Richard Hardin (left) and Richard Herrera

After three months of a back-breaking, nail-biting cross-continent race, pals Richard Hardin and Richard Herrera from Philippines are The Amazing Race Asia season 4 champs. A t2 chat…

How does it feel being the new Amazing Race Asia champions?

Crazy is what we would like to describe it as. Ecstasy to disappointment, happiness to being down in the dumps, tears of joy and frustration... we have been made to go through every kind of emotion possible. Traipsing through different countries — we have even slept on the roads — has had its share of happiness and disappointment. All in all, it has been one hell of a ride and we are happy that we have managed to do it better than the others.

How did you get together?

We have been friends over about three years and discovered very early on in the friendship that we had a common passion for adventure. We were both born in the US, but have lived in the Philippines for the last eight years. So it was quite an honour for us to represent the country where we have lived and worked in all these years. Amazing Race is keenly followed by the TV-watching audience in the Philippines and the support for us — through emails and Facebook — has been extraordinary. The only regret is that our parents back in the US couldn’t watch the show.

Take us through the journey…

It’s been a seesaw kind of a ride. At times we were on top of the world and sometimes we were completely lost. There were a lot of tough, very tough and extremely tough challenges. We visited some of the most beautiful countries in the Asian subcontinent. We would definitely want to revisit each of these places one day — without the pressures of being on a reality show! We specially enjoyed the Sri Lankan and the New Zealand legs of the race.

Which challenge did you enjoy the most?

Any challenge that involved heights was very enjoyable and got the best out of us. The task in which we had to wrestle pigs was one hell of a task! We not only got tired and dirty, we also lost our clothes!

What were the most difficult moments on the show?

Before the show, the two of us had promised that no matter what, we would never allow ourselves to be bogged down and quit. There were many times when we thought we would be eliminated, but it is to our credit that we hung in there and never gave up. We just kept going and then one fine day, we won!

What worked for your team?

We were a little faster than the rest. Our time-management skills were a lot superior to the others. We also learnt a lot from the mistakes that our co-contestants made. From them we picked up tips on what one shouldn’t do on the show!

How would you rate the two Indian teams (Manas-Sahil and Dimple-Sunaina)?

Dimple and Su are beautiful girls. They were very sporty and supportive, and they are really good people to hang around with. Manas and Sahil are real rockstars. Both have a great sense of humour and having them around made the journey a lot more fun and memorable. We can’t wait to catch up with these guys!

What is your biggest takeaway?

It would have to be the relationships we made with all those we met in the course of our journey. We are no longer the same people we were before the show. We have discovered a lot about ourselves. We have just become better human beings.