Characters / The Amazing Race Asia 5

The Amazing Race character index
United States original: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8: Family Edition | 9 | 10 | 11: All-Stars | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18: Unfinished Business | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24: All-Stars | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31: Reality Showdown | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35
Asia: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
China Rush and China: China Rush 1 | 2 | 3 | China 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Australia: 1 | 2 | 3: Australia v New Zealand | 4 | 5 | 6: Around the World | 7: Celebrity Edition
Canada: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6: Heroes Edition | 7 | 8

At last, in 2016, the fifth installment of The Amazing Race Asia finally returned with great enthusiasm. The fans would not be disappointed. The season's likable teams far outnumbered the teams who were unlikable or unnoticeable, provided a variety of physical and mental challenges that had no bias in any specific areas requiring teams to be a Jack of All Trades to succeed on the course, had one of the most original and memorable Fast Forwards ever in Leg 5 where both teams failed even after one team attempted it 49 times, several Shocking Eliminations where 3 of the teams who had been eliminated had placed first in the previous leg, a finale where the placements instantaneously inverted halfway through leading to a tight race at the memory task, and a very likable winner. The season was not without flaws though, as the course was rather short with 10 legs and was exclusively in Asia (5 of which were in Indonesia due to the biggest sponsor being Wonderful Indonesia), the teams were less memorable than the previous season, using the unpopular starting line elimination, and having both a Yield and U-Turn in the penultimate leg. ^note  Which alone is a death sentence towards a team, it eliminated the strongest and most competitive team leaving the finale without a frontrunner. Plus it contributed to ruining the possibility of the first all female final 3. Nonetheless, the positives more than outweighed the negatives, ending the season on a good note and giving the spin-off the revival it deserved.

Parul Shah & Maggie Wilson

Beauty queens from Philippines, a middle-of-the-pack team with no wins prior to the finale, which was usually caused by a minor falter towards the end of the leg. Their positive attitudes, good teamwork, and intense focus on the race allowed them to gradually place better and better on almost every leg. They spend most of their lead in Bali in 2nd place, until the final Roadblock where clue reading enable them to win the race.

• Chekhov's Skill: Their seriousness about paying attention to details helped them in the very detail-oriented final task
  • Subverted and played straight in Leg 6, they thought speaking Tagalog would help with the karaoke task but it was a different dialect, so they switched Detours where Parul being a nurse allowed them to stitch the sausages together faster than anyone else and recover from the deficit caused by switching Detours.
• Read the Freaking Manual: Inverted, 2 instances in their final leg, which led them to their victory when they read their clues again.
  • First is during the boat challenge, where they are the first to realize that there is no judge to approve how they knot the boat, catching up to Eric & Rona.
  • Second is the final Roadblock, where Maggie is the first to realize that there is no need to put all the coconuts given to the tiles, giving them the decisive lead over Chloe to win the race.

Chloe Chen & Yvonne Lee

Beauty queens from Malaysia. Despite being nearly eliminated in the first leg, they proved to be rather serious contenders when they won the next leg and becoming a fixture in the Top 3 for most of their legs. They started off being last at the first half of Bali, and while they found themselves 1st for the final Roadblock thanks to a really good cab, Maggie was able to pass them, ending their journey in 2nd.

• Game-Breaking Injury: Chloe had a sprained ankle when they reached Banyuwangi.

Eric Tai & Rona Tai

Married couple representing Philippines (as Eric is from New Zealand), a middle-of-the-pack team who got their only win in the penultimate leg. Despite Rona looking out of shape, her biggest handicap was letting her emotions overtake her when they struggled. Though despite having a huge lead in Bali for the first half of the leg, the troubles with getting a good cab driver combined with Rona's subsequent breakdown at the final Roadblock dropped them to 3rd.

• Acrofatic: Rona being plus-sized didn't seem to hinder her much in keeping up with her burly husband.
• Big Guy: Eric
• Broken Tears: Happened with Rona a lot, the most disastrous being at the worst time, during the final memory task.
• Gentle Giant: Eric's heart was as colossal as he was, which helped him with being patient with Rona's breakdown
• Law of Inverse Fertility: They couldn't conceive naturally so they wanted to win to pay for IVF

Treasuri Tamara & Louisa Kusnandar

Childhood friends from Indonesia, they became the surprising front runners of the season due to their analytical skills, dropping below 3rd twice and winning the most legs in the season with 4 (3 of them are consecutive). However, in Banyuwangi, Indonesia, their prowess caused everybody else to fear them to the point that when the leg offered both a Yield & a U-Turn, the others teams (Parul & Maggie and Eric & Rona respectively) used it on them, pushing them far enough to eliminate them in 4th.

• Action Girl: Won the most legs with 4, and have the highest average placing for both this season and all all-female teams in the Asian edition.
• Awesome by Analysis: Easily the strongest asset, evident when they finished the faster Detour choice of Badminton Bash in Vietnam & Human Bull in East Java ahead of all the other teams
• Tall Poppy Syndrome: By their elimination leg, this caused them to be hit by a Yield & a U-Turn at the same leg.
• Trying Not to Cry: Treasuri in the 5 Course Vietnam meal Roadblock, to the point the Rona compared it as a funeral. And their final leg in general.

Jerald Justin "JK" Ko & Mike Tan

Radio DJs from Singapore. After their 3rd place finish in the 1st leg, the subsequent 4 legs saw them racing back of the pack, placing bottom 2 in 3 of them. Though Philippines smiled upon them as they sang their way for 2 straight leg wins, their final leg in Yogyakatra, Indonesia saw them in the bottom again after JK becomes the only person who failed the Roadblock on the first try, and while they eventually managed to catch up with Chloe & Yvonne, a wrong direction from a local to a Pitstop eliminatied them in 5th.

• Big Eater: Lampshaded by JK: "I'm gonna be the fat guy that eats everything." in the 5 Course Vietnam meal Roadblock, which got him to pass Tom.

Tom William Barrett & Anita Silsith Bye

Dating couple from Thailand. After their 8th place finish ^note due to the ondei-ondei task which dropped from 2nd to 8th, they started off as front-runners, placing Top 4 for the next 3 legs. However, their momentum came to a halt in Philippines, where they lagged behind all the other teams even with equalizers, then Anita's struggles at the Roadblock & later choosing the more time consuming Detour choice in Longganisa Kalesa, eliminating them in 6th.

Alex Chee & Will Chee

Muscle brothers from Malaysia. Surprisingly, they ran a rather weak race with only placing above 5th once (2nd in Malaysia). Most of this was because they had strange penchant of choosing the mental tasks over the physical ones which the could've blown through. In their last leg in Vietnam, they choose the Fast Forward after everyone else except for Tom & Anita decided against it. However, even with Tom & Anita quitting the Fast Forward, they ended up being very unlucky with finding the coin in the sticky rice, & forced to quit after eating 49 of them. By the time they came back, they were too late in catching everybody else & eventually eliminated in 7th.

• Big Eater: They ate 49 servings of sticky rice at the Fast Forward, each serving was the size of a hockey puck
• Face Death with Dignity: A non-fatal example. At the final Roadblock, they accepted they were out and decided to enjoy their last moments on the race rather than regret their choice of taking the Fast Forward
• Lovable Jock: They were the nicest racers of the season
• Read the Freaking Manual: In leg 2, they took the longest to finish the Grab Bike task due to interpreting the clue as remembering the names of the signboard instead of making a word from the letters marked by an arrow.
  • Will forgot to grab the sticker during the Roadblock on Leg 3 forcing them to redo the task
• Sibling Team
• Unskilled, but Strong: The strange tendency to not choose the physical Detours hindered their potential to do well.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: The camera caught the moment Alex projectile vomited all the sticky race he ate.

Rachel Tampubolon & Vicky Harahap

Travel hosts from Indonesia. In the 3rd leg in Malaysia, they faced a Speed Bump as they decide to stay in the Street Play Detour despite all the slots being taken by the other teams. They got eliminated 8th in Thailand as they are unable to catch with all the other teams.

• Fatal Flaw: Their inability to work together
• Vitriolic Best Buds: They said they loved and hated each other, it showed.

Brandon Ho & Alphaeus Tan

Old School Mates from Malaysia. Despite winning the 1st leg and get themselves a huge lead in the 2nd leg after the Detour, they incorrectly typed in the wrong location for their next clue that got them very lost, enabling all the teams ^note which include Parul & Maggie who made a similar mistake, and both Alex & Will and JK & Mike who are trailing way behind the other teams to pass them and got them eliminated in 9th.

• Awesome by Analysis: Despite being a more mentally strong team, they were the first to finish the physically intensive bike Detour on Leg 2 by cushioning their eggs with leaves from the forest keeping any of their eggs from breaking and allowing them to finish the entire task in one go.
• Tragic Mistake: Would have been really serious competitors if they did not made that mistake in the taxi.

Rei Umehara & Keiji Umehara

Siblings from Singapore. Eliminated in 10th due to being very unlucky in traffic in Bogor, West Java.

• Read the Freaking Manual: From the post elimination interview, the reason why they are stuck in bad traffic in the first place is because Keiji realized that they are still carrying the wrong compass from the Starting Line task, which states that they had to return it in order to avoid a penalty.

Lisa Truong-Marchetto & Nicole Truong-Marchetto

Life partners from Vietnam, and got struck with the Starting Line Elimination for being last in finding the correct compass where it heads head 210 degrees southwest.

• History Repeats: This is the second time a team consisting of a Lisa was eliminated at the Starting Line.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: Especially in a season where all female teams did extremely well.