The winner takes it all

I just saw the finals of The Amazing Race Asia season 2 and I am tremendously dismayed by the third place finish of the Philippine team of Marc & Rovilson. I’d been rooting for them since the start of the race and in most of the legs, they’d been performing really well, finishing first with so much aplomb. I like their self-deprecating humor and acerbic wit, which I hadn’t seen in any of the teams in this season.

While it is true that the Singapore team had managed to nip at their heels in some stages of the race, I was still rooting for them not just because of patriotic desire but I genuinely believed that among the teams, they were the most capable and their personalities were a perfect fit as well. I knew they could do it and at the start of the final leg, they did. They edged the Singaporeans and arrived at Sentosa beach well ahead of the 2 remaining teams. But disaster struck when Rovilson did the task of erecting the flags of the countries they’d been chronologically. Rovilson couldn’t figure out which flag represented what country!

And that is how the cookie crumbled. The Singaporeans arrived last but they zipped through the task to win the race. The Malaysian girls even beat them to finish second. I would like to call on Rovilson’s former History teacher to give this guy a refresher course on world history, or at the very least, flags.

Nevertheless, third place finish or not, among the teams this season, they’re still the hottest! 

Earlier, I also watched American Idol. This was an important event because the top 50 chosen yesterday have been whittled further to the top 24. For those who are un-familiar with the process, the top 24 will further be trimmed to the top 12 in the coming weeks by text voting. Compared to last season, this crop of hopefuls sounded a lot better. There’s simply more talent on the table. Another reason for my interest is because there’s a young Filipina, whose voice is the complete opposite of her tiny body, among the lot. She’s 20 year-old Ramiele Malubay.

She surprised the three judges in her audition in Miami but Simon Cowell said ‘no’ to her. Nevertheless, he seemed to have changed his mind when she sang Aretha Franklin’s ‘Until You Come Back To Me’ in Hollywood. And tonight, after they’d told her that she’d made it to the top 24, I clearly heard Simon said that Ramiele is such a sweet girl. On the American Idol website she names Regine Velasquez and Lani Misalucha as some of her musical influences, that she’s been singing since she was 12, and that she can also play the guitar and piano (a bit).

Best of luck to you, Ramiele! Hope you make it to the top 12 and go really far. Win it if possible! I know Jasmine has the best finish among Filipinos who joined American Idol but your voice is way much better than hers. Simon was right about the reason why she finished third. Now set this straight by singing (as opposed to charming) your way to the top! Good luck!