Introduction → Leg 1 → Leg 2 → Leg 3 → Leg 4 → Leg 5A → Leg 5B → Leg 6 → Leg 7 → Leg 8 → Leg 9 → Leg 10 → Leg 11 → Leg 12
Leg 19.01 – “We’re an embarrassment to the term ‘All-Stars’!”
Lapu-Lapu is regarded as the very first Filipino hero. And after the decisive Battle of Mactan, his bravery and leadership has inspired Filipinos at home and abroad ever since.
Today at the foot of the Statue of the Sentinel of Freedom, honoring Lapu-Lapu, twelve All-Star teams will return to the Race and try to exhibit their own courage and skills on their quest to reach the Finish Line first against the toughest competitors ever!
Brand new twists, surprising destinations and challenging tasks all await the All-Stars this season!
And that season begins right now! Teams must search the area for their backpacks and first clue, not knowing they are atop the steps to the National Museum of Natural History.
That first clue directs teams to make their way on foot to Burnham Green. Teams must figure out that Burnham Green is the open space in front of the Quirino Grandstand.
Here, teams must search a sea of hundreds of balloons, large and small and on the ground and in the air. Inside the balloons are letters they will need to spell “ALL STARS”. The first six teams to correctly spell “ALL STARS” will be on the first flight to their first destination. The other six teams will be on the second flight arriving one hour later. The last team to spell out “ALL STARS” will face an Automatic Rewind on this first Leg.
ALSO! hidden in the hundreds of balloons are FIVE! Trigger Points, ONE Super Yield and ONE Fast Forward Note! Teams can claim either the Super Yield or Fast Forward Note only BEFORE they claim the plane tickets/present their completed “ALL STARS” submission.
This is also the Trigger Point for this Leg of the Race. If any team finds the Trigger Point card in their balloon, the U-Turn or Yield will be activated on the next Leg.
After all the necessary balloons are popped, teams can head to New Manila International Airport to catch their flights to… Goroka, Papua New Guinea!
The first six teams will be on an Air Niugini and PNG Air flights, via Port Moresby, arriving at 8:45am. The last six teams will fly on Philippine Airlines and Air Niugini via Port Moresby arriving at 9:45am.
Teams will find their next clue in front of Goroka Airport. And that clue reveals an Intersection!
Teams must pair up and choose a flagged van which will take them to a mystery location. When dropped off, teams must work together to follow a flagged trail, with the help of a compass, until they encounter their next clue.
Teams will be surprised by a horn announcing the arrival of the Asaro Mudmen who will lead them to the village. Upon arrival at the village, teams will find the next clue which reveals they are no longer Intersected.
Teams must now choose one of the Mudmen who will show them how to cover each other in muddy paint before participating in a short traditional dance before receiving the next clue.
And that clue reveals the first ever Philippine One Way Board! This brand new (to the Philippines) twist (which we acknowledge was first introduced on a foreign TAR, unlike other TARs which falsely claim they created Amazing Race twists that have already been used on various TARs around the world)…
Um… wait.
And that clue reveals the new-to-the-Philippines One Way Board! Teams will be able to “One Way” another team to force them to complete a specific side of the Detour. And the choices for this Detour: Steady Hands or Hard Head.
In Steady Hands, teams will learn how to and then successfully make a traditional bow which they will use to then hit 10 numbered targets which they must search for in the area. Each team member must hit five targets. When they do, they will receive the next clue.
In Hard Head, teams will learn how to and then successfully recreate a traditional Asaro Mudmen clay mask. When teams are able to recreate the mask to the satisfaction of the elder, they will receive the next clue.
After the Detour, teams must load a truck with 10 large sacks of sweet potato and deliver them to Goroka Market where they will set them up to be sold for the day.
This is also the Rewind spot for the last place team at the Starting Line Task. That team must unload a separate waiting truck with 10 more large sacks of sweet potato and set up another spot for the day’s market.
After the market, teams will now hop into a helicopter to take them back to Port Moresby!
Upon arrival, teams must make their way to Ela Beach where they will find the Road Block: Who wants to sail away?
For this Road Block, teams must correctly assemble a traditional Lakatoi claw-shaped sail and attach it to a canoe. They must then row themselves out to the water to retrieve their next clue and then row back to shore to reunite with their partner.
After the Road Block, teams can make their way on foot to the Pit Stop! The APEC Haus.
The first team to arrive here will P200,000 courtesy of Shell V-Power Nitro+.
The last team to check in… WILL NOT be eliminated!!! This is a Non-Elimination Leg and the last place team will face a brand new penalty: The Self Yield!
The Non-Eliminated team must Self Yield, basically Yield themselves, on the next Leg of the Race. Teams can activate the Self Yield at any Route Marker during the Leg. That is, at any point except the Pit Start where they open a clue. If teams do not activate the Super Yield before the Pit Stop, it will automatically be applied at the Mat.
“Director’s” Commentary
So yes! It’s been 13 seasons since the only other All-Stars season of TARPHDME!
First off, if you’re interested in how the All-Star cast was chosen, you can look at the full Race placements here. (hehe) But also, here are the average placements of each team from their original seasons:
(Team/Final Placement, Season/Average Placement)
Iya & Drew / 1st, S15 / 3.15
Aubrey & Troy / 1st, S16 / 4.08
Shaun & Dave / 2nd, S17 / 2.80
Heart & Lovi / 2nd, S18 / 2.85
Alyssa & Kiefer / 2nd, S16 / 3.00
Sandara & Sanghyun / 2nd, S15 / 3.20
Angie & Joey / 3rd, S18 / 3.38
EA & Shaira / 5th, S18 / 2.60
Francine & Sinon / 5th, S16 / 4.20
Pokwang & Lee / 5th, S17 / 4.27
Ruffa & Raymond / 7th, S14 / 5.80
Assunta & Alessandra / 7th, S15 / 6.10
And the alternates:
Arthur & Rochelle / 1st, S18 / 2.90
Jak & Sanya / 3rd, S15 / 3.85
Nikki & Prince / 4th, S16 / 3.20
Ai-Ai & Gerald / 5th, S15 / 5.27
Gumabao Siblings / 6th, S17 / 3.40
Hehe. Anyway, on to this first Leg.
Our Starting Line will be at the Statue of the Sentinel of Freedom in Manila. I was lucky enough to be able to finally visit the three National Museums last January during my family’s trip to the Philippines. And all three museums surround this statue of Lapu-Lapu. It’s a great place to visit for the day. Actually, a day might not even be enough, to be honest.
But I thought this would be a perfect Starting Line location. And especially as we will be staging the Starting Line task over in front of the Quirino Grandstand. It’s basically a Switchback to TARPHDME2’s Open Starting Line which itself was inspired by TAR China 1 and TAR20’s Starting Line tasks.
Starting Line spelling tasks have become a TARPHDME staple. And of course we throw in some Trigger Points, a Fast Forward Note and a Super Yield to help stress teams out with big decisions right off the bat.
Our first destination this season is Papua New Guinea. It’s long been on my TARPHDME wishlist because of the direct flights out of Manila. So finally, what better season to include a brand new country than this one. It’s also a sort of uncommon country for a TAR to possibly visit. (I guess because of the safety concerns.) But we’ll have a very controlled Leg here with enough security. So it’s perfect here for TARPHDME.
Upon arrival in Goroka, we have teams partner up with an Intersection just so we have six different instances, instead of a tedious 12, of teams getting surprised by the Asaro Mudmen welcome when they pop out of the forest. It’s a very interesting experience I’ve read about and it should be very fun.
A big chunk of this Leg will take place in the village. First, teams paint each other in mud as a straightforward task. Plus they will join in the dance for a little bit.
Then the Detour also with two straightforward and I think balanced tasks. But also, we have the introduction of the One Way to TARPHDME. Before TAR Canada introduced the twist this year, I’ve been simmering on a “Detour Lock” which, if activated, would lock all teams into their first Detour choice. Basically, teams won’t be able to switch Detours at all. That might still come in the future. But for now, we’ll give the One Way a try here. And since these are All-Stars who may know each other, having the One Way here could really up the drama and make it more likely to be used immediately.
After the Detour, we want to stay in Goroka a little bit more. So it’s a simple task in the market. Originally, I had teams loading bunches of bananas. But, *spoileralert*, that’s going to end up being a task in a later Leg. lol So we’ll do sweet potatoes here. Or really it could be anything.
Since we’ll only be here in Papua New Guinea for one Leg, we’ll have teams taking a helicopter back to Port Moresby for the rest of the Leg. It should be a cool experience for the teams and will allow some nice aerial shots of Papua New Guinea.
The Road Block in Port Moresby is a basic assembly task that should be a physically demanding task at the end of a long Leg.
And then having teams running to the Pit Stop could make for an exciting finish to the Leg.
Of course, this is an All-Stars season so we want to have all 12 teams on as long as possible. So why not have this be a Non-Elimination Leg. And for this All-Stars season, we introduce a brand new penalty. A “Self Yield” should be interesting since it hands the decision over to the team. What strategy will they use? Is it better to get the Self Yield out of the way at the beginning of the Leg? Should they concentrate on speeding through the Leg and Yielding themselves later? Or should they take their chance with having the Yield be assessed at the Mat. Should be an interesting idea to watch play out.
Overall, this is a very full Leg. Twists left and right, fun and exciting tasks and locations all over. I think it’s worthy of a big All-Stars season.
And so another season appears! Awesome seeing the One Way make it’s debut here 😀
I like the Intersection use here as an under utilized twist, though the idea I was thinking is having a sign up sheet, with groups of two teams leaving a certain amount of time apart from each other (ala TARCAN7 Clif Bar sponsorship, lol)
That’s actually a good point having teams depart at set times since one part of the whole task is to have the pairs of teams be surprised. So I guess we’d need to split the teams up to keep that surprise instead of having all three pairs of teams at the same time.
And of course, any opportunity to have a sponsor get some extra time in the episode (thus extra moneys for the budget) is a good thing! hehe