Winning TARA3 is a priceless experience, says Hong Kong pair. In the end, after travelling over 21,000km, dashing through seven countries and 11 cities while performing numerous back-breaking and mind-bending challenges, it all came down to a lot of luck and a little skill for the final three teams on The Amazing Race Asia 3 (TARA3).
Friends from Hong Kong, Sam Wu and Vince Chung, emerged winners even though they were the last to start on the final leg due to a four-hour penalty for not completing the final challenge the week before. Despite the setback, the boys managed to overtake Malaysians Ida Nerina and Tania Khan (who were initially in the lead) and Geoff Rodriguez and Tisha Silang from the Philippines, to arrive first on the finish mat at the final pit stop in Phuket, Thailand. And they made it a comfortable 45 minutes or so ahead of runners-up, Tish and Geoff. The Malaysians came in third.
Needless the say, Sam and Vince were ecstatic about their US$100,000 (RM363,000) win when interviewed at The Amazing Race Asia 3 finale party in Bangkok last Thursday.
“It has been totally unbelievable. Being selected for the race was great already ... but winning is really something else,” said Sam.
Added Vince, “Winning was really out of this world ... an experience money can’t ever buy.
“It was really hard coming in last at the (last) pit stop but we liked being the underdogs facing adversity. We saw it as a challenge not to give up.”
Most of the 10 teams on TARA3 (except father and son Niroo and Kapil Asrani from India and South Korean brothers William and Isaac Hong) were present at the party. Many teams from the previous seasons were also there to celebrate the end of another exciting season of the reality TV show.
For the most part of the race, the winning duo remained under the radar: they were by no means the strongest team (even though they did come first twice) nor the weakest. While they didn’t stir up any controversy, nor were terribly outstanding, Sam and Vince didn’t care about the drama that sometimes went on around them nor were they concerned about making friends. Their focus was clearly the race.
Congratulating the boys, Geoff said, “Honestly, I could not have lost to a better team. I believe it was all destined and I am really happy for Sam and Vince.”
It is hard to begrudge another team for winning, added his partner Tish, as all three teams in the final truly deserved to be there.
“We went through the same things and I think we made it to the final because we all deserved to be there.”
Although Tish and Geoff would have wanted to win themselves, the fiery couple is pleased with its second placing.
“We never ever thought we’d be in the final three. We told ourselves that we’d be happy if we made it to the final five and so we are happy that we got to the finals,” said Tish.
“And we are still together,” added Geoff, answering the question that is probably on the minds of many TARA3 fans.
“Geoff and I have been together for four years and to judge our relationship based on the one month we were on The Amazing Race Asia is just not fair. We were in such unrealistic conditions ... your feelings are all heightened and it was just a clash of personalities,” said Tish.
And what about the negative comments they received about their sometimes abrasive behaviour on the race.
“I know that most people see us as being on the dark side but that was just how we wanted to play the race and if we had not, I don’t think we would have reached the final three,” said Geoff.
Explained Tish, “We aren’t perfect but we are not immoral or bad people. A lot of people were upset that we used the yield and the U-turn but those were tools of the race and we just used them to our advantage. It was never anything personal.”
The team that did not seem to be able to get a break throughout the final leg, however, were Ida and Tania.
Their first blow was losing their lead to the Filipinos when their vehicle got stuck in the sand in the desert of Dubai for quite a while. They fell further behind when they could not make it in time for their flight to Phuket due to airport delays.
“It was really painful. We had booked our flight but the lady at the ticketing counter was away from her place for an hour and a half! I mean who leaves the counter for an hour and a half!
“It was frustrating because it was not our doing and all our magical planning went to waste,” said Tania.
Added Ida, “We knew in Dubai that we were not going to win the race but we kept on going as if we were still in it (to win).”
Despite a brief emotional breakdown at the airport, the duo completed their tasks in their usual quirky manner.
Interestingly, a month after she returned from the race (which actually concluded in the middle of the year), Tania discovered she was pregnant.
“Before leaving for the race, I kind of suspected that I might be pregnant and so I went to see a doctor who did a scan and told me I was not pregnant. So I went for the race and when I felt queasy, I put it down to the pace of the race.
“It was only a month after we got back that I realised I was four months pregnant!” said Tania.
TARA3 definitely had its moments and there were teams to like and teams to dislike. However, one can’t help but feel that “the toughest race ever” may not have been the best race ever. Perhaps it was because there were so many eliminations in the first half of the race: the first five episodes were elimination rounds and before we knew it, there were just five teams left. Part of the magic of the race is watching the dynamics between the teams and whittling down the teams so fast was quite drastic.
Still, for the millions of fans across Asia (the series has garnered a huge following – just check out the many TARA online forums and blogs), Thursdays will probably be a little boring, at least for a while. For me, being a couch racer for 11 weeks has been exhausting and I am quite glad for the respite. Until next season.
- S. Indramalar
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