The battle of the fittest is halfway through. Netflix’s Physical: Asia has released half of its episodes. Eight national teams from the Asia-Pacific region showcased their strengths across different challenges, all with the goal to be crowned the first champions of the competition who will walk away with one billion Korean won ($703,000).
Join us as we lay out the High Five reasons you have to start watching Physical: Asia before the finale!
Meet the Legendary Athletes
Physical: Asia invited 48 athletes from countries in the Asia-Pacific to participate in the show, forming 8 national teams: Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, and Türkiye. Each team is a six-member team composed of legendary athletes competing for their country’s pride.
Australia’s captain is none other than Robert Whittaker, a mixed-martial artist and the first Australian UFC champion. Members of the team include former competitive cheerleader and fitness coach Alexandra Milne, parkour athlete Dom Tomato, Guinness World Record holder and two-time winner of Australia’s Strongest Man competition Eddie Williams, former rugby player and member of the Fiji national team Eloni Vunakece, and former professional hockey player and world-ranked Crossfiter Katelin van Zyl.
The undefeated bodybuilding champion Igedz Executioner leads Team Indonesia, joined by Brazilian Jiujitsu athlete Fina Philippe, former world no. 1 doubles badminton player Marcus Gideon, former professional basketball player and beauty queen Maria Selenaan, and Olympian and swimming coach Glenn Victor, is a hybrid sports athlete Jeremiah Lakhwani. However, due to injuries, Lakhwani was replaced by bodybuilder Isai Kesek.
Team Japan’s captain is Yushin Okami, one of Asia’s renowned MMA fighters with 23 years of experience. Joining him is flyweight MMA fighter Kana Watanabe, legendary baseball player Yoshio Itoi, and Olympians Katsumi Nakamura (swimmer), Nonoka Ozaki (wrestler), and Soichi Hashimoto (national judo team captain).
Champion bökh (Mongolian wrestler) Orkhonbayar Bayarsaikhan leads team Mongolia, and is joined by judo athlete Adiyasuren Amarsaikhan, professional basketball player Dulguun Enkhbat, featherweight MMA fighter Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu, professional and national volleyball player Khandsuren Gantogtokh, and acrobat, circus artist and actor Lkhagva-Ochir Erdene-Ochir.
The Philippines has the one and only boxing legend Manny Pacquiao leading the team. Joining him are national rugby player Justin Coveney, CrossFit athlete Lara Lorraine Deang Liwanag, MMA fighter and sambo athlete Mark Mugen, Philippines’ Strongest Man Ray Jefferson Querubin, and Filipino-American hurdler Robyn Lauren Brown. Pacquiao had to return to the Philippines for other obligations, which is why former champion bodybuilder Justin Hernandez took over his role in the competition.
Thailand has legendary Muay Thai fighter Superbon as their team leader, with Greco-Roman style wrestler Anucha Yospanya, former professional volleyball player James Rusameekae Fagerlund, Thailand CrossFit pioneer Jar Uracha Teerawanitsan, Muay Thai coach and professional bodybuilder Ploy Nuannaree Olsen, and national rugby team player Sunny Kerdkao Wechokittikorn.
Recep Kara is the Türkiye team leader—a four-time champion of the Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling and the youngest Kirkpinar winner in Türkiye’s history. Joining him are national karate fighter Ali Sofuoglu, sailor and celebrity Anil Berk Baki, former national champion runner Nefise Karatay, rower and actor Ogeday Girisken, and former Turkish national team wrestler Yasemin Adar Yiğit.
Last but not least is South Korea’s team, led by Kim Dong-hyun, a retired MMA fighter who became the first South Korean to win in the UFC. Joining him are the winner of Physical 100 season 2 Amotti, CrossFit athlete Choi Seung-yeon, former member of the national wrestling team and previous competitor in Physical 100 Jang Eun-sil, traditional Korean ssireum wrestler Kim Min-jae, and skeleton racer Yun Sung-bin.
Each of the legendary athletes represents the peak of human physique that the eight countries have to offer and gives viewers a glimpse of the rich athletic talent cultivated in their respective homelands.
The Grueling Challenges
Now that we’ve met the powerful teams, let’s get into the quests that they had to face. So far, there have been a total of 4, one of which was a death match that eliminated two teams. The first challenge was “Territorial Conquest.” It tested the endurance and strength of the teams since they had to climb up a hill of sand and claim a spot at one of the four plots. Quest 2 was “Shipwreck Transportation Match,” as the name suggests, players were tasked to carry crates and sacks from the wreckage to their base. The catch: each crate (weighing 50 kilograms) had to be carried towards the zipline point before being transported to the base, and the sacks (weighing 20 kilograms) had to be moved in bundles through a cart.
Quest 2.5 was a Mud Pit Death Match. The teams were pitted against another team once; if they lost, they were out of the game. The most recent challenge is Quest 3: Team Representative match. Each group would be competing against the other in a series of three games, where each member would have to participate. It was a three-in-one challenge where the team with the lowest score would be eliminated. The three games were pillar vaulting, a stone totem endurance setup, a hanging endurance act, and a sack tossing game pushed to the extremes. Each of these quests tested the might, grit, and physical tenacity of each of the players, since, as the participants mentioned, “the challenges were like torture.”
Awesome Set Design
We have to give props to the set designers for giving the show so much personality. So far, each set looked aesthetically pleasing on camera while still being challenging for the participants. This unique design approach is especially seen in Quest 2 with the shipwreck, which is captured by Team Australia’s Eddie Williams saying, “I felt like I was in Pirates of the Caribbean.” Meanwhile, Quest 3 felt like a cultural melting pot, featuring cultural landmarks and symbols like Tori gates from Japan for the sack toss, ribbons following the colors of the Philippine flag, totems from Australia, and a giant tree that looked like something out of historical K-Drama.
Balanced Spotlight per Team
The way the episodes were edited gave each country time to shine by allowing viewers to see them at their best, despite some of them failing to win the quests. Members of the team that had a lot to say about specific challenges were given individual interviews, showing what they felt, how they strategized, and what they did right (or wrong). All in all, each episode gave you a glimpse of the thoughts of various team members, while attempting a balanced narrative, not necessarily favoring one team over another.
The Drama
Reality competition shows thrive, not just from their awe-inspiring feats, but also because of the drama from interactions between larger-than-life participants. Physical: Asia made sure to highlight particular moments that pulled on viewers heartstrings, or annoyed them to the core. Some teams like Türkiye and Australia were ragebating the other teams, while countries like Mongolia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines had group discussions about strategy or discussion on physique. The show also played on the rivalry between Japan and South Korea which was seen early on in the show. All of this serves not to distract from the competition, but to add another dimension to it, making for an intense and interesting watch.
All in all, these aspects make Physical: Asia a must-watch for fans of competitive reality shows—from its star-studded cast, to its top-notch production, unique challenges, inter-team drama, and more. Six episodes have been released so far, with episodes seven and eight releasing this Tuesday on Netflix.
SEA Wave gives Physical Asia a 3 out of 5 waves.