The Amazing Race Asia 4

The Amazing Race Asia 4 is the fourth season of The Amazing Race Asia, an Asian reality competition show based on the American series The Amazing Race. Hosted by Allan Wu, it featured ten teams of two, each with a pre-existing relationship, in a race around Asia and the Pacific Rim to win US$100,000. This season visited two continents and eight countries and travelled over 38,000 kilometres (24,000 mi) during eleven legs. Starting in Kuala Lumpur, teams travelled through Malaysia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia and South Korea before finishing in Singapore. This season was the first time a season within the Amazing Race franchise was filmed and broadcast for high-definition television. The season premiered on AXN Asia on 23 September 2010 and the finale aired on 9 December 2010.
Filipino friends Richard Hardin and Richard Herrera were the winners of this season, while Singaporean rebel pals Claire Goh and Michelle Ng finished in second place and Indonesian father and daughter Hussein and Natasha Sutadisastra finished in third place.
The fourth season of The Amazing Race Asia was the first Amazing Race season to be broadcast in high-definition. Besides the switch to high-definition, updated on-screen graphics (similar in appearance to those introduced in season 14 of the American version) and music, were introduced. The opening intro was also updated with a new title card and tuneup in the music. Of note is the addition of the use of split-screens.
Filming took place in June 2010, with teams spotted at Invercargill Airport on 20 June 2010.
According to AXN, this season was dubbed as "Ride of a Lifetime". Allan noted that this season will travel to exotic locations and feature new challenges. This season features a first-time visit to Sri Lanka, as well as visits to far-flung areas including Invercargill, New Zealand and Legazpi, Philippines. Indonesia, a previously visited country that had not been visited by original American edition at the time until the nineteenth season one year later, was also visited this season.
Leg 5 was said to be the most expensive production to date. This is the first season in the Asian franchise to start and end in two different countries, starting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and ending in Singapore, albeit having close proximity of the two locations. In some foreign editions, starting and ending locations are in different countries (such as Brazil, Israel and Latin America), but not in the original American edition, which starts and ends in the same country until season 34.
Lani Pillinger was absent in the Finish Line due to a broken collar bone.
Applications ended 31 March 2010, after a short extension due to popular demand. Semi-finalist and finalist interviews were held between March and April.
A week before the premiere of "Racers Revealed", the episode was released on the show's official website. The first episode also premiered on the show's official website on 16 September 2010, one week before the season debut. A special recap episode was aired on 2 December 2010, a week before the season finale.
The fourth season of The Amazing Race Asia had three official sponsors: Axiata, Caltex, and Sony. The official hotel partner was Hilton, and the series was supported by Tourism Malaysia and Mix FM.
The ten teams were revealed on 2 September 2010. Season 4's cast included the show's first father-daughter team, as well as martial arts experts, tattooists, social workers, and musicians. Like in previous Asian editions, this season features a large number of media personalities or their relatives. Wendy was a finalist in Miss Hong Kong 2006, Nadine was Miss Indonesia Earth 2009, while Natasha was Miss South Jakarta 2007. Dimple is a Hindi soap actress who starred in the serial Aathvaan Vachan, while her friend Sunaina is an Indian TV actress, who starred in Dill Mill Gayye, as well as a movie actress who starred in the Hindi movie Kyun! Ho Gaya Na.... Manas finished runner-up as a contestant on the Indian reality-dating show Rakhi Ka Swayamwar, similar in format to The Bachelorette of the American series. Jess & Lani, as well as Richard Herrera, have appeared in numerous media and print advertisements and commercials in the Philippines. Richard Hardin is a former pro-basketball player in the Philippine Basketball Association. Claire is a prominent bar musician who plays at numerous gigs around Singapore, while Michelle was a reality TV contestant on the Singaporean series S Factor. At the ages of 21 and 22 respectively, Claire & Michelle also form the youngest team in Amazing Race Asia history.
This season featured five non-Asians, Ivan, who is from Hungary and raced with his Malaysian wife Hilda, Jacinta "Jess" James & Lani Pillinger are from Australia (though Lani is of Filipino ethnicity) and Richard (Hardin) & Richard (Herrera) are from the United States who are first generation Filipino Americans but raised in Columbus, Ohio. This was the first time that Thailand was not represented this season.
The following teams participated in the season, with their relationships at the time of filming. Placements are listed in finishing order.