The Amazing Race Philippines: DryedMangoez Edition 9 – Leg 12 – Catanduanes, Philippines


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Leg 12 – “Tell us we’ve won or I’ll jump off this cliff!”

This is really is it! Teams are flying home to Manila via Los Angeles on Southwest Airlines and Philippine Airlines. Once in Manila, teams must then take a Cebu Pacific flight to their final destination province, Catanduanes!

Arriving in Virac, Catanduanes at 6:45am, teams must drive themselves (!) to the PAGASA-DOST Weather Radar Station. Here, they will receive coordinates and a GPS device which they must keep until further notice.

They will also receive their next clue which asks teams to “Find the location of the first Catholic cross planted in Catanduanes.”

That location is the Batalay Church and Shrine.

From here, teams must make their way to another church, this time St. John the Baptist in Bato where they will find the Road Block: Who wants to hang out?

As this is the 12th Road Block of the Race, the remaining team member who only has five Road Blocks MUST perform this task.

For this Road Block, teams must collect a bundle of abaca from the church and hang them to dry on marked lines in a nearby neighborhood. Once they have all abaca correctly hung, they will receive the next clue.

That clue tells teams to drive to this cacao farm where they must harvest a basket of cacao which they must grind until they have enough to fill one jar.

On the bottom of the jar is their next clue which points teams to Puraran Beach in Baras.

And here, teams will find another (!) Road Block: Who’s ready to surf? There is no restriction as to who can perform this 13th and final Road Block.

For this Road Block, teams must search through a pile of more than 300 surfboards for 12 that will represent each Leg of the Race. On the surfboards are pictures depicting a task, location or person that may have been seen on the Race.

They must then arrange the surfboards in chronological order to form a fence. When all surfboards are displayed in the correct order, teams will receive their next clue.

That FINAL clue of the Race tells teams to use the coordinates and the GPS device given to them at the start of the Leg to find the Finish Line.

That Finish Line is located 15 minutes away at the Balacay Viewpoint.

The first team to cross the Finish Line will win all of this:

Yeah!

“Director’s” Commentary

Well, it’s another tropical finale. But the Philippines is a tropical country, so what can you do? lol

Still, I think this is a nice Leg. Maybe more suited for a foreign TAR to use as a regular Leg. But alright as a final one here.

I have teams driving themselves since I don’t know what kind of public transport is available in Catanduanes. At the same time, I don’t really like having show-provided transportation because it opens up the possibility of production choosing the winner.

So for a self-driving Leg, all the “Find this” and “Find that” clues are good to have.

The abaca Road Block is the “cultural” task of the Leg. As is the cacao task, which is just something to fill out this Leg.

But the highlight definitely has to be the final Road Block. It’s that infamous surfboard Road Block from TAR16. To make this one a little more challenging, maybe it can be fused with a little of TAR12’s final Road Block. Give the teams a list of conditions in picking representative surfboards. That way, the similar tasks of this season (ingredients in Japan and Denmark for example) are justified as it will confuse teams as to which surfboard is which.

And the GPS device clue for the Finish Line is interesting. Teams MUST use the device and the coordinates to find the Finish Line and they will not be told the actual name of the place. That might be an interesting mess of a run to the Finish Line. But it would certainly be unique. We can’t just have teams ask a local “How do you get here?” after giving them the device and coordinates (which is the purpose of that visit to the radar station).

So overall, an alright final Leg. And for the season, I think it’s a pretty solid Route. Let’s hope there’s more TARPHDME to come! Woohoo!

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