The Amazing Race Asia 5

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The Amazing Race Asia 5
Season 5
Amazing-race-asia-season-5.png
The Amazing Race Asia logo since season 5
Presented by Allan Wu
Tara Basro
No. of teams11
Winner Parul Shah & Maggie Wilson
No. of legs10
Distance traveled12,000 km (7,500 mi)
No. of episodes10
Release
Original network AXN Asia
Original release13 October (2016-10-13) 
15 December 2016 (2016-12-15)
Additional information
Filming dates8 August (2016-08-08) 
26 August 2016 (2016-08-26)
Season chronology
 Previous
Season 4

The Amazing Race Asia 5 is the fifth season of The Amazing Race Asia , an Asian reality competition show based on the American series The Amazing Race . It returned after a 6-year hiatus and featured eleven teams of two for the first time in the Asia's version of franchise, each with a pre-existing relationship, in a race across Southeast Asia to win US$100,000. [1]

This season visited in the entirety of Southeast Asia travelled over 12,000 kilometres (7,500 mi) during ten legs. Starting in Jakarta, teams travelled across Indonesia, alongside Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, before returning to Indonesia in the last three legs. The season premiered on AXN Asia on 13 October 2016, and the finale aired on 15 December 2016. [2]

Allan Wu [3] returned to host his fifth season of The Amazing Race Asia and eleventh season of The Amazing Race franchise overall. Wu was paired up with Tara Basro, an Indonesian film actress in hosting this season while in Indonesia.

Beauty queens Parul Shah and Maggie Wilson from the Philippines were the winners of this season, marking the Philippines's second consecutive win in The Amazing Race Asia, while fellow beauty queens Yvonne Lee and Chloe Chen from Malaysia finished second and Philippine married couple Eric and Rona Tai finished third.

Production

Development and filming

The fifth season of The Amazing Race Asia started at Merdeka Square overlooking Monas in the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta. Jakarta Indonesia National-Monument-01.jpg
The fifth season of The Amazing Race Asia started at Merdeka Square overlooking Monas in the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta.

On 20 May 2016, Sony Pictures Television (SPT) Networks Asia announced that The Amazing Race Asia would return for its fifth season after a six-year long hiatus and would be broadcast by AXN Asia. The tagline for this season was "most adrenaline-fueled season ever". [1] This season adopted the American-style title sequence (based on Season 23). The Minister of Tourism of Indonesia, Arief Yahya, revealed the season's destinations beginning in Jakarta and traveling to local Indonesian destinations along with Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, and Manila before finishing in Bali. There was a planned visit to Taipei, Taiwan, but it was scrapped last minute and was replaced by the Phuket, Thailand leg. [4] This season covered 12,000 km (7,500 mi), the shortest route of The Amazing Race Asia, and mostly focused the competition in Indonesia, where the Starting Line and the Finish Line were held (the first time since Season 3 to do so in the same country, although the Starting Line and Finish Line were located in different cities), with the remaining countries in Southeast Asia.

Though both Wu and Basro were present at the Starting Line, Indonesian Deputy Minister for International Tourism Marketing I Gede Pitana officially flagged the teams off. This was the first time in any edition worldwide that the host did not officially signal the start of the competition. Pitana also appeared at the Finish Line as a greeter. In other legs conducted in Indonesia, Basro would take the place of the greeter.

Zabrina Fernandez & Joe Jer Tee, the winners of the first season, were the Pit Stop greeters for Leg 3 in their home country of Malaysia.

This season introduced a new twist: the Speed Bump. Similar to the American version, the team that placed last in the non-elimination leg had to perform a Speed Bump somewhere in the next leg before they could continue racing. This season also for the first time in The Amazing Race Asia featured 11 teams, which the number 11th teams were eliminated at the starting line task (same as Season 15 of the American version and Season 3 of China Rush). Unlike the first leg in Season 15 of the American version and the first leg of Season 3 of China Rush, both in which the last team that arrived at the Pit Stop was told that it was a non-elimination leg, this version's first leg also ended with a standard end-of-leg elimination.

This season was also the first time in The Amazing Race Asia that a U-Turn board was placed at the Detour decision point, during Leg 9, rather than after the Detour itself (the first time this twist was introduced in all franchises was in the tenth leg of the 27th American version). Leg 9 is also the first leg in all franchises of The Amazing Race where both Yield and U-Turn were present in the same leg.

Casting

Casting began on 23 May 2016, and applications were closed on 30 June 2016 (18 days extended from the original deadline of 12 June 2016). [5]

Marketing

Wonderful Indonesia, Grab, Garuda Indonesia, and Great Eastern Life were sponsors for the season. It was also the first season that was not sponsored by Sony or Caltex.

Casting

Parul Shah Parul Shah.png
Parul Shah
Maggie Wilson Maggie Wilson at Binibining Pilipinas 2008.jpg
Maggie Wilson

The list of teams with their relationships at the time of filming were announced on 28 July 2016 on the AXN website. Continuing the casting trend of the Asian franchise, the cast once again consisted of numerous local celebrities or their relatives including 87.6 Hard Rock FM radio announcer Vicky Harahap, [6] Philippines national rugby union team member and host of It's Showtime Eric Tai, Miss Grand International 2015 Parul Shah and Miss Philippines World 2007 Maggie Wilson, [7] Miss Malaysia World 2011 Chloe Chen and Miss Malaysia World 2012 Yvonne Lee, The 8TV Quickie host Brandon Ho, [8] News One Prime Time news anchor Louisa Kusnandar, [9] Power 98 Radio DJs Jerald Justin "JK" Ko & Michael "Mike" Tan, and "UMeAndHara" YouTuber Rei Umehara. Tai is the only non-Asian contestant in the entire season. [10]

This is the first season not to feature a team from Hong Kong, but also the first with a Vietnamese team.

Yvonne Lee was seen dating host Allan Wu after the show. [11]

ContestantsAgeRelationshipHometownStatus
Lisa Truong-Marchetto38Life Partners Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Eliminated 1st
(in Jakarta)
Nicole Truong-Marchetto34
Rei Umehara30Siblings Singapore Eliminated 2nd
(in Bogor, West Java)
Keiji Umehara26
Alphaeus Tan23School Friends Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Eliminated 3rd
(in Subang, West Java)
Brandon Ho23
Rach Tampubolon30Travel Hosts Jakarta, Indonesia Eliminated 4th
(in Thalang, Thailand)
Vicky Harahap29
Will Chee23Muscle Brothers Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Eliminated 5th
(in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
Alex Chee21
Anita Bye24Dating Bangkok, Thailand Eliminated 6th
(in Bantay, Philippines)
Tom Barrett31
JK Ko29Radio DJs Singapore Eliminated 7th
(in Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta)
Mike Tan29
Treasuri Tamara30Best Friends Jakarta, Indonesia Eliminated 8th
(in Glagah, East Java)
Louisa Kusnandar29
Eric Tai 34Married Couple Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines Third Place
Rona Tai34
Yvonne Lee 28Beauty Queens Klang, Selangor, Malaysia Second Place
Chloe Chen27 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Parul Shah 28Beauty Queens San Nicolas, Pangasinan, Philippines Winners
Maggie Wilson 27 Bacolod, Negros Occidental, Philippines

Results

The following teams are listed with their placements in each leg. Placements are listed in finishing order.

Team placement (by leg)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Parul & Maggie7th6th5th3rd4th3rd4th3rd2nd> [a] 1st
Yvonne & Chloe9th1st3rd5th2nd2nd2nd4th3rd2nd
Eric & Rona4th4th6th4th3rd4th5th2nd1st [b] 3rd
Treasuri & Louisa2nd3rd1st1st1st5th3rd1st4th< [a] [b]
JK & Mike3rd8th7th7th5th1st1st5th
Anita & Tom8th2nd4th2nd6th6th
Will & Alex5th7th2nd6th7th
Rach & Vicky6th5th8th8th
Alphaeus & Brandon1st9th
Rei & Keiji10th
Lisa & Nicole11th [c]
Notes
  1. 1 2 Parul & Maggie used the Yield against Treasuri & Louisa.
  2. 1 2 Eric & Rona used the U-Turn against Treasuri & Louisa.
  3. Lisa & Nicole were eliminated at the Starting Line as per the provisions of the first task (see below).

Race summary

Route for The Amazing Race Asia 5. The Amazing Race Asia 5 map.png
Route for The Amazing Race Asia 5.
Destinations Legenda lotnisko.svg Air travel    Legenda kolej.svg Rail travel    BSicon BOOT.svg Water travel    Bus-logo.svg Bus travel
Maki-heliport-15.svg Helicopter travel    Maki-bicycle-15.svg Bicycle travel    Maki-aerialway-15.svg Gondola travel
Route Markers Detour icon.svg Detour    Roadblock icon.svg Roadblock    Fast Forward icon.svg Fast Forward    Yield icon.svg Yield    U-Turn icon.svg U-Turn    Speed Bump icon.svg Speed Bump    TAR-pitstop-icon.png Pit Stop

Leg 1 (Jakarta → West Java)

One of the first Detour choices in Jakarta required teams to fix an Onthel bicycle in Fatahillah Square overlooking Jakarta History Museum. Jakarta Indonesia Jakarta-History-Museum-02.jpg
One of the first Detour choices in Jakarta required teams to fix an Onthel bicycle in Fatahillah Square overlooking Jakarta History Museum.
Locations
Episode summary

Leg 2 (Jakarta → West Java)

The Roadblock and Pit Stop for the second leg took place at the tea fields outside Bandung. Tea feelds at Ciater, West-Java - panoramio.jpg
The Roadblock and Pit Stop for the second leg took place at the tea fields outside Bandung.
Locations
Episode summary

Leg 3 (West Java → Malaysia)

One of the Detour choices in George Town, Penang had teams photograph street murals around Armenian Street. Penang Malaysia Street-art-16.jpg
One of the Detour choices in George Town, Penang had teams photograph street murals around Armenian Street.
Locations
Episode summary
Additional notes

Leg 4 (Malaysia → Thailand)

While in Thailand, teams experienced riding an elephant in Phang Nga Province. TH Phang Nga - Montando al Elefante.jpg
While in Thailand, teams experienced riding an elephant in Phang Nga Province.
Locations
Episode summary
Additional note

Leg 5 (Thailand → Vietnam)

Teams ended this leg at the Quach Thi Trang roundabout overlooking the famous landmark of Ho Chi Minh City, Cho Ben Thanh. Cho Ben Thanh 1.jpg
Teams ended this leg at the Quách Thị Trang roundabout overlooking the famous landmark of Ho Chi Minh City, Chợ Bến Thành.
Locations
Episode summary

Leg 6 (Vietnam → Philippines)

While in the Philippines, teams visited the old city of Vigan, one of the world's New7Wonders Cities. VIGAN CITY.jpg
While in the Philippines, teams visited the old city of Vigan, one of the world’s New7Wonders Cities.
Locations
Episode summary
Additional note

Leg 7 (Philippines → Singapore)

The Roadblock in Singapore had racers dive inside the S.E.A. Aquarium's Open Ocean tank in Resorts World Sentosa, the largest oceanarium in the world. S.E.A. Aquarium, Sentosa Cove (12472841174).jpg
The Roadblock in Singapore had racers dive inside the S.E.A. Aquarium's Open Ocean tank in Resorts World Sentosa, the largest oceanarium in the world.
Locations
Episode summary
Additional note

Leg 8 (Singapore → Yogyakarta)

Prambanan, the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia, was the site of one of this leg's Roadblocks while teams visited Yogyakarta. Prambanan Temple Yogyakarta Indonesia (2).jpg
Prambanan, the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia, was the site of one of this leg's Roadblocks while teams visited Yogyakarta.
Locations
Episode summary
Additional note

Leg 9 (Yogyakarta → East Java)

While in Banyuwangi, teams visited Ijen Volcano for a Roadblock involving its traditional sulfur mining industry. Sulfur worker, Kawah Ijen.jpg
While in Banyuwangi, teams visited Ijen Volcano for a Roadblock involving its traditional sulfur mining industry.
Locations
Episode summary
Additional notes

Leg 10 (East Java → Bali)

Bajra Sandhi Monument in the heart on the island of Bali served as the Finish Line of the 5th season of The Amazing Race Asia. Denpasar, Bali.jpg
Bajra Sandhi Monument in the heart on the island of Bali served as the Finish Line of the 5th season of The Amazing Race Asia.
Locations
Episode summary
LegObjects or Places EncounteredPit StopTeam(s) Eliminated
1 Compass Bogor Lisa & Nicole
Rei & Keiji
2 Wayang Golek puppet Ciater (in Indonesian)Alphaeus & Brandon
3 Waterfall Hill Temple Hean Boo TheanNon Elimination
4 Coconut Lay PangRach & Vicky
5 Scorpion Chợ Bến Thành Will & Alex
6 Bull's eye target Bantay Anita & Tom
7 Stingray Marina Bay Non Elimination
8 Rope ladder nDalem NgabeanJK & Mike
9 Volcano Pendopo RameanTreasuri & Louisa

Reception

The premiere episode was the best performing English Original Production (OP) in Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines in 2016. It also posted 26% and 33% increases in Singapore and Malaysia, respectively, over 2015's record-breaking Asia's Got Talent , putting the series on track to become the most watched English OP ever in Asia. [13]

References

  1. 1 2 "Casbaa". 20 May 2016.
  2. "The Amazing Race Asia S5 Episode 1 Review | PrisChew Dot Com". 13 October 2016.
  3. "Host ALLAN WU on the TARA S5 Ep1 | PrisChew Dot Com". 13 October 2016.
  4. "The Amazing Race Asia Season 5 Promosikan Pariwisata Indonesia" (in Indonesian). Beritasatu.com. 28 July 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  5. "Casting call for Amazing Race Asia 5". The Sun . 25 May 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  6. "'Mari kenalan dengan peserta Amazing Race Asia asal Indonesia". Rappler . 29 July 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  7. "'The Amazing Race Asia' season 5: Meet the Pinoy contestants". Rappler . 28 July 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  8. "Meet the Malaysian contestants of "Amazing Race Asia"". The Hive Asia. 29 July 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  9. Dhania Putri Sarahtika (9 January 2017). "Louisa, Treasuri of 'Amazing Race Asia' Share Their Experiences With Fans". Jakarta Globe . Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  10. Seah, May (12 July 2016). "Team Singapore kicks off The Amazing Race Asia 5 at half strength". Today . Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  11. "Allan Wu is Dating Former Miss World Malaysia, Lee Yvonne". 13 June 2017.
  12. The Amazing Race Asia. "The Amazing Race Asia 5 - On The Mat With Treasuri & Louisa". YouTube. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  13. "The Amazing Race Asia Season 5 Breaks New Records In Ratings During Premiere!". Malaysian Digest. 19 October 2016. Archived from the original on October 20, 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016.