I now invite you to join me as I try to recap the events in the twin legs.
First, a brief Introduction: The Amazing Race is participated in by teams of two members, each with a pre-existing relationship. The teams will have to race their way around the world and during the course, must perform several tasks that are assigned to them by the race organizers. The team that reaches the finish line first, wins One Million US dollars.
This season, a total of eleven teams participated. But by the time the course took them to Manila, seven teams have already been eliminated in previous legs, leaving only four teams to slug it out right here. They were: Dating couple Colin & Christie; Married Parents Chip & Kim; Dating couple Brandon & Nicole; and, Bowling Moms Linda & Karen. The four teams actually arrived in Manila in the same flight so it was like starting from square one when they landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Paranaque City.
From NAIA, the teams had to make their way to Imus, Cavite and go to Malaguena motors to find their next clue. Colin & Christie found themselves lagging behind the other three teams on their way out of the airport. This proved to be costly as all those three teams were actually thinking about using the "Yield" option on them even as they were traveling to Imus.
The "Yield" option is a new twist introduced only this season. By using this option, a team may force another team to stop racing for a pre-determined length of time. Teams that are yielded must turn over an hourglass and wait for the sand to run out before they resume racing.
Being still unfamiliar with this option, Chip eagerly raced ahead of Brandon and Linda to the "yield" spot in Malaguena motors, and quickly posted Colin & Christie's picture to declare their intention to yield them, only to find out that they also needed to post their own picture to let the team that was yielded know which team forced them to yield. At that point, I think Chip & Kim got a bit hesitant since they realized that Colin & Christie would undoubtedly be furious at them. Nevertheless, they eventually decided to exercise the yield.
In Malaguena motors, the teams faced the task of having to decorate a jeepney, which is currently the primary means of public transportation in the Philippines. The three teams have already started working on their jeepneys by the time Colin & Christie arrived. And as expected, they were enraged upon learning that they were being forced to yield. Colin was actually fuming at this point and kept throwing dagger looks towards Chip, forcing the married couple to lose concentration and fumble a bit with their jeepney decorations.
Linda & Karen were the first to finish decorating their jeepney and were handed their next clue. It instructed them to ride in their newly decorated jeepney and have the driver take them to Victoria, Laguna, which is considered as the capital of the duck industry in our country. Brandon & Nicole followed shortly after the bowling moms, and by the time Colin & Christie finished serving time, Chip & Kim have also already departed for Victoria.
Once in Victoria, the teams faced a "Detour". Now, a detour is a choice between two tasks, each with its own pros and cons (a la Phil Keoghan, complete with accent, hehehe). In this detour, teams had a choice between "fowl" and "plow". In "fowl", teams had to lead one thousand (!) ducks in moving from one pen to another, which is 50 yards away. In "plow", teams must choose a marked field, use a carabao-driven plow to till the soil and unearth their next clue, which is buried in the field. As expected, all four teams chose "plow", as they felt this task could be completed more quickly than trying to control a thousand ducks.
Brandon & Nicole were first to find their clue, which instructed them to go to this leg's pit stop (Coconut Palace). They were followed shortly by Linda & Karen. The two front-running teams were actually already preparing to leave the farm by the time Chip & Kim arrived. The couple lost no time and immediately started work on their field. Brandon & Nicole was surprised that there were no available taxicabs there that would take them to Manila and they had to board a bus. Eventually, they found themselves on the same bus with Linda & Karen.
Meanwhile, Colin & Christie, still mad at what they felt was a betrayal to them by Chip & Kim, were pushing at their jeepney driver to burn rubber and get them to Victoria as quickly as possible. At one point, a visibly frustrated Christie even instructed the driver to just run over pedestrians who were crossing the streets with reckless abandon. They were unable to catch up though, as by the time they arrived in Victoria, all the other teams were already sitting on buses on their way to Manila.
Colin found the task of plowing the field to be more than a match as he had great difficulty in maneuvering his carabao, who seemed to be more inclined to wander to another field. At this point, he complained loudly that "My Ox is broken!" (Quote of the season, hehehe). Finally, they found their clue when Christie walked around their field and used her feet to search.
All the teams felt uneasy riding on buses, as they had no control on the direction and speed, so they eventually decided to jump out at the first chance they get of hitching a taxicab. Colin & Christie managed to find a shuttle van along the way that they were able to hire to take them to the Coconut palace (for 50 dollars, I think). Brandon & Nicole, and Linda & Karen both got out of their buses in EDSA and searched for a taxi. Brandon & Nicole were first to hail a cab, but unfortunately for them, the driver was not familiar with the Coconut palace's location. Linda & Karen meanwhile had to wait for a while before they were able to get a cab, but got lucky, as their driver knew exactly where to go.
Chip & Kim however, were the luckiest as their bus arrived in Manila faster than that of the two teams. From there, they quickly took a cab to the pit stop and were elated that they were the first team to arrive. Host Phil Keoghan and Luli Arroyo (Daughter of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) were there waiting by the mat to greet them and inform them that this leg win also came with an all-expense paid vacation trip to Hawaii.
With the advantage of having a driver who knew the exact location of their destination, the bowling moms pulled ahead of Brandon & Nicole to finish second, leaving the dating couple to settle for third place.
Colin and Christie, arriving last, thought that they were to be eliminated from the race. They were however ecstatic to discover that this was the last of four pre-determined non-elimination legs. They were so happy that they did not mind the penalty that went with being the last team to arrive in a non-elimination leg (they had to surrender all their remaining money to Phil, and in addition, they were to receive no amount of money whatsoever at the start of the next leg).
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