The Amazing Race Asia 2: Finale Episode

EPISODE 13

After crossing multiple continents, and gracing the shores of 10 countries, from Singapore, New Zealand, Germany, Hungary to South Africa, three teams have made it to the top three spots, but only one team can win The Amazing Race Asia.

Will it be hunky Marc and Rovilson, whose charm and ability have put them in first place in eight of the eleven pitstops, or will it be buddies Collin and Adrian, who, despite Adrian’s hearing impairment, have managed to creep up and give Marc and Rovilson a run for their money? Or will sisters Pamela and Vanessa repeat history, and be the second Malaysian team to win The Amazing Race Asia?

GAME ON
Knowing that this is the last time they will get to be the first team to leave the pit stop, Marc and Rovilson are now gunning for the top prize. So far, the hunks have fulfilled two of the four goals they set for themselves, namely not to get eliminated and to be in the top three teams. Their third goal was to win the leg in Philippines, but they were beaten by Pamela and Vanessa for that.

Competitors Collin and Adrian are also looking to see this race through to the end. "One of our goals was just to reach the top three and we did it," notes Collin.

And even with the same objectives, which is to win, Pamela points out that there is another common experience shared by the three teams. "All top three teams are teams who have won a leg," she points out.

From the Aquila Game Reserve in Cape Town, South Africa, teams must head to the District 6 Museum to receive their next clue. Named after the Cape Town area where residents were forcibly removed from their homes, the museum serves as a reminder of those events.

Using a Sony Vaio notebook, teams must unlock password on the notebook using the original street names found in District Six. Rushing to the museum, teams are immediately struck by traffic woes. "I’m ready to win and we’re stuck (in traffic)," says Pamela, "Do you think it would be terrible if we break the law of the city?" And right on cue, Vanessa cuts out of the main road and starts driving on the road shoulder towards District 6.

Marc and Rovilson are the first to the museum, and immediately start keying the street names into the notebook, hoping to unlock the clue. After a few random tries, the duo unlocks the clue, which tells them to read one paragraph off the wall, which describes the history of the district, before they will be given the next clue.

Collin, Adrian, Vanessa and Pamela arrive at the museum together, and both teams are working side by side, trying to be the first to break the password. But both teams have to be careful, in case the other team overhears the street name that happens to unlock the notebook.

WHAT’S THE FREQUENCY?
The next challenge is a Detour and teams must head to the Vitoria and Alfred Waterfront, more commonly known as the V & A Waterfront.

In Search, teams must head to The Scratch Patch, where a collection of tens of thousands of tumble polished gemstones lie, waiting for visitors to bring them home. Within the sea of multicolored stones, teams must pick up three specially market stones for their next clue.

In Assemble, teams must make a traditional wire radio out of a collection of parts. Once the completed unit is able to receive radio signals, teams will receive their next clue.

Marc and Rovilson pick Search and head to the Scratch Patch, but are immediately overwhelmed by the vast number of stones located in the patch. The objective is to pick out three yellow stones with a red dot on it. "You know what? That radio thing is looking real good right now," says Marc. His partner agrees and the duo switches to Assemble.

The second team to get the password, Adrian and Collin read the paragraph and receive their next clue. It seems that the guys do think alike as the gym buddies also pick Search as their choice. Meanwhile, Pamela and Vanessa complete the museum task and pick Assemble.

Arriving at the Scratch Patch, Adrian and Collin as equally overwhelmed by the thousands of stones in front of them. "When we saw the pebbles, we thought, how on earth can we find the three marked pebbles?" exclaims Collin. "We gave ourselves 10 minutes." But it took them less than that to locate their first marked rock. This sealed the decision for the buddies and they continue to try and locate the other two.

In just one try, Marc and Rovilson complete their radio, which proves to be music to their ears when they were handed their next clue. At the radio shack, the sisters find themselves sitting along with the radio parts and figure that Adrian and Collin must be searching for their rocks.

GOAL! (PART 1)
Teams must now head to the soccer field at FC Kapstadt, which is located next to the site of the 2010 World Cup. They must score three goals from the penalty line to get the next clue.

But it seems that soccer isn’t the pastime of the two Filipinos. Despite multiple tries, both Marc and Rovilson fail to score even a goal. In the end, Rovilson jokingly tries to bribe his way to the clue. "Listen," he tells the goalkeeper. "We’re going to win $100,000. If you lay down, I’ll spot you 10 grand." He then quickly corrects himself. "Pesos," he quickly adds.

As luck would have it, Adrian and Collin locate the remaining two rocks and are headed to the soccer field. Pamela and Vanessa try desperately to complete the radio, but Vanessa pricks herself with a tool. "I should win the award for the most injured," she laments. "I lost my memory. What else? I lost my memory right? I can’t remember the others."

But they sisters soon fine tune their radio, and are rewarded with the clue as well.

Teams must now head to Atlantis Dunes and ride an All-Terrain Vehicle, or Quad Bike, around a sand course. Located in the course are 18 possible containers, with only one containing the necessary clue. The other 17 contain an hourglass. If teams open a container with the hourglass, they must flip it and let the device run its course, before continuing to their next clue.

The first team to Atlantis Dunes, Rovilson is in awe of the jaw dropping beauty of the sand.

"We were like, on another planet, it was indescribable." Naturally, the first clue they open contains an hourglass and the duo have to wait for the sand to run out. Rovilson responds, "I feel like a storm trooper."

Adrian and Collin get to the dunes, as Marc and Rovilson open up yet another hourglass.

"This is insane," points out Rovilson, as they sit waiting for the sand to run its course and see another team tearing across the dunes. "Collin and Adrian are here, hot on our heels."

Upon realising it is yet another driving task, Pamela cannot help but roll her eyes. "Anything can happen in the sand dunes, anything can happen on the road," she says.

Her sister chimes in, "Anything can happen on the road while I’m driving."

GOAL! (PART 2)
As Marc and Rovilson open yet another hourglass filled container, Adrian and Collin have their own problems. The back wheels of one of their Quad bikes sinks in the sand and is unable to move. The duo tries their best to free the vehicle, only to free the back wheel and lodge the front wheel in the sand.

Soon, the sisters arrive and six drivers are now roaming around the area, searching for the correct container.

As Marc and Rovilson sit waiting for another hourglass to empty, they see Adrian and Collin zip past not one, but two containers in a row. Puzzled, the duo can only wonder what the Singaporeans are up to. "What are they doing? They didn’t pick up the last two pods," Marc wonders. "I don’t know what their strategy is actually, but it has us concerned."

It seems the gym buddies do have a strategy that counts on watching for the tracks on the sand, to see if another team has already opened it. Explains Collin, "We came up with a strategy for alternate ones. If we keep on opening all, it will be difficult." "The ones they have stepped on, it means it’s not there."

Realising their strategy, Rovilson is already forming a plan to outsmart the gym buddies.

"Now, it’s become a chess game. Sneaky little guys." As it turns out, Marc and Rovilson open up their next container, to discover the clues within it. Instead of jumping for joy though, the hunks simply sit down in the sand.

Why? Adrian and Collin are just right behind them, at another container. Their intention is to act as if they uncovered another hourglass, and as waiting for the green light to move on. "I don’t mind waiting until they pass us," says Rovilson. "We’re testing our acting skills by pretending we have an hour glass, waiting for time to go by, explains Rovilson. "Hopefully, Adrian and Collin pass by this and onto the next one."

FINAL DESTINATION (PART 1)
Their act does not go unnoticed by Collin, who pays close watch to the duo.

"We saw them open, and were waiting there. They kept looking at us, and we were looking at them," he remarks.

Soon, Marc and Rovilson take off, leaving Adrian and Collin in the sand. The gym buddies ride off in their Quad bikes but are faced with an uphill climb. The first in front, Collin roars the engine but fails to gain enough momentum, and causes his bike to flip over backwards. "The whole thing tipped over and landed on me. I thank God the sand was soft," says a relieved Collin.

They finally do get on top of the knoll, and near the container which contains the clue. But will the buddies open it, or give it a miss? "We finally got up and I said, let’s open it," says Collin. "My sixth sense told us that Marc and Rovilson were just putting up a show."

Teams must now make their way to the Cape Point Lighthouse. Once there, they have to tell the lighthouse keeper where they think they would be traveling to next.

Pleased with their performance and in obtaining the clue, Collin cannot help but pat himself on the back. "They put up a good show," he says. "I suspected they were pretending."

But it was the sisters who were faced with the reality of continually opening up containers after containers containing hourglasses. Their haste leads to carelessness as Vanessa falls backwards and the girls have to lift the bike from the sand.

At the Cape Point Lighthouse, Marc and Rovilson have to decide if they want to head to the top, or the bottom of Cape Point. Seeing a sign that points to Cape Town towards the bottom, the duo make a dash and head downwards.

Minutes later, Collin and Adrian arrive and note that they have to take a funicular up to the Cape Point Lighthouse. As they get to the funicular, they see Marc and Rovilson headed towards another direction. While puzzled, the gym buddies do not waste time second guessing themselves.

Marc and Rovilson are busy walking past rocks and crawling down the rough slopes hoping to find the lighthouse, but fail to catch a glimpse of it. Eventually, they reach upon a collection of barbed wire which prevents them from moving further and the duo realise that they are on the wrong track. "I think we didn’t take our smart pills, and overdosed on dummy pills," says Rovilson.

FINAL DESTINATION (PART 2)
The sisters pick up their clue at the Dunes, as Collin and Adrian climb the steps to the top of the lighthouse, and meet the lighthouse keeper. So where are teams headed to next?

"Malaysia?" asks Collin. The keeper shakes his head, and Collin continues, "Singapore?" This time, the keeper breaks out in a wide grin and hands the gym buddies their next clue.

"Singapore, here we come," cheers Collin with glee, as teams must now travel to the Raffles Statue near the Asian Civilisations Museum, for their next clue. This is also good news as the location of the statue is right next to where teams started off from in the beginning of the race.

Marc and Rovilson are the second to reach the lighthouse, and immediately guess correctly that they are headed for Singapore. Towards the evening, the Malaysian sisters arrive and also surmise correctly that Singapore is the next destination. "When we found out we were going to Singapore, we knew there was still hope to do better," explains Pamela.

And she is correct. Arriving at the airport, she finds the other two teams waiting to get seats on the first flight to Singapore. All three teams get tickets for the same flight, and after travelling 9,700km, land in Singapore and very much closer to their last pitstop.

Dashing out of the airport terminal, Marc and Rovilson are the first to grab a taxi and urges the driver to step on it. "I know there are speed rules in this beautiful country of yours but if you can just push the edge, like that right there," says Rovilson, pointing to a car that overtakes them.

In another taxi behind them, Collin asks his driver to speed up. In Mandarin, he explains to the driver his predicament, and about the race and how it is important that they show up ahead at the statue.

At the statue of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founding father of Singapore, Marc and Rovilson pull out the first clue, which guides them towards the Tanjong Beach in Sentosa for their next clue. Adrian and Collin are right behind them, and pick up the same clue. But when they leave, they see Marc and Rovilson hopping into a taxi that was waiting for them.

The gym buddies forget to ask their taxi driver to wait for them and have to spend time looking for another taxi. As the sisters pull in, the gym buddies are still looking for a taxi.

This time, Marc is extremely pleased in having the foresight of having their driver wait for them. Pamela is also looking forward to getting to the beach as the sisters have an advantaged. Says Pamela with a laugh, "We are going to win as long as Vanessa is not driving."

In their new taxi, Collin is worried about their positioning. "Every minute counts now since we wasted time getting a cab," he laments, even as Adrian tries to calm him down.

FLAG OFF
Teams are now faced with a Roadblock at the beach, where one team member must place national flags in the sand, in the order of the countries they have visited since the start of the race.

Rovilson picks the challenge and Marc is disappointed to know that it is basically flag recognition challenge. Rovilson, he says, is not ever good with flags. Explains Marc, "It’s very frustrating to watch this, especially when you know the flags and see your teammate picking the wrong one."

And the duo does not have much time, as the second team arrives and makes their way to the flag area. Vanessa picks the task and is also similarly stumped by some of the flags.

But where are Collin and Adrian?

Sitting in the taxi on the way to Sentosa, Collin can only keep his fingers crossed at this point. "I hope this is not the pitstop." "I hope there are more activities coming up where we can make up for some lost time."

Meanwhile, Marc is too busy shaking his head as Rovilson is still unable to complete the task. "That’s the Australian flag you idiot," he says to himself, as Rovilson pulls the wrong flag from the pile.

"I have seen the flags come up for countries that we haven’t been to and it was a little frustrating. But I know it must have been so much more frustrating for Rovilson."

Vanessa is also kicking herself for making some obvious mistakes. "I actually forgot the Philippines flag, which is so silly because the boys have it on their bags," she says.

Finally, Adrian and Collin arrive at the beach and immediately, Adrian rushes to the flag area to complete the roadblock. And we mean complete it. Very quickly, Adrian pulls the correct flags out and positions them neatly on the sand. In barely the time it took for him to pull out the flag, Adrian completes the roadblock to perfection and dashes of with Collin, to the amazement of the other two teams. Remarks Rovilson in awe, "He went in the middle and chucked the flags into the holes and he was done."

So how did Adrian finish up in record time? "When I was a child, I had a very big passion for knowledge all over the world. So I remember my mom bought me a book of the flags," he explains. And that is why Adrian and Collin are the first to receive the final clue of the race.

SECRET GARDEN
Teams must now make their way to the Chinese Garden which is the final pitstop for The Amazing Race Asia. Getting into a taxi, Collin urges the taxi to get there in record time.

"Support Singapore. Singapore will win," he says in Mandarin to the driver. But his partner does not want the stress. "Forget about the race. We will never know if they overtake us," Adrian tells Collin.

Vanessa completes the roadblock and receive their final clue as well. But Rovilson is still stuck in the sand. "At least we left and are not left behind or the last team," notes Pamela on the way to the final pitstop.

"They (Marc and Rovilson) are going to be pissed when they find out this is the final pitstop." But Pamela adds, "For Marc and Rovilson not to come in first, and we come in, it’s a good feeling."

Rovilson eventually completes the Roadblock and the Filipinos are the third team headed towards the pitstop. But it is a case of being just a little late.

At the Chinese Garden, greeted by the other teams who were eliminated along the way, Adrian and Collin rush towards a waiting Allan Wu, who informs the buddies that after travelling 10 countries, 15 cities and 51,534km, they are the winners of The Amazing Race Asia.

Elated about their results, Adrian says "We have overcome many obstacles along the way. We work together, work around it. There was a lot of frustration, and yet we came up the first and the champion of this race. So it’s a very heavenly feeling." And his friend adds, "I think Adrian has proven that disability is just a state of the mind." Agreeing, Adrian says, "I never dwell on my disability. You don’t think about it. You just do it."

They are followed by Pamela and Vanessa, who immediately shout out, "We beat the boys!" Pamela adds, "I’ve learned I can do a lot. I can be somebody better."

What about Marc and Rovilson? Back on the road, Marc and Rovilson are painfully aware that victory has already slipped from their grasp, but continue to parade as they walk towards the final pitstop. "I envisioned the race to go two ways, either glorious victory or crash and burn," says Rovilson. "I was hoping for an eating challenge. I was hoping to eat the flags."