Oliver

Natalie has a nice bit of melodrama as she breaks down over having to sleep at the airport (get used to it). She blames Pailin for not supporting her during her “darkest hour.”

At the Saigon Pho Cafe, teams must complete one level of the N-Gage (seriously?) racing game System Rush. After this sponsorship opportunity, they will go to Ben Thanh Market, where they must find a flower stall. It’s a day market, which means hours of operation begin at 6AM (though Ida & Tania and Vince & Sam are misled to believe it’s 7AM). Well ahead of the last three teams, but it gives everybody else time to catch up.

From there, they will go to the Cai Be Bus Terminal, two hours away. Vince & Sam are thrown out of the bus with 6km left, for some unknown reason, but it’s moot since their worst case scenario is sixth place.

The detour is a choice between sampan or some walk. In sampan, teams will fill a traditional wooden boat with fruit and paddle it against strong river currents to a trader. In some walk, teams must collect and deliver 20 chickens using a dangan, and they can expect to run into language difficulty and getting lost.

Some walk: Niroo & Kapil, Henry & Bernie, AD & Fuzzie (switched from sampan), Ida & Tania (switched from sampan), Geoff & Tisha (switched from sampan), Sam & Vince, Isaac & William, Pailin & Natalie, Mai & Oliver

Two teams turn out to have members with chicken phobias, whatever that’s about. Henry & Bernie, one of the first teams to opt to go directly to the some walk task, finish first after a bit of bickering. Geoff & Tisha appear to take Ida & Tania’s basket instead of their own, so they make them turn around and bring it back, which accomplishes nothing but create animosity. Niroo & Kapil finish second, after much complaining by Niroo. Vince & Sam finish quickly despite their relatively late arrival, as the rest of the teams are still in the process of switching from the other seemingly more difficult task. The next three teams finish around the same time as each other. Geoff begins blowing his whistle, which apparently is disrespectful, or so the other teams tells us.

As they’re finishing up, the last three teams, who it’s so obvious have no prayer in this leg (looks like about 6 hours or so), are finally landing. Natalie’s complaining about how she’s being treated like less than human because of the conditions on the race (“being dirty is the lowest form of human existence”). Mai’s heart is not in it any more than this whiner either, although at least Mai’s not acting like a beauty queen for the time being.

The next stop is Thanh Nu Jean Darc Vang Lang Church in Ho Chi Minh City. Their task is to choose a charity and spend $500 on it. The rules seem unclear. Some of the teams go shopping, while some just give the charities cash.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is The Museum of Vietnamese History.

First: Henry & Bernie (win a year’s supply of gas)
Second: AD & Fuzzie
Third: Vince & Sam
Fourth: Niroo & Kapil
Fifth: Geoff & Tisha
Sixth: Ida & Tania
Seventh: Pailin & Natalie
Eighth: Mai & Oliver
Eliminated: Isaac & William

After struggling with the chicken task, Isaac & William are the last team to arrive and have been eliminated from the race.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race Asia 3 episode 3.

Despite being something of a two team race, The Amazing Race Asia 2 proved to be quite entertaining and a hit across Asia. We return for season 3 with a cast of 10 teams racing around the world for $100,000, along with Amazing Race Asia host Allan Wu.

The teams begin their race in Bangkok, Thailand. Teams arrive at the starting line, Rama I Monument, via Tuk Tuks. The home teams in this leg are Mai & Oliver and Natalie & Pailin.

Ida & Tania aren’t used to travelling without someone carrying their luggage for them. Natalie & Pailin tell us there’s more to pageants than just looks. Bernie says she’s never failed, ever apparently. Geoff & Tisha are one of those couples that intend to test their relationship on the race, which typically turns out to be a complete disaster. Mai believes she’s a princess and expects to be treated accordingly.

There are 11 legs on the race, 7 of which are elimination points.

The first clue tells teams to not race on an empty stomach. A little bit early for a gross eating challenge, no? Each team must eat a bowl of a local delicacy. Assorted bugs, frogs, and scorpions. Henry & Bernie are the first ones to complete the task. They get out just before the gagging and vomiting begins. Being from Thailand, Pailin & Natalie don’t mind the food at all and finish the task second. Geoff & Tisha are just behind them. The other Thai team, Mai & Oliver, finish next, with AD & Fuzzie right behind them. Oliver’s already proving to be Mai’s mule, carrying her backpack and his despite the fact that the race just began, though he does tell her that’s too hardcore and he can’t do it again. Ida & Tania are sixth. William & Isaac finish seventh, and Neena & Amit are behind them after vomiting their whole meals. Vince & Sam are ninth. Niroo & Kapil, who struggled the whole way through, finish last.

From there, teams must travel by taxi to Caltex (sponsor alert) and wash a “marked vehicle,” which they will later find out is a 22 seat two story passenger bus. Henry & Bernie and Vince & Sam have cab difficulty already, as their taxi drivers get lost on the way there. Much complaining about being tired ensues from all the teams. Here’s something they couldn’t plan on, though. It starts raining. Kinda makes the task of washing cars easier. In spite of their earlier taxi problems, Henry & Bernie finish first again. They look like they’ll be a pretty strong team.

Travelling in their newly washed buses, teams will depart in order of arrival to Wat Phai Rong Wua, where they will find their next clue.

Despite finishing in second, Mai & Oliver don’t know where to go next, so she suggests grabbing a taxi and driving to nowhere.

Bus 1: Henry & Bernie, Neena & Amit, Pailin & Natalie
Bus 2: Geoff & Tisha, Ida & Tania, Mai & Oliver
Bus 3: William & Isaac, AD & Fuzzie, Niroo & Kapil, Vince & Sam

The next clue is to search among Buddha statues in Suphan Buri, the city of gold, for the next clue. What is this find a clue to find a clue stuff? They will take a bus to the temple, and their buses will wait for them for 20 minutes. If they do not finish within 20 minutes, they will have to take another bus. Without any daylight and no hours of operations, everybody is searching with flashlights. Bus three people get screwed. They don’t have to wait for 20 minutes. They have to wait for every single team to finish. If they’re smart, they’ll help each other. But they’re not smart apparently.

Bus 1: Mai & Oliver, Geoff & Tisha
Bus 2: Henry & Bernie
Bus 3: Neena & Amit, Pailin & Natalie, Ida & Tania, Niroo & Kapil, Isaac & William, AD & Fuzzie, Vince & Sam

The next destination is Chiang Mai Bus Terminal. They’ll be going 585km away, which should take about 8 hours.

The detour is a choice between race or rice. In race, teams must drive an offroad buggie through an 8km track. In rice, teams must pound rice into paste and make two rice balls, which may be backbreakingly difficult. The really bad news about rice is the potential for blisters, which could have an impact on future tasks.

Rice (in order of arrival): Mai & Oliver, Geoff & Tisha, Henry & Bernie, Natalie & Pailin, Vince & Sam
Race: Isaac & William, Ida & Tania, Neena & Amit, Niroo & Kapil (after trying rice), AD & Fuzzie (after trying rice)

The pitstop for this leg of the race is Ratchaphruek Garden World, named after Thailand’s national flower.

First: Mai & Oliver (after winning rock, paper, scissors) – they win $2,500 each
Second: Geoff & Tisha
Third: Henry & Bernie
Fourth: Pailin & Natalie
Fifth: Ida & Tania
Sixth: Isaac & William
Seventh: Vince & Sam (were fifth before overlooking paying the taxi)
Eighth: AD & Fuzzie
Ninth: Niroo & Kapil
Eliminated: Neena & Amit

The two teams that made the poor decision of switching tasks after wasting time on their first task get lucky, as Neena & Namit fell victim to lost cab drivers.

Having won this leg of the race, Mai wants to quit. Good riddance I say. Her whining about how she’s incapable will get old sooner rather than later.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race Asia 3 episode 2.

Mai & Oliver
Friends

Visa Sarasas (Mai)
Actress & Model
24
Thailand

Oliver Faivre
Model & Student
26
Thailand

AXN Bio
Oliver started out as a friend of her brother, and Mai first got to know him when she was dating one of his friends. Fate threw them together, but not in any romantic way, but as best friends.

In a way, actress and model Visa Sarasas, or Mai, as she is known to her friends, is the one person that Oliver Faivre can behave naturally in front of.

“She is the only girl friend that I have who I can talk normally to,” says the 26 year old model and student, adding, “She is someone I don’t necessarily have to be polite to.”

Such honestly is the culmination of seven years of friendship and the friends have decided to celebrate by taking part in the race simply because Mai asked and Oliver agreed.

“I picked him because I think he has the most potential to go on this race and be able to cope with all the situations that will happen,” describes the actress, who has made a name of herself starring in movies and television shows in Thailand.

In case you think of her as a celebrity who is more used to assistants and an entourage of helpers, think again. For her audition video, Mai simply tied up her hair (sans make up!) to speak to the camera, and in fact, her real life persona is nothing like her sultry on-screen roles on TV and magazine covers.

She proclaims, “I joined The Amazing Race Asia because I want to travel around the world and compete with myself.”

Given the history of male/female pairings in race history that have led to explosive confrontations during the competition, Mai is thankful that her team does not fall within the usual stereotypes of such pair ups.

“The fact that my teammate is a guy, and we’re not in a relationship so I don’t think we’re going to fight like lovers do,” she says as a matter of fact.

“I have a very strong teammate and I think I’m a very strong girl as well. Our weakness would probably have to be the fact that we have never worked together as a team so I cannot predict what’s going to happen when we do.”

Assure Oliver, “You don’t have to worry about the fighting. We fight a lot, but it’s for fun. We will make the show interesting.”

Not that it matter to Oliver, who is looking at the race as more of a chance to meet new people, and maybe do something for a good cause.

Geoff & Tisha
Dating Couple

Geoff Rodriguez
Model
26
Philippines

Tisha Silang
Business Development Manager
32
Philippines

AXN Bio
You can call this her second chance. A technicality led to her resignation as Miss Philippines Universe 10 years ago and Tisha Silang is making sure that history does not repeat itself.

In 1998, Tisha won the Miss Philippines Universe crown but had to give it up because of her Canadian citizenship. While that win has remained the proudest moment of her life, she’s hoping that taking part in The Amazing Race Asia will trump that.

Joining her is her boyfriend of three and a half years, Geoff, and by all accounts, participating, much less winning the race will be an uphill battle says the couple. For one thing, their relationship is the classic definition of opposites attract.

“Nobody would have thought that we would end up dating. We have very different personalities but have managed to make it work so far,” notes Tisha.

Quips Geoff on the first time they were introduced by a mutual friend,” I was interested in Tisha for obvious reasons. And Tisha wasn’t interested, for obvious reasons.”

This is also the second time that the couple has auditioned for the show and the couple almost missed the deadline too. “We were in such a rush to submit the video I can’t say we did anything really spectacular,” Tisha admits.

The last and most important reason against them has to do with their horrible track record when it comes to traveling. While on vacation in Boracay, the couple missed not once, two but three consecutive flights back home to Manila. And by that time, they were broke as well. Tisha says with a laugh, “And now we want to race together…should be interesting.” Fingers are crossed but hopefully, the two won’t be making the same mistake again, especially on the show.

“Missing a flight, I think that is the most embarrassing thing you can do while traveling,” admits Geoff. But rather than to lay blame, the couple made the best of their situation. “Tisha was shooting for FHM and we were supposed to be there only for the weekend. By then we had spent all out money in re-booking and extension fees. But time flies when you’re in love and having a ball.”

And the other reason for wanting to be in the race is of course, to counter the loss of Team Philippines from the previous season, jokes Geoff. Marc and Rovilson came in third in the last show. He says, “We have huge shoes to fill after the stint that Marc and Rovilson pulled off.”

Nonetheless, the couple is certain that they will bring to the race the love and respect that has been the foundation of their relationship. Geoff says, “Tisha and I have had a sound relationship, from the time we have met. And now we are testing our relationship, by entering the race.”

Henry & Bernie
Brother and Sister

Bernie Chan
TV Host, Actress
39
Malaysia

Henry Chan
Chef
43
Malaysia

AXN Bio
Fans of Asian reality television might recognize model and host Bernie Chan – she was the face of Project Runway Malaysia last year. But few would recognize her race teammate and elder brother, Henry Chan.

It is not because the 43 year old isn’t famous, but rather because the chef and restaurant owner has had reconstructive surgery done in late 2006. “In Aug 2006, I fell over and broke my jaw very badly. I’ve had reconstructive surgery on my face and mouth, but I’m all fixed up now,” says Henry Chan with a gleaming smile that shows no record of his accident.

But it is what’s inside that counts and the siblings are hoping that their 39 year old relationship will give them an edge. Says Bernie, 39, “Finding the right partner to do it with is half the race won and Hen is the only person who understands what I’m trying to say half the time.”

Hen, of course, is her nickname for her brother, in response to the name Bernie he coined, since he could not pronounce her actual name, Bernadette, as a child.

“I thought it would be fun, stressful but fun. I love traveling and I thought, if I get in, it would be the biggest challenge of my life,” she adds.

Sums up Henry on the natural choice of picking each other as teammate, “We don’t really fight, we think alike and we get on crazily well.”

But if there is one thing the siblings do not share, is their behavior. Henry is the more contemplative of the two, preferring to sit back and analyze the situation while his sister leaps at every available opportunity. Like Henry says, “I tend to think about things too much, while she tends to just act and think about things later.”

Explains Bernie, “I’m too impulsive! If I want to do something, it has to be done now,” and adds, “My strategy is to try and stay calm but with have a sense of urgency and just go with our instinct. Luck plays a big part too which to me comes with being positive and happy, which Hen and I are.”

As for preparing, one thing Henry did have to pick up was learning how to drive a manual transmission. Naturally, his coach was his baby sister and given their hectic schedule, it wasn’t the best of lessons. Groans Henry, “Bernie gave me a crash-course in the pouring rain, at night, in peak hour Kuala Lumpur traffic.

But learn he did and the driving lessons show the extent that the duo has worked together. Admits Bernie, “Even though I shout at Hen, he will know it’s not personal and in the next second we will be buddies again. And he won’t quit on me.”

Quitting is the last thing on Henry’s mind though, as he had already mapped out a plan on how to celebrate if they win. “We go back to one of the favourite countries we visited in the race but this time round, we do it in five-star style.”