All for the glory
Representing Hong Kong in this season's Amazing Race Asia are TVB actors Alan Luk Chun-kong, 32, and Wendy Lee Wing-ji, 24. The couple have been together for just more than a year. 'The show claims we have been together for three years. I don't know why,' Lee says between sessions of flirtatious bickering with her beau.
There's nothing guaranteed to settle an argument like the prospect of having it broadcast to millions of viewers, but that is the show's bread and butter as teams of two are put to the test through 12 gruelling episodes. The pair happily admit that they argue constantly. 'One time we argued about her shoes. We can argue about everything, even the smallest things,' Luk - who stars in the TVB drama Can't Buy Me Love - says. But arguments never felt so loving and harmless.
'Some might find our arguing entertaining, others might find it annoying. You'll just have to see for yourself,' says Lee, who starred in the just-concluded Starry Kitchen.
This season's 10 teams are drawn from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and, of course, Hong Kong.
Luk and Lee are under an oath of secrecy so they can reveal few details of what they faced during the shooting of this season's shows - not even a hint of where they might have come in the final ranking. But if past shows are anything to go by, discomfort, bugs and nasty food are staple fare.
'I'm really scared of cockroaches, bugs and stuff,' Lee admits. 'One time we had to sleep on the street and wait for something to open. It was really dirty, with cockroaches and bugs everywhere. Alan saw a gigantic rat. It was certainly not a good place to sleep.'
Lee fell in love with the show when she was studying in New York. When she returned to Hong Kong to pursue an acting career, the show once again piqued her curiosity.
'When I watched the show, I always wanted to be on it, too,' says the former 2006 Miss Hong Kong hopeful. 'I just wanted to face all those challenges myself.'
But Luk was not as enthusiastic. 'I never really watched any before I met her,' he says. 'After that, I watched Amazing Race, Top Chef and Jersey Shore. I don't really like Survivor, though.' Little did he know that soon he would BE the show.
Amazing Race Asia Season 4 airs every Thursday on AXN at 10pm
