Filipino beauty queens are on a roll proving they are a force to reckon with even in other fields of competition. The lovely tandem of Margaret Wilson-Consunji and Parul Shah outraced 11 teams from countries across Asia and were declared champions nailing the second consecutive victory for team Philippines in The Amazing Race Asia 5.
As host Allan Wu announced the pair as winners of The Amazing Race Asia 5, best friends Consunji and Shah were overjoyed and hugged each other with tears in their eyes. They were exasperated even as they realized their extraordinary feat of overcoming tough tasks and challenges in a high-octane dash around the world in the finale of the two-month reality series.
“We did it! It was amazing. We’re just so happy we can help Parul’s family now, with our winnings,” Consunji said in reference to Parul’s father who suffered several strokes, the last one was during the race. The team won $100,000 cash prize, which they agreed to split. Shah and Cosunji followed the team of Richard Herrera and Richard Hardin that won the The Amazing Race Asia edition in 2010.
Consunji was the country’s representative to the Miss World 2007 in Sanya, China, while Shah was the third runner up in the Miss Grand International 2015 in Thailand Consuji, now 27, is a VJ on MTV and has a four-year-old son, Conner, by husband Victor, a real estate scion whom she married in 2010. She decided to leave the world of showbiz to become a full time mother and wife.
Shah, a 27-year-old model and graduate of Nursing, decided to join The Amazing Race Asia after Consunji, her mentor when she competed in pageants, asked her. Shah also thought about winning the prize to pay for her father’s medical expenses.
Both beauty queens admitted that the competition tested their patience and emotional strength, but more importantly, they got to change the perception of beauty queens during the course of the race.
Yvonne Lee and Chloe Chen, who represented Malaysia at Miss World 2012 and 2011, respectively, finished as runners-up, while the Filipino tandem of Eric Tai and wife Rona Samson finished the race in third place.