4/22/17 Update
Not like we didn’t know it before.
Welp. It looks like The Amazing Race Philippines is officially dead. Its official Facebook page is gone which pretty much confirms TV5 has put TARPH in its past. Thought it’s not like TV5 has any money left to even dream about producing another season.
Anyway, good news is: The Amazing Race Phiippines DryedMangoez Edition is unaffected by this confirmation. TARPHDME is as strong as ever! Wahoo! Expect a brand new season in June! Hehe Continue reading →
Season 1 of The Amazing Race Philippines may have aired in 2012, but the Philippines’ Entertainment Press Society (ENPRESS) have just announced their nominees for the 2013 (!) Golden Screen TV Awards and TARPh is up for 2 awards.
ENPRESS has nominated The Amazing Race Philippines 1 for Outstanding Adapted Reality/Competition Program and host Derek Ramsay for Outstanding Adapted Reality/Competition Program Host.
TARPh is nominated against TV5 neighbors The Million Peso Money Drop and Who Wants to be a Millionaire and ABS-CBN’s Minute to Win It, Pilipinas Got Talent and X Factor Philippines.
Derek Ramsay, meanwhile, goes up against Billy Crawford and Luis Manzano (Pilipinas Got Talent), KC Concepcion (X Factor Philippines) and Vic Sotto (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire).
The awards will be handed out on Friday, March 21st.
There have been a lot of reactions since it was first announced that TV5 would finally be bringing The Amazing Race to the Philippines.
For some, it was a frightening announcement. The idea of a locally produced TAR made a lot of people cringe, what with mixed experiences from the other locally produced franchised reality formats like Survivor Philippines and the bastardizedPinoy Big Brother.
There were some who were upset that it’d be undertaken by the upstart #3 network, TV5 instead of, say, the self-professed media titan ABS-CBN. Then there was absolute horror that *gasp* TARPh wouldn’t even leave the country. There were cynical reactions to rumors of celebrity contestants. And then bewilderment at a daily, five episode… actually, six episode a week schedule.
But now that the first season of The Amazing Race Philippines is over and the first winners crowned, it’s safe to say that not only did it exceed expectations, it did well enough to be able to stand with other international versions of the Emmy winning franchise with its head held high.
High and Low Expectations For anyone familiar with Filipino television, it’s no secret the kinds of production limitations any of the local networks have. You aren’t going to see comparable productions from (forget the United States) with those of neighboring Asian countries like Korea or Japan which the Philippines loves to import.
So there were definitely tempered expectations of TARPh. As long as it wasn’t embarrassing, then it’s all good.
But still, for The Amazing Race, long considered one of, if not the, premiere reality-competition program in the world, you really couldn’t mess this up. Which is why many people would’ve rather not had any network attempt a local TAR.
But TARPh exceeded those low expectations as well as matched the high expectations one would expect from any version of The Amazing Race.
“Pinas muna.” Derek Ramsay hinted then confirmed before production started that TARPh1 would travel only amongst the 7,107 islands of the archipelago.
While that definitely horrified some, it turned out pretty well. Personally, the fact that some of the more memorable (and not so memorable) tasks from other TAR versions could be staged in the Philippines is pretty impressive.
Having a TAR franchise Race only within its own borders isn’t a bad thing. And the Philippines certainly isn’t the first. And TARPh was definitely the best opportunity to show off the country. With such diverse cultures and landscapes, the Philippines provided a great Race course.
Originally I thought, okay, just for season 1 with out of the country Legs a sure thing for season 2. But now, I think a TARPh2 staying in the Philippines again would still be okay.
The Teams Many were weary of the pseudo-celeb teams at first, but the cast turned out to be one of the better groups we’ve seen on any TAR in recent memory.
While I’m personally meh on the Final 3, the cast overall delivered some amazing television. And by that I mean drama. Drama that only Filipinos could do. There were some hilariously awesome meltdowns, some usual catty Filipino behavior, but also a great sense of fun that only Filipinos have when doing anything and everything.
SIX Days a Week!? It was originally unthinkable that any Amazing Race would work with a daily format. It might have been okay with Survivor, but part of TAR’s excitement is that a whole Leg is contained within an hour or two every week.
But the six episodes a week format ended up not being all that bad. It might have finished the show quicker than most (Only 7 weeks!), but they managed to pack in enough tasks and team drama to be able to make each episode worthwhile.
There were some duds, but overall, it was a different, but still exciting way to watch an Amazing Race season. With this schedule though, I thought the Legs would be completely different from a regular once-a-week TAR, but…
The Legs ….TARPh’s Legs ended up being exactly the same.
There weren’t many extra tasks, despite Derek saying so at the Starting Line. So most Legs had 3 episodes each which would amount to a 90-minute episode of a TARUS or TARAu.
But since Filipinos have sadly been trained to only watch things 5 days a week and for TV5 to maximize returns on the expensive series, the daily format was not a bad decision.
Now as for Leg design, you just can’t get away from the linear Legs I guess. That might’ve been part of the reason for some of Marc & Kat’s Leg wins. Also, the unique situation of having to fly back to Manila, twice, just to get to another destination was interesting.
Overall, for Legs, nothing special. Nothing more, nothing less from typical TAR Legs.
Derek Derek Ramsay was pretty much the obvious choice to host the show. TV5’s other in-house candidates were already tied up. Paolo Bediones, former host of Survivor Philippines on GMA, was busy with TV5’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition as well as anchoring the network’s primetime newscast.
Ryan Agoncillo, who would’ve seen a familiar face on TAR in LJ Moreno having hosted ABS-CBN’s Pinoy Fear Factor, was busy with the breakless Talentadong Pinoy.
The only other names mentioned was a strange non-announcement from TV5 that Amazing Race Asia alums and experienced hosts Marc Nelson and Rovilson Fernandez would BOTH host the show, together.
But even before ABS-CBN and their fans shunned him for his transfer, TV5 was intent on getting Derek Ramsay to be their Phil Keoghan (or Allan Wu).
Overall, Derek did fine. But I think his hosting was affected too much by lack of script. Allan Wu of TARA and Grant Bowler of TARAu both used Phil Keoghan’s TARUS spiels. Any TAR fan is used to hearing “So and So, you are team #2!” at the Mat. But we didn’t get that on TARPh. The lack of uniformity and sometimes, strangely, Derek’s lack of energy, made the check-ins at the Mat a little awkward.
Even if they did have written scripts for Derek, it appeared he was going off the cuff which made the show almost seem a little unprepared.
But again, Derek was fine. And really the only choice to host.
Production It would’ve been nice to watch the show in HD. It also would’ve been nice not to watch the show via blurry uploads to YouTube and sketchy ad-filled Filipino blogs.
But it was nice to see the show was indeed filmed in HD (as shown by the production screencaps posted to TARPh’s Facebook). It sucks that it had to be downconverted before even editing to place all the bugs and Twitter hashtags onscreen.
Now the sound though, eek. There were times when it sounded like Derek had recorded his voiceovers over the phone. It was so jarring.
But production overall was good and up to par with at the very least TARA (the punching bag for iffy production values). TV5 definitely spared no expense and it was definitely solid, production-wise.
P200,000!?! I expected Philippine Airlines or Cebu Pacific-sponsored trips as Leg prizes, not 10% of the grand prize. Seeing Marc & Kat accumulate almost as much as the P2 million prize took all the fun out of competition.
Maybe TARPh could’ve taken some of that American Tourister money and used it to make two more sets of wooden statues for that final Road Block. There’s really no reason to give that big a prize for Legs.
Overall So overall overall, The Amazing Race Philippines was solid. TV5 did a great job sticking to the format and not inserting some crazy, eyeroll-enducing Filipino-only twists.
The cast surprisingly delivered, the tasks and challenges were on par with TAR’s other international versions.
I’d have to say The Amazing Race Philippines defied the odds and ended up being an exciting, fun ride.
My Subjective FINAL Team Rankings
Pamela & Vanessa – Hilarious. They were definitely a fun team to watch even though they might not have been all that great as Racers. They definitely enjoyed a lot of luck, or an “angel” as Derek said. But it was fun while it lasted and I’m sure TV5 is prep raring “The Real Housewives of Alabang” right now.
Dani & Mish – They were some iffy moments, but for the most part, Dani & Mish were an amazing team to watch. Both highly competitive with a drive to Race well. But Dani’s volatile personality was definitely the draw. Her outbursts and meltdowns were hilarious to watch. But it was also good to see they were also capable of Racing well. It sucks the other teams unfairly targeted them for purely superficial reasons.
Sheena & Gee – They started out okay, but definitely kicked it up a notch as the Race went on. When Dani & Mish got knocked out of the Race, Sheena & Gee took over the alpha females. They Raced well, were competitive, feisty and determined. They didn’t care about other teams even when other teams put a lot of effort into them. And when there were only a few teams left, they ended up being the final hope.
Anton & Armand – It actually would’ve been fun to have seen them Race longer and maybe take it all. They seemed to be laid back, nice guys who are definitely athletic who could’ve done very well in the Race. Which just makes Anton’s HUGE mistake that much more disappointing. I guess they’ll get their chance for redemption on The Amazing Race Philippines: Unfinished Business.
Ed & Angel – Parent-child teams are great to watch on TAR. And Ed & Angel, most times, were a determined and feisty team. But there were also unfortunate moments when they’d be so down and ready to give up, not just on their last Legs but even in the beginning of the Race. I would’ve liked to have seen them work it out and take it all the way.
Saida & Jervi – They were definitely a strong team in the beginning in addition to being fun to watch. But that all tapered off halfway through the Race. While they were still the better of the teams that were left at the time, instead of stepping up their game they began to lose a lot of steam, which was unfortunate.
GAP
Mykey & Crystel – Despite basically almost getting taken to the hospital, Mykey & Crystel would’ve survived another Leg had it not been for their horrible taxi. I would’ve rather had them in the Race and most of the teams that made it past the halfway mark, that’s for sure.
GAP
LJ & CJ – They were boring then used forced drama to make themselves look good. I couldn’t care less that they won… or if they had lost really. They were the least offensive and annoying team of the Final 3, but that’s merely consolation. Two “Meh” TAR winners in one week. And thanks LJ and CJ for now not making me care if a TAR fan wins the show.
Marc & Kat – They were cast as and started out as the alpha team and they ran the Race like they were the alpha team. Not only did it get tiring seeing them accumulate more than half… HALF! the grand prize, but it made the latter half of the season almost boring. They definitely benefited from some bad Leg design, but it takes the fun out of competition when one team is dominating the whole way. Can’t even enjoy their dysfunction since they end up winning Legs anyway.
Fausto & Dayal – They started out being cocky and delusional, which was actually great to laugh at. But they soon took that overconfidence and turned it into license to be obnoxious and annoying. Dayal’s meltdowns were fun to watch at times, but then you start to think, Maybe he’s just playing up to the camera. That definitely takes the fun out of it. Dayal’s shit stirring and drama queen attitude definitely got old quick.
GAP
Boom & Cheng – They started out as a funny and charming team, but quickly became rude, obnoxious and inappropriate jerks. It became pretty clear they were trying to position themselves as the next Jose & Wally, but instead made themselves look like asses. First to the local Pit Stop greeters, then grossly stealing kisses from every woman they saw. And their oddly misogynistic Yield and U-Turn decisions. Them being in the Final 3 would’ve been the absolute worst.
Well my goodness. This is definitely a first for me. Since watching the very first episode on September 5, 2001, this is the very first time I have not one single team or even person to root for in the final 3 of an Amazing Race season.
21 seasons of The Amazing Race US, four seasons of The Amazing Race Asia and two seasons of The Amazing Race Australia; I’ve always had at least one team I could hope to win. With Sheena & Gee’s horrible elimination, this final 3 of Marc & Kat, Fausto & Dayal and LJ & CJ is leaving me with a bad taste in my mouth.
And here I was hoping TARPh could help rid the bad taste from Josh & Brent winning TAR21 on Sunday.
So first, let’s talk about the Leg. That first Route Marker with the clue box inside a roving tricycle was genius. I loved it. Boo to the locals who had to point it out to them. (Mga pakialameros. Hmph. lol) But I thought it was a nice and different way to present a cluebox to the teams. And judging from the huge crowd that formed just to watch teams count fish (and really, anytime there are cameras around in the Philippines), maybe having the cluebox not out in the open was the best idea.
The Detour was definitely typical TAR. But I think it was pretty unbalanced. The delivery side of the Detour did not look difficult at all. For one, there weren’t dozens of locals screaming at you and making asar.
Kudos to Sheena & Gee for actually finishing the fish counting side of the Detour though.
Thinking about it now, this was a pretty short Leg, especially compared to the last one. The Road Block was okay. It was actually a fresh take on the usual needle in a haystack task. Unless another TAR has done it before and I’m not aware of one.
But that infamous “Match your answers” tasks. Ugh!!! It’s definitely provided lots of drama in the past. I should have expected this task to play into TARPh. Sheena misreading the question is also a common mistake teams make with this one. And to think, if she had not misread that last question, they might have survived. Argh.
And so, we have our final 3. This was the final 3 I feared most and the only thing that would’ve made it worse was if Boom & Cheng were one of them. But this one that we got, it’s pretty close.
Only two hours of TARPh left. But I definitely have no excitement left and am already looking forward to, hopefully, TARPh2.
TV5! Please get on TARPh2 soon!
My Subjective Team Rankings for Leg 12
Sheena & Gee – Nooooo! They were my only hope for the final 3 and now they’re done. Done in by an invisible “ak” in the word “malas.” Malas indeed. They definitely grew on my as the Race went on and as other teams started falling off the awesome list or were eliminated, Sheena & Gee picked up the slack and stepped it up. *sigh* So now what?
*HUGE gap*
LJ & CJ – Ugh. I usually love rooting for TAR fans but I can’t bring myself to root for LJ & CJ. Their catty and for-TV behavior has been annoying and they haven’t even Raced particularly well. And to think I felt sorry for them when they were unjustly Yielded by the poor man’s version of Jose & Wally.
Marc & Kat – It is pretty much a done deal that they win the grand prize? It is never interesting to see someone dominate in a particular competition. And it is no different here. Especially when they’ve gotten a lot of help along the way. (Bad Leg design, lack of parity among the teams.) *yawn*
Fausto & Dayal – So the entertainment level of Dayal’s drama queen-ness has run its course. Now that they’ve actually got a legitimate shot at the grand prize, we must look at how horrible they Raced for the half the course then benefited from other, more horrible teams and a Fast Forward. TAR20’s Art & JJ have suddenly come to mind. Shit-stirrers who are so full of themselves.
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve written about The Amazing Race Philippines. Mainly because I kept falling further and further behind when the uploads became more sporadic.
But I’ve caught up now and the show’s been chugging along quite nicely even if the boot order has started to take a turn for the worse. Can’t TARPh at least take away the disappointment of the TAR21 ending.
End of Leg 8 – Albay It was definitely sad to see Ed & Angel go. It sucks that they had to fall so far behind.
The Leg itself was good. That Halo Halo task at the start was great on paper, but it sucks that teams got help from the locals and the eventual clue giver. TARPh should’ve made it so teams wouldn’t get the clue if they didn’t actually see the clue sticker at the bottom of the bowl.
The Detour was fine. The Road Block okay. And since I haven’t been able to see the raft making task of the Mat, I have no idea what to say about it. lol
Leg 9 – Cebu This was a big Leg. WOOHOO to Boom & Cheng getting eliminated. I was afraid they would end up in the Final 3.
It was fun seeing airport drama for the first time on TARPh. And not one, but two business class penalties. Lol
The arrange jewelry task is definitely classic TARA and TARAu. The Detour was pretty good thanks to Kuya Uling who was a nazi with the teams’ bags of charcoal.
The Intersection drama was probably the only time I’ve actually applauded Fausto & Dayal. Yay for going back on your word to screw over Boom & Cheng. Lol But the Intersection task itself was kinda lame. Though we did see Marc be a very good parlorista.
The most interesting part of the Leg though was the Yield in the middle of the Road Block. Has that been done on any TAR before? Genius move though. And this was the perfect opportunity for it too, helped by the teams all being there at the same time.
I’d love to see the Yield return on TARUS and be in the middle of a Road Block. Teams would have already started the task and then have to wait as they watch everyone else go past them. Wonderful drama would ensue.
The most hilarious moment from this Leg though was Dayal’s diva outburst in the taxi in response to the swindling taxi driver. “Wag na mag-dis-kus-syon!” Very fierce delivery. Lol
Leg 10 – Boracay Sponsored by Sprite lol
I can’t knock the product placement on any TAR because they help pay for the show. Without the Sprites and Snapples and Caltexes and Fords, we might not have Races to be run.
That infamous head shaving Fast Forward. Dayal having to shave his apparently iconic hair wasn’t that big of a deal as he, I guess, made it seem. But I guess chopping off all that hair after years of growing it would be a big deal for him. At least he got P200,000 for it.
I have no idea how Saida & Jervi could have wasted so much time at the Lilitaw Detour. It seems a helluva lot simpler than the Lulubog Detour. But they lounged around instead of hustling, so while I was sad they were eliminated, they pretty much did it to themselves.
The Road Block was okay. One of those needle in a haystack tasks.
Leg 11 – Manila to Puerto Princesa This was definitely a full Leg.
It was interesting to have teams fly back to Manila and actually have a task there before heading to Palawan. It speaks to the limited flight options for the domestic airports.
Okay Brother product placement. But I wonder if this is the first time a TAR has returned to a previously visited city in the same Race. Very unique circumstances of course.
The biggest happening of the Leg was of course the alliance drama. The only thing to come out of it for me was that Sheena & Gee must make the final 3, otherwise it’ll end up being the worst final 3 on any TAR ever. Really.
I did not get why Dayal, LJ and CJ would want to gang up on them like that. And really, it was all Dayal’s fault for wanting to stir the pot. CJ’s argument about Why would they be playing the game at the Pit Stop? Well gurl, it’s a game for P2 million. And you Yielded her for no reason. So, why not try and team up with another team.
Sheena & Gee’s mistake though was approaching Dayal who they should know is a huge drama queen and only wants himself to be the star. And speaking of stars, CJ’s comment about Sheena & Gee “sisikat pa sila” or “they’ll become famous because of me? No way.” … I thought to myself, uh… are you that famous? And LJ hasn’t done anything since Fear Factor and she wasn’t really doing much before it either.
And more “Ugly American Filipino” behavior, this time from Kat. If I were that multicab driver, I would have just dropped her off at the wrong place again and left them. That was pretty rude even if he did make a mistake.
The Road Block was pretty good. Very tricky. I didn’t even get what they needed to do at first. But it’s a good task and something TARUS wouldn’t even try to attempt. The trip through the Subterranean River was pretty much travel pron and a nice ad for the place. The coconut breaking was very TARA. And the Detour was alright.
My Subjective Team Rankings for Legs 8-11
Sheena & Gee – I had no idea they’d be my last hope for the season. But looking back, they’ve been consistently fierce and have carried on Dani’s “I don’t care who I step on” attitude, which I much prefer than all these other teams who pretend to play nice and play to the camera and the casual fans. Ewe. I really really hope they at least make it into the final 3, if not win it all.
Ed & Angel – Definitely sucked to see them be so far behind and eventually eliminated. I feel like they weren’t giving it their all though. They definitely showed moments of strength, but also some unfortunate moments of self-doubt. They’d be very gung-ho one moment and defeated the next.
Saida & Jervi – They let the Race get too personal sometimes. Maybe Sheena & Gee were on to something when they feel like the others are conspiring against them. They had the same kind of “jealousy” towards Dani & Mish too. Still, they were fun to watch. But while they started out a strong team, they definitely slowed down and ended up imploding in their last Leg. I still would rather see them in the final four though.
*HUGE gap*
LJ & CJ – Well, they went from boring to annoying at the drop of a hat. I was pretty indifferent to them until that pointless Yield in Cebu then their overreaction to Dayal’s pot stirring. CJ’s comment about not wanting Sheena & Gee to get famous because of her, umm… kapal much? That whole fireside discussion was eyeroll-inducing and officially made me go from indifferent to dislike.
Marc & Kat – They could possibly and are likely going to win more than P3.5 million. WTF!?!?! Really now. I didn’t like Rachel & Dave, half because of their dominance by way of poor Leg design. Not only are Marc & Kat banking on their luck, other teams’ incompetence and linear Legs, but Kat’s recent outbursts at the locals have been horrible. Let’s see her try that in another country. She’ll get thrown in jail like TAR5 Colin almost did.
Fausto & Dayal – Dayal’s drama queen, cocky attitude can be hilarious to watch sometimes, in a trainwreck sort of way. But it still gets very annoying and cringe-worthy most of the time. Dayal’s great to laugh at, but I don’t want them in the final 3, let alone winning.
Boom & Cheng – A more rude and annoying version of Jose & Wally. There’s no doubt they went on the Race with the intent to be the next great comic duo. Unfortunately for them, they instead came off as crude, disrespectful, annoying and worse of all, incredibly unfunny. Thank goodness they were eliminated. The only thing that would make a worse final 3 than the one that we might be getting would be if they were part of it.
Recap: The Amazing Race Philippines, Episode 24 (Leg 8, Day 2)
At the Detour, Marc & Kat decide to switch over to the crabs and Boom & Cheng follow. They have trouble walking in the mud, but Marc & Kat finish first and head off to the ferry as Saida & Jervi and LJ & CJ arrive.
LJ & CJ decide to switch over to the coconuts while Saida can’t hold it in and decides to pee in her shorts. When Boom & Cheng and Saida & Jervi finish, LJ & CJ decide to switch back to crabs and crawl through the mud.
Meanwhile, Sheena & Gee hop their jeepney onto the ferry to Misibis Bay Resort where they find the Road Block.
In this Road Block, teams must deliver four cocktails to a room that will open using a key card they will choose at the front desk. They must only use one hard to carry the tray of cocktails.
Sheena starts while Gee is ushered poolside where she gets pampered.
Back in Legazpi, Fausto & Dayal arrive at the halo-halo and Dayal says they’ve reread their clue and thinks they both must raise their hands to receive the next clue. But Fausto, deciding to drink every last drop of halo-halo in his bowl, finds the sticker at the bottom and they finally get the next clue.
At Misibis Bay, Marc, Boom, Saida and LJ catch up. Sheena finds the right room, but she’s dropped two cocktail glasses. Marc also finds his room, but his glasses aren’t full so both must return to the lobby.
All the way back at the Pit Start, Ed & Angel finally get started on the Leg after finishing their penalty.
Episode Thoughts Another good episode of competition. So at the Detour, Sheena & Gee seemed to have an easy time retrieving the crab baskets, but suddenly the other teams are struggling to crawl through the mud. What happened? Did TARPh totally dump more water in the field to make it more muddy?
Whatever happened, it made the task more fun to watch.
Hopefully not a spoiler, but Sheena looks so down in their confessionals. I wonder if that tells us something about this Leg’s result.
Seems everyone hates Fausto & Dayal and I definitely haven’t been a big fan of theirs. But there’s certainly other teams that are less likeable (yeah I’m looking at you unfunny Boom & Cheng. Put some pants on for goodness sakes.). And while their delusions in the first few Legs are annoyingly, but hilariously cringe-worthy, I think their incompetence and Dayal’s vanity are becoming more fun to watch especially with Dani gone. Also, they seem to now accept and acknowledge that they’re idiots. That makes them more likeable than they were before.
Umm… ewe at Saida’s pee break. Lol And WTF at LJ & CJ’s Detour switching. A waste of time that surprisingly might not matter considering they caught up at the Road Block.
I hope Ed & Angel can catch up somehow. The end of the Leg looks like it’ll involve a classic TARA and most recently TARAu task where teams have to build rafts. That could be a huge game changer.
Recap: The Amazing Race Philippines, Episode 23 (Leg 8, Day 1)
The 8th leg (where did the 7th go!?) of the Race begins as teams must find Lana’s Halo Halo at the Legazpi Public Market. There, each team member must eat one bowl of halo halo to reveal a sticker at the bottom of the bowl that would tell them their next clue is at Yanzon’s Store.
Fausto & Dayal get there first and finish their halo halo. They look around for their clue and raise their hands to signal they’re done. They are given two more bowls of halo halo. Marc & Kat also finish their bowls, but have no idea what to do, fearing they’ll get more bowls too. Fausto & Dayal decide to just go back to their jeepney driver who knows where to go next and takes them.
Marc & Kat also hop into their jeepney, but the driver has no clue. They decide to wait for Boom & Cheng to finish so they can figure it out together. They go back to the jeepney driver who ask where Fausto & Dayal went and why they left and the driver says they must’ve found their clue. Boom & Cheng do the same thing and get the same result.
Sheena & Gee arrive and start eating. When they finish, they raise their hands and get another helping. LJ & CJ arrive while the other six try to figure it out together. The locals point to a specific store where the shopowner then asks where their bowls are. They run back to Lana’s to grab their halo-halo bowls and return to Yanzon’s Store where they are given the next clue.
It’s the Detour. In Crabs, teams must pick up a basket full of crabs and deliver it to a nearby fisherman. In Coconut, teams must kudkod or manually grate coconut until they are able to produce a cup of milk from the meat.
Back at the market, Jervi sees the clue at the bottom of his bowl telling teams to head to Yanzon Store, so they do so. LJ & CJ are lucky enough to just follow them there.
Meanwhile, Fausto & Dayal are still clueless. Their driver lets them off and they see the Race flags. They decide to raise their hands, but nothing. They hop back into their jeepney and decide to head back to the market, an hour and a half away.
The first three teams arrive at the Detour. Sheena & Gee head to the crabs while Marc & Kat and Boom & Cheng do coconut. Sheena & Gee have trouble finding the fisherman while the other two teams struggle with grating the coconuts.
Turns out the fisherman was just a few yards away from the crab pick-up. They get the next clue telling them to head to Misibis Bay.
Meanwhile, all the way back at the Pit Stop, Ed & Angel are still waiting out their 2-hour penalty after not completing the Bicol Express task from last Leg.
Episode Thoughts Well, it’s nice to have TARPh back. This was my first episode in three days. Hope the regular TV5/TARPh uploader is alright is just living his/her life, yeah?
Anyway, I did read up on the last Leg and apparently Boom & Cheng have gotten even more unlikeable. Hiding clues and no penalty? Come on now. And their jokes were becoming increasingly unfunny and rude before, now they’re making sex jokes. (While scraping the coconuts if you didn’t get their innuendo.)
When pictures of the halo-halo task popped up online, I remember everyone already thinking, OMG, eat halo-halo? WTF kind of task is that?!
But it turned out to be really good… on paper. It reminded me of the TAR19 start task. Teams were supposed to figure out a puzzle but people ended up stumbling onto the right answer. Here, teams were supposed to see the clue at the bottom of the bowl, but instead lucked out but having people tell them where to go.
So the task was great in theory, have teams be observant and see the clue at the bottom of the bowl like Jervi did. (His magna cum laude UP education coming in handy.) This is the kind of task I wish TARUS did more of and they have definitely sprinkled them in the last few seasons. But when teams managed to just stumble onto the next clue, it defeats the purpose of the task.
I know they aren’t going to get a penalty even though I’d love to see it. It sucks for teams who actually did the task they were meant to do like Jervi did.
As for the Detour, the Crabs side looked crazy simple. It looked like the fisherman was just steps away from where they had to get the basket. But as we saw. Sheena & Gee had to run around frustrated.
Recap: The Amazing Race Philippines, Episode 20 (Leg 7, Day 1)
Teams open their first clue telling them to hop on a bus to Legazpi, Albay. Before leaving, they must collect 8 American Tourister suitcases of different sizes at the Holiday Inn Clark which they must bring with them to the next Pit Stop. From the Holiday Inn, they must take a Jeepney to the bus station.
Boom & Cheng and Marc & Kat hop into very common Toyota Innova hotel shuttles. Sheena & Gee try to pen the suitcases to place their backpacks in them, but can’t. Ed & Angel, on the way to the Jeepney, manage to open their suitcases and place the smaller ones inside so they only need to carry two each.
Teams head to Manila and the Cubao bus terminal to catch the bus heading to Legazpi. Boom & Cheng and Marc & Kat learn they have an hour penalty for not taking the Jeepney at the Holiday Inn.
Fausto & Dayal are on the first bus to leave Cubao while LJ & CJ manage to hop on the 2nd bus leaving at 8:30. Sheena & Gee and Saida & Jervi catch up to Boom & Cheng and take the same bus leaving at 9pm. Marc & Kat take a 4th bus while Ed & Angel take a 5th bus, both only going to Naga where they will then have to transfer to another bus on to Legazpi.
LJ & CJ are the first to arrive in Legazpi and find clues waiting on the front of marked jeepneys. Teams must take the jeepneys to Red Labuyo Restaurant where each person must eat one bowl of Bicol Express, a spicy local specialty, and a bowl of strawberry ice cream in order to receive their next clue.
LJ & CJ get to the restaurant and find HOURS OF OPERATION with the place opening at 8am.
In Naga, Marc & Kat are waiting for the bus they need to transfer on to make it to Legazpi and it turns out to be the 3rd bus the three teams are on.
LJ & CJ are let into the restaurant and start eating the spicy dish. Fausto & Dayal arrive and both teams struggle, holding back their vomit. If they throw up, they will have to get a refill. CJ & LJ see Dayal giving some of his food to Fausto and point it out, so Fausto returns the spoonful to Dayal’s bowl.
The bro-in-laws still finish before the girls and both teams must hop back onto their jeepneys and head to Casagwa Church.
The next bus arrives in Legazpi and they head to the restaurant.
Episode Thoughts A solid first episode for the Leg. Good competition especially having to find their own transportation.
I’m guessing American Tourister is TARPh’s Traveloctiy. Since they sponsor the Leg prizes, those suitcases are TARPh’s Roaming Gnome I suppose. That’s fun.
I appreciate TARPh’s strict enforcement of rules. So many penalties. But that’s common on the Asian TARs. TARAu and especially TARA loved issuing penalties.
The Bicol Express is definitely the TARPh version of the TAR6 Hungarian Spicy Soup Road Block. Complete with LJ pulling a Freddy and eating her vomit. Lol
So tomorrow or maybe Thursday, Pig or Jig 3.0!! lol. Whenever TARUS returns to the Philippines, you can bet we’ll get the 4th use of that Detour. lol
 
DEPARTURE Holiday Inn Clark Angeles City, Pampanga
Boom & Cheng 4:50pm Fausto & Dayal 5:19pm Marc & Kat 5:20pm Sheena & Gee 6:05pm LJ & CJ 6:10pm Saida & Jervi 6:25pm Ed & Angel 7:00pm
EAT BICOL EXPRESS Red Labuyo Restaurant, Daraga, Albay
