The Amazing Race Asia 3

The Amazing Race Asia 3 is the third installment of the reality television game show The Amazing Race Asia. The show features ten teams of two, with a pre-existing relationship, in a race around Asia to win US$100,000.

The season premiered on September 11, 2008 and consists of 11 episodes, two episodes less than the first and second seasons. The season finale aired on November 20, 2008.

Development and filming
The Amazing Race Asia 3 covered 21,600 miles in six countries. Following the race tradition as in American edition, the route markers were colored yellow and white to avoid the confusion with the flag of South Vietnam when the teams visit Vietnam. Season 3 also introduced the U-turn marker, while the Intersection was removed from this season. However, like the American season's Family Edition and Brazilian version, this is the first season to have the entire Race take place in one continent: Asia. Previous seasons saw the Race covering at least two continents.

According to AXN, this season is dubbed as "the toughest race ever" compared to previous seasons as both contestants and crew personnel experienced high fatigue during the Race due to the faster pace and shorter break times. During filming, one production crew member was even hospitalized.

Cast
Applications for Season 3 due on March 3, 2008 (extended from the original deadline on February 25, 2008). Interviews for semi-finalists and finalists were held sometime around March or April 2008. Filming was expected to have taken place around the middle of 2008.

Season 3's cast include cousins, and a father & son team. Like Season 2, the Race featured a large number of local media personalities or their relatives. Natalie is the winner of Miss Universe 2005 and also the wife of Thai tennis player Paradorn Srichaphan. Her teammate, Pailin, is the runner-up in 2006 Miss Thailand Universe and also contested in Miss Earth 2006. Tisha is the ex-girlfriend of Survivor Philippines's host, Paolo Bediones and was once Miss Philippines but had to forgo her crown due to her Canadian citizenship, while Ida, Niroo and Mai are famous actors in their respective homelands. William and Isaac are sports commentators and football agents for professional players in the Korean K-League. Vince is a leading stand-up comedian in Hong Kong, often performing and hosting at The TakeOut Comedy Club Hong Kong, and was a finalist in Hong Kong's first nationwide stand-up comedy competition.

This season consists of three non-Asians. Natalie and Vince are Canadians (Natalie was born in Russia), and Geoff is from New Zealand. Additionally, Sam, who was originally from Singapore, is representing Hong Kong. Tisha is of Canadian nationality but of Filipino ethnicity.

Paula Taylor, one of the racers in Season 2, appeared as the local greeter in the first leg of the Race.

Marketing
The Amazing Race Asia 3 had six official sponsors, they are Caltex, MASkargo, Nokia, Singha, Sony and Standard Chartered Bank. A special episode known as Racers Revealed was aired one week before the actual premiere, on September 4, 2008, and a special "Memories" episode will air after the season finale on November 27, 2008, similar to the second season.

Results
The following teams participated in the Race, with their relationships at the time of filming. Placements are listed in finishing order:

Vince & Sam originally arrived 5th but they did not pay the taxi driver. They were asked to pay the taxi first before they could be checked in. In Leg 3, Pailin & Natalie incurred a four-hour penalty because Natalie failed to complete the Roadblock. However, the penalty was not assessed because they were already the last team to arrive and were eliminated. In Leg 4, Niroo & Kapil incurred a four-hour penalty because Kapil failed to complete the Roadblock. However, the penalty was not assessed because they were already the last team to arrive and were eliminated. In Leg 5, Mai & Oliver failed to complete the leg after having fallen too far behind the other teams during the leg's first task. Hours after all the teams had checked in, Mai & Oliver still had not completed neither the Roadblock nor the Detour. Allan came over to the area where they had spent the night to inform them of their elimination. Ida and Tania arrived 2nd, but received a 30 minute penalty for being "marked for elimination" and not arriving first. Only A.D and Fuzzie checked in before the penalty ended, thus Ida and Tania fell to 3rd. Vince & Sam and A.D. & Fuzzie incurred a four-hour penalty because Sam and Fuzzie failed to complete the Roadblock respectively. Since neither team's placement was affected, it was not assessed on A.D. & Fuzzie and the four-hour penalty was assessed on Vince & Sam at the start of the final leg.


 * Red means the team was eliminated.
 * An underlined  Blue means the team was the last to arrive at a pit stop in a non-elimination leg of the race and was thus "marked for elimination", meaning that if that team did not place first on the next leg, they would receive a 30 minute penalty whereas an italicised Blue means the team was the last to arrive at a pit stop in a non-elimination leg of the race and had all their money confiscated. They will start at the next leg receiving no money as well.
 * A Green ƒ means the team won the Fast Forward clue. A green-colored leg number indicates that the Fast Forward was available for that leg but not used.
 * A yellow > means that the team who chose to use the Yield; < indicates the team who received it; <> indicates a leg where the Yield was available but not used.
 * A brown » means the team chose to use a U-Turn; « indicates the team who received it; «» indicates a leg where the U-Turn was available but not used.