The latest season in the reality series has proven the same with two former beauty queens from Malaysia making it to the final episode, The Star reported today.
Miss Malaysia-World 2011 Chloe Chen and Miss Malaysia-World 2012 Yvonne Lee are happy to prove their critics wrong by doing better than two all-male pairs from Malaysia to become the sole Malaysian team in the top three of The Amazing Race Asia.
Chen, 27, and Lee, 28, said that many of the other contestants had dismissed them initially as “beauty queens who are just supposed to look pretty”.
“One of the teams came up to us and told us they were surprised we were even chosen to be on the show.
“They thought we seemed weak but it isn’t just about physical strength. It’s about having brains, patience and a bit of luck.
“I even heard that several of the eliminated contestants had expected to see us drop out as the weeks progressed. But we proved them all wrong,” Lee was quoted as saying by the daily.
In the final episode, Lee and Chen will be competing against two pairs from the Philippines – another beauty queen team comprising Parul and Maggie, as well as a married couple, Eric and Rona.
Chen said she was happy that there were two all-women teams in the finals and recognised how it was still going to be a tough race to compete, let alone complete.
“I was very concerned about my leg as I have developed foot tendonitis and it was very painful.
“I could hardly walk after a particularly physically demanding challenge in the penultimate episode,” she said, according to The Star.
There was a scare too in that episode with Lee revealing that the security team for the show actually had to check if Chen could carry on and asked if she wanted to quit.
“She said, ‘no, we’ve come this far and we have to fight to the very end’. She’s such a fighter,” Lee was quoted as saying of her friend and Amazing Race partner.
Should the Malaysian pair make it as champions, they will join the only other all-women team to win The Amazing Race Asia.
In season one, aired in 2007, Malaysia’s Zabrina Fernandez and Joe Jer Tee came out tops. In seasons two, three and four, the all-male winning teams were from Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines, respectively.
Though called The Amazing Race Asia, the reality show now only comprises teams from Southeasian countries.
Season five started with 11 teams, comprising three teams from Malaysia, two each from Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, and one each from Thailand and Vietnam.
There were only four all-women teams when the show started but two have made it to the final.
The Amazing Race Asia was filmed across the region with the teams competing in various extreme challenges, all for a chance at winning the US$100,000 (RM441,000) grand prize.
The final episode of season five will be aired on AXN (Astro 701) at 9pm tomorrow night.