The 'Amazing' experience

Tisha Silang and Geoff Rodriguez showed the Pinoy’s mental agility and physical strength in the season finale of AXN’s The Amazing Race Asia 3 by placing second to eventual winners Vince Chung and Sam Wu of Hong Kong. Malaysia’s Tania Khan and Ida Nerina arrived last in the pitstop.

Team Philippines has been consistently placing in the Top Three slots for two consecutive seasons. Last year, Marc Nelson and Rovilson Fernandez placed third. They still hold the record of having the most number of pitstops won by a team in the history of the reality TV show.

Tisha and Geoff started on the right foot by placing second in the take-off point, Bangkok. Then they slowed down and faltered in the succeeding challenges. The couple was back in the race in Hong Kong and found their momentum by topping two pitstops in the Macau and India legs.

Although the race was confined to Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macau, India and Oman, season three was the toughest because of the daunting fastforward, roadblock and detour tasks like performing the dragon dance, eating exotic street food, ascending to the Macau Tower and traversing a canyon. That’s why Tisha and Geoff cannot help but also celebrate their own victory.

“It’s true,” confirms Geoff of RP Team’s placement on the show. “We came second and hopefully Pinoys will come first in season four.”

“We were so close to winning,” says Tisha. “(What transpired) was out of our control.”

How did the Hong Kong boys who incurred a four-hour penalty from the “traverse a canyon” challenge take over?

“We got the wrong taxi driver,” shares Geoff. “It took us 36 minutes before reaching the final pitstop.”

“The driver never knew where it was,” adds Tisha.

Besides, the teams waited 10 hours to take their flight from Oman to Thailand. Thus, the four-hour penalty of the HK boys lasted and they caught up with the two other teams.

“I’m ecstatic,” says Tisha of the results. “I never expected to get ourselves to be this far in the race. We thought finishing fifth was already okay.”

“We were pressured in the beginning of the race,” adds Geoff given the performance of Marc and Rovilson last year. “It was on my mind all the time. But I never knew I would do this (the race) day after day.”

During the race, Tisha and Geoff had arguments which according to Tisha are common among couples. The two, however, assure their fans that “they are still together.”

Asked what are their plans that The Amazing Race Asia 3 is over, Geoff replies, “I will continue doing hosting. But we will see. I can’t really say what to do since Amazing was just a day over.”

“I’m not going back to showbiz,” says Tisha. “I will still do hosting and modeling. I’ll be in Canada next year to resume my studies (dental hygiene) and to take care of my dad.”

Last night, the couple graced the The Amazing Race Asia 3 party at the Centara Grand Hotel, Bangkok. They also received 40-inch Bravia flat TVs, playstations, a trip to Hong Kong, plus $1,000 each.

“It’s life changing,” says Geoff of his Amazing experience, whose game plan was to stay in the race and not to get eliminated early.

What did Tisha learn from the experience?

“That I can really do what I set on my mind,” she replies.