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Team Singapore: Business development manager Adrian Yap and regional sales director Collin Low (centre, wearing singlets) and the rest of the nine teams of The Amazing Race Asia. Writer Sophie Teng (behind Low, wearing red T-shirt) is also a Singaporean, but flies the Hong Kong flag. -- PHOTO: AXN
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WHAT a beautiful game.
We are not talking about football but the competition in the second season of The Amazing Race Asia.
When cable channel AXN revealed the 10 teams of the reality TV show at Clarke Quay's Indochine - The Forbidden City on Wednesday, wolf whistles could be heard.
All 20 contestants - from Thailand-based VJ-model Paula Taylor to the oldest competitor, retired US Navy officer Henry Reed from the Philippines - had svelte, taut bodies.
The good physiques certainly came in handy when the teams travelled to 15 countries in four continents in July, covering 54,000km. Up for grabs is a booty of US$100,000 (S$149,800).
Executive producer Michael McKay said the good-looking cast, selected from 2,500 contestants from the region, was 'absolutely not a deliberate thing'.
He said: 'Personality, not looks, was what we were looking for.'
Referring to the chubby Indonesian brothers from season one, Mardy and Marsio Juwono, he said: 'True, none are interesting-looking people like the M&M brothers, but they are no less interesting.'
Take the Singapore team, made up of gym rats Adrian Yap, 27, and Collin Low, 35.
Low is the first hearing-impaired contestant in The Amazing Race history. Yap, a business development manager, communicates with Low using sign language, which he learnt 10 years ago.
Low, a regional sales director, said: 'It's useful when we want to discuss strategy and don't want others to know.'
Another Singaporean is writer Sophie Teng, 27, although she flies a different flag. She represents team Hong Kong with her ex-flatmate, France-born model Aurelia Chenat, 24.
The two are an unlikely pairing, as they are not exactly bosom buddies, even before the race. The bubbly Chenat still blames the more serious Teng for kicking her out of the apartment when they lived with each other two years ago.
However, when Teng's original partner for the competition had to back out at the last minute, she approached Chenat to join her.
Asked if they were still friends after the race, Teng would only say: 'You have to watch the show to find out.'
szeyong@sph.com.sg
The Amazing Race Asia 2, which is in post-production now, will premiere at the end of the year on AXN (StarHub Channel 19).
AirTime has been held back.
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