When a professional model and her gym instructor boyfriend defeated more than 250 teams to become Hong Kong's only representatives in the first Amazing Race Asia, they wanted to tell the world.
Instead, Francesca von Etzdorf and Sandy Sydney had to remain tight-lipped about being chosen and refused to say anything about where they went and what they did in order to get a shot at winning US$100,000.
'We had to sign a confidentiality agreement. It definitely would not be fun for us if we broke it. I told my family I was working in Spain and couldn't give them a contact number. I said they should not be upset if I did not call,' said 27-year-old model Francesca, who was born in Singapore.
Still under a gag order over the details of their six-week obstacle race across Asia, the couple could not say if they won or lost. However, they admitted that a lack of research - they had watched only four episodes of the US version - and strategy had put them at a disadvantage going into the race.
During the six weeks abroad they often had trouble sleeping and skipped meals in order to save time and money as they competed against nine teams from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, India and the Philippines in the Asian version of the four-time Emmy-winning reality show.
'I can say we did well because we are still together,' said Sandy, who came to Hong Kong 2? years ago from New Zealand.
'You forget the cameras are there ... filming you even when you're asleep. But I know that if I did something out of character it was because I felt pressure, was stressed out or hungry. It wasn't the real me.'
