Recap: The Amazing Race Asia 5, Episode 6 – "If you did this one, your boobs would hurt."

Recap: The Amazing Race Asia 5, Episode 6 – "If you did this one, your boobs would hurt."

The 6th Leg begins with teams flying to Manila, Philippines!

Once at Manila International Airport, teams receive their next clue from the Grab Station. That clue tells teams to hop into a Grab car to take them to Quiapo Market. Once there, teams must buy items to assemble a care package. When complete, they will bring the care package to families in need who are waiting at the Philippine Red Cross in Pasay City.

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At Quiapo, teams hurry around trying to find items such as dried fish, rice, first aid kits and other goods.

Hometown teams Eric & Rona and Maggie & Parul are first to bring their care packages to the families. Maggie & Parul give the money left over from shopping to the family as well.

After delivering the packages, teams open the next clue telling them to travel north by bus to Vigan City, Ilocos Sur.

Tom & Anita have to settle on the 8pm bus after the one carrying everyone else departing at 7pm is fully booked. Arriving in the middle of the night, teams must make their way by tricycle to Ilocos Sur Adventure Zone. But… HOURS OF OPERATION!

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Teams must wait until the park opens at 7am when they will encounter the Road Block: Who’s on target?

For this Road Block, teams must ride the zipline across the Abra River and hit a target floating in the water using a flour bomb.

Maggie is up first, but she just misses the target. Mike, Rona, Treasuri, Chloe and Anita also miss on their first attempts.

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On her 2nd attempt, Treasuri decides to use power more than accuracy with her shot. And it works. She and Louisa are back in first place as they open the clue telling them to find Ma. Parel Antiques and Souviner Shop in Old Town Vigan for the next one. This clue also warns of a U-Turn ahead.

Maggie tries the same strategy and she hits the target on her 4th attempt. Mike and Chloe get it on their 5th attempts. Rona finally gets it on her 11th attempt while Anita does it on her 12th.

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Across town, Treasuri & Louisa get the next clue which reveals the Detour: Longganisa Calesa or Carabao Karaoke.

In Longganisa Calesa, teams must collect ingredients needed to make Vigan longganisa. They must correctly make 15 longganisa while riding a horse-drawn calesa on Vigan’s cobblestone streets. Once their links are approved, they will receive the next clue.
In Carabao Karaoke, teams must learn a Filipino folk song in the local Ilocano dialect while riding a bamboo cart being pulled by a carabao. When they perform the song to the satisfaction of the karaoke master, they will receive the next clue.

Treasuri & Louisa choose the longganisa and find it isn’t as easy onboard a calesa. Maggie & Parul choose karaoke, but decide to switch Detours when they see the song is in Ilocano.

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JK & Mike and Chloe & Yvonne choose and stick with karaoke, as do Eric & Rona. Tom & Anita start the longganisa Detour as Treasuri & Louisa get theirs checked. Only 10 are approved so they must go around in the calesa again.

JK & Mike head to the plaza and give it a try, but the karaoke master says they’re not having enough fun. They try again and they get the thumbs up. They must now make their way on foot to Plaza Salcedo for the U-Turn and the next clue. Chloe & Yvonne also pass on their 2nd attempt.

At Plaza Salcedo, neither team uses the U-Turn. They can now head to the Pit Stop at Bantay Bell Tower.

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JK & Mike step on the Mat and are officially Team #1. Chloe & Yvonne are Team #2.

Maggie & Parul get all their longganisa approved. They also don’t use the U-Turn and head to the Pit Stop as Team #3.

For Eric & Rona, it takes them four attempts to pass the karaoke. They finish the Leg as Team #4.

It’s down to the last two teams. Tom & Anita must also go back and make more longganisa. That allows Louisa & Treasuri to finish the Detour and check in at the Pit Stop as Team #5.

That leaves Tom & Anita in last and eliminated.

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Episode Thoughts

Well that was awesome. I was looking forward to this Leg as soon as it was first announced the Philippines would be getting a visit this season. I got even more excited when it appeared the Leg would include a visit to Vigan, Ilocos Sur.

My family is from Cagayan and Kalinga, both are just a province or two over from Ilocos Sur. But my family speaks Ilocano, so it always feels very cool to hear Ilocano spoken on television. But also cool to have a non-TARPH season visiting the North. I’ve been wishing an international TAR stage a Leg in some northern Philippine province. I never knew it would be TARA that would fulfill that wish! It was the good ol’ rural Leg I’ve been dreaming of.

But this was a great Leg. I previously called the TAR25 Manila Leg the best Philippine Amazing Race Leg ever. The tasks and the teams all helped to make that so. This Manila/Vigan Leg comes very very close.

Quiapo is definitely a good location for foreigners to get thrown into. It may not be as hectic and crowded as Divisoria (which TAR25 visited), but it is its own experience as well.

I’m amused that TARA, in 2 out of its 3 visits all-time (I believe), sees the Philippines as a needy country. And I don’t mean that in a bad way. The Philippines is certainly not the wealthiest Asian country. But I definitely remember the Caltex toy box pick-up in season 2. TARA’s gesture though is much appreciated and very nice.

Also, it helped make the usual shopping in a urban market task different by making it for charity as well. Plus, the task gave shoutouts to Mercury Drug, Watsons and Datu Puti. lol

Taking a typical TAR task and making it fresh and different was a theme this Leg.

First the Road Block. The flour bomb task (by plane) was first done on TARPH1 then TAR23 and recently on TAR China 3. TARPH2 tweaked the task to use a zipline and a floating target instead. TARA5 merged that task together and used a zipline for a flour bomb target. And it was solid task here. First come, first served tasks can be hit or miss in overall Leg design. It also helped feature Ilocos Sur’s natural beauty. The drone shots were amazing.

And then the Detour. It wasn’t the usual make sausage or eat sausage task you’d usually see on TAR. It was a make sausage task while on a bumpy ride. That certainly switches things up and makes it fresh and even more challenging than just sitting in a kitchen. Plus a calesa is a very Philippine mode of transport, especially up north.

On the other side, it wasn’t just simple karaoke in another language and memorizing a song. It was learning the song while riding a bamboo cart being pulled by a carabao. That’s certainly a different experience from just sitting in some karaoke room/bar.

So both Detours were great and this was a good spot for a U-Turn.

With the karaoke, I feel like it was much easier than the longganisa (which is delicious by the way). Teams didn’t need to memorize the lyrics. I guess teams might not have realized that. Or just Maggie & Parul at least. It’s also funny how two non-Filipino teams did much better with the task than the two Filipino teams.

I don’t really know much about the “Tatlong Bibe” (the song in the show) craze in the Philippines. I only know it was very annoying when my little cousins kept singing it when we were in the Philippines last May. lol

The Bantay Bell Tower was a stunning Pit Stop. Having teams on that overnight bus ride was definitely expected. As was the Grab promo.

But overall, I enjoyed this episode very much. I guess I’m biased toward not only the Philippines, but the Philippine north especially. Such a fun, awesome experience to watch what’s basically your family’s roots and home on an international TV show. Great use of locations, great tasks. Definitely my favorite Leg of the season so far.

TARA5 is definitely on a roll.

My Subjective Team Rankings

I was excited to see JK & Mike win the Leg. They ran a great Leg and it’s awesome to see them get themselves out of the bottom. They’ve definitely been a pleasant surprise of a team for me on this Race. Maybe the most fun to watch, though a little subdued than usual this Leg.

Maggie & Parul are definitely doing what they can to keep up with the top of the pack. Namely, Treasuri & Louisa. They’re calm, yet still competitive. They haven’t really struggled this Race, as far as I can remember. That’s very interesting to see moving forward. I do think they can still step it up. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see the top 2 (or even 3!) teams all-female?

Treasuri & Louisa had a rough Leg, but I can see them easily recovering as they fly to another new county. It was still nice though to see that they aren’t unbeatable. It makes for a more exciting competition and also humbles their Race personalities as well.

Eric & Rona had an okay Leg. The Road Block was a little bit of trouble for Rona. And them needing four attempts at the Detour while others only needed two is kinda of iffy. But they’re a solid, consistent team. That means they must step it up soon though as there are less and less teams.

I’m actually sad Tom & Anita were eliminated. What was awesome about them was that they were very competitive and focused on the Race, but without feeling like pure Racebots. They were interesting and fun to watch. Whether it was arguing with each other or annoying/being annoyed by other teams. They ran a good Race.

Chloe & Yvonne had another quiet Leg, save for a few quick confessionals. They’re fine as a team, but I think maybe Louisa & Treasuri’s dominance has hurt them, episode edit-wise. The show hasn’t been able to really establish their characters like they’ve done with other teams. But they’re alright.

Episode Quotes

Maggie: “Babe, if you did this one, your boobs would hurt.”

Anita: “Stop getting your period now.”

0 thoughts on “Recap: The Amazing Race Asia 5, Episode 6 – "If you did this one, your boobs would hurt."

    1. Well, it’s been so long since the first four seasons, but I’m really enjoying this season very much. Every team has been fun, the tasks have been very good and they’re using locations we’ve seen before in fresh ways.
      How about you?

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