The Hooping it Up in Manila episode of the Amazing Race Season 25,  had a surprise ending, but I’ll get to that in a minute. First, the racers had to travel to a place called Rajah Sulayman Park. They all had to run and find a Jeepney to take them on their way.

Misti & Jim were worried because they felt as though this leg was that they had been actually subject to elimination, because they had the Save Pass, which would have enabled them to save themselves if they ever came in last. They didn’t even need the Save.

Meanwhile, since Brooke and Robbie came in last during the previous leg of the race. They had to complete a Speed Bump, loading a bunch of stuff from an empty padyak to a full one.  All of the other teams had to take a jeepney at Paliparan Station to get to Rajah Sulayman Park. Misti & Jim and Maya & Amy rode in a jeepney together.

Bethany & Adam asked someone how to get the park instead of asking how to get to the park instead of asking for directions to the station, and Brooke & Robbie were about to get into a jeepney when they found out that it wasn’t going to he park. For this challenge, it was important to take the jeepney in the correct side of the road. Teams who took the jeepney on the wrong side of the road, ended up going the long way to the park.

This brings us back to the Dentists, Jim & Misti and the Food Scientists, Amy & Maya. They were all on the same jeepney, pleased as could be, because they were the first and second teams to leave, and they thought they were making great time getting to the park.

Adam & Bethany had arrived at the park. Their clue told them that they had to play basketball against two people from the Philippines, playing defense. They would get their next clue after they scored 21 points.

Brooke & Robbie were packing the padyak; they were struggling to remember how they had to pack it so everything could stay on it. “Brooke is a loose cannon, and if I become a loose cannon also, two loose cannons aren’t going to win the race,” Robbie said.

The teams had to choose between the detours, This and That. The surfers, Adam & Bethany were shooting hoops for the This detour, and Adam said that he felt like Shaq, because he couldn’t make any free throws. Bethany mentioned that she didn’t want to slow Adam down, so she felt nervous, but she loved the teamwork in the detours. It looked like they were really able to work together well in this and the previous detours. While shooting hoops, Bethany thew the ball to Adam who shot it.

In the That detour, the teams had to ride a padyak two laps around the city in under 55 seconds. One member rode the bike, while the other member sat in the side car. Brooke & Robbie chose This, the basketball detour. When Misti & Jim and Amy & Maya finally realized they were going the wrong way, they eventually got out of the jeepney they were in and took another jeepney in the right direction. They were now, the last two teams. Both teams chose That. So, the Scientists and the Dentists were both racing each other or trying to beat the clock at the same time. The first time that completed this challenge would have a head start over the other team, putting that team in third place.

Adam & Bethany finally got all 21 points and their clue told them to go to Santo Cristo Street and San Nicolas Street in Divisoria Market and find an Amazing Race jeepney. Brooke and Robbie got their clue right after Adam & Bethany; the Dentists were third.

Adam & Bethany lost their clue. They had been searching for it, but they still couldn’t find it when they arrived at the market. They remembered some of the information on the clue, but they couldn’t remember the cross street they needed to get to.  It was evident that they were panicking inside. They needed that clue. They began to search, but they didn’t not argue with each other or anything.

So Adam & Bethany decided to head to the location, based on what they knew. Brooke & Robbie made it to the location first, but by the time they got there, Brooke was already overheated from the drive over in the hot taxi. Robbie made it to the market and found the marked jeepney, but the heat was impacting him, too. He said that he felt as though he was in a sauna. He didn’t look at his clue carefully.  He grabbed the brooms and coconut shells that the clue told him to deliver to vendors, but he didn’t know where to go. He ran around in the heat looking for the delivery points, until he looked over his clue again and read that he had to go to the jeep and read the directions posted there.

Adam & Bethany looked for their clue again and found it in Adam’s backpack. Misti & Jim and completed the Detour and made it to the market jeepney first, however. Robbie saw where he needed to go, got to the delivery point for the first delivery of a coconut and traditional broom, but then realized that he didn’t have all of the items that he needed. It donned on him that at some of the locations he had to deliver more than one broom and coconut. All of the teams ran around trying to find the delivery points, while struggling to carry the items in the hot sun.

Amy & Maya were in last place, because they couldn’t find a taxi fast enough to get to the market. Amy was looking for their first delivery point when Robbie had completed his last delivery. Brooke & Robbie retrieved their clue first and took a taxi the Pit Stop. Adam turned in all three of his receipts after making all of the deliveries, so Adam & Bethany were in second place. Jim & Misti were in third.

By the time the scientists had finished making their last delivery, Amy’s face was flushed and she was clearly affected by the heat. Maya didn’t want her teammate to be sick in a hospital in the Philippines. She advised her to breath deeply and raise her hands up over her head.

Brooke and Robbie hurried to the Pit Stop. Brooke told people who were in the way that she was having a baby, so they’d clear a path for the two to make it to the Pit Stop. When they got there in first place, Phil told them that they’d followed in the footsteps of the Cowboys who also had a Roadblock and finished their leg in first place.

Here was the order for the finish in the Hooping it Up in Manila episode of the Amazing Race.

  1. Brooke & Robbie
  2. Adam & Bethany
  3. Jim & Misti
  4. Amy & Maya

Phil told Amy & Maya that they were not eliminated. For the first time in Amazing Race history, there would be four teams going to the finals. Maya couldn’t believe it at first. Then, she was too happy to contain her joy.