The Amazing Race Philippines: DryedMangoez Edition 15 – Leg 12 – Metro Manila, Philippines


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Episode 15.12 – “We’re winnin’ it!”

This is it! The Final Leg! And it begins in the early evening with teams opening a clue telling them to “Find the Monster in Quarry Bay.” Teams will need to figure out that they must make their way to the Instagram-ready public housing complex known as the “Monster Building” and search the area for their next clue.

That clue tells teams they’re heading home to Manila, Philippines! All teams will be on the same Philippine Airlines flight arriving at 10am.

Once they’ve arrived in Manila, teams must make their way to Rajah Sulayman Park.

Here, teams must fill one of the waiting padyak tricycles with items they have encountered on the Race.

When approved, they must peddle their padyaks down Roxas Blvd. and deliver the items to Kilometer Zero

Teams must now calculate the distance from Kilometer Zero to each Pit Stop city. They will then add the distances to unlock the next clue from a chest.

That clue tells teams to head to Navotas Fish Port and search the sprawling complex for their next clue.

Teams will now search amongst hundreds of basins for ones with the names of countries they’ve visited on the Race. Teams will need to collect the number of basins corresponding to the Leg number(s) of each country visited. For example, a line each of five and six basins for Croatia.

Once they have lined up the basins in correct order, they must then fill each basin to the brim with freshly caught fish to receive their next clue.

Teams must now make their way to the Philippine National Railways headquarters in Tutuban, Manila.

Teams will pick up a section of train track and receive their next clue.

That clue points them to the Shangri-La at the Fort where they will find a Double Road Block: Think or Do.

For this Double Road Block, teams must correctly answer questions about the Race. The team member who will “think” must answer 15 questions regarding tasks and locations of the Race. This is while their teammate who will “Do” will be harnessed and hung over the side of the building. For every wrong answer their partner gives or cannot give within 8 seconds, the hanging teammate will be lowered 2 feet. Once all questions are answered correctly, the hanging team member must then use an ascender to pull themselves back up to the rooftop and reunite with their partner for the next clue.

Teams must now find the Gatorade Chelsea FC Blue Pitch in Makati. And here, teams will complete the Final Task of the Race.

Trains have been a popular mode of transportation this season. For this Final Task, teams will study a distorted map of locations they’ve visited on the Race. At each location, teams must choose from a pile of objects to place on it representing that Leg. Once they have all items in place, they must then assemble intersecting train tracks using all the sections that are provided, including the one they picked up at Tutuban Station.

Teams must ensure that the tracks pass each location they visited on the Race. When completed, teams will place a large train model onto the tracks. If the train can stay on the tracks and complete one lap around the map, passing each country and location in the order they were visited, teams will receive the final clue.

Teams can now run across the street to the Globe Circuit Event Grounds, the Finish Line where they will be greeted by fireworks and pyrotechnics!

The first team to cross the Finish Line will win all these wonderful prizes from our loyal sponsors!

Yay!

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“Director’s” Commentary

So funny enough, I usually have the most trouble coming up with Final Legs in the Philippines. Other than a lack of possible locations that might be able to stage great finale-level tasks, the actual tasks themselves have been a little bit of a challenge. If only because I want to have really finale-worthy tasks. Tasks that are challenging and will most likely include some kind of memory element.

This Leg kind of took a long time to materialize. But once I had everything in place, I actually really like it. It’s a good mix of physical and mental and keeps Manila traffic as a factor to a minimum.

First off, the extra Route Marker in Hong Kong was a last minute addition. I’d already set the Hong Kong Leg when I found out about the Instagram-ready “Monster Building.” It really does look great as a location. Definitely stunning, especially if teams will be visiting in the early evening. Great spot for some 4K UHD drone shots of course.

This Leg isn’t 100% original of course. The Route Marker and task at Rajah Sulayman Park is obviously recycled from TAR25. But I did need an extra task for this Leg and I thought why not include this one here. It’s a good task to start the Leg off with. And there’s the extra challenge of having to actually peddle down Roxas Blvd. Though that will likely need to be under the secure accompaniment of Manila police to protect teams from the raging traffic on the busy thoroughfare. Hehe.

The task at Kilometer Zero should be a simple, straightforward task. Just calculate distances from this point. It’s a nice location and task to pair with the padyaks. And it’ll get us some nice shots (drone and otherwise) of Jose Rizal in the background.

Next up is the Navotas Fish Port. And it’s a great physical and a little bit mental task as well. It’s nice to get teams all wet and fishy on this Final Leg. It’s also another great, straightforward task too. Just power through it.

To foreshadow the Final Task, we visit Tutuban and pick up some train tracks at the PNR headquarters. A nice extra Route Marker as well.

The highlight of this Leg might end up being the Double Road Block at the Shangri-La. First of all, teams might just go the EDSA Shangri-La instead of this one at The Fort. So there might be some fun drama there already. But the task itself looks very exciting on paper.

The questions must be a mix of easy/straightforward and very difficult or tricky questions. The goal for us here is to have teams make mistakes or not answer fast enough so the hanging team member gets lowered a lot. That of course should yield some physical challenge when they have to pull themselves back up. So obviously, the more wrong answers, the tougher it will be for that team member.

I was inspired by TARA5’s task where they had to scream to get pulled up the building I think it was. Instead, this is a mix of that and also the TARPH1 (the real one!) task where teams had to put Philippine presidents in order in a set amount of time or their partners get dropped.

We hope to see teams struggling here, both in answering questions and having to pull themselves up. Great possibility of teams passing each other and falling behind.

And that sets up the Final Task. It might be hard to visualize from my description above. But basically teams will be given a pile of train tracks and they must lay down tracks over a map that has locations in random places. It’s basically a big puzzle. There’s many ways to lay down the tracks, but only one correct way that will have a train pass the locations in the correct order. The fact that the tracks will be crisscrossing all over the place can confuse teams. So hopefully this will be a very challenging task, especially as it’s the last one of the Leg.

The Finish Line will be right across the street. Originally, the Final Task was to be staged right on the event grounds, but since I’ve never been there, I don’t know how big the area actually is. The Blue Pitch actually was a Starting Line option for this season, but I wasn’t sure about it either. Lol

Setting the scene here, we hope all three teams are at the Final Task at the same time. Then, the winning team gets the approval and they run across the street to the Finish Line where they will be greeted by fireworks and big pyrotechnics, like a big concert at the grounds. Obviously that will hurt for the losing two teams as they hear all the explosions nearby. One possibility is that teams might not know the Finish Line is across the street. Who knows. Could be even more exciting drama at the end. =)

Overall, I really like this Final Leg. There are a lot of opportunities for great competition. And overall for this season, I really like it as well. Some last minute switches and stuff for me, but it turned out pretty well. If I do say so myself. Hehe.

Also, if you didn’t know, all the episode quotes this season are based on TAR5 Colin’s famous “I’m packin’ it!” quote. Keke.

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