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.
This season visited in the entirety of Southeast Asia travelled over 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.
Allan Wu 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
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". 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. This season covered , 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.
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).
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
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, 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, Miss Malaysia World 2011 Chloe Chen and Miss Malaysia World 2012 Yvonne Lee, The 8TV Quickie host Brandon Ho, News One Prime Time news anchor Louisa Kusnandar, 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.
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.
ContestantsAgeRelationshipHometownStatus 38Life PartnersHo Chi Minh City, VietnamEliminated 1st(in Jakarta) 34 30SiblingsSingaporeEliminated 2nd(in Bogor, West Java) 26 23School FriendsKuala Lumpur, MalaysiaEliminated 3rd(in Subang, West Java) 23 30Travel Hosts Jakarta, IndonesiaEliminated 4th(in Thalang, Thailand) 29 23Muscle BrothersKuala Lumpur, MalaysiaEliminated 5th(in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) 21 24DatingBangkok, ThailandEliminated 6th(in Bantay, Philippines) 31 29Radio DJsSingaporeEliminated 7th(in Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta) 29 30Best Friends Jakarta, IndonesiaEliminated 8th(in Glagah, East Java) 29 34Married CoupleQuezon City, Metro Manila, PhilippinesThird Place 34 28Beauty Queens Klang, Selangor, MalaysiaSecond Place 27Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 28Beauty QueensSan Nicolas, Pangasinan, PhilippinesWinners 27Bacolod, Negros Occidental, Philippines
Results The following teams are listed with their placements in each leg. Placements are listed in finishing order. A placement with a dagger () indicates that the team was eliminated. A placement with a double-dagger () indicates that the team was the last to arrive at a Pit Stop in a non-elimination leg, and had to perform a Speed Bump task in the following leg. A indicates that the team won a Fast Forward. A indicates that the team chose to use the Yield, and a indicates the team who received it. A indicates that the team chose to use the U-Turn, and a indicates the team who received it. +Team placement (by leg) Team12345678910 7th 6th 5th 3rd 4th3rd4th3rd2nd1st 9th1st3rd5th2nd2nd2nd4th3rd2nd 4th4th6th4th3rd4th2nd1st3rd 2nd3rd1st1st1st5th3rd1st 3rd8th7th7th 5th1st1st 8th2nd4th2nd6th 5th7th2nd6th 6th5th 1st Notes
Race summary
Leg 1 (Jakarta → West Java)
Episode 1: "The Race is On!" (13 October 2016) Prize: Tickets to Bali, courtesy of Garuda Indonesia (awarded to Alphaeus & Brandon) Eliminated: Lisa & Nicole Rei & Keiji
Locations Jakarta, Indonesia (Merdeka Square – National Monument) (Starting Line) Jakarta (Sapta Pesona Building) (Elimination Point) Jakarta (Museum Bahari – Syahbandar Tower ) Jakarta (Fatahillah Square Port of Sunda Kelapa) Bogor, West Java (Kebun Raya Bogor) Bogor (Kebun Raya Bogor – Taman Teijsmann) Bogor (Kebun Raya Bogor – Lotus Pond)
Episode summary Teams set off at Merdeka Square overlooking the National Monument, and were instructed to travel by foot to Sapta Pesona Building. There, teams had to search through over 1,000 compasses for one of 10 compasses that pointed 210 degrees southwest and present it to Allan and Tara to receive their next clue. The last team without the correct compass was eliminated. This would direct them to Syahbandar Tower to grab their next clue. This season's first Detour was a choice between Fix or Freight. In Fix, teams traveled to Fatahillah Square, where they had to fix and assemble an Onthel bicycle's tire according to the example so that a child could ride it to receive their next clue. In Freight, teams traveled to the Port of Sunda Kelapa, where they had to fill a sack with sand in a traditional Indonesian pinisi and carry it to fill four barrels on the dock to receive their next clue. After the Detour, teams had to travel by taxi to Kebun Raya Bogor, where they had to search for a male Ondel-ondel dancer holding their next clue. Teams then had to bring the male Ondel-ondel dancer, from which they got their previous clue, to Taman Teijsmann to search for its female counterpart according to the pattern of the scarfs that the dancers wore. Once the dancers were correctly paired, the puppet master would give them their next clue. Teams would then bring the dancers to the nearby Pit Stop at the Lotus Pond.
Leg 2 (Jakarta → West Java)
Episode 2: "From Zero to Hero" (20 October 2016) Eliminated: Alphaeus & Brandon
Locations Jakarta (Pecenongan Street) Jakarta (Taman Mini Indonesia Indah) Bandung, West Java (Cikole National Park ) Subang (Ciater – Walini Tea Plantation )
Episode summary At the start of the leg, teams were instructed to travel to Taman Mini Indonesia Indah where they had to ride on Grab bikes around the park to spot for seven marked letters (B, A, N, D, U, N, G). Once done, they had to make their way to the Tugu Api Pancasila monument and write down on a provided chalkboard the word BANDUNG which had to spell out their next destination, and their next clue, that would lead them to travel by taxi to Cikole National Park. This leg's Detour was a choice between Basket Bikes or Bandung Biathlon. In Basket Bikes, teams had to ride downhill along a bicycle trail and deliver two dozen sellable eggs in their baskets to the egg merchant to receive their next clue. However if any of the eggs broke along the way, teams would have to restart the entire task. In Bandung Biathlon, teams had to hit a set of targets with traditional bamboo guns while trekking uphill in a pair of traditional tandem land skis, known as bakiak, to receive their next clue. After the Detour, teams had to travel to Walini Tea Plantation to receive their next clue. In this season's first Roadblock, one team member had to comb a large section of a tea plantation to find a Wayang Golek, a traditional Indonesian puppet figurine, that they could exchange for their next clue, directing them to the Pit Stop nearby.
Leg 3 (West Java → Jakarta → Malaysia)
Episode 3: "The Value of Insurance" (27 October 2016)
Locations Bandung (Merdeka Street) Jakarta (Senayan City) Jakarta (Soekarno–Hatta International Airport) → Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) Kuala Lumpur (Great Eastern Tower) Kuala Lumpur (Kuala Lumpur Sentral Railway Station) → Butterworth (Butterworth Railway Station) George Town (Waterfall Hill Temple) George Town (Chew Clan Jetty) George Town (Armenian Street Han Jiang Ancestral Temple) George Town (Hean Boo Thean Kuan Yin Temple)
Episode summary At the start of this leg, teams had to travel to the Garuda Indonesia head office at Senayan City in Jakarta and purchase airline tickets to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Once there, teams had to travel to Great Eastern Tower, where they would get their next clue. In this leg's Roadblock, one team member had to rappel down the tower, grab a flag attached to the building, and exchange it with Great Eastern Life CEO Dato Koh Yaw Hui for their next clue. If racers missed the flag or dropped it, they had to attempt the challenge again.