Introduction → Meet the Teams → Race Tracker → Leg 1 → Leg 2 → Leg 3 → Leg 4 → Leg 5 → Leg 6 → Leg 7 → Leg 8 → Leg 9 → Leg 10 → Leg 11 → Leg 12 → Leg 13 → Leg 14 → Leg 15
Leg 23.08 – “Sorry Lola, we’re not from around here.”
Teams begin the 8th Leg by boarding the Cebu Pacific A330neo flight and being informed that will unexpectedly be flying back to the Philippines. Though they have no idea why.
The Cebu Pacific A330neo departs Sapporo’s New Chitose Airport and flies to the island of Romblon. Teams are assembled on the runway at Tugdan Airport for an important announcement.
This is another CashKarera Leg! No team will be eliminated this Leg which is all about securing more money to take home at the end of the Race! Because this is a CashKarera Leg, all teams will start the Leg at the same time and their Pit Start pairings from last Leg will apply at the start of the next Leg.
Teams will start the CashKarera Leg by running out to the parking lot to choose one of the all-new 2023 Kia Stonics which were brought here by car ferry and drive to this fishport by the seaside. Here, they will find a Road Block: Who can fill it?
For this Road Block, teams will use traditional wooden fins and dive into the ocean to pick liswe seashells enough to fill a tabo. They will be able to exchange a full tabo for the next clue.
That clue tells teams to drive to this marble store and workshop where they will find the Detour: Meticulous Precision or Heavy Decision.
In Meticulous Precision, teams must ukit, or engrave a message and design on a marble block according to a provided outline. Both team members must correctly make one.
In Heavy Decision, teams must pick up and deliver marble slab orders using carts to nearby customers.
This is also the Trigger Point for this Leg of the Race. If any team breaks a marble block or slab, the U-Turn or Yield will be activated on the next Leg.
After the Detour, teams must drive to The Rising Pili Nuts, Inc. in Looc.
Here, teams must learn how to and then successfully sort, wash and lay out to dry pili nuts.
Next, teams must drive to this home in San Agustin where they will find another Detour: Paghimo or Kaon. Teams will get to enjoy a traditional dish from Romblon: sarsa.
In Paghimo, teams must make 30 sarsa from scratch.
In Kaon, teams must eat 30 sarsa.
After the Detour, teams must drive to Busay Falls where both team members must swim out to retrieve two halves of the final clue.
And that final clue tells teams to head to the Pit Stop at Trangkalan Falls.
The first team to check-in here will win P200,000 courtesy of Shell V-Power Nitro+ in addition to their CashKarera winnings.
The last team to check-in will have to choose a Non-Elimination Penalty Envelope:
^Click here to follow the teams through the Leg!
“Director’s” Commentary
So for this season’s route, I had teams loop back to Asia instead of continuing west. All just to have Japan (and originally Korea) stage mid-Race Legs. For this unique route, I decided to have teams return to the Philippines for a mid-Race Leg as well. For TARPHDME, all the Philippine Legs have always been of course just finales and a few first Legs.
And of course a finale Leg will be different from a regular Leg. And there are a lot of great locations in the Philippines that would be great TAR Legs. So Romblon was one I had on the list. It actually could’ve had a good Final Leg too. Even with the tasks we have here. But that’s okay.
Also, having teams return to the Philippines will allow us to shift over to our other TARPHDME air travel partner, Philippine Airlines for the rest of the Race.
Anyway, I made this another CashKarera Leg just to avoid having to put a regular Non-Elimination Leg in the middle of the Race. hehe. Technically, it’s different as we will carry over the Pit Start times from last Leg into the next Leg. But there’s also a Trigger Point and a Non-Elimination Penalty Envelope on this Leg. So it still has consequences. I dunno. Lol
That’s okay. TARPHDME is wonderfully unique like that! Hehehe
So first up, TARPHDME and its wonderful sponsors spare no expense (sometimes). So I decided to just have new Kias be delivered to Tablas Island for teams to drive around in. I thought about having teams either drive or ride in jeepneys or even drive or ride habal-habals and scooters. But why not give another sponsorship opportunity for our nice friends at Kia. Hehe
A lot of the tasks on this Leg are from things featured on GMA’s Biyahe ni Drew hosted by TARPHDME All-Star Drew Arellano (of Iya & Drew) hehe
The first Road Block is a good task that has teams swimming in the water, working with local people and giving an insight into local life.
Romblon is of course known for its marble. So the Detour highlights that. I wasn’t sure what kinds of tasks we could have, but I think the making ukit on blocks and the more physical task of delivering marble should be good.
The Rising Pili Nuts was something featured on Biyahe ni Drew and it looked perfect as a task location. There could even be a Detour here. But I already had two others on this Leg.
I think Detours are good on this CashKarera Leg as it gives most opportunity to shuffle teams and allow for many placement changes throughout the Leg. That of course gives all teams a chance to earn top pesososes.
The last Detour features some delicious local food. Making vs eating it is a good, typical TAR task. And we meet some nice local people again.
Finally, we feature two falls. One easy to find one and the Pit Stop, a little more difficult. So it should provide nice tension and excitement at the end of the Leg.
Overall, I think this is a wonderful Leg in Romblon!