Put your hands up if you were as shocked as I was when siblings Bernie and Henry Chan were eliminated from The Amazing Race Asia in episode eight, three weeks ago.
Try as we might to figure out what went wrong with them – were they fighting too much? Did they run out of steam? Couldn’t they have taken an earlier flight?– it was still a shame to see the two go. They were, after all, among the stronger teams on the race, having arrived first at the pit stop twice (Episodes Two and Three) and they seemed to have a good dynamic going.
“It was just one of those things. We actually arrived in Mumbai earlier than the other teams and were on the same connecting flight to Cochin but we were held up and we missed it. It was just bad luck,” explained Henry.
So, it wasn’t the bickering that slowed them down?
“Well, we were actually arguing with each other all along but I guess when they edited it, they played up (our arguments) on the last two episodes,” he said.
Naturally, the duo were gutted by their untimely elimination.
“It feels like being dumped. Really, it does. It’s like you had this amazing love affair and you were suddenly left high and dry. There was no closure.
“And once you are eliminated you are taken away (eliminated teams are sequestered in a secret location) and you don’t get to see the remaining teams. So we had two weeks of just being ‘locked away’ ... we really had post race blues,” recalled Bernie.
As sad as they were, the siblings reckon it was harder for their family and friends to watch and accept their elimination.
“My mum was very upset and my aunt was close to tears and the kids were devastated. Watching it over we were not really devastated because we had a long time to get over it. It seemed that everyone else took it harder. Even my hairdresser called me up!
“People were taking bets that we had won the race and we couldn’t say anything. We knew there were people rooting for us but we did not expect them to be so upset,” she said.
The duo have no regrets about the way they ran the race.
“I am very proud of Henry and myself and the way we ran the race. I am sorry if some were disappointed with us ... but that’s who we are. What you saw of us on TV ... that’s who we really are,” said Bernie.
“Yeah. It (the race) was really tough ... it’s 10 times harder than what you see on screen,” said Henry.
Bernie cited the hot weather in Hue, Vietnam.
“When we were looking for the pit stop at the Unesco World Heritage Site, it was 40°C and we all felt like fainting. Everyone had sunstroke and although it was so near (the end) it was really difficult,” explained Bernie.
They may not have made it to the end but the siblings have definitely gained a lot from being on the race.
“We had fun and we learnt that we have it in us to do anything,” she concluded.
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