RUNNING MAN CLASSICS Episodes 101-110 Review
The classic episodes’ cast was Jaesuk, Seokjin, Jongkook, Haha, Jihyo, Gary, Kwangsoo--7 members.
Episode 101
Guests: BumSoo (singer), Yoon Jongshin (singer), Yoon Dohyun (singer), Kim Soohyun-mostly as a preview (actor)
Location: Various around Seoul
Games: Catch the thief
Highlights or notes:
Jihyo is tasked with ‘stealing’ some gold. If she can get to the final location without the other members catching her, she gets to keep the gold alone. Otherwise the team that catches her gets to keep the gold.
Jihyo has to make various stops to ‘find secret agents’ who give her the next location and clues about the final location..
The members track Jihyo using GPS to the first location and then have to ‘solve crime scenes’ to find her next locations. Think CSI, but less scientific….at the first scene, they have to limbo under crime tape to get a clue, for example.
There is a twist about the gold. In the end, the gold Jihyo is fake and they must find the real gold and the people that originally exchanged the real gold with fake gold.
My rating: 8
Penalty: none - continued to next episode
Episode 102
Guests: Kim Soohyun (actor), Lee Dukhwa-mission announcer (actor)
Location: Various between Sangam and Wondang Market in Seoul
Games: Ice Block Mission, Gain Weight Mission, Final Gold Test Name Tag Ripping Game
Highlights or notes:
This episode begins with some hilarious acting from the members as they ‘completed a heist’. Afterwards, they learn that only one of the 7 golden turtles they ‘stole’ is real gold. The person to place that turtle on the podium at the end of the day wins the gold. If an incorrect turtle is placed on the podium, no one will win. Missions are carried out along the way for the members to test their turtles. The members do not know that Soohyun is following them and attempting to snipe their name tags with a water gun along the way.
Mission cards were encased in huge blocks of ice. After obtaining one, the first member to complete the mission to find “Gold Wan” could check the authenticity of their gold turtle.
The members had to eat enough to show a weight gain at the market. The first member to meet the threshold would get to test their gold turtle.
I hope they do another ‘delayed trigger out’ in newer episodes. Soohyun sniping a name tag would make that person automatically out after 1 hour in the final location.
My rating: 8 - This was funnier than I remembered and had some mechanics that I liked a lot.
Penalty: None- gold prize for the winner.
Episode 103
Guests: Yu Junsang (actor), Noh Sayeon (singer), Shin Saekyeong (actress).
Location: Various
Games: Princess Pebble Race, Carry the Princess Across the Pool, Catch the Beast
Highlights or notes:
This episode was the “Princess Race” with Junsang being a beast trying to get the princess. He had to secretly eliminate everyone during the day. Each female (Jihyo and the guests) was matched with a pair from the members. She was the princess and the men were her servants.
Personal Note: I really enjoy Saekyung as an actress. I recommend the drama “The Girl Who Sees Smells” as a starting point.
Another Side Note: This episode uses music from Howl’s Moving Castle, which always makes me happy.
The last place team at each game has to (randomly) turn in the name tag of one member from their team.
During the Pebble Race, the men had to carry the princesses. If her feet touched the ground, it was an automatic failure and the team would need to begin again. The game worked a bit like a board game, where the mission in one space would tell them how many spaces they could move forward.
The men had 30 seconds to carry the princesses across a floating foam bridge at a pool (one man carrying her each way). This game created a running joke for the show about “Tuna Noona”.
The final game was where Junsang finally played a part. He had to find the name tags and eliminate all the other people before anyone eliminated him.
My rating: - This is one of my favorite older episodes. I actually talk about one of the games from time to time…and no one else remembers it, so it could just be me…
Penalty: None - Gold rings for the members of the winning team.
Episode 104
Guests: Eunhyuk (singer - Super Junior), Nickhun (singer - 2PM), Jung Yonghwa (singer - CNBlue), Lee Joon (singer - MBLAQ), Yoon Dujun (singer - Beast, now Highlight), Im Siwan (singer - ZE:A), Eunjung (singer - T-ARA)
Location: Various
Games: Relay Race, Trampoline Volleyball, Pool Hurdles, Alternating Offense/Defense Name Tag Ripping.
Highlights or notes:
This episode was themed around the Olympics because the Olympics were upcoming at the time. The Running Man members played against the idol singer teams.
The games are exactly what they sound like. For the hurdles in the pool, only one member of a team had to make it over the hurdle…which meant the other members were lifting or throwing that member.
In the alternating name tag ripping, each team would get 15 minutes on offense before trading to defense for 15 minutes. Any member that was ousted during the defense time remained out for the rest of the game. The game was played until one team was completely out.
This is, to this day, one of my very favorite concepts that they’ve done. I love the episodes where they bring on idols from a bunch of groups and let them show off.
My rating: 10
Penalty: None - medals for the winning team members
Episode 105
Guests: Han Jimin (actress)
Location: Jeju Island
Games: Human Stepping Stone Bridge, Maze Race, Random Lunch Benefactor, Name Tag Ripping
Highlights or notes:
I think of this as the Budget Jeju Vacation Race. Each person had a budget of $220 for the day to eat, play, etc. At the end of the day, the final winner of the episode would get to take home ANY money not spent, including money saved by other people.
The Human Stepping Stone Bridge was a game for the team to try to create a path, using their backs mostly, for the woman on the team to walk to a floating platform in the ocean without getting in the water.
The maze race pitted the two teams against each other in a large scale maze…fastest full team out would win.
At lunch, the person or people to pay were randomly selected.
The Name Tag ripping game was played at the aquarium.
My rating: 8 - I hadn’t remembered the concept for this episode, but I remembered quite a few parts of it.
Penalty: None - cash prize to the winner
Episode 106
Guests: Han Jimin (actress), Kim Jedong (comedian)
Location: Jeju Island
Games: Catch the (new) Guest, Autograph Mission, Find Jimin’s True Love
Highlights or notes:
After the “catch the guest” game, EVERYONE went to a different remote location to give out their autographs. They could not leave until they gave out 30 autographs. This game was used pretty frequently for a while in the older episodes. It never failed to be funny.
The last half of the episode is a mystery/name tag ripping game. Clues were hidden throughout a building about who Jimin’s true love is. They had to gather the clues to discover the correct person. If Jimin brought the correct person to the ending podium, both would win. If she brought the wrong person, the false ‘love’ would win alone.
My rating: 5 - This would have been rated lower if I wasn’t fooled (again) about who the ‘true love’ was. This one was pretty slow overall, though.
Penalty: None - gold ring prize for the winner(s)
Episode 107
Guests: Sang Joong (actor), Jang Shinyoung (actress), Gaeko
Location: Various
Games: Find the Car With the Black Box, Find the Citizens who have keys using a secret code, Name Tag Ripping aka Find the Gold Badge
Highlights or notes:
Gaeko replaced Gary for this episode only.
This episode began with a skit to set up the theme of the episode…I laughed my head off. This episode was based on a Korean movie called “The Chaser”. The guests are the chasers and they must get the member of Running Man that mistakenly ‘recieved’ a package that was meant for the guests.
This episode surprised me with a Spy. I did not suspect it…at all.
My rating: 6
Penalty: None - gold prize for the winner
Episode 108
Guests: Gong Hyojin (actress), Lee Joon (singer - MBLAQ)
Location: Various (pool, coffee shop, infomercial company building)
Games: Water Balloon Quiz, Heart Pounding Coffee Shop Scene, Name Tag Ripping
Highlights or notes:
This episode was called “Don’t Walk, But Date” and everything was themed (loosely) around shooting a Rom-Com.
The first game (scene) was a water scene where the teams needed to find balloons in the water and answer the quiz question within.
The second game was a heart monitor game. The team that raised Hyojin’s heartrate the most wins.
The Name Tag Ripping was the ‘main leads’ vs the ‘supporting cast’ which meant the game was 2 v 6. To make the game fairer, the male lead had 7 name tags and those could not be taken until a team had found a script and acted it out to earn a ripping chance. The female lead could not be ousted until the male lead was out.
My rating: 8
Penalty: None - gold prize for the winner
Episode 109 (continued to 110)
Guests: Park Taehwan (Olympic swimmer), Son Yeonjae (Olympic Rhythmic Gymnast)
Location: Various - theme park, restaurant, ice skating rink
Games: Spring Games (Trampoline Karoke or Race in a Bubble), Summer Game (Alkagi), Winter Game (Human Curling), Autumn Game (Name Tag Ripping)
Highlights or notes:
This episode was themed around the idea of Olympic athletes training year round, so the games were each themed around a season.
For human curling, one member sat in a rolling trash can. The others pushed the can with the goal of landing closest to the ‘finish’ line without going over it.
My rating: 8
Penalty: None - continues to next episode
Episode 110 (continued from 109)
Guests: Park Taehwan (Olympic Swimmer), Son Yeonjae (Olympic Rhythmic Gymnast)
Location: School of Music and Art
Games: End of Name Tag Ripping, Morning Mission (Steal the Specialty), Name Tag Ripping in Numerical Order
Highlights or notes:
Because of a typhoon, the morning missions that were planned (and outdoor games) weren’t possible. Instead, each person submitted their ‘specialty’ and there was a competition to take the title of each. Each member began with some pebbles and could bet them to attempt to steal a specialty. The winner doubled the submitted bet.
The members randomly chose numbers. The highest number was the target for name tag ripping and was the only person allowed to be targeted by other numbers. The target could rip any name tag. When that happened, the target stole the number of the person ousted.
There was a random draw to revive two players in the name tag ripping when there were three remaining people.
My rating: 9
Penalty: None - HUGE galbi (meat) gift set for the winner
