The Amazing Race Asia finally premiere last Thursday, November 9, on AXN channel.
It has been almost 9 months when AXN announced the making of Amazing Race Asia, and it’s finally here. With the support and sponsorship of Malaysia Tourism Board, it’s not surprising that the competition was started in Kuala Lumpur.
Overall I think the 1st ever episode of Amazing Race Asia was pretty good. Production wise it’s not as strong as the US version, but I think the Asia teams are stronger and more balanced than the US teams.
The diversity of culture and nationality of teams are the main selling point; I’m a bit disappointed to see that there’s no team from Middle East, China, Japan, Korea etc… but it’s just the 1st season, I shouldn’t be over critical.
One thing funny is their English speaking, their English slang gave me goose-bumps… even the host Allan Wu’s English sounds a bit weird, Asiaglish perhaps.
There are some ugly scenes though… apparently 2 out of the 10 teams were conned by Malaysia taxi drivers; thanks for the ‘nice’ promotion of Malaysia tourism.
There’s a voting for favorite team that’s going on at the AXN website, none surprisingly Aubrey and Jac, actress and model from Philippines are taking the lead in popularity.
Most of the teams look pretty good physically; I thought that the 2 fat brothers, Mardy and Marsio from Jakarta would come last, but they arrived at the pit-stop first instead… another reason not to judge people on their appearance.
I am predicting Ernie and Jeena from Philippines to win the race. No particular reasons, just feel good about it.
November 13th, 2006 at 1:58 am
No Astro here.
And then, couldn’t find any torrents on it. Maybe because its Asia.
November 13th, 2006 at 2:00 am
Too bad.. have to wait for NTV7 or 8TV then, perhaps months later.
November 13th, 2006 at 6:20 am
It was far better than the US version. Do check out this site. It does profile how you and I can win some Sony Prizes. Do check out this site at http://contestcorner.wordpress.com
I entered the contest but guess the wrong team although MY’s team showed potential. Alas, the Ph’s ended the first to reach the pit stop
November 13th, 2006 at 4:15 pm
overall is okay .. but Malysian’s needs to buck up on our manner .. i saw one of the Taxi guy spoke half way to one of the contestent and walked away .. that is so rude
November 14th, 2006 at 9:46 pm
i only watched amazing race asia just now, replay. got one team go on taxi from time square, make a huge turn and go back to time square again. those bastard taxi driver really memalukan malaysia.
btw the phil girls not cute lah.. i think one of them look like ‘a gua’.
November 16th, 2006 at 10:17 am
A gua? Not that bad right.. perhaps makeup a bit heavy only.
November 19th, 2006 at 10:12 pm
i thought ernie & jeena will win the race too…… they r so athletic …. but luck not on their side…. (after watching 2 episod)
i really laugh at malaysian when they r giving directions, i wonder will us malaysian learn our manners thru reality shows like this?
for now i’m supporting the 2 malaysian teams & everytime they reach the pitstop i’ll say “Malaysia Boleh!”
November 20th, 2006 at 9:29 am
namie… pretty surprise too. That’s the fun part of Amazing Race anyway, you never know what will happen.
Ya good luck to the Malaysian pairs.
December 4th, 2006 at 12:22 am
You know, TAR 10 came out with a culturally diverse cast, which included Asian Americans, Indian Americans, African Americans and a Muslim team (having all Caucasian teams is not representative of America these days). Anyway, though I have only seen a 10-minute clip of TARA on YouTube I like how they have included teams from several different countries. That would certainly add a new dynamic…much moreso than simply taking Americans from different backgrounds.
I cringe every time I watch these fellow Americans run through the streets of cities all over the world, acting more or less as our ambassadors. Most, if not all, of the contestants have never ventured beyond U.S. borders, and here they are interacting with new cultures within the context of a pressure-filled race for $1,000,000. Yikes!
Anyway, I hope to see TAR:Asia on an actual TV screen at some point.
December 4th, 2006 at 6:48 am
Ya, the multi-cultural team in Amazing Race Asia is instead a selling point. So far so good for me.
TAR-A will show in other TV stations for sure, but not until the current show ended at AXN; they are after all the producers.
December 4th, 2006 at 9:03 am
I’m not sure how they decide what shows are broadcast where. When I was in the Philippines for two weeks I thought I would miss episodes of TAR 7. To my surprise, while flipping through channels at the hotel one night I found the episode from the prior week. And the next night, I was able to view the episode that had aired the previous night back home. I’m quite sure it was indeed AXN, which we do not have here. Not fair
Oh, well…the newest episode of TAR 10 just started a few minutes ago, so I digress…
December 4th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
Ya it will be AXN, each episode will be show 4-5 times over the week.
Ermmm TAR10 latest episode? It must be almost a week later than mine or half a day sooner, I am going to see it tonite :p
December 5th, 2006 at 6:53 am
I assume the rest of the world doesn’t see TAR episodes before we do in America
However, it wouldn’t surprise me if the delay was only a day or less. Still, I will refrain from making any comments about the final three teams in case some haven’t seen it yet.
Too bad they come back to the U.S. in the next episode. It always seems so plain and “un-exotic” to see them running through the streets of Dallas (or Chicago, or wherever) after watching them struggle with language barriers and using all forms of transportation they can find. It’s also a bit sad because it means the season will soon end. I enjoy the adventure of it all…reminds me of my 40-hour trip from Atlanta to Cebu, Philippines, and my first jaunts on a fast ferry and a pedi-cab (and on the back of a motorcycle without a helmet :)).
December 5th, 2006 at 11:24 am
Ic, u r half day sooner than mine. True that it’s not as fun when they always ended the race in US, lots of the time it’s down to luck when it comes to the final 3 rather than problem solvings or decision makings when overseas.
Going to places we never been before is always fun, that’s what travel is all about… Philippines sounds fun, I should visit there since I am staying pretty near.
December 5th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
For me, the Philippines represented a HUGE change in culture. Never before had I left North America…and only once had I been outside of the U.S. (a week in Toronto, Ontario, which felt much the same as America). Southeast Asia has a certain allure for me that I’m guessing other regions of the world do not have. I was only in Hong Kong’s airport for a few hours total and did not see the city at all. However, I keep telling myself this is a place I could live. Loved the dark, rainy weather, and the adventure of being 10,000 miles from home.
Anyway, the Amazing Race series helps me to re-live those memories, and also replenishes my desire to make more.
December 6th, 2006 at 8:28 pm
I understand the feeling, it’s just like my first visit outside of Asia region, that’s in London some 6 years ago… it’s a huge culture shift as well, perhaps a total opposite change with yours.
Good thing for US citizens is your strong currency and living standard, and thus visiting some Asian countries (set aside a few like Japan and HK) can be really cheap.
December 9th, 2006 at 11:41 am
With the economic booms going on in places like China and Vietnam I have a feeling this region may not be so inexpensive in the future.
Still, when I tell my friend in the Phillippines that my monthly rent is about 60% of her yearly income I realize there is still plenty of opportunity to live much more cheaply elsewhere…and my rent is not even considered extravagant here!
December 9th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
That will be a far future ahead… other than the main cities like Beijing, Shanghai etc., other rural areas will still be pretty cheap in a decade or two. Sometimes it’s the rural areas that’s the hidden gem that really opens our mind.
Living cheaply elsewhere is one thing, but then the salary and income will also be different… it’s probably still worth staying in modern countries.
Unless you are thinking of life after retirement (judging from your photo still far ahead), then looking somewhere in Asia might be a good idea.
December 11th, 2006 at 8:55 am
I wonder who will win TAR 10 tonight. Seems like the two ladies are the sure underdogs, while Rob and Kimberly may just be too dramatic and emotional. The model guys seem to have a lot of mental toughness and have a definite physical advantage, so perhaps they’ll pull it out.
I know that it will be shown about 12 hours later there, so I won’t spoil the ending by posting prematurely
December 11th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
I am hoping that the love birds will win… a bit of fairy tale perhaps… win a million, get married, have kids and be happily ever after lol.
December 11th, 2006 at 10:56 pm
How those two stay together I’ll never understand. One minute Kimberly is saying to Rob, “I’m done with you”, but later in the SAME EPISODE they are expressing their desire to spend their lives together.
Then again, after all the yelling and screaming they did toward one another they should be able to survive anything that comes their way from here on out.
How is the TARA series coming along? Now that TAR 10 is over I’ll have a few months before TAR 11 (which starts in February).
December 12th, 2006 at 2:46 pm
Well, the boys win. Don’t worry about Bob and Kim, I have relatives that argue everyday after their marriage but just celebrated their silver jubilee a couple years back.
Amazing Race Asia is as good as the original TAR. As said production wise it’s still a fraction behind the original TAR, like the camera angles and handling etc…
The diversity of nationality and cultural also make the whole TARA very interesting; and perhaps because it’s new and the prize money is not as great (USD100,000)… the competitors seemed more enjoying the process rather than simply go for a win.
December 13th, 2006 at 7:16 am
I don’t think I’d have any problem enjoying TARAsia. However, because I associate all Amazing Race episodes with Phil’s voice-overs and greetings at the mat it would take a bit of time to get accustomed to the new guy. What little I did see on YouTube seemed to follow the original series very closely. I think this helps fans of TAR make an easy transition over to TARAsia.
Trust me…$100,000 is still a LOT of money here, so I’m guessing it is a significant amount there as well. I agree, though…when teams are playing for a MILLION dollars that does change the landscape. Perhaps because you hear of millionaires and billionaires, but you never hear of “hundred thousandaires”.
December 13th, 2006 at 11:07 am
Ya the race format still pretty much like the original TAR, different people only.
USD100,000 sure is still a lot of money, but as you just said a MILLION make a huge difference. USD100,000 is earnable by most degree holders in Asia (and US), but not too many people can make USD1,000,000 in their lifetime.