Running Man: Episode 541 Review

Guests: Lee Sangyi (actor), Bae Yoonkyung (actress), and Ahn Eunjin (actress)


My Entertainment Score: 9 out 10 laughs


This episode had a slow build-up. I wasn’t sold on it at first, but the sheer chaos and silliness of the games and penalty picks made this episode a blast to watch. My only complaint was that the first few segments of the show were rushed or disjointed. 



What Happened


Theme:  New Year Driving Out Bad Luck Race


Opening and Guest Introductions (start of episode- 15:10)

Opening (start of episode- 1:31)

This is the usual greeting chatter and playfulness. 

Winter Presents Pick (1:31- 3:08)

Eight Covered Platters were set up. Each member got to pick one and open it. 6 had winter snacks and 2 were duds...running man style duds. 

Some Race Explanation (3:09- 4:05)

We learn that the members who picked duds are officially labeled as Penalty Men. They are most likely to receive a “terrible” penalty at the end of the race. The three guests are going to come in next and will need to choose from 3 throne-like chairs. They believe they will be picking teams as team leaders, but one chair will fall apart when the guest sits on it and that guest will also get the label of Penalty Man.

Guest Introductions (4:06- 14:14)

Not my favorite guest introductions ever, but they snuck in a running gag that was entertaining.

Guest Penalty Man Chosen (14:14- 15:10)


Race Explanation and Team Reveals (15:10- 16:50)

Race Explanation and Penalty Announcement (15:10- 16:50)

The penalty is going to be one of the huge water bombs that used to be used on the show for penalties.

The Penalty Men will be on one team. The rest of the members will be split by the Penalty Men into 2 more teams. After each game, a member of the losing team will be sent to the Penalty Men team. Penalty Men will be able to move between teams in the final game and whichever team ends up with the most Penalty Men will get the penalty water bomb.

Additionally, each member is given 16 penalty tickets with all the two digit numbers that can be made with the numbers 1-4, (so 11, 12, 13, 14, 21, 22, etc.). Members will get money at the end of each game that can be used to get rid of tickets. At the end of the race, there will be a lottery draw of two numbers. Any member that has a ticket with those two numbers will get the penalty.


Team Reveals (16:50- 19:52)

This was just a chart shown on screen.

Penalty Man Team:

Kwangsoo

Somin

Sangyi

Eunjin Team:

Eunjin

Jongkook

Seokjin

Jihyo

Yoonkyung Team:

Yoonkyung

Jaesuk

Haha

Sechan

The members then took time to get changed into their team uniforms and to take team pictures and have some banter.



First Mission (19:52- 37:50)

Game Explanation (19:52- 20:36)

The first game is going to be a variation on the ‘shout in the silence’ games that are common in Korean entertainment. The members will all wear headphones with loud music playing. One member will guess the words that the other members will take turns describing (like charades, except that you’re talking). The variation here is that when a member is not describing a word, they will sit under a slowly filling flour balloon. The round ends when the balloon bursts.


Shout in the Silence (20:36- 35:22)

Amazing feats of understanding and misunderstanding mingled in this game. It was a hoot.


Award Money (35:22-36:56)

Each team was given 5 papers to choose from for their individual winnings for the game. The first place team had the options $100, $100, $80, $60, and $0. The second place team had $80, $80, $60, $40, $0 and the third place team had $60, $60, $40, $20, and $0.


Penalty Man Recruitment (36:56- 37:50)

The members of the Penalty Man Team were able to choose one member of the losing team to join their team.


Moving Locations (37:51- )

Travel Banter (37:51- 42:08)

Everyone was in high spirits and they joked around and told stories.


Mini-Game (42:08- )

Rules (42:08-43:18)

The name of the game is “What about apples”. This is a variation on the Strawberry Game that I love so much. I described the rules of the strawberry game at length in a previous article for episode 539

In this version, Instead of saying “strawberry” to the beat, the members have to start and end with the word “apple” (사과--sagwa). Assuming the number is more than 2, they have to say the reverse of apple (과사--gwasa) in the middle. Remember, this is done to a 4-count, steady beat. In this case, if three is called, the correct actions on the beats would be pause-apple-elppa-apple. Four would be apple-elppa-elppa-apple and Two would be pause-pause-apple-apple. 

Game Play (42:19- 47:04)

As this was super fun for the members, they tried it out with a bunch of two character words and as usual for this type of game, they got super confused. It is one of my favorite games to watch in the show.

Results (47:05- 49:50)

There was a short interlude while the members arrived at their final location, and then the monies were chosen as before. The final member of the Penalty Man team is also chosen.


Final Mission (49:51- )

Game Explanation (49:51- 51:29)

The game is called “Switch Penalty Men”. The five members of the Penalty Men Team are set as Penalty Men. They will start in red baseball caps while everyone else wears blue. Any time a name tag is ripped off, the two people involved will switch caps. The team (or color) with the lower number of Penalty Men on it at the end is the winner. The Penalty Men on the losing team will get the water bomb penalty. The game is played for 30 minutes and they announce every 5 minutes what color is winning.

They also hid money around the area that the members can find to use to get rid of penalty tickets at the final draw. 



Switch Penalty Men-Name Tag Ripping Game (51:30- 1:14:42)

Oh My Goodness! This was absolute chaos. Everyone was trying to outsmart everyone else. Calculations were run, odds leveled, and betrayals rampant. There was no hope of guessing the end result and it was glorious. It came down to milliseconds on which colors were changed and which team had the most Penalty Men.


Game Results (1:14:42- 1:16:38)


Penalty Ticket Lottery Results (1:16:38- 1:20:23)

The winning team members were allowed to pick cards with more money one last time and then all the members not yet confirmed for the water bomb use the money they amassed during the missions to remove some of the 16 penalty tickets at a rate of $20 per penalty ticket. The numbers are drawn to decide if anyone else will get the water bomb. This also had a special twist that was impossible to guess.

Water Bomb (1:20:23- end of show)


Preview: Running Gym with guests from the hit drama “Penthouse”. Yoon Jonghun, Park Eunseok, Ha Dokwon


















!!!Spoilers!!!

Winter Presents- Kwangsoo and Somin chose the duds and were squirted with water guns.

Guest Penalty Man Pick- Sangyi sits on the unstable chair. Quality slapstick!


First Game:

Round 1:

Penalty Man Team got two correct answers. The balloon burst on Kwangsoo.

Yoonkyung Team got one correct answer. The balloon burst on Jaesuk and Yoonkyung.

Eunjin Team got one correct answer. The balloon burst on Jihyo and Eunjin.


Round 2:

Penalty Man Team got one correct answer. The balloon burst on Sangyi.

Yoonkyung Team got one correct answer. The balloon burst on Yoonkyung and Sechan.

Eunjin Team got one correct answer. The balloon burst on Seokjin and Eunjin.


1st Place: Penalty Man Team

2nd Place: Eunjin Team

3rd Place: Yoonkyung Team---Yu Jaesuk joins the Penalty Man Team


Monies earned to get rid of Penalty Tickets:

Kwangsoo $0

Jaesuk $40

Jongkook $80

Somin $100

Jihyo $80

Seokjin $40

Sechan $60

Haha $20

Sangyi $80

Yoonkyung $0

Eunjin $60


What About Apples

1st Place- Yoonkyung Team

2nd Place- Eunjin Team ---Eunjin joins the Penalty Man Team.

Last Place- Penalty Man Team


Monies earned to get rid of Penalty Tickets:

Kwangsoo $60

Jaesuk $0

Jongkook $80

Somin $60

Jihyo $80

Seokjin $40

Sechan $80

Haha $100

Sangyi $20

Yoonkyung $60

Eunjin $60


Switching Running Man Game


Final Blue Team:

Jaesuk (Penalty Man)

Sangyi (Penalty Man)

Seokjin

Eunjin (Penalty Man)

Sechan

Haha


Final Red Team

Kwangsoo (Penalty Man)

Jihyo

Jongkook

Yoonkyung

Somin (Penalty Man)


RED TEAM WINS! Jaesuk, Sangyi, Eunjin confirmed for the water bomb.


Monies earned to get rid of Penalty Tickets:

Kwangsoo $40

Jongkook $100

Somin $80

Jihyo $100

Yoonkyung $0


Penalty Ticket Lottery


Jongkook was able to remove all his penalty tickets before the lottery began and was confirmed to be safe.


Number of tickets left:

Jihyo- 1

Somin- 2

Haha- 8

Sechan- 7

Seokjin- 10

Kwangsoo- 11

Yoonkyung- 12


Members that had the lottery number ticket (22):

Haha, Sechan, Seokjin, and Kwangsoo.

*Jihyo, Somin, and Yoonkyung confirmed to be safe*


There was a relief chance given and Sechan was also safe from the water bomb.


Final members to get the water bomb: Jaesuk, Haha, Seokjin, Kwangsoo, Sangyi, and Eunjin.

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