Geoff, Tisha still in the race

Sweethearts Geoff Rodriguez and Tisha Silang keep the flame alive for Filipinos who are rooting for them to win The Amazing Race Asia 3, which airs on AXN on Thursday nights at 9. As the lone Philippine team which made it to the reality competition, Geoff and Tisha make up five of the remaining pairs that are still fiercely competing in the race and gunning for the top prize of $100,000.

Tisha is best remembered as the former Bb. Pilipinas-Universe winner who had to relinquish her crown because of her Canadian citizenship. Then, of course, she became romantically involved with Paolo Bediones and briefly appeared in programs in the network. Geoff, meanwhile, also had his brief showbiz stint as part of the all-male group Powerboys, with Jordan Herrera, Frank Garcia, Greg Martin and Jay Salas.

Geoff and Tisha vow to carry the flag for the Philippines hopefully up to the finish line and win the race, something that the erstwhile Philippine teams which joined the competition failed to do. In the first season, the two teams from the Philippines fared poorly. Couple Ernie and Jeena Lopez were the first ones to be booted out. Sexy best friends Aubrey Miles and Jacqueline Yu merely finished up to the fourth leg of the race.

The second season saw buddies Marc Nelson and Rovilson Fernandez faring superbly in every leg and were consistently at the forefront of the race. They placed first in eight out of the 11 legs and were touted as the most competitive team. However, while they seemed unbeatable, they only finished third in the finals and also dashed the hopes of Filipinos who were cheering for them to win.

For The Amazing Race Asia 3, Geoff and Tisha are aware they have huge shoes to fill after the highly-competitive stint that Marc and Rovilson displayed in the previous season. Yet, the couple is certain they will bring to the race the love and respect that has been the foundation of their relationship.

“Tisha and I have had a sound relationship from the time we have met,” Geoff says. “Now, we are testing our relationship by joining the race.”

Geoff and Tisha have displayed their strength and endurance as a team in arduous and grueling tasks for the first five legs of the race. They ate bugs, frogs and maggots in a market in Bangkok, did a bus-cleaning spree and endured a 25-hour bus ride from Ho Chi Minh to Hue in Vietnam, traveling for more than 1,000 kilometers.

They also pounded rice to make rice balls, took the zip line over a jungle forest, caught live chicken, trashed rice stalks, read a Braille alphabet puzzle to decipher a clue, drove a cyclo or a rickshaw in the streets of Vietnam and dug a souvenir silver coin from 100 kilograms of coal.

They would have been the first team to arrive at the pit stop in the first leg that culminated in Chiang Mai, Thailand. However, after sharing a taxi ride with Thai residents Oliver and Mai, the Philippine team decided to play it fair. They selflessly walked away without the cash prize of $10,000.

“It was Thailand and they were helpful to us in getting around,” Tisha said at the pit stop, where they were greeted by host Allan Wu and Thai resident Paula Taylor, who was a participant from Season 2.

Kicking off from a new location, in Bangkok when the season unfolded last Sept. 11, The Amazing Race Asia 3 has taken viewers such exciting destinations as Chiang Mai, Ho Chi Minh, Hue and Taipei.

This time, the producers take the competition a notch higher and make it “the toughest race ever,” surpassing the challenges, adventures, thrills, excitement, twists and turns and even the drama of the first two seasons.

Clearly enough, the race is harder, faster and more intense, with many unexpected moments that the contestants may not be mentally and physically prepared for. After the fifth episode, however, viewers have yet to see a non-elimination round.

This season sees the first-ever Korean team, made up of brothers Isaac and William Hong, participating in the race. In Season Two, there was a brother-and-sister team from Japan, also a first-timer.

Aside from the Philippine team on The Amazing Race Asia 3, the others who are in the race are actress Ida and heiress Tania from Malaysia; friends A.D. and Fuzzie from Singapore; siblings Henry and Bernie from Malaysia; and buddies Vince and Sam from Hong Kong.

First to be eliminated were cousins Neena and Amit from India; followed by brothers Isaac and William from South Korea; beauty queens Natalie and Pailin from Thailand; father and son Niroo and Kapil from India; and bestfriends Mai and Oliver also from Thailand.

Two teams bailed out of different tasks by opting to take the four-hour penalty and subsequently being eliminated. Former Miss Universe Natalie Glebova (2005) abandoned the roadblock in Vietnam, where she was supposed to arrange seven emperor coins according to the ruler’s reign. The coins represented the seven emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty. Natalie and her fellow beauty queen partner Pailin, who represented Thailand in the 2006 Miss Earth pageant, were eliminated in the third leg.

In the fourth episode also in Vietnam, Niroo and Kapil nearly quit out of sheer disappointment when they couldn’t complete a task. Kapil also refused to finish his fermented tofu cooked in duck blood. Unfortunately, they were eliminated in that leg.

When Oliver and Mai were booted out in the fifth leg in Taipei, Oliver frustratingly remarked, “I know it would be tough, but I didn’t know it would be this tough.”

Will Philippine team Geoff and Tisha muster enough strength to make it to the finals? Let’s keep our fingers crossed that they bring honor to the country by winning The Amazing Race Asia 3.