SINGAPOREANS have seen The Amazing Race on television. Now they can take part. AXN Asia, which is based in Singapore, has bought the rights to localise the Emmy Award-winning show from Buena Vista International TV Asia Pacific, the American company that owns the format.
This means there will soon be an Asian version of The Amazing Race, with Asian contestants competing against each other on Asian terrain. So, not only will Singaporeans get a chance to compete, the programme may also be filmed in Singapore.
According to Ricky Ow, general manager of SPE Networks Asia, which is the parent company of AXN, the Asian version will debut in the second half of next year. Auditions will be held soon and Singaporeans will be invited to participate.
"The Asian version will cover the whole of Asia and there may be opportunities to travel outside of Asia. But of course, the key components will be in Asia," he said.
Ow declined to reveal the budget of the Asian version, but said that it was in the "multi-million region".
The Asian edition will certainly not be inferior to its American counterpart. United States producers of the original programme will be consultants for the Asian version. And while the prize money for the winning team will not be US$1 million ($1.7 million) as it is in the American version, it will be "lucrative".
When asked about the possibility of language barriers being an issue when contestants of different nationalities were pitted against each other, Ow pointed out that that was where the fun would come in.
"It won't be a huge issue since the programme is in English, but it will be a fun element to see how the contestants communicate, since English is spoken differently in each country," he said.
Ow encouraged fans of The Amazing Race to write in to AXN at feedback@axn-asia.com to offer suggestions on what they think should be included in the Asian version of the programme.
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