‘The Amazing Race’ U.S. Returns to the Philippines

Fort Santiago (incorrectly referred to in the show as ‘Fort San Diego’) was the final pit stop of ‘The Amazing Race”s 25th season. However, no eliminations occurred and the teams were asked to continue racing. (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Just two weeks ago, ‘The Amazing Race Philippines’ officially wrapped up its second season. A short time earlier, its American counterpart aired the first of two episodes shot in the Philippines during the spring.

This marked the first time since Season 5 (2004) that ‘The Amazing Race’ visited the Philippines. This time around, however, the teams were further immersed into Filipino culture, featuring tasks that involve building a tricycle, racing a pedicab, and tilling a rice field for a hidden clue with an ox (the latter was a ‘switchback’ task from Season 5).

At the end of last Friday’s (U.S. time) episode, four teams still remain. Unlike before where only three teams raced in the final leg, host Phil Keoghan decided that there would be no elimination, and instead, the remaining four teams would continue racing to Los Angeles, with one of them getting the boot midway through the season finale.

The four teams left are (by order of arrival):

1. Brooke & Robbie (#TheWrestlers)

2. Adam & Bethany (#SoulSurfers)

3. Misti & Jim (#TheDentists)

4. Amy & Maya (#SweetScientists)

Sadly, though, only cable subscribers were able to watch the Philippine leg of ‘The Amazing Race”s 25th season through AXN. In the past, Studio 23 (now ABS-CBN Sports+Action) aired ‘The Amazing Race’ from its maiden season, only to stop prior to its transition to the ‘IbaKabarkada’ era.

Still, the two episodes shot in the Philippines were definitely worth watching. From the teams’ reactions to the country’s standard of living to the exhausting Roadblock in the streets of Divisoria, the return of ‘The Amazing Race’ to Philippine shores was definitely a memorable one.

*The 25th season finale of ‘The Amazing Race’ will be aired Saturday, December 20, at 8:10 p.m., on AXN Philippines. Contact your local cable operator for details.

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‘Confessions of a Torpe’ Rerun a Mere Stopgap for TV5

From December 8 onwards, ‘Confessions of a Torpe’ was re-aired on TV5 during weekday primetime. (Photo credit: TV5)

Season 2 of ‘The Amazing Race Philippines’ is now in the books, and TV5 was expected to make a worthy replacement.

Instead, ‘Confessions of a Torpe’ was re-aired anew, much to the disappointment of loyal Kapatid viewers.

From December 8 onwards, the rerun of ‘Confessions of a Torpe’ took over the 9:30 p.m. slot, which is not a good place for a re-airing program in the primetime slot. Considering the amount of pressure and scrutiny surrounding it, TV5’s decision to place a re-run on primetime rather than daytime proved to be a risky decision.

In fact, it would have been better for TV5 to air a new, or better yet, a long-overdue drama series in order to keep their loyal viewers interested. Remember their shelved projects ‘The Gift’ and ‘Pretty Little Liars’?

Yes, both programs have been planned by TV5 since Noel Lorenzana took over. And yet, for reasons unknown, production of both programs were halted for the time being.

The long-term postponement of ‘The Gift’ and ‘Pretty Little Liars’ proved to be a public relations disaster for TV5. With the announcement of new and returning programs on its 2015 agenda, Lorenzana and company now hope that the mistakes which befallen ‘The Gift’ and ‘Pretty Little Liars’ will never happen again.

Going back to ‘Confessions of a Torpe’, TV5’s intentions were clear. Rather than quickly debuting a new program, they decided to make a stopgap move with this series, all in hopes of starting 2015 with a bang.

That said, they were left with no options but to re-air ‘Confessions’, whether it’s for their own good or not.

Now viewers must hope that TV5 begins 2015 with something different. Otherwise, they would be stuck with the same old product all over again (save for their habit of airing Tagalized foreign movies, of course).