The Amazing Race Asia
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- This page is about the series in general. For the first season of this show, see The Amazing Race Asia 1
| The Amazing Race Asia | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | Reality Game show |
| Creator(s) | Elise Doganieri Bertram Van Munster |
| Starring | Allan Wu 吴振宇 |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 13 (throughout Season 1) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | AXN-Asia |
| Original run | November 9, 2006 – Present |
The Amazing Race Asia is a reality game show based on the American series, The Amazing Race.
On 17 October 2005, CBS gave other countries the chance to franchise The Amazing Race. The Asian cable TV network AXN was among the first to acquire the rights to produce a version for its territory. The show is produced by Australian television production company ActiveTV, for AXN, in association with Buena Vista International Television-Asia Pacific (BVITV-AP). The host for the show is Singapore based Chinese-American actor Allan Wu.[1]
The ultimate prize is US$100,000, whilst the American show gives away US$ 1 million. The general manager of SPE Networks-Asia which runs AXN, Ricky Ow explained the smaller prize, saying, "It is not really about the money but the adventure and opportunity to be in one of the world's greatest reality shows"
The first season premiered world-wide on November 9, 2006 and concluded on February 1, 2007.
Contents |
[edit] Applications
Many of the same rules and regulations for eligibility for the American series apply to the Asian edition. The participants are all required to be able to communicate in English. The final selection of contestants are from various Asian countries and not limited to one country of origin. Participating countries include all citizens of the continent of Asia except the Middle East as well as non-Asian workers who are living in Asia for a long period of time.[2] Starting in Season 2, people from Japan are able to participate, having been ineligible for Season 1.
[edit] In-Race differences
The Amazing Race Asia is quite similar to the American edition. The basic premise is the same, namely that teams must follow clues and complete tasks to check in to pit stops in a race around the world (although the locales visited are mostly limited to those in the Asian and Oceania region). However, some differences between the two versions exist.
[edit] Teams
Season 1 had only 10 teams participating, compared to the American edition, which normally uses eleven teams, but has had twelve in Seasons 3, 4, 10. So far, Season 8 of the American edition was the only season to have 10 teams. However, that season consisted of 10 family teams of 4, or 40 participants. Only 20 participants were in this edition, the fewest number of people to have started in the Amazing Race.
[edit] Fast Forward
Leg 2 had the earliest available Fast Forward. In the American edition, the Fast Forward is only available in or beyond leg 5 since it decreased to two per season starting in Season 5.
[edit] Yield
The Yield, which was introduced in Season 5 American version, allows any one team to force another team to stop racing for a predetermined amount of time. In Season 1, the Yield was an option on two consecutive legs (Leg 9 and 10); this would be highly unlikely in the American version because the Yield only occurs a maximum of three times in entire race.
[edit] Finish line
The Finish Line in the race is mentioned not as such but as a "Final Pit Stop." In the Asian version, the Finish Line only had a regular check-in-mat rather than an elevated red carpet with The Amazing Race logo enlarged on it as is used in the American edition.
[edit] Non-elimination legs
The clues directing teams to pit stops sometimes replace the 'may' in the traditional clue phrasing "the last team to arrive may be eliminated" with "the last team to arrive will be eliminated", pointing to a certain elimination point. In the American version, other than in the first leg, the phrasing is always "the last team to arrive may be eliminated".
In the non-elimination legs, the Race uses a rule from the American version's Season 5 to Season 9, in that the last team to arrive at these non-elimination pit stops is required to surrender all its cash. Unlike Season 7 to 9, teams are not required to give up their belongings. However, teams are not allowed to acquire any money prior to the start of the next leg.
Season 1's leg 1 was a non-elimination leg. The first leg of the American version has never been non-elimination; so far, the earliest non-elimination leg occurred during Season 6's leg 4.
[edit] Others
The teams remained in the starting city during the first leg, and left once only in the middle part, but quickly returned to the starting city for the Pit Stop. In the American edition, the teams immediately depart from the starting city.
In Season 1's leg 2, it seemed that all teams were only allowed to take AirAsia flights to their first overseas destination, most likely due to AirAsia sponsoring the race. In the American editions, teams are in most cases able to travel on any airline they wish.
[edit] Rules and penalties
Most of the rules and penalties are the same as the American edition; however, there are slight differences.
[edit] Unique Rules
| Asian version | American version |
|---|---|
| Teams are not allowed to take another team's reserved taxi or vehicle. The penalty for violating this rule has not been revealed.
However, the application of this rule is in doubt. Either it was revealed mistakenly by Andrew during leg 3 or it did not apply to Andy & Laura in leg 10 because even though they stole Sandy & Francesca's taxi, they arrived last and were eliminated anyway. |
This rule may or may not stand. In Season 7, Rob & Amber took Debbie & Bianca's taxi but were not penalized. However, in Season 6, Don & Mary Jean accidentally drove away in Adam & Rebecca's car, and were later given a 30 minute penalty. The penalty however, could be for unintentional theft, as Adam & Rebecca's bags were still in their car when it was driven away. |
| If a team member is injured during the race, he/she has to pass medical evaluation to ensure they are fit to continue the race. | If the injury is not serious or life-threatening, the team may choose to continue or quit the race. This occurred to Marshall & Lance during Season 5. |
| Teams must follow local road laws and regulations and be responsible to pay any fines and demerits they incur during the race. The most unique part is if teams violate speeding laws, the number of minutes for the time penalty is the amount of km/h that the team traveled minus the legal speed limit then multiplied by 2 minutes. However, this penalty is only served at the beginning of the next leg of the race. | While speeding is also against the rules in the American version, (shown in Season 2, which is the only season where speeding was shown as a violation of the rules), the penalty is not given in a measurement of time per km/h over the speed limit but rather of time gained plus an additional 30 minutes. |
| In tasks that require teams to queue to perform, especially in Roadblocks, teams may be given only 2 minutes to perform the task or else lose their turn. | This rule is in place on the American version but has never been shown or enforced. A document from the Family Edition (Season 8) showed this rule to be in existence for the rappelling task in Bull Canyon, Utah. |
[edit] Penalties
- If a team does not complete the route correctly as instructed in the clues, the teams will not receive a penalty. Instead, they will not able to check in and told by host to re-perform and complete the route correctly.
- As is in the American edition, the teams who quit a Roadblock are served a four-hour penalty. In the Race, this four-hour penalty applies at the pit stop prior to checking in and not at the roadblock itself.
- Hitch-hiking (travelling in a privately owned vehicle) is prohibited. If a team violates this rule, they incur a one hour penalty.
[edit] Controversies
The Amazing Race Asia has seen a greater use of time penalties than the American version. While time penalties are generally served prior to the team being allowed to check in to the pit stop (therefore possibly pushing them down the ranking lists and opening them to a possible last place finish and elimination, as was the case with Sahil & Prashant in leg 5), controversy has arisen over the fact that some time penalties are served at the beginning of the next leg. This was the case with Andy & Laura, who departed the Chard Farm Winery Pit Stop in Queenstown at the start of leg 7 with a 92-minute time penalty as a result of Andy's speeding in leg 6. Had this 92-minute penalty been applied prior to Andy & Laura being allowed to check into the pit stop at the end of leg 6, it would have pushed them into last place and certain elimination.[3]
[edit] Countries and locales visited
| Continents | Countries |
|---|---|
| Asia | India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, United Arab Emirates |
| Oceania | Australia, New Zealand |
Countries highlighted in Orange have not been visited in The Amazing Race (American Edition)
[edit] Winners of The Amazing Race Asia
| Season | Winners | On-Screen Relationship | Gender | Home Country | Final City | Runners-Up | Runners-Up Relationships | Winner's Unique Distinction(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Amazing Race Asia 1 | Zabrina Fernandez (26) & Joe Jer Tee (29) | Co-workers | Female / Female |  Malaysia |
Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia | Sandy Sydney (29) & Francesca von Etzdorf (27) ( Hong Kong), Andrew Tan (26) & Syeon Park (28) ( Malaysia) |
Dating, Dating | First (all-female) team to win, and without any prior first place finish. |
| The Amazing Race Asia 2 |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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| The Amazing Race (USA) | Personnel: Phil Keoghan · Bertram van Munster · Elise Doganieri Seasons: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · Family Edition · 9 · 10 · All-Stars · 12 |
| The Amazing Race Asia | Personnel: Allan Wu Seasons: 1 · 2 |
| Other versions | The Amazing Race Central Europe |
| Related | Statistics and trivia · Notable contestants |
