The Amazing Race Asia is a reality game show based on the American series The Amazing Race. On 17 October 2005, CBS gave other countries the chance to franchise The Amazing Race. The Asian cable TV network AXN Asia was among the first to acquire the rights to produce a version for its territories. The show is produced by Australian television production company ActiveTV, for AXN, in association with Buena Vista International Television-Asia Pacific. The host for the show is Singapore based Chinese-American actor Allan Wu. The ultimate prize is US$100,000, whilst the American show gives away US$1,000,000. The general manager of SPE Networks-Asia which runs AXN, Ricky Ow explained the smaller prize, saying, “It is not really about the money but the adventure and opportunity to be in one of the world’s greatest reality shows”.