Recap: The Amazing Race Philippines 2, Episode 15 (Leg 3, Day 3) – "When I saw General MacArthur, I felt like slapping him."

Teams must now drive themselves in their brand new, newly blessed Kia Sportages to Blue Beach in Bonuan to find Douglas MacArthur. The clue box is located at the base of the General Douglas MacArthur statue.

Roch & Eji maintain their lead and open the next clue containing a message from General MacArthur telling them to meet him at his office immediately to report for duty. Teams may use the internet for this challenge.

Roch & Eji think they’ve got the location. Vince & Ed arrive at the internet shop and decide to just work with Matt & Phoebe who are already Googling. They then run off ahead of the #DatingCouple when they’ve got the address.

Jet & Yna head into the same internet shop later, but a local tells AJ & Jody he knows where the office is, so #TeamMagAma decide to just go. Once Jet & Yna find the information, they run back to their brand new Kia Sportage and tell the locals not to tell anyone else where to go.

Kelvin & JP manage to find MacArthur before RR & Jeck. On the way, RR needs to pee. Jeck tells her to pee at MacArthur.

By now teams should have figured out that they need to make their way to West Central Elementary School. There, they will find “Douglas MacArthur” and a set of 13 items from which they must choose three that are not from the World War II era.

Vince & Ed arrive first, but they get the items wrong on their first try. Roch & Eji get lost on the way to the school and Matt & Phoebe catch up to them.

Matt & Phoebe give the items a try, but they are wrong. Roch & Eji are next, but are also incorrect.

As Daniel & Charlie and Tina & Avy finally finish the bangus dance, Kelvin & JP are asking directions to the school. And then…

Kelvin & JP’s frustrations explode. They call each other stupid and gago and they drive back to MacArthur. They run past RR & Jeck who have just finished using the “walang kwenta” internet with no info on the school location.

As they run around trying to retrace their steps, Kelvin & JP are back to normal. The head back to their brand new Kia Sportage just as Daniel & Charlie arrive.

Tina & Avy arrive at the entrance to MacArthur. Tina slips on her butt, but they know they’re in last, so there’s no time for “arte-arte.” They hurry to the cluebox.

AJ & Jody just arrive at the school and Vince tells them to hurry up so the cycle of teams can go faster and they can get outta here.

Jet & Yna arrive next, but are incorrect too. RR & Jeck arrive and give it a try, but are wrong so they also get in line where they see Jet & Yna yelling about Yielding whoever doesn’t follow through with the plan. “UNFRIEND!!!!!!!”

Jeck tells RR, See! There’s no room to be nice on the Race.

The first five teams are sharing answers again because God forbid, anyone in the back actually beats them to the correct answer.

Tina & Avy arrive at the school next, before Kelvin & JP and Daniel & Charlie. They unfortunately do not get the correct answer. When they get in line, RR & Jeck tell them about the other teams scrambling because they cannot complete this “intellectual challenge” without putting TEN heads together.

Kelvin & JP arrive at the school, but are also wrong their first try. They get in line and see the ten head #BrainTrust whispering and scattering about.

#TheBrainTrust agree that whoever gets the answer first will tell everyone (in the alliance), but they’ll also get a 10 minute headstart.

Roch & Eji, Matt & Phoebe and AJ &Jody head in for the 2nd attempts even though Daniel & Charlie haven’t even arrived yet, (!) even though teams are supposed to wait until all teams have gotten a try before they can get another shot.

Jet & Yna believe working together is the best so they can get far, far ahead of the four teams at the bottom. Vince says he and Ed aren’t worried since they are better and smarter and have more numbers than those bottomdwellers.

Matt & Phoebe head in for their 6th (or 8th attempt, I can’t tell… )
And they get an “Affirmative” from MacArthur.

Before leaving, Matt writes the answers on a piece of paper to secretly give to Daniel & Charlie in addition to telling #TheBrainTrust. Phoebe is just scared #TheBrainTrust will find out and they’ll end up getting targeted.

Daniel & Charlie asks Matt as they leave, but with the other members of #TheBrainTrust watching them, Matt & Phoebe tell them they’ve made an alliance.

“F**k off! Come on.”

But Matt slips them paper with the answer: Candleholder, Morse code and a note/bill.

With the answer given to them, Roch & Eji, Jet & Yna and AJ & Jody leave next. Vince & Ed, unfortunately for them, have to go all the way to the back since Matt & Phoebe had been after them in line.

Tina & Avy, with no help from anyone, get the correct items as well.

Daniel & Charlie, also armed with the answer walk in (for their first attempt?!?!) and get the clue. “Oh thank God! F**kin’ hell! Jesus!”

Vince & Ed are now scared because they are in the bottom. RR & Jeck are next and Kelvin & JP are in last.

Episode Thoughts

Here we go again.

Really? REALLY? As you can see above, I’ve dubbed this “Top 5” alliance #TheBrainTrust because they apparently cannot do anything without needing to put ten brains together. TEN! It’s just… I mean…

They are setting a dangerous precedent that I hope NO future Amazing Race Philippines team ever adheres to. If they keep this up, TARPh will turn into a joke. You just don’t see this happening on The Amazing Race. Ever. An alliance is one thing. Giving answers like these teams have been doing is something far beyond simple help. It absolutely defeats the purpose of the Race. Is this a competition or not?

I’m a huge Amazing Race fan, but there are even bigger TAR fans out there who can remember what task was from which Leg in what city and which team was eliminated at this time. And when those fans say that these antics by the TARPh teams are too much, you know something’s wrong. VERY wrong.

I thought TAR24 gave alliances on the Race a bad name, TARPh2 takes everything 10 steps further. What makes this answer sharing even worse (other than it being now the 3rd time in 3 Legs) is that there are SEVERAL teams who actually did these tasks ON THEIR OWN! With no help whatsoever. No alliance-ek-ek or dealmaking-churvaness. (Did I use those words correctly?) So what does that say about the teams?

I’ve noticed that the biggest “promoters” of this horrible Race strategy either have too low expectations of themselves (Jet & Yna, which is unfortunate since they are more than capable of doing things on their own) or are overly confident (Vince & Ed).

Do these alliance-crazy teams really want to help another team to the P2 million? Are they going to give you one of the Kia Sportagesess? Come on. Teams have gone on to win much harder, more grueling, more difficult Races with no help from other teams, no alliances and not even an Express Pass or Fast Forward to help them survive to the next Legs.

Can you imagine these teams facing the TAR12 final Road Block? They would implode or melt into a puddle of water and evaporate. Like, seriously.

I agree with RR, “Nakaka-high blood.”

If this was this Leg’s Double Battle then I think the Double Battle is officially pointless. The forced bunching up of teams in this manner is worthless and actually hurts the Race more than it provides entertainment or drama.

Anyway. What else happened this episode.

It was funny seeing the locals be so kilig with the gwapos and magandas. I guess Pangasinan doesn’t usually get many visits from artistas. The networks usually only focus on the Metro, southern Luzon and Cebu. They never treat fans up north to anything.

The MacArthur statue Route Marker and the clue telling them to find his old office was excellent. Even with them being allowed to use the internet. The actual task at the school would’ve been fine had it not been for that nonsense that sprung up.

Ugh. TARPh2 was recovering so well since that horrible stretch in Leg 1 too.

My Subjective Team Rankings for this Episode

GAP GAP

Tina & Avy need to go all the way. They’ve been one of, if the not the only team who has done this Race the way it’s supposed to be done. They’ve fought hard and never gave up. They don’t need other teams’ help to get through simple tasks. And they actually follow the directions stated in clues to correctly complete challenges. All that while they’ve been at the bottom of the pack. Targeting Jet & Yna for being rich is meh, but every other part of their Race so far has been what TAR is all about. They are probably the most deserving team in this Race right now.

Kelvin & JP are another team that’s gone their own way. Other than the ice bar task, they’ve been able to go through this Race with no help. They asked for a clue at the stock exchange task and they figured it out themselves. They got U-Turned, but fought through it and are still in the Race. Their huge car explosion was hilarious. Talk about unprecedented; I’ve never seen a team yell at each other like that EVER on the Race. Forget Luz & Chen’s fight last Leg, THIS was a history making confrontation. And the fact that they were fine just a minute later? lol Hilarious!

RR & Jeck may still come off as a little hypocritical considering they were one of the loudest supporters of alliances in the first Leg, but considering the rest of the teams this episode, they slip into this spot. Though not as rootable as the #Blondies and #TeamMrPogi, I’m more inclined at the moment to like them more than the rest. Charlie points out their hypocrisy in tomorrow’s episode it looks like. But I hope RR & Jeck go their own way and move forward doing this Race on their own and showing they too don’t need anyone else to do well.

AJ & Jody and Roch & Eji have shown they can do well on their own, so why they need to get forced into an alliance is beyond me. Very disappointing. I wish Daniel & Charlie didn’t beg Matt for the answer and I wish Matt didn’t give it to them just so we could see #TeamJuanD also prove they can actually Race well and not bottomgoddess every task.

Matt & Phoebe wanting to please the other teams instead of running their own Race is so Big Brother it’s annoying. But Jet & Yna though. Their yelling about Unfriending and You better stick to the alliance! was really embarrassing. I know they aren’t helpless. They’re rich, as everyone has pointed out. So I assume they’ve got great educations. So why they feel the need to make all these deals and be overly strategic is just baffling. They are capable of so much more and I can’t help but think they’re holding themselves back and shooting themselves in the foot by being so dependent on being Facebook friends with other teams.

And Vince & Ed. No formula to complete this task eh?

Episode Quotes

Eji: “Busina sila ng busina. Sabi ko, ‘Sandali lang ah, ikaw kaya ang ma-una. Ikaw kaya ma-stuck sa traffic, busina ka pa?'”

Avy: “May internet cafe ba dito kaya?”
Tina: “Hindi tayo mag-ca-cafe Avy!”

AJ: “When I saw General MacArthur, I felt like slapping him.”

RR: “Na-shock ako, buhay pa pala si Douglas MacArthur, hindi naman nila sinabi.”

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