The Amazing Race Philippines: DryedMangoez Edition 9 – Leg 1 – India


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Leg 1 – “When nasa tuk-tuk ka, the only way to go is down.”

This is Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu. And from the foot of Lapu-Lapu himself, 11 brand new teams of two will set off on a Race around the world.

To get them started, teams will be running into the water nearby to find waterproof Race envelopes floating somewhere in the area. Inside is their first clue and tickets to their first destination:

Mumbai, India!!!

It’ll be all luck because five envelopes have tickets on the first flight on Singapore Airlines via Singapore arriving in Mumbai at 9:45pm. The other six envelopes will have teams flying on Malaysia Airlines via Kuala Lumpur arriving at 10:55pm.

Once in Mumbai, teams must make their way to Film City for their next clue.

BUT!!! HOURS OF OPERATION! Teams will find that it is closed for the night and all teams will be bunched up, all getting their next clue together at 7am tomorrow morning.

After sleeping on the cold and not-the-cleanest ground, teams will wake up to the next clue directing them to ride a bike through Film City to find Studio 10.

Here, teams will find the first Road Block of the Race: Who wants to be a movie star?

Many Filipinos dream of becoming movie and TV stars to help get their families out of poverty. It’s the easiest way to get the pesos, other than joining The Amazing Race Philippines which includes a trip around the world.

But for this Road Block, teams will become Bollywood movie stars. They must learn a Bollywood movie dance routine. After learning the routine, they must perform with 30 film extras to the satisfaction of the director. When the director thinks they have what it takes to become the next (first?) Filipino Bollywood star, they will receive their next clue.

Teams must now make their way to Dhobi Ghat.

Here, teams must enter the large outdoor Laundromat. They will pick up a bundle of dirty, soiled clothes and wash them like the locals until they find one which has their clue printed on it.

However! There are also other marked bundles of clothes which contain Express Passes and Super Yields! In order to win either an Express Pass or Super Yield, teams must wash these bundles of clothes FIRST to the satisfaction of a local to receive the choice of obtaining one.

Teams cannot attempt to win the Express Pass or Super Yield if they have already found their next clue in the regular laundry bundle.

From Dhobi Ghat, teams must now make their way to Sassoon Docks. And here they will find another Road Block! Who’s a fish out of water?

For this Road Block, teams must find a flagged boat at Sassoon Docks where they will need to sort out 20 palai fish out of a marked barrel. They must then transport the fish using a basket on their heads to a marked delivery truck to receive their next clue.

And that clue directs teams to the Pit Stop: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya. Formerly known as the Prince of Wales Museum.

The first team to check-in here will win P200,000 courtesy of Shell V-Power Nitro+, TARPH’s best friend since season 2.

The first team will also… be the first team to receive their next clue. This is a Zero-Hour Virtual Pit Stop and they must continue Racing with no mandatory rest period!

The last team to check-in here… will be told the 2nd Leg has already begun. But they won’t be able to run it because they WILL be eliminated from the Race. Sorry.

“Director’s” Commentary

So I am of the belief that poor urban Asian Legs should be done with as many teams as possible. It doesn’t matter if it’s American TAR or Philippine TAR, throwing 11 teams into the insanity of a congested, insane urban center in Asia is better than just having four teams, for example.

So what better first Leg for TARPHDM9 than to throw teams into Mumbai.

This Leg recycles TAR4’s infamous Mumbai Leg. (The one where the female Racers were molested on the train by Indian men.) No Filipinos will be assaulted here since teams will stay in taxis instead of the r— trains.

I basically inserted the typical Bollywood task into the original TAR4 Film City Route Marker (which should’ve been an obvious task in TAR4 anyway). Then I split the original TAR4 Detour into a mandatory task and 2nd Road Block.

The laundry is a good way to get teams interacting with the locals and to get them all wet with a good sensory experience. It’s also a good spot for one of those Express Pass/Super Yield tasks. Though it could’ve easily been done at the Starting Line again (like other TARPH seasons). But why not shake things up a bit, yeah?

Back to the Starting Line, there really does need to be some kind of Starting Line task, even if all the teams’ efforts are negated by an equalizer in their first destination city anyway. Maybe it’ll lull teams into a false sense of security for the rest of the Race and they’ll eventually get eliminated for it. Hehe. But it also justifies the luck factor of the first flights and maybe will drive some teams to break down right at the start. Yay!

So overall, a full first Leg with plenty of opportunity for teams to have crazy, fun encounters.

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