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Previously on The Amazing Race, DeAngelo & Gary U-Turned Eswar & Aparna, which turned out to be the only reason the football players are still in the race. The brother-sister team was angry about it, but DeAngelo & Gary were aware of their own potential limitations.

Now with only two legs remaining, three teams will now join forces to try to send DeAngelo & Gary home. If Hung & Chee and James & Will were strategic, they’d be going for Riley & Maddison. The brothers have won half the legs and finished in second in two more. The football players have won… one.

But no, the obsession with DeAngelo & Gary will continue.

Tonight’s leg will eliminate one last team before we head to the finals. Next, teams will be flying to Manila in the Philippines, where they’ll try to find Phil in Lapu Lapu Circle.

“We’re seeing him at the Pit Start,” say the beard brothers. Something strange is afoot.

The “Mine Three” are pretty standoffish when it comes to communication with DeAngelo & Gary. The football players have to know there’s sneakiness afoot. But since these three are determined to get rid of them, it’s going to be tough going for the outcasts.

Phil tells the teams that today’s leg will involve a “City Sprint.” Basically, it’s all about speed, and every task will be performed as a team. He also cautions the teams on helping other allies, as it could mean their doom.

Apparently, Waze once called the traffic in Manila the worst in the world. Romero Winojas is a traffic dude/policeman who does some funky moves to both direct traffic and break the tension for grumpy drivers.

The volleyball brothers and DeAngelo easily obtain their clue from Mr. Winojas, but Hung & Chee’s jitney takes a sharp curver, causing them to miss it. The same thing happens to Will & James. The boyfriends scream at their driver. Though to be fair, they yell at each other, too.

Eventually, all four teams get their clue, and the next stop is the Mall of Asia. When they arrive, they’re tasked with doing a race in high heels. Apparently, the location is known as the Shoe Capital of the world, and is known for a race on high heels. The teams must run a 500-meter version of this race. The brothers and football players gripe through the whole thing. Big babies!

“I don’t know how women wear heels, let alone run in them,” says one of Riley or Maddison. (We still don’t know who is who.) They talk about running on their tippy toes, which gives us the title of the race.

Next up is Binondo, the oldest Chinatown in the world. Businesses invite dancing lions (that look more like dragons) into their doors for good luck. Teams have to find the dragon with their next clue.

Amusingly, during the high heels run, Chee notes that he has never run in heels before. Hung asks, “You haven’t?”

Will, on the other hand, says he owns a pair of six-inch high heels, so the race will be no problem.

During the dragon task, DeAngelo & Gary get a bit confused initially as there are a number of lions they can steal clues from. They do find theirs first. The lucky lions are humorously evasive.

Now, the volleyballers and the husband/wife are a little lost. The guys catch up quickly, but Hung & Chee find themselves confused, with no lions in sight. They ask some friendly police officers, who hopefully send them in the right direction.

Next stop is the Manila Post Office, where the clue asks teams to find kalesas, horse-drawn characters that were introduced by Spanish colonizers during the 18th century. They have to mix up some feed and give it to the ponies.

“Think like a horse” and “What do you want if you’re a horse?” are the comments that come from Will & James. DeAngelo & Gary walk right past the ingredients they need for their feed, though. The football players do struggle with details sometimes.

The first team to feed their horse is Will & James, while Riley & Maddison also lap the “outsiders.”

Next up is a foot race to Mehan Garden, which has the most difficult challenge. Teams have to identify four pieces of music that they’ve heard during the race and identify four instrument cases with the flags of the countries where they heard them. Then, they must put them in order to proceed.

Hung & Chee seem to be FAR behind at this point, but they do find their lion clue at last.

As we expected, the challenge is EXTREMELY difficult. Will & James get it wrong on their first effort, as due Riley & Maddison, who were confident in their accuracy.

Will & James get it wrong again, right before DeAngelo & Gary ask if they want to work together.
The brothers also get it wrong.

On their first attempt, DeAngelo & Gary are actually pretty darned close. DeAngelo tries next to work with Hung & Chee, but they give the guys the Heisman. Their second attempt is terrible.

Frankly, the challenge is boring to watch AND humiliating for the teams. Eventually, the “Mine Three” work together to solve the puzzle. They realize that all they have to do is help each other, and they’ll be in the final three.

They decide to start putting together permutations and help each other by process of elimination. Even though they’re attempting to be sneaky, DeAngelo & Gary see what’s happening.

Once again, DeAngelo & Gary are one off, but they don’t seem to understand which piece they’re missing.

FINALLY, the “Mine Three” read their clue. The flag cases go in the order they heard them during the race, not the order they are hearing them today.

DeAngelo & Gary are PISSED at the realization that the other three worked together. They take the two hour penalty because they know they can’t win.

Obviously, our final three are Riley & Maddison (first team to arrive), Will & James, and Hung & Chee. We look forward to the brothers inevitably winning the entire Race and the other two wondering what the heck happened.

Honestly, we’re looking forward to this season’s end. It’s one of the lesser iterations of the show in some time.

At least The Challenge has started again!

At the end, DeAngelo is flat out pissed. He says he hated the experience, and could have enjoyed himself a lot more if he’d just taken a trip around the world without racing. For his part, Gary says he had fun. DeAngelo does adjust his statement to say he loved having Gary as a partner, but he has NO plans to ever do an All-Stars version.

Can’t blame him, really.