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Amazing Race Asia 2: Racing Around the Mall

Friday, May 9th, 2008

2007 was a year packed with varied adventures –mostly an outpour of blessings from God (both small and big). One of which was The Amazing Race Asia 2 Promotional Event (what a mouthful huh?). The event was a promotional gig to launch the second season of AXN’s The Amazing Race Asia, where two teams represented the Philippines. I wish I were the one participating in the actual race, but this is definitely the next best thing.

Recharged and raring for some adrenalin rush after the relaxing holidays, close to 400 teams of two registered on the AXN web site and made call-ins through Monster Radio RX 93.1. Only 24 lucky teams were chosen to participate in The Amazing Race Asia Season 2 Promotional Event.

Friends Mark and Chai went to meet us before the registration to send us off. Chris even saw a colleague, TJ, who’s also participating in the race along with his girlfriend. We sized up the other 23 teams. Some looked like they were outdoorsy people, while some looked brainy. There were same gender pairs but a lot were also couple tandems.

This event held in Trinoma was organized by AXN, which only means production is expected to be of international level –and it was really “action and adventure”. Props to the team who put up the race because they were able to incorporate the show’s race elements such as roadblocks, fast forwards, detours and even pit stops. It was a good mix of mental and physical challenges, which were MANY!!! The race had four legs, where teams get eliminated in each leg. With the ring of the bell at the Trinoma Activity Center, teams started tearing the envelope open to reveal the first clue. All 24 teams had to do several tasks before completing the first round.

First clue

I had fun during the corn on the cob challenge. We weren’t allowed to use our hands to eat the hanging corn so we alternately chomped on the yellow nimble while one uses his cheek to steady the cob. We reached the first pit stop without breaking much sweat. I think we were the 3^rd one to finish the first leg and it felt good to be on top of the heap.

In the second leg, the remaining 19 teams were required to dash off to different venues and areas within the mall for their tasks, which were definitely more difficult than the first ones.

5 pairs got ousted but we didn’t notice anymore since we never looked back. And yes, the levels of the challenges increased as we moved forward.

A particular challenge called Pop Goes the World involved an inflatable castle filled with hundreds of balloons plus special ones that contained a colored flag. A member of each team had to go inside and locate these special balloons and then pop them to get the flag. To make things more challenging, four contestants were thrown in together to look for the right balloons all at the same time?and they only had five minutes to do so! If they exceeded the time limit or failed to spot the balloon, time penalty was given.

Pop Goes the World was a roadblock so only one of us had to do it. I immediately volunteered to do it. It took me less than 2 minutes to finish it –15 seconds to find the balloon that contained the flag, and longer, 1minute to pop the balloon. I tried sitting on it to pop it but it kept sliding under my cheekies! Chris goes to my side and whispers behind the net to use my fingers to pop the balloon. I tried it and it worked!!! And then… POP goes my heart! (Tee-hee. Sorry, couldn’t help it)

The other challenges in the leg included a singing duo challenge in Red Box, an open-the-box-with-the-right-key mission and a task where a member had to memorize a poem while riding the dizzying carousel, and then recite it as the teammate mimicked the lines through body actions.

Choosing a key in a mound of almost 50-60 keys is intimidating and I was baring myself not to lose focus since this might become a frustrating task when you let it get to you (YEEEES…. I’ve watched too many Amazing Race seasons! To know that emotional management is also part of the whole thing). By a stroke of good luck, the fifth key we tried was the key to the box (whew).

The poem and carousel. I’m tempted to say ridiculous but it’s a really really smart challenge whoever conceptualized it. This is one of my favorite challenges although I liked quite a few. It was another roadblock and since my memory was sharpened by having to memorize articles in law school, I took the challenge. It was only about 6 lines after all. The carousel ride though really made it quite a feat to accomplish. I had to figure out the words that rhyme with words., while Chris was on the side acting (which he shouldn’t do but it didn’t say we weren’t allowed that and everyone else was doing it) Everybody else was having a hard time, which made it a fair game for everyone. I really enjoyed this task.

We finished the 2^nd leg and reached the pit stop still smiling ear to ear. I feel that we were still top of the herd at that point because it was easy for us to look for the activity areas which they don’t specify but you have to figure it out by solving the clues that they hand to you. It was a breeze solving the clues. And it was so fun too.

The second pitstop at the Landmark Food Place welcomed the first 14 teams to go on with Zone C of the contest. It included the Tower of Hanoi challenge where teams needed to transfer an entire tower of five colored disks to other open pegs, the Scrambled Egg task which found the teams packing eggs to make sure they didn’t break when thrown from the M2 level of the mall, and the Zapped dare where the contestants actively held on to an eye bar electrode and navigated through a wire without touching it.

Down to 14 teams. Third leg. 6 teams were going to be axed. It becomes more arduous mentally too and your energy level is slowly piping down. The first challenge was located at the big toy store where we had to figure out the strategy to transfer an entire tower of five colored discs on another peg in the same order with only a few movements and without placing two discs on the same trey. Ok saying that only confused me again. Chris figured this one out and we were handed our clue. The clue at this point was tricky because it already gives a clue that leads before the pitstop but I realized that we have to finish the entire leg first, so we proceeded to the next challenge area.

Next challenge they gave us plastic cover, straws, bond papers, masking tape, thread and three eggs. We have to make a contraption out of the materials (like a parachute maybe) so that when we throw the eggs from the veranda of the M2 level, the eggs are still intact. Each broken egg constitutes to a 1-minute delay time. We had 15 minutes to do the thing. I’m no Macgyver (but it’s his thing) so after 7 minutes, I told Chris that I don’t think we can finish it in 8 more minutes so we might as well try it with whatever we already have because I’m sure ball that it’s gonna break ANYWAY. It was a decision to incur the 3 minutes than let the 8 minutes lapse.

So we let the three eggs fly. And hoped against hopes that it didn’t break. We had to run down to the first floor to check. While going down, I was thinking maybe at least two eggs that we wrapped carefully with too much paper didn’t break. We reached ground zero. All were smashed. Our marshal clicked on his stopwatch. 3 minutes went too slow. We were so agitated to go. Our heels were smoking.

3 minutes done. Last task was the Zapped challenge. I had steady hands so it was easy and got through the end of the wire without touching it –only in two attempts. Chris had a harder time but got it in 4 attempts. Started sprinting already back inside the mall… ready to dash to the pitstop………………. “Hand me the clue babe.” Chris, “Huh? What clue?”

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH.

“The clue.”

“I don’t have it.”

“The one right after the Tower of Hanoi challenge.”

“I gave it to you.”

“Yea, but I handed it back to you remember?”

Checking all the other clues, checking the bag, checking front pockets, checking back pockets, checking hair (okay okay I just put that in. He didn’t actually do it), checking mouth (nope, he didn’t do that either, but maybe he should have!)

It was gone. Vanished. And our marshal was nowhere in sight.

Uh-oh. Houston, we have a problem.

We retraced our steps… time was ticking quickly but we had to go back to the areas we’ve gone to since Hanoi. We spent so much time hunting for the LOST clue. Up and down the escalator. Up and down the stairs. Running. Running. “Excuse me, excuse me, passing through.” I didn’t add mad woman, although that would have made it easier to waltz through the crowd.

Red alert! Red alert! Panic in the disco room. PANIC PANIC PANIC.

We finally went back to Hanoi and found out that there was still one clue left. The challenge moderator gave it to us. Finally, we galloped to the 3^rd pitstop, just 2 minutes earlier than the team behind us, which happened to be Tj, Chris’ colleague. Fortunately and unfortunately, we were the 8^th team to check in at the pitstop, which means Tj and his girlfriend were out of the last leg. Lucky for us that we made it –barely, but there is a lot of to make up for.

For the last cut-off, the first eight teams that finished all the previous challenges were the only ones eligible for the last set of challenges.

Then there were 8. Four hours of continuous running, thinking, strategizing and it’s about to conclude. My competitiveness fired up again. During the last leg, there was a new race marshal assigned to us. The organizers determined the order of the challenges for each team and it’s distinct. The very first one who checked in at the 3^rd pitstop did the first challenge for Zone D. Zone D challenges were from easiest to hardest –and mostly physically demanding. That means that the 2^nd team who checked in started on the 2^nd challenge, 3^rd started on 3^rd… you get the drift. Being the 8^th, we started on the hardest physical challenge of the race.

Apart from counting all the castañas inside a basket and leaping off a platform to tap a ball, the racers also had to accomplish complex challenges designed by the sponsors.

In the physically-demanding Caltex Roadblock Challenge, there were three knotted ropes hanging down from the ceiling: the first touched the floor, the second stopped at 10 feet from the ground and the third stopped at 15 feet. The task was for a team representative to climb 10 feet of the first rope, transfer to the second rope and climb higher than 15 feet, and then swing to the third rope and go up to as high as 24 feet to grab one of the Caltex banners and bring it down.

Of course, having done all the roadblocks from the start and Chris being the muscular between us two, it is of the most logical sense that he did this roadblock. Each flag corresponds to a time bonus. Chris was already having a hard time on the first rope. Halfway through he wanted to quit. His arms were shaking. I cheered him on. By this I didn’t only mean that I shouted, “go babe! You can do it. Think light as a feather” or “Crocodile up your ass.” I went out of my way to do a song and cheer dance (Yea yea I know, pathetic. I’m unconventional. Sue me). The song and dance actually looked more like a Chippewa (native American/Indian) dancing in front of a roasting pig on a spitfire.

Maybe it helped because Chris was able to get one out of the three flags. More than anything, he just wanted to cut my Chippewa pipe dance short before dying of embarrassment. Pulling your whole body weight up a rope 25 feet off the ground is really bodily taxing. He couldn’t get to the second rope anymore.

In the Alaxan FR Alley Hoop Challenge -a combination of bungee trampoline and basketball, a member had to wear the Alaxan bandana, jump on the trampoline and when the desired height was achieved, shout the Alaxan tagline before the second member could throw the Alaxan ball to the first member for the alley hoop dunk. In the Sun Cellular Digging-In Challenge, a team member had to guide a blindfolded teammate tasked to get a total of five Sun Cellular Carabiners among a pebble pit.

The Alaxan Alley Hoop Challenge was as tricky as hell but I had so much fun flying 15 feet in the air and shoot hoops in the process. Since the Alley Hoop challenge was set in the activity area, a huge crowd surrounded the area watching, which means pressure to perform. Chris went first and got really frustrated after several tries. He almost lost his cool out of frustration but held it in. I started to cheer him on when he gave me “the eye” (yes it was much scarier than the film). I let him be. After a few minutes, I screamed at him in a serious tone, “Don’t worry about it. Let’s just have fun.” My turn. Jumping. Jumping. Moving my feet in the air to get momentum. Aiming. I tried to zone out and imagine Space Jam and that Michael Jordan slam dunk from the half-court line. The crowd was hooting loudly (Chris told me later on that I looked like a kid/cartoon character moving my feet really fast while in the air) and cheering me on, which inspired me. I looked at Chris and I saw a big smile breaking. Sigh of relief. I just kept laughing at myself. I totally felt silly because the harness felt like I had diapers on. Finally, I got 1 ball in but another task was to slam dunk the ball. With my short arms and legs (let this be the first and last time I publicly refer to my legs as short), it was tough to reach the rim and slam the ball.

I decided to let Chris do the Sun Cellular challenge since I’m very poor at taking orders (haha) especially from him. We had a Blind Man’s trail activity before in La Corona de Pagsanjan and I was the one blindfolded, that turned out okay but long. Time is gold and I’m a pro in barking orders so Chris got blindfolded while I gave the instructions on where to dig for key chains. Like a flash, we were done in 2 minutes.

Speed is important in The Amazing Race Asia and to test the mall racers’ speed, Coke Light held a Reverse Scavenger Hunt where teams had to distribute five cans of Coke Light to five different types of people in the area. Greenwich, meanwhile, had a Pizza Delivery Challenge that required both members to distribute 10 Greenwich Pizza boxes to 10 different locations in the mall and return within 15 minutes.

Chris and I looked at each other. We’re happy. What a thrilling experience. We took a moment to smile and appreciate it. We stopped in our tracks and gave each other a smacker. With a surge of renewed energy, we were quick as a fox (that jumped over a fence) in the Coke Light and Greenwich challenge.

Another one of the toughest challenges was to climb to the 3^rd level using the military rope ladder/net. Since Chris was taller, it was easier for him to reach the top. It looked pretty hard, much like the Caltex challenge, but he was successful and it took him less than 10 minutes to climb.

The most challenging tasks were probably the ones from Sustagen Premium and Caltex, which called for utmost communication and coordination among the contestants.

In the Sustagen Premium Puppet Master Challenge, teams had to place a Sustagen Premium vertical banner between their backs. Both their ankles were tied so that forward movement was limited, while their wrists were also bound by a piece of rope resting on an overhead pulley that made bending forward together impossible. With five cans for every member to pick, the real challenge was for the members to alternately pick up the cans and arrange them on a showcase shelf in front of the other member.

We did this challenge with a breeze. Chris and I are so connected at the hip that coordinating our movements went as swift as a tango dance. Finally, the clue that said we go back to where it all started and hit the bell. We were the fourth one to finish the race. The organizers tallied the scores and bonus points.

After grueling hours and solid teamwork, the top three duos that finished all the challenges with flying colors and the fastest time were announced. Ending up at third place and winning P10,000 cash, P2,000 worth of Star Cash, limited-edition TARA premiums and goodie bags from the sponsors were Jose Angel Machuca and Cassandra Camille Elazegui. Coming in at second place and taking home P20,000 in cash, P4,000 worth of Star Cash, limited-edition TARA premiums and lootbags from the sponsors were Lloyd Lee and Jason San Pedro. Declared champions were the team of Jeffrey Naz Racoma and Maria Julianne Castillo, who said the hardest challenge was the Alaxan Alley Hoop Challenge. The team won P30,000 in cold cash, P6,000 worth of Star Cash, limited-edition TARA premium items and huge goodie bags from all the sponsors.

And would The Amazing Race Asia Season 2 Promotional Event be complete without the Philippine representatives? Of course not! Henry and Trinidad Reed plus Marc Nelson and Rovilson Fernandez graced the occasion, sharing bits and pieces about their experiences on the reality TV contest and granting interviews plus a lot of photo opportunities for both the Philippine media and the mall goers.