Recap: The Amazing Race 32, Episode 11 – “The Race sucked.”


Recap: The Amazing Race 32, Episode 11 – Run on Your Tippy Toes

The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap

The Penultimate Leg begins as teams learn they will be flying to Manila, Philippines, the texting capital of the world. At the airport, the TrUe aLLiAnce is happy that the three of them are in the Penultimate Leg and hope DeAngelo & Gary will get eliminated next.

Upon arrival in Manila, teams will find a marked jeepney that will take them to Phil at Lapu Lapu Circle.

The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap

Phil welcomes the teams to Manila, the most densely populated city center in the world. For the first time ever, teams will take part in a City Sprint. Teams will be Racing through Manila performing tasks as a team. No Road Blocks and no Detours. And they’ll have to Race as fast as they can to return here to Lapu Lapu Circle, which will be the Pit Stop for this Leg.

Phil advises teams about whether it’s a good idea to help another team on this Penultimate Leg. Their first clue is inside a marked jeepney. As soon as Phil fires the gun, teams run to them.

The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap

Phil mentions that Waze once described Manila’s streets as having the worst traffic on Earth. Teams must keep their eyes peeled for traffic enforcer Ramiro Hinojas. When teams realize he has their clue, based on a riddle, they must hold their hand out and he’ll give them the clue envelope.

Riley & Maddison and DeAngelo & Gary are able to reach out for their clue. But Will & James and Hung & Chee miss it and have to go around again.

Teams must now make their way to the Mall of Asia for their next clue.

The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap

Marikina is the shoe capital of the Philippines. And for this task, teams will take part in Marikina’s annual race wearing high-heels against locals. When teams complete the baywalk course, they’ll be given the next clue.

Teams must now make their way to the Binondo Arch of Goodwill and search the area for a dancing lion that will have their next clue. While the other teams are dropped off at the right place, Hung & Chee are taken to a different arch.

The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap

After teams find the correct lion, they must make their way on foot to the Manila Central Post Office.

Here, teams must choose a horse-drawn calesa and search Liawasang Bonifacio for necessary ingredients they will have to mix together to prepare a meal for their new horse friend.

The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap

Will & James move into first and must now make their way to Mehan Gardens. Riley & Maddison and DeAngelo & Gary are close behind. But Hung & Chee have really fallen behind.

At Mehan Gardens, teams will face the most difficult and final task of the Leg. Teams will need to identify the songs they have heard during the Race as played by a local band. Teams will need to find four instrument cases with the flags of the countries they heard those songs: Trinidad & Tobago, Colombia, Paraguay and France. They will then have to put the cases in the order they encountered the songs on the Race even though the band is playing the songs out of order.

The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap

DeAngelo & Gary ask Will & James if they want to work together, but the boyfriends say No. The three teams all have several attempts with incorrect countries.

Hung & Chee finally arrive and it’s all four teams fighting to get themselves into the Final Leg. The NFL bros ask Hung & Chee if they can work together, but they also, nicely, turn them down.

The four teams are baffled by the task. When DeAngelo & Gary go for a check, the TRuE ALLiAnCe decides to help each other and figure it out together so they can be the Final Three. They decide to do probability and have each of them do trial and error. Once one team gets it correct, they will tell each other and leave the NFL bros behind.

DeAngelo & Gary are shocked and feel betrayed to see the other teams working together.

The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap

The TrUE ALLiAnCE are actually including incorrect countries and have no idea what is going on. And it is only when Will & James and Hung & Chee both re-read their clue and realize they need to put the flags in Leg order. Hung tells Riley & Maddison and when they go for a check, they get the thumbs up.

Riley & Maddison confirm the correct answer to their alliance members. DeAngelo & Gary are sure they are finished. They decide to just quit and take the two-hour penalty.

The TrUE ALLiAnCE runs off to Lapu Lapu Circle. Riley & Maddison finish as Team #1 followed by Will & James and Hung & Chee. They have a group hug and celebrate making the Final Leg together in New Orleans.

The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap The Amazing Race 32 Episode 11 Recap

Hours later, DeAngelo & Gary reach the Mat to officially be eliminated from the Race. DeAngelo says he regrets coming on the Race and will never do it again. Gary, however, says he enjoyed it and loved going to countries he probably never would’ve visited before.

Episode Thoughts

So first of all, this “City Sprint” isn’t necessarily a new concept on TAR. Lol There have been Legs in the past with no Detour or Road Block before. I do think though that in theory, there’s a good concept here. And Metro Manila is definitely a great location to test it out in.

As a Leg, I enjoyed it. Maybe it’s my Filipino bias talking. But the locations were solid. And it would’ve been great to have a Detour or Road Block in any one of those locations. But I do think there’s potential in having a Leg with tasks and Route Markers all within reasonable walking distance from each other in an urban setting. That’s why Manila is the perfect location for such a Leg. Having so many different cultures from city to city (even district to district), the insane traffic, the sheer size of the possible Race course, Manila is ripe for a good Leg.

I remember when they were filming now more than two years ago! I was excited to see them Racing through the Philippines again. (Not excited that it is AGAIN with only FOUR teams. Really what does TARUS have against Racing more than four teams in the Philippines?!) But reading about the possible tasks, it felt a little like a last-minute replacement Leg.

It still might have been, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. And as crazy as Manila can be, I hope that if TARUS lives to see another season, I’d love to see them Racing through a different part of the Philippines. They’ve Raced through Palawan already, so maybe somewhere up north. There’s a lot of culture up there that hasn’t been seen on TARUS yet.

Anyway, all the tasks on the Leg were pretty simple, straightforward Active Route Info tasks. Other than the memory task, they certainly weren’t mindblowing. However, I did enjoy Phil’s history and culture lesson this episode. He literally had a fact and figure for every single Route Marker on this Leg. That was very cool to watch.

First up, I had to chuckle at Phil talking about the Philippines being the texting capital of the world. I can confirm that is true. Lol But it has really become a great mode of communication in the country, especially with such poor internet and expensive voice calling.

Always fun to see dancing traffic enforcer Ramiro Hinojas on TAR. Though it’s definitely kinda sketchy how the jeepney driver could essentially drive a team further away from the enforcer if they choose. Lol

The stiletto race was fine. And I wonder if SM paid them some good money to stage that task at the Mall of Asia. But why not have teams actually go to Marikina? That would’ve been a great location for a shoe Detour. Also, funny that TAR resisted making an Imelda Marcos reference when talking about shoes lol

Binondo would be a great place to have Chinese-related tasks without actually going to China. And yes, there’s definitely two arches so it’s a tricky clue I’m sure TAR definitely knew could trip up a team or two. Binondo would be a great place for a food task too.

The Manila Post Office and the Liwasang Bonifacio is also a great location. Would’ve been nice to have teams actually do more with the horse and calesa actually. Maybe have locals take a ride or something with them.

Finally, the Final Task. The Final Task is a good Penultimate Leg memory task. I’ve always thought TAR should have a pseudo-memory task on the Penultimate Leg. It was great that TAR30 had one in Hong Kong. And this one was a good, creative and NEW task to have on TAR. It is part-memory, part-reading your clue too. It seems the teams did not take note of having to put them in Leg order. So that’s the kind of detail that can make or break a team’s Race.

Now while I did like and enjoy the Leg itself. I’m certainly not a fan of the teams Racing on it. And especially it all coming down to the ALLiAnCE in the end. I appreciated Phil advising against it in the beginning of the Leg. But we all know what was going to happen anyway.

I’ve actually been dreading these final Legs knowing that the Mine Five would end up being the final five. But also when the TrUE ALLiANcE was formed and then remembering how they ended up the final three in Manila. I remember how DeAngelo & Gary were so far behind the other teams arriving at the Pit Stop. So it was obvious how this episode was going to play out.

Regardless, I always love seeing the Philippines on TAR. The City Sprint is an interesting concept that can definitely be tweaked for future use. But I guess knowing who was going to make it to final three and not caring about any of the four teams, I was able to just focus on the tasks, locations and be excited about seeing the motherland on TAR again.

My Subjective Team Rankings

The Amazing Race 32 Manila Traffic Enforcer GAP The Amazing Race 32 Hung Chee The Amazing Race 32 Will James The Amazing Race 32 Riley Maddison The Amazing Race 32 Gary Deangelo

So, my favorite person this episode was definitely Tito Ramiro. He’s definitely a little bit of a local celebrity of course. And it was fun to see him again on TAR after TAR25’s Manila Leg. But this time, actually handing out clues instead of just making a cameo appearance during the Detour.

Boy, what to say about the Final Four though. Of course it would be Hung that relays the critical information to the other teams. I guess I’m rooting for Hung & Chee since they’re Asian-American parents. But like I mentioned last week, I just wish that they could Race on their own. Because they were dominant when they did in the beginning.

I am so conflicted with Will & James. I was rooting for them before the season because they mentioned that they liked TAR8. Then this episode they appreciate the Philippines and said “Mabuhay” and “Salamat” to people. But then at the same time, they’re the biggest alliance cheerleaders. So I want to like them so much. But I just can’t. lol

Riley & Maddison taking these last few Legs definitely put them lower on my list than the other two. That’s never exciting. But similar to Germany, they were behind until they get critical info from other teams and they end up pulling ahead. I wonder if that’s foreshadowing for the finale?

I was rooting somewhat for DeAngelo & Gary only to try and stick it to the TrUE ALLiaNcE. But YIKES at the end there from DeAngelo. First of all, I just cringed at them being the first to ask to work together. Especially knowing the other teams wanted nothing to do with them. But wasn’t it last week when DeAngelo & Gary criticized Eswar & Aparna for being poor sports? Umm… well then. Gary tried to clean up DeAngelo’s comments. But DeAngelo’s bitterness at the Mat was really unprecedented. Sure it might have been in the heat of the moment. But the ~I could pay for a trip myself~ was really shockingly out of nowhere and a very bad look. The quitting itself would’ve put them at the bottom of my list this week. (Talk about poor sportsmanship.) But that Mat Chat scene? Wow. Very bad.

Episode Quotes

Hung: “My best friend is half Filipino.”

DeAngelo: “The Race sucked.”

10 thoughts on “Recap: The Amazing Race 32, Episode 11 – “The Race sucked.”

  1. I agree that the city sprint; (which i also thought was a rebrand of a old concept for a leg of the race) while it needed a few adjustments execution-wise, did fit well with the whole setting of Manila, and showed the daily hustle and chaos of the city life there, and showed a slight glimpse of the culture surrounding it.

    However, I also do wish that they would’ve visited other provinces if they’re going to visit the Philippines again. This is the 3rd PH visit in a row where most of the tasks were done around Manila. It would be nice to showcase the various cultures on the provinces, and paint a different picture on PH culture like how they did on other TAR franchises.

    1. I agree. The TAR25 Manila Leg and this one were very good. But I wish and hope TARUS can go outside of Manila in the future. (If TARUS survives long enough!) And with more teams. Preferably at the beginning of the Race. TARUS has never had more than 4 teams racing in the Philippines! I never understood why TARUS never did, but other TARs have had no problems.

  2. You can tell from Phil’s spiel to the teams about helping each other that even the production team is not a fan of the whole alliance shenanigans… shame that it didn’t seem to matter this leg anyway.

    1. I know right? Hopefully in the future, if TAR survives, they try to design tasks and Legs that discourage the type of answer sharing and hand holding that the Mine Five have done this season. It’s really made the season so unexciting and predictable.

  3. There were so many teams I liked at the beginning of the race, and until the last three episodes I would have been happy with the final three. Not anymore. I’ll be skipping the final. TAR should consider a rule banning sharing of information at a certain point in the race.

  4. Will and James ruined the season. They were mean and vindictive and only won because the other alliance teams helped them every week. May not watch again if teams can just hand out answers without earning them. Will and James were weak and only won due to manipulation. Hate that they won

      1. I doubt it was fixed. It’s just the Race wasn’t particularly designed very well. And then the teams managed to find shortcuts and loopholes to exploit in order to get further in the Race. It’s disappointing, to say the least. But it seems the producers also did not like what happened this season. So they’ve promised to take a look at what they can do moving forward to prevent the type of gameplay we had in Season 32. Let’s hope!

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