The Amazing Race Asia 2 is the second season of The Amazing Race Asia, a reality television game show based on the American series The Amazing Race. It featured ten teams of two with a pre-existing relationship, in a race around the world to win US$100,000. Hosted by Allan Wu, it featured ten teams of two, each with a pre-existing relationship, in a race around the Eastern Hemisphere to win US$100,000. This season visited four continents and ten countries and travelled over 51534 km during twelve legs. Starting in Singapore, teams travelled through the Philippines, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and South Africa before finishing in Singapore. This season premiered on AXN Asia on 22 November 2007 at 9:00 p.m. (UTC+8) and ended on 14 February 2008 at 9:00 p.m. (UTC+8). Singaporean gym buddies Adrian Yap and Collin Low were the winners of this season. Adrian Yap was the first contestant with a disability to participate & win any edition of The Amazing Race, while Malaysian sisters Pamela and Vanessa Chong finished in second place and Philippine best friends and expats Marc Nelson and Rovilson Fernandez finished in third place.

Production

Development and filming

The second season of The Amazing Race Asia covered 50,000 km (the longest route to date of The Amazing Race Asia) in 24 days racing across 4 continents, including the first time an Amazing Race franchise visited the Czech Republic, a nation that had not been visited by the original version at the time of air (the nation would later be visited in the 15th season, in 2009). The show adopted newer rules from the original American version, such as the non-elimination penalty where the team who checked in last must make it to first place in the next leg or else incur the 30 minute penalty. It was also noted that the production of this season had run into the production of The Amazing Race 12 in an unknown airport. Production made the show more competitive by imposing more self-driving and reducing the chance of teams being bunched up on the same airplane flight. This season had two different penalties for coming in last on a non-elimination leg. Edwin & Monica were marked for elimination for coming in last on the first leg, and Henry & Terri were stripped of all their money and had to begin the next leg with no money after coming in last on the seventh leg. Racers were not told that the original non-elimination penalty was still applicable. This twist led to an argument between Henry and host Allan Wu at the Seoul Pit Stop, when the former was unwilling to give up his team's money. In the following leg, the penalty reverted to the "marked for elimination" penalty after Terri & Henry finished last consecutively.

Marketing

The second season of the show had six official sponsors: Aviva, Caltex, Nokia Nseries, Sony Electronics Asia Pacific, Bintan Lagoon Resort, and Standard Chartered Bank. The sponsors played a major role in the series by providing prizes and integrating their products into various tasks.

Casting

This season featured 10 teams chosen from 2500 applicants, including racers from the original American series. Final applications were accepted 13 April 2007 (two weeks after the original deadline). This season was also open to the Japanese, who were ineligible for Season 1. Final interviews were held sometime in April or May 2007. Filming took place sometime in June or July 2007.

Broadcasting

Two special episodes acted as bookends for this season; the first subtitled "Racers Revealed" was shown three weeks before the season premiere while the second, "Memories" aired one week after the season finale. The former contained racer introductions and production insight into the casting process. The latter featured the racers sharing their favorite memories and highlights of the season, similar to that of Season 1.

Cast

This season's cast included reunited siblings, childhood friends, and dating couples. Notably, Adrian is the first hearing-impaired contestant in Amazing Race history. It also featured a large number of local media personalities or their relatives. Monica Lo represented Toronto, Ontario, Canada and won the 1997 Miss Chinese International Pageant, while Paula Taylor is a [Channel V] VJ. Vanessa & Pamela are the sisters of famous Malaysian singer Vince Chong. Kinaryosih is a famous Indonesian movie actress and model, who has also won a Citra Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2006. Sophie is a filmmaker for the Discovery Channel, as well as a correspondent for the Asian Film Festival. Marc Saw Nelson is a model and host of the Philippine sports show Sports Unlimited, while Rovilson Fernandez is a host for another similar show, Gameplan and an editor for Maxim Philippines. This season features three non-Asians. One is Henry, a former US Navy Petty Officer, who raced with his Filipina wife Trinidad (better known as Terri). The other is Aurelia, a Frenchwoman residing in Hong Kong who raced with her Singaporean ex-housemate Sophie, while Brett is of Australian nationality. Henry Reed died on May 21, 2013, at the age of 53. Marc & Rovilson became the first team to win eight legs in a season, which was a record set for winning the most legs in a single season, and would later be matched by the winning team Rachel & Dave of twentieth season of the original American version, and Tom & Tyler and Ashleigh & Amanda respectively from the fourth and fifth seasons of the Australian version.

Future appearances

Paula Taylor appeared on the first leg of The Amazing Race Asia 3 as a Pit Stop greeter in Chiang Mai.

Results

The following teams participated in the season, with their relationships at the time of filming. Placements are listed in finishing order.

Race summary

Leg 1 (Singapore → Philippines)

Leg 2 (Philippines)

Leg 3 (Philippines → Hong Kong → New Zealand)

Leg 4 (New Zealand)

Leg 5 (New Zealand → Japan → South Korea)

Leg 6 (South Korea)

Leg 7 (South Korea → Germany → Czech Republic)

Leg 8 (Czech Republic)

Leg 9 (Czech Republic → Hungary)

Leg 10 (Hungary)

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Leg 11 (Hungary → South Africa)

Leg 12 (South Africa → Singapore)

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