Viewers tuning into the finale of “The Amazing Race” last month may have recognized a familiar face among the finalists. In a standout performance for Bruno, “Team Asian Swag” — consisting of Han Nguyen ’21 and her brother Holden Nguyen — placed second in the 37th season of the reality competition.
In the show, which began airing its most recent season in March, teams of two compete in challenges around the world before returning to the “Pit Stop” at the end of each leg. The last team to arrive at the mandatory checkpoint is eliminated from the show.
The competition began with a rocky start for Team Asian Swag. Han Nguyen told The Herald that early on in the contest, the two siblings had not yet figured out how to communicate and work together. In the first two legs of the competition — which took place in the United States, Hong Kong and Japan — the duo quickly fell behind their competitors and almost got eliminated.
When the siblings started the third leg in Kyoto, Japan, they were “an hour and a half behind (the other teams), and (they) had to run a near-perfect leg in order to survive,” Han Nguyen said.
But even though the odds were stacked against the pair, Team Asian Swag knew it was capable of catching up, Han Nguyen added. At the end of the Kyoto leg, the sibling duo placed ninth out of 11 teams — just narrowly avoiding elimination.
The next two legs took the team around Indonesia before they were instructed to fly to Dubai for the sixth leg.
The Dubai leg, in which the siblings placed second, was one of Han Nguyen’s favorite parts of the competition. “That leg represented how powerful Holden and I are when we actually get our shit together,” she said.
For Han Nguyen, little moments like these — when the siblings avoided elimination despite their doubts and troubles — were the most impactful moments of the competition.
Going into the race, the duo’s main goal was to reach the top three. When Team Asian Swag achieved that goal during the penultimate leg in Porto, Portugal, the siblings were in disbelief, Han Nguyen recalled. “We cried at the mat with Phil (Keoghan, the show’s host), and production cried with us,” she added. “It was a top-five moment in my life.”
Although the team didn’t secure the $1 million grand prize, their second-place finish feels just as impressive because the siblings had “learned how to work together in the span of three weeks,” Han Nguyen said.
“All of those other teams had years of working together, like best friends (and) couples,” she added. The competition served as a “symbol of how powerful we are when we do work together … and a launching pad in terms of where our relationship can grow.”
In addition to strengthening the siblings’ relationship, the competition also marked a spiritual journey for Han Nguyen.
Han Nguyen recalled holding zero confidence in her decision-making and leadership abilities at the beginning of the season. But as the siblings progressed throughout the legs, she started to understand her intelligence and realized she was capable of more than she originally thought. “If we can figure out the race in three weeks, we can figure out anything,” Han Nguyen said of herself and her brother.
For Han Nguyen, this confidence boost came at a time of uncertainty in her life — specifically regarding her career. She explained how throughout much of her life, she felt pressured to follow a linear path — to “go to an Ivy League school, get that corporate job (and) climb the corporate ladder.”
But her time on “The Amazing Race” has taught her that “the journey is just as beautiful on the squiggly path as it is on the linear path,” Han Nguyen explained. “And I think it’s a path that’s equally as worthy of taking.”
“You don’t have to be perfect,” Han Nguyen told The Herald. “Good enough is good enough.”
Manav is a junior from Indiana, concentrating in International and Public Affairs. In his free time, he likes attempting the daily Connections puzzle or falling down Wikipedia rabbit holes.
