IT HAS BEEN nearly three weeks since Tee Joe Jer and Zabrina Fernandez won the inaugural The Amazing Race Asia, but the congratulatory messages haven't stopped pouring in. The ebullient pair aren't complaining, though. 'We're used to people coming up to us and they've been so nice, complimenting us on what we've achieved,' says Fernandez.
Racing through 15 cities in 24 days and travelling more than 36,000km, Tee, 29, and Fernandez, 26, made headlines when they won the event and US$100,000 in prize money. The duo, devoted fans of the US version of The Amazing Race and self-confessed reality-TV junkies, made race history as the first all-women team to come out on top. The grand finale, screened on AXN on February 1, was a showdown between the last three teams: Tee and Fernandez; sporty couple Andrew Tan, 26, and Syeon Park, 28; and Hong Kong couple Francesca von Etzdorf, 27, and her boyfriend, Sandy Sydney, 29.
For the finale, the teams came full circle around the world as they left Dubai and headed for Kuala Lumpur - where the race began - before heading to the final destination, Kuching, in Sarawak.
Although it wasn't entirely a nail-biting race to the finish line - in the last few minutes, the viewers knew the women would clinch the top spot - Tee and Fernandez weren't always the clear favourites.
'In the beginning, when teams were asked who would be the first team to be eliminated, everyone said [Indonesian brothers] Mardy and Marsio [Juwono] or Joe Jer and Zabrina,' says Fernandez. As the race progressed, most followers pegged the female duo as a dark horse to win - even though they weren't the strongest, nor were they the smartest of the teams. Even their friends and families didn't think they stood a chance.
'When we got back from the race, some of our friends who knew that we'd participated didn't ask us if we won, but at which stage we got eliminated,' says Fernandez. (The race took place last June and teams had to sign confidentiality agreements, because it only started airing in November.)