Manny Pacquiao, who was chosen to be the captain of Team Philippines, surprised fans and fellow competitors after departing from Netflix’s ‘Physical: Asia’ on its fifth episode.
The eight-division world champion announced his sudden exit from the high-stakes show on episode five which aired on Tuesday, Nov. 4, due to ‘obligations’ that he has yet to fulfill in the Philippines. He didn’t expound the obligations he had at the time.
‘Gusto kong humingi ng paumanhin. Kailangan kong bumalik sa bansa ko, kasi may mga obligation ko for the country (I want to ask for your apology. I need to return to my country because I have obligations),’ Pacquiao said while apologizing to his teammates for his decision.
Reports said ‘Physical: Asia’ was filmed sometime in February, which coincided with the campaign period of the senatorial elections. Pacquiao was a senatorial candidate in the 2025 midterm elections but missed the Senate Magic 12, placing 18th.
Netflix has yet to comment on the boxing legend’s departure from ‘Physical: Asia’ as of this writing.
Manny Pacquiao in a poster for ‘Physical: Asia.’ Image: Courtesy of Netflix
Team Philippines is now composed of newly minted team captain and CrossFit athlete Justin Hernandez, CrossFit athlete Lara Liwanag, national team Sambo athlete Mark Mugen, strongman Ray Jefferson Querubin, national team rugby player Justin Coveney, and national team hurdler Robyn Lauren Brown.
Since Pacquiao was announced to be part of ‘Physical: Asia’ as Team Philippines’ team captain, past episodes showed other teams paying close attention to the country’s representatives, noting the boxing legend’s status as a boxing champion.
According to the show’s creator Jang Ho-gi, the ‘Physical: Asia’ team was invited to Pacquiao’s house for further discussion after they had reached out to the latter ‘several times.’
‘We reached out to Pacquiao several times. He invited us to his home in the Philippines, where we got to watch him train and even shared a home-cooked meal together. I explained the concept of the Physical series to him and he immediately agreed to join the show that same day,’ Jang explained during a virtual press conference.
‘Physical: Asia’ is a spinoff of the South Korean sports show ‘Physical 100’ where teams from different countries compete in a series of physically taxing challenges for a chance to win one billion Korean won (approximately P40.6 million).