"That there are things that I can do that I would have never imagined that I'd ever do," replies Tisha. "And you will see that later. Yung mga napapanood mo sa TV, you're like, ‘There's no way I'd do that.' Pero ‘pag nandun ka na, gagawin mo, e. Kasi you see everybody else doing it, parang you'll think, ‘Why can't I do it if they're doing it?' I can do it, so..."
Why did she join Amazing Race Asia?
"Well, I was a fan of the show before... But I wanted to join the one in the States, pero kailangan U.S. citizen ka to join. So when they came up with the one in Asia, we sent an audition tape pero for last season. Pero hindi kami natanggap last year.
"Sila Marc and Rovilson yung last year, who happen to be our friends also. So, parang last year we were watching with them. And then when it stopped airing, we were like, ‘Ano nang gagawin natin ng Thursday? Wala na tayong gagawin.' So we sent in another audition tape for this year," relates the Fil-Canadian beauty queen.
BIG SHOES TO FILL. Tisha and Geoff have some big shoes to fill since Marc and Rovilson lasted until the final episode and ended up third last season. Is there any pressure on their part?
"Yeah, that was a big pressure kasi we know that there's so many fans in the Philippines ng Amazing Race. So parang, you don't wanna be out first. You wanna do well so the Filipinos has something to watch for a long time. Plus the fact that Marc and Rovilson did so well, it made us want to at least sana do as well as them. But you know, there are different dynamics. They're two guys, that's an advantage also sometimes. So, we'll see if we match up to them."
Did they get any tips from Marc and Rovilson?
"You know, they can give maybe little tips, like make sure you read things carefully. But they can't really do anything because they don't know what you're gonna be doing. Everything's different, so kahit na ano'ng sabihin nila, it wouldn't help," says Tisha.
THE OTHER TEAMS. What can the Filipinos expect from TARA 3?
"What I find different this season... Last season everybody was, you know, very nice to each other. This one, everyone's cutthroat, there's a lot of characters. The teams who have seen the race already, they said it's hilarious. So I think we have a lot of funny characters also on this one. It's gonna be more exciting to watch.
"Nothing can prepare you for it. You can be the most athletic person and it wouldn't help. It's like a mix of a little bit of athleticism, a lot of strategy, and a lot of patience and luck."
Aside from Tisha, there are two other beauty queens this season—Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova and best friend Miss Thailand Universe 2006 first runner-up Pailin Rungratanasunthorn, who represented Thailand in Miss Earth 2006. Although Natalie is Russian-Canadian—she represented Canada in the Miss Universe—she will represent Thailand along with Pailin in TARA 3.
Tisha has this explanation about Natalie's case: "She's based in Thailand now. She's married to one of the top tennis players [Paradorn Srichapan] in Thailand. So she joined with another Thai beauty queen, so they're team is the beauty queens."
Did the make any friends with the other teams?
"We were more focused on the competition," answers Tisha. "We did make friends, like we still talk to them now and there's always plans to try to meet up with everybody again. Especially before nag-air yung race, parang they're the only ones you can talk to about it because you can't share your experience with anybody else. So it's just them. So, you know, sa mga Facebook, nag-uusap kami. We always keep in touch, it's something that will always keep us in touch with each other."
