Please have a Season 5! They can't end The Amazing Race Asia.
It's probably for the better, TARA has really gone down the tubes. the first 2 seasons were great and the series had so much potential, but they f*cked it all up with TARA3 (excessive, nearly abusive, product placement and incredibly uninspiring route). Since it took so long for the fourth season, I was expecting it to be better, or at least tolerable, but no... admitelly, some aspects were better;casting, route (a little bit), and tasks. But once again, it was freakin' overloaded with product placement and was just so un-epic. I'm afraid TAR Asia is not worthy anymore, especially after watching the greatness that is TAR Australia.
To be more clear on why TARA has fallen so far from it's pedestal, let's look at the reasons:
1. The MOST goddamn annoying host in the entire world - somebody needs to fire Allan Wu, HE SUCKS! his whor-ish style of hosting drives me nuts. Name me one time during his "this is the (insert number here)th pitstop in a race around the world" where he HASN'T raised his hands in a cheesy manner, oh and besides season 2, it's NOT A RACE AROUND THE WORLD, it's a RACE AROUND ASIA, do you think we're idiots? all the faces he makes, This is not a covershoot! You can stop all the excessive smiling and try to keep a straight face. Have you ever actually seen Phil do his job on the American version? Allan Wu... you suck.
2. ALL the frickin' product placement - It was alright in the first 2 seasons, oh and don't get me wrong, I can understand product placement, it's sometimes necessary for the show to survive. But this is too much, not only were season 3 and 4 overloaded with product placement tasks (there was like 2 or 3 in every freakin' leg) but those tasks itself sucked. Insert Mahatma Ghandi's birthday into a Standard Chartered Bank ATM? Look through hundred of Sony Blu-Ray DVD for one that displays "Correct"? Are you serious? do u think we give a donkey's kahoonies for all these stuff?
3. Started High and falls Low - One of the biggest factors in what made TARA3 so dissapointing was the route, no more Europe? no more Africa? I mean why not? instead of wasting money of making hard tasks for your gimmicky "toughest race ever" (yeah, right), you should spend a bigger part of the budget on the route. I've seen on the website about TARA3 that it was "not about the destinations, but the challenges teams will have to face". Why not just tell us "Sorry, but we're too cheap to go to Europe or Africa anymore, so let's just make it up with big bus washing and scorpion eating. Have a nice day"
4. The Amazing Race Asia Celebrity Edition! Again... and again... and again - Another aspect that seemed to have started with TARA3, too many celebrity contestants (or mactors, whatever). Season 3 and 4 each have more than half of it's contestants with some sort of celebrity status, I mean that's just desperate for better ratings. Season 3's most entertaining and endearing team were (shock!) normal people, A.D and Fuzzie and so was season 4, Jess and Lani, Michelle and Claire, and Ethan and Khairie. You don't need celebrities to entertain, we love regular people!
5(last). It's the Amazing Race Asia! more like the Relay Around Asia - ok, let me explain, this show right here is supposed to be the Asian version of The Amazing Race, but it feels nothing like it, yes it has clues and roadblocks and detours, but I just don't feel the magic or the epicness of the American version. now this has nothing to do with TARA being a foreign edition, TAR Australia is an incredible edition of TAR, so why is TARA so uninspiring? maybe it's the bad editing (compared to the US version), the lame contestants, the annoyingly repetitive soundtrack, the tasks that just fail to impress, the locations that bore, the HORRIBLE host, the pathetic prize money (100000 US dollars? Are you serious? and that's before taxes) and the cheap production value. It's terrible and nearly beyond saving.
Now I'm not saying TARA5 will be bad, but after such a great start(season 1) and an epic season (season 2) that actually help you forgive the terrible host, the disappointment felt in the next 2 trashbags-of-a-season is overwhelming. TARA has fallen deep into a sinkhole, and it will take a lot for it to climb out. But here's to hoping it happens.
P.S Some people might find my little rant a bit controversial, but this is just my opinion, please don't take it too seriously
Have a nice day