The Amazing Race Philippines, Leg 4 Wrap-up

The downside of having to rely on a faithful TV fan in another country to upload fuzzy videos of episodes online.  

Since I’m not in the Philippines, TV5 doesn’t air TAR on their international channel, and the fact that their international channel isn’t even available on any other provider than Dish, without the kindness of a Filipino with a TV tuner and recording enabled-computer I won’t be able to watch The Amazing Race Philippines.

And so, no recap for the last day of Leg 4.  But a Leg Wrap-up is still possible of course. =]

The Alabang Housewives Pamela & Vanessa were eliminated, failing to overcome the huge gap with the other teams.  If only that first bus had broken down long enough for them to pass!

Still, if TV5 were smart, they’d be ordering up a Real Housewives of Alabang reality show tomorrow.  

Now to the Leg itself.  I think this might have been the most complete leg and if I had been able to watch day 3, maybe the most complete set of episodes too.  Marc & Kat hadn’t checked in to the Pit Stop by the end of episode 2, so that’s a very good sign that the teams would be Racing well into episode 3.

The Road Block was great, but the tasks are starting to get very physical.  Definitely a lot more physical than most of what TARUS has dealt the teams in recent seasons.  

The Detour was good.  Simple, but as I look for in TARUS, it allowed the teams to interact with locals.  It doesn’t have as big an effect when the locals are the same race and ethnicity as you, but still great to see teams being crazy in an unfamiliar (to them) place.  

The extra shoe task was alright.  With the Yield, I actually think this would be the perfect kind of Detour for a U-Turn instead since both sides of the Detour were at that Market.  But Saida & Jervi deciding not to Yield Marc & Kat was dumb.  It would’ve halted their momentum and given them their first win.  

The counting steps is a standard TAR task, but having it right before the Pit Stop and not allowing teams to check-in if they got it wrong is genius!  I haven’t seen that in any TAR I’ve watched.

Definitely not liking Marc & Kat’s dominance.  It would be less annoying if the Pit Stop prize wasn’t 10% of the grand prize.  

Overall (from what I’ve actually seen), a great leg.

My Subjective Team Rankings for Leg 4

	Dani & Mish – Dani’s meltdowns are definitely fun to watch.  What’s even better is while she gets crazy when frustrated, she still powers through tasks and is a tough competitor.  She won’t take crap from anyone and that’s definitely a great trait to have on the Race.  Mish is holding her own, but Dani is certainly the star of the team and one of the stars of the season.
	Pamela & Vanessa – Definitely sad to see them go so early.  They were hilarious to watch.  Their English-ing shtick never got old (compared to other teams who are wearing out their welcome) and they were genuinely happy to be Racing.  If they aren’t going to get their own Real Housewives reality show after this, give them a comedy show or something that requires them not to live a pampered life.  They’d be awesome.
	Saida & Jervi – Lost a couple of points when they decided not to Yield Marc & Kat.  They could’ve won their first leg and broken Marc & Kat’s hold on the Race.  They talk about karma, but when the Yield and U-Turn are part of the Race, TAR Karma shouldn’t be an issue.  They better hope NOT using the Yield comes back to bite them later on.  They’re still cool though.
	Ed & Angel – A rough leg for them, but they kept going.  It is great to see Ed actually be the stronger team member when he performed so poorly in the first leg.  Angel doesn’t need carrying per se, but Ed’s definitely kept them together and focused.  That’s awesome to see.  Hopefully they can move up in the next leg.
	Sheena & Gee – An okay leg from them.  They’re doing well, their personalities good for a couple of lines per leg.  Definitely would like to see them step it up though.  I do think they have what it takes to make a good run.
	LJ & CJ – They may be bland and sometimes boring, but I definitely side with them against Boom & Cheng at the Yield.  The only positive from the Yield was that we saw LJ & CJ can be fierce bitches too.  I definitely want to see more of that side of them, a strong ultra-competitive side that makes them more interesting to watch.  LJ’s been here before, she knows how reality shows work.  And they’re both actresses.  I’m surprised they haven’t at least tried to play up to the camera.
	Marc & Kat – When will it end!?!?!
	Fausto & Dayal – They’re still a pretty trainwrecky team.  Not as fun as others, but amusing to see how delusional they are about themselves.  They’re not horrible, but I wouldn’t be sad to see them go.
	Boom & Cheng – Not only is their shtick getting stale, they make idiotic moves.  Their Yielding of LJ & CJ was stupid and I hope it bites them in the butt soon.  Wasting their Yield when they were in the front AND on a team that isn’t exactly a big threat.  Congrats on that one.