Amazing Race Asia - Episode 12
So I remember back in 2001.. I came in to the office, started up my notebook, went to the pantry and made myself some of those awful company subsidized instant coffee. When I got back to my place, one of my colleagueshad also already arrived. He was being strangely perky that morning, and I had no idea why.
Izad : Morning whore.
Colleague : Fuck you too, bitch.
Izad : Apasal kau tersengeh2 tak pasal2 pagi buta ni?
Colleague : Saja je. Hey you want a trivia question?
Izad : Sure. Gimme.
Colleague : What is the largest bird in the world?
Izad : Ostrich lah, duh.
Colleague (while smirking) : Nope.
Izad : Huh? Are you sure? Betul la ostrich.
Colleague : You would think so. But you’re wrong.
Izad : Really? So what is it then?
Colleague (triumphantly) : Camel.
Izad : what the fuck? Are you sure?
Colleague (arrogantly) : Yep. Camel. Aku pun tak sangka.
He seems pretty confident and cocky with the answer. Camel is a bird? Seriously.. wtf?? Is this some sort like the lion is in the cat family and the wolves are in the dog family kinda thing? The camel is a bird? Then it took me awhile to realize what had just happened.
Izad : Weh.. ko tengok Who Wants To Be A Millionaire ke semalam?
Colleague : Ha ah. Kau pun tengok ke?
Izad : Woi bengong.. jawapan dia Ostrich la.
Colleague : Mana ada… jawapan dia Camel la.
You see.. what happened was.. on the show, they asked “Apakah burung terbesar di dunia”. And the options given were (A) Kasawari (B) Helang (C) Garuda (D) Unta.
Do you see where this is going?
Izad : Ko ni mmg mangkuk ayun la.. Jawapan dia Ostrich lah.
Colleague : Habis tu dia jawap Unta betul semalam?
Izad : Unta tu Camel. Burung Unta tu Ostrich la. WTF? Yang kau pandai2 buat literal translation sapa suruh.
Colleague : (red faced and excuses self to the toilet)
Needless to say, to this very day, I rub that camel joke thingy in his face. He truly did believe that the Camel was a bird. Ohmigod. Can’t really blame him.. I thought the options given was ridiculous too (I mean.. come on .. Unta), but he so deserved that. LOL Nak tunjuk pandai konon. Hahahaha. The camel is a bird INDEED. Thank fuck he didn’t misinterpret the cameltoe is a bird. That would’ve been something else.
Anyway, you must be wondering why I’m posting that here it’s because (1) we had camels in tonight’s episode and (2) I personally think the joke is just slightly lamer than tonight’s episode. Goodness, what a snorefest. Even the outcome couldn’t save it. Seriously? Andy & Laura made the season. Funny how I hated them when they were in the show, but now that they’re gone.. the show has really turned boring, well for me, personally.
So tonight’s was a continuation from last week’s non-elimination leg in Dubai. The teams stayed at the Marghan Desert Camp for a mandatory rest period. I realized that the teams weren’t really that far apart. SanFran came in first. Andrew & Syeon was only 15 minutes behind. JJ & Zab were only 5 minutes behind them. And the M&Ms were 15 minutes behind them.
Anyway, they had to grab a clue smacked in the middle of the desert using a 4WD. It would’ve been much more interesting if the teams were driving the 4WDs themselves, but apparently they have appointed drivers to drive them in the sand dunes. The clue led them to the detour of Ride (ride an Ostrich and navigate their way to get 5 flags) or Seek (find a buried metal ostrich in the sand using a metal detector). Working with animals is never easy. If I was there, I would’ve definitely chose to do Seek. And I would undoubtedly end up the last team, as we witness that there are actually appointed handlers to help them to guide the ostriches. I don’t get it. That was quite lame.
Next they had to go to the Eye of the Emirates thingy (oooh I’m actually excited about the Eye on Malaysia thingy) where they had to find a clue hidden in 5 of the 42 gondolas. During the race to the Eye thingy, I noticed the camera focusing on SanFran’s taxi speed indicator (was well over 160 kmh). Not trying to be kiasu or anything but is that below the speed limit? No penalty? God, I’m starting to sound like that douche Azhar Sulaiman in the celebrity Explorace. Oh whatever.
It was a stroke of luck that Andrew & Syeon got their clue on their first try. Very impressive. The whole “I had a dream” story was nice, but a little over the top IMO. Could it possibly be an indication that they will actually win the race? Who knows. JJ&Z once again stepped up to the plate by being smart at the Eye. So were SanFran, but unfortunately, they just weren’t lucky. Seriously guys, this was a bloody crapshot. I wasn’t too happy with this challenge. Required near zero skills actually. But I’m glad Asy and JJZ were the first two to get their clues there.
Next roadblock - eat (presumably ostrich) brains. What’s the big deal. Come on. I’m kinda surprised Syeon never tasted brains before. Mmmmm sup otak.. yummy. I was really glad when JJ decided to do the roadblock cause I know for a fact she will do well. And she DID! Seriously, if there was an award for Most Improved Racer, it should go to Joe Jer. Love her. JJ did well, but Sandy.. omfg.. the beast that he is, totally breezed through the challenge! And they made the most smartest decision ever by not having Francesca do it. Wow.. I’m impressed. Marsio.. well.. at the end he says he’s not allowed to eat internal organs (maybe becaus eof his religious beliefs? I dunno).. but if I was in his position (not allowed to eat the stuff) I would’ve bowed out (although I’m sure Williams will tell me I’m a total fool for not doing it). So kudos to Marsio. Not. I also noticed Andrew also (almost?) threw up at the roadblock? Motif?
Next they had to find a clue in the home of some Sheikh Saeed, which tells them to go to Wild Wadi Waterpark. Then the final clue tells them to go to the pitstop at the Mina A’Salam Beach opposite the Burj Al-Arab (Yay! At least we get a glimpse of that awesome hotel). Andrew & Syeon got in first. Joe Jer & Zab got in second. San Fran got in 3rd. The M&Ms got in last and were eliminated. I have a lot to bitch about the M&Ms based on tonight’s episode, but I just don’t have the energy. I’m glad the top 2 were our home teams. Brava. And I do appreciate Sandy making a mockery of Alan saying something along the lines of “I dont wanna hear Alan saying.. You are team number….*long pause*…”
That was funny. But not good enough to save this lackluster episode. The editing was poor. No effort was done to hide the order of arrival after the teams finished the EYE task.Still rooting for Joe Jer & Zab for the win, but honestly speaking, the episode was comparatively boring. Let’s just hope something exciting happens in the finale.
January 26th, 2007 at 12:31 am
i appeared like they edited it to make it appear MM arrived first on the beach but were overtaken by sanfran. what a farce. mm could have arrived 60 days later and they’d still edit it that way to give it a bit of thrill. not.
January 26th, 2007 at 12:52 am
Andrew and Syeon make it first to the finish line. Allan reveals himself to be Cyrax from Mortal Kombat and self-destructs, taking out everybody within the 100m perimeter. For season two, the host will be that Outback Jack fellow who promises to be promoting Aussiebum all season by wearing their finest selection every time he’s on screen.
Exciting enough?
January 26th, 2007 at 1:46 am
fuuuuuuuuuuuuccckkkkk.
who designed the challenges on TARA? seriously, dude, the challenges on this episode sucked ass!
actually most of the challenges in most of the episodes are really lame. with these types of detours & roadblocks, bama would win on every damn leg, hands down! heck, even that annoying screaming couple from TAR1 would’ve won!
do they think that asians are spoiled people so they gave us lame ass challenges? driven to the pitstop, cluebox, taxi everywhere, camel guide… & it just seems to me that the teams just need to go from one point to another without having to do anything at all.
tonight it was that waterslide, last week it was that leopold of somefuck boat. WTF?
i mean, it’s ok lah if you put in easy tasks in between ball-busting ones, but geez! waterslide between the second story cluebox and the pitstop?
January 26th, 2007 at 9:13 am
btw whats up with the camel ads?
January 26th, 2007 at 9:15 am
cameltoe is a bird? good one. banyaknya gambar camel dalam posting ini.
oh well M&M is gone finally and 2 MY teams are in the final three. Yay!
January 26th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Y : Yeah.. I’m surprise they didn’t even attempt to guise the fact that the M&Ms were trailing so far behind. And don’t mind the camel ads.. I just think Joe Camel is really cool. (not a sponsored ad) LOL
Mrs G : LOL that sure would make an explosive finale. Not really sure who the Outback Jack host is, but my vote goes to Karam Singh Walia (remember.. he too have bulges)
Freako : OMG exactly.. putting lame challenges is one thing.. but putting a lame waterslide next to a fucking pitstop is unforgiveable. The tasks really does seem quite lame.. I wonder if it has anything to do with them being sponsored.
Snooki : Yay for the Malaysian teams! They’ve definitely set the bar up high for future Malaysian contestants.
January 26th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Right, Izad, you’re all about Joe Camel being “cool” and not because his head is shaped like a penis. You do remember the jokes when the ads first came out, or were you too young?
January 26th, 2007 at 10:21 am
PS: You’ve made me Google up images for Karam Singh (I have no idea who he is since I rarely watch TV3 nowadays). If he’s that big hairy guy whose images I keep seeing, I hate you now for putting the images of him bulging in skimpy swimwear in my head.
January 26th, 2007 at 10:44 am
motif tak jawab tepon hemmm..
projek kaa??opsss
ermm…first and second from our country huh..
giranggggggg
January 26th, 2007 at 10:53 am
yeay! yeay! both malaysian team go to final…
if malaysian team won the race malaysia can be famous…hahaha
maybe malaysian team can promote malaysia at AXN channel
to visit malaysia @ 50 year independence if they won the race…kira jadi duta/model lah
January 26th, 2007 at 11:37 am
Reality tv has come a long way since my memory of telematch shows by the Japs or Germans back in the ’70s. That time, you competed within the confines of a padang or a lake is all. In TARA its same old same old except you do it while backpacking. There’s not much difference between a water slide race and a gunny sack race if you ask me but the American organizer could be testing the waters (no pun intended) of the Asian audience so we’ll see if they’ll crank up the guns in TARA 2.
I dunno, I found this episode entertaining. Maybe its seeing the Malaysians overtake the Hongkies. Kudos to Zab and JJ for quickly realizing the ferris wheel challenge was a mathematical game of elimination while the others had to be hit by duds before they started keeping track of car numbers. The Eye challenge actually decided the outcome of the whole episode. Kudos also to Fran for seeing through the roadblock wordings and passing the challenge to Sandy.
M&M’s exited as expected. Denied of further food puns, I wonder who the producers will focus on now. Anyhow for TARA 2, I would really like to see a roadblock challenge of eating a plate of belacan with raw petai and washing it down with a glass of budu.
Given that the Hongkies team ain’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, I’m betting the last two will be down to Andrew/Syeon and Zab/JJ.
January 26th, 2007 at 11:52 am
^ haha “a glass of budu”
used to love watching those telematch races that RTM used to show back in those days when we weren’t spoiled for choice. now there’s so much to choose from (downloads).
January 26th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
MrsG : What joke? The nekkid man in the Camel logo is true! LOL. It sucks that they came up with an entirely new design for the cigarette pack just recently
And yeah.. that IS the Karam Walia Singh that I’m talking about. LOL
Neo : ooops. ooh ermm… no komen. Hehehe
Mush : Even if they don’t win (trying not to get my hopes up too high), I still think it’s really awesome that BOTH Malaysian teams have reached the Top 3. In a way, they are already making Malaysians look good to the other international TAR Asia viewers.
Busted : I sure hope you’re right. I will be overjoyed if one of those two teams win.. and even more ecstatic if it’s JJ & Z. LOL And the roadblock idea sounds hilarious! I wonder if that’s any worse than the gross food challenge involving fermented dead fish in Marquesas (the one that had Rob Marioano spew out the contents and crying like a little girl). I am still hoping they’d do an ‘eat the durian’ challenge for the regular TAR though (it would be too easy for TAR Asia)
Y : RTM telematches.. some things are best left forgotten. LOL. But speaking of telematches, I MISS ISTANA TAKESHI!!!!!!!!!
January 26th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
yeah they should have done something more challenging z0mg…. GET BEHIND THE WHEELS! DO SOMETHING AMAZINGLY SPECTAFUCKLAR! i think TAR Asia contestants are too spoilt. yeah yeah i know how hard and difficult it would be if we were there and actually doing the thing, but honestly, we have watched TAR. those guys had it bad.
i still love zab and jj! (but that doesn’t excuse the producers’ poor excuse of a show)
January 26th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
my english the koyak
January 26th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
You’re colleague is such a duh. LOL. Anyway, I’m happy to know that the bloody annoying Indons are out! Hopefully one of the 2 Malaysian teams win it, cause I don’t want AR Asia’s maiden race to go to some foreigners.
January 26th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
No need fermented fish. A super giant bowl of assam laksa (the Johor kind with plenty of ikan kembong) will do just as nicely. With a side dessert of tempoyak and durian. Heck, toss in the budu and a petai festival as well.
I won’t say this show is poor - I enjoyed the last few episodes very much and I thought it was as good as TAR1-5, back before they started all that charter transport nonsense and eliminated much of the airport/cab drama. I actually felt some excitement while watching TARA, unlike TAR8-10 where I was just watching out of habit.
January 26th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
I’m truly happy and glad that both our home Malaysian teams are IN! Way to go JJ and Zab!
Next week will the season finale… Surely I want the Malaysian to win, either one of them. Although I support JJ and Zab all the way, I got the feeling Andrew and Syeon will make it to the end. The excitement is killing me. 
[I’m also glad that MM is OUT! LOL]
January 27th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Malaysian teams rock! Though I got a bad feeling that SanFran will win it all. But PLEASEEEEEE!!!! Let me be wrong!
There will be a Finale party going to be held in KL. I’m not sure its by invitation though. But I’m going! =) Could it be that Malaysian team wins it, hence the party? We shall see!!!
If I’m going.. I will upload the pictures in my blog… watch out for my blog then… hehe!
January 27th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
i think JJ and Z have a good chance of winning it. why else the astro adverts featuring the malaysian teams?
January 27th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
The AXN (not Astro) ad feat the Malaysian team showed only Andrew, Syeon and Zab. Anyone know why Joe Jer was missing? 4 is unlucky number izzit.
January 28th, 2007 at 1:48 am
Suanie : I think the producers are just testing to see how far Asian racers can go in this first season. That, or they are too busy trying to think how to shove the product placement in our faces, instead of really focusing on the challenges. And English koyak is fine.. as long as you don’t call an Ostrich as an Unta, that is.
Gallivanter : Tell me about it. He’s still very embarassed about the whole thing. And yeah, it would seem kind of ironic if the first TAR Asia is won by a foreign team.
I still have faith that JJ & Z can pull off a surprise win.
Mrs G : Actually, overall, I have to agree. TAR Asia has actually exceeded all expectations. Reminds me of the early seasons of the regular TAR where everything is.. how you say.. less commercialized? And many other non-Asian viewers too echo this sentiment which is a good enough reason for AXN to produce a second season.
Latique : I don’t want to get my hopes high up but if JJ&Zab doesn’t win, I really will be deeply disappointed. I just hope they have some additional good luck in the finale. And if this is like the regular TAR, I’m hoping they will finish the season in the same place they started (KL) so hopefully, that will give of the Msian teams some home advantage.
Romeo : Hey buddy! Yeah, it does seem like SanFran will give it their all in the finale, but you know.. shit happens sometimes (crosses fingers). Hey have fun if you’re going to the finale! I’m going to avoid it like the plague if ‘fans’ from the AXN forum are going to be there. Buncha freaks. LOL. Get some pictures and grab us some exclusive gossip!
Y : I really do hope so. The support for JJ & Zabrina at the Sucks forum have been quite overwhelming, and I’m very pleasantly surprised by that. We don’t usually get a nice, non boring team to get so far in the game. It’s an added bonus that they’re an All-Female team (something that took the regular TAR 10 seasons to get one in the Final Three). Oh.. and I also got a spam SMS from AXN saying that ‘both malaysian teams have reached the final 3 bla bla bla click here to get downloads, ringtones’ etc. Urghh bloody product placement.
Bustard : Someone mentioned earlier that Joe Jer wasn’t around when they did the shooting for the advertisement I think it was shot during one of the wrap party or somethingornuthin [/channeling Vicki Pollard].
January 28th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
well i do hope they win. the spoiler someone left in my blog really spoiled the fun a bit (no warning whatsoever, just smack “**** mmg dah menang pun! yahoo etc etc etc” for me, cos i don’t think that person would lie about it at all was all excited and happy with the results.
(in my best vicky pollard mock voice)yeah but no but yeah but no but christy was sleeping with jared and luanna said she saw peter make out with carrie and joe jer won the amazing race and zabrina put on a party dress and allen wu walked into a wall and broke his nose and i forget, who are you again?
January 28th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
From this website http://amazing-race-asia.axn-asia.com/ they showed picture of Andy & Laura and sahran & Howard, seemed excited to whom came to the first line. I know Andy & Laura won’t be as excited if it was SanFran came to the finish line. So… predict… prediction..
January 28th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
http://familsulaiman.blogspot.com/
check this guy’s blog out, Andr3w & Sy3on spotted!!
January 28th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Y : I’ve actually heard ’spoilers’ that SanFran has won.. and also other ’spoilers’ that JJ & Z has won. And same thing about Andrew & Syeon. Not really sure who to beliave but I don’t want to get my hopes up yet. [off topic]LOL on the Vicki impression. And remember someone commented on your blog about Little Britain being severely edited on Astro? He wasn’t kidding! And you gotta watch Little Britian Abroad. Vicki Pollard’s mommy made an appearance LOL[/off topic]
Latique : I certainly hope they’re not trying to trick us with that picture. Still trying not to get my hopes up. LOL
Dom : Hey thanks for pointing that out! I hope he’s right.. but even if they had won a million dollars, how can you tell from the picture? Anyway.. not getting my hopes up yet. Hehe
Oh and btw, I JUST noticed Joe Jer’s blog on MSN’s Live Spaces http://amazing-spaces.spaces.live.com/ on December 26th. That’s probably why she’s not in the AXN advert? (cause I think that was when they had the party and shot the advert).
January 29th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
JJ and Zab alllllll the way!!
January 29th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
little britain, me pal ‘as the dvd but he ain’t givin me it cos he says ee’s been busy so now me’s watchin’ that catherine tate show, yeah.
*wonders if lauren is vicky’s cousin, and if they’re both related to jade goody.
February 2nd, 2007 at 1:14 am
LOL. Ignorant is bliss, your colleague’s smart bubble was burst.