The Amazing Race Philippines, Leg 2 Wrap-up – “We got a bad horse!”

Well, I must say Leg 2 was definitely much more fast-paced.  The first episode of the leg (Saturday’s) was the best of the series so far; crazy, frantic, exciting, and fun.

It was great to see the North getting some love on Philippine TV.  I definitely want to go Vigan someday.  The tasks were very good.  The Detour and Intersection were excellent.  The Detour provided hilarious and awesome drama and competition while the Intersection was a hilarious trainwreck and fun to watch. 

The Road Block, a little confusing for such a simple task, was alright with the first few teams but was incredibly slow and almost boring with the 2nd half of the teams.  The TARA4 recycled Pukpok Palayok task was okay since you actually had teams passing each other and changing eventual placements.

The footrace between Fausto & Dayal and Pamela & Vanessa was a hilarious surprise, but the biggest news of the leg was definitely Anton & Armand’s penalty and elimination.

One of the very few times on any TAR that a team has incurred a 24 hour penalty.  I think only three teams in the past, including the infamous TAR1 penalty on Momily.

I don’t know what would have compelled Anton to break the rules.  I can’t imagine he didn’t know the rule since teams have to sign a P5 million confidentiality agreement in the first place, let alone contacting someone DURING the Race.

Kudos to Armand though for an indirect shoutout to TAR7’s Gretchen when he yelled “We got a bad horse!!”

Anyway, I think a 3 episode-a-leg format is okay, but then that would mean TV5 will be speeding through TARPh.  Could they be wanting to finish before Christmas?

My Subjective Team Rankings for Leg 2

	Pamela & Vanessa – They’re hanging in there!  They definitely delivered again this leg.  The Intersection with them was absolute TV gold and then you have them in a footrace to the Mat and survive!?  Awesome.  I don’t know how far they can go, but I certainly hope they’ll be Racing for a while.
	Dani & Mish – ZOMG.  Dani broke out this episode.  She’s competitive, won’t take crap from anyone, especially her partner, and can even have a leg-long meltdown but still jump for joy at the end.  Awesome.  I think Mish’s passiveness props up Dani’s craziness though, so I can’t wait to see more screaming in future legs.
	Saida & Jervi – Definitely not as epic this leg as in the first, but they were still strong competitors and are surely one of the stronger teams in the Race so far.  Definitely a more low key, under the radar leg for them.
	Anton & Armand – A tough elimination.  It always sucks when you’ve got a likeable alpha male team and they are actually eliminated early.  But that was a huge misstep by Anton because he and Armand have been Racing pretty well so far, especially this leg.  It’s too bad.
	Ed & Angel – A very good leg for them.  It looks like they have what it takes to make it far in the Race.  A little bump at the Palayok task, but overall a solid leg from them.
	Boom & Cheng – They are still the jokesters of the Race, but they are proving to be a team with lots of potential.  They had a good, solid leg and just might be able to make it far in the Race.
	Sheena & Gee – Not a very good leg for them, Race-wise, but they still managed to be a fun team to watch.  This leg they forged up a mini-rivalry with the Housewives, looks like next leg they stick to another team.  That’s fun!
	LJ & CJ – A strong leg for them, though it helped to be far ahead of the pack with the leading team.  Again, I appreciate whenever a true TAR fan Races.  And CJ does seem like a genuine TAR fan.  I would like to see them be more fun though.
	Marc & Kat – And does the Davechel-type domination begin?  Already winning 2 legs in a row and being two alphas, I don’t know how long it’ll be before I start rooting against them.  🙁 They’re nice and all, but seeing one team dominate lessens the fun of TAR for me.
	Fausto & Dayal – Looks like their delusions weren’t just a one-off thing from Leg 1.  They seem to be overstating their Race skills and are very overconfident for such a poor performance so far.  It’s actually funny.