The classic episodes’ cast was Jaesuk, Seokjin, Jongkook, Haha, Jihyo, Gary, Kwangsoo, and Joongki--8 members., but Joongki was absent for several episodes while shooting a drama.
Episode 11
Guests: Jung Yonghwa (CNBlue), Kim Jedong (Comedian) *Joongki absent* 9 players.
Location: Seoul Central Post Office
Games: Stamping envelopes (putting an ink smudge on Gary’s face...truGary Show precursor), Catch the Thief (kind of like old maid but minigames determine who gets cards), Bell Hide-and-seek
Highlights or notes: This episode began the trend of Kwangsoo’s ridiculous slanders in the openings.
My rating: 9
Penalty: Hot Pants on the bus to get home
Episode 12
Guests: None (first time it was just the members)
Location: Jamsil Olympic Stadium hosting the Seoul design fair.
Games: Trick Joongki at a Quiz, Catch the Thief, Bell Chase
Highlights or notes:
The Quiz game created a running joke on the show about the Pygmalion Effect.
The Bell chase was 3 chasers vs. 5 hiders. I’m guessing that had something to do with the openness of the area.
The hiding team had to find codes to tell them which order to cut the wires on a ‘bomb’ to diffuse it before the 1 hour time limit was up.
Haha started recreating famous films during the Bell Chase in this episode and continued to do so for a bunch of episodes. It was one of the things that made him my favorite in the show.
My rating: 7
Penalty: walking around in hotpants on Chuseok eve--they arrive at the next episode’s opening in the hotpants.
Episode 13
Guests: Jang Dongmin (comedian), Lizzy (singer, formerly of AfterSchool and Orange Caramel)
Location: SBS Broadcasting Station
Games: Catch the Thief, Bell Chase
Highlights or notes:
The hiders in Bell Chase needed to find 4 VHS tapes.
This Bell Chase game was on the epic side. There were many close calls and screams.
Joongki absent.
First episode with a member that had no hope of escaping punishment-0 running balls.
My rating: 7
Penalty: Doing a segment on a live morning news show.
Episode 14
Guests: Lizzy. She was a regular for a few episodes.
Location: Boramae Safety Experience Center
Games: 1 vs. 8 hidden mission-singing game, Catch the Thief, Bell Chase
Highlights or notes:
The Monday Couple is established! Man, I miss them.
They switched the usual hiding and chasing team in the Bell Chase game.
The hiding team had to find 4 phones and call a specific number to get the passcode for a locker that had their running balls in it.
My rating: 7
Penalty: Hot pants and going to a famous soondae shop.
Episode 15
Guests:Tony Ahn (solo singer, formerly of H.O.T), Kim Kwangkyu (actor)
Location: Seoul Metro Subway Garage
Games: 1vs 9 heart monitoring game, Bell Chase, Catch the Thief (not shown)
Highlights or notes:
The 1 vs 9 game was for any of the men to make Jihyo’s heart rate go over 130 bpm.
The 1 vs 9 had several moments that became big news for a while. (Kisses??)
The hiding team in Bell Chase had to find 4 hidden briefcases.
The hiding team could be revived in this episode using a revival tag found in the hidden briefcases.
Tony Ahn got 0 running balls.
My rating: 6- In spite of the many clip worthy moments of the episode, this one was never one of my favorites.
Penalty: Ride the first train of the day in hot pants.
Episode 16
Guests:Yuri (SNSD)
Location: Yongsan Shopping Mall
Games: 1 vs 8 speed quiz to trick Yuri, Gain 1kg Grocery Store Game, Bell Chase
Highlights or notes:
Yuri cried, poor dear
The hiding team had to gather (marked) receipts that totalled over $200 to get the running balls
Yuri got 0 running balls. Poor guests had a hard time for a couple weeks.
My rating: 7- I would rate this much higher if the 1 vs 8 hadn’t upset Yuri so badly. The Bell chase is one of the ones I remember and enjoy the best.
Penalty: Visiting the fish market in hot pants
Episode 17
Guests: Jung Yonghwa (CNBlue), Ko Joowon (actor)
Location: Hanyang Women’s University
Games: 1 vs 9 (dictation spelling quiz), Find the real student, Music Quiz, Bell Chase
Highlights or notes:
The 1 vs 9 game had a twist. Yonghwa had a hidden mission and had to fool the other 9 who thought they were fooling him.
After choosing a student, each team of 3 (or 4) did a musical speed quiz where some people ‘played’ music and one had to guess the song.
The hiding team had to find and ring 4 bells within an hour.
My rating: 7...I didn’t really remember this episode, but it was good.
Penalty: Wearing outrageous hot pants designed by the students to go eat ramen.
Episode 18
Guests: Lizzy
Location: Busan Port- Running Man Cruise Special
Games: Catch the Criminal, Love Boat (making couples game), Bell Chase
Highlights or notes:
Catch the Criminal is a 1 vs 8 game where 1 person has to interrupt the group mission without getting caught. Everyone knows the mission.
Bell Chase was played after the members were allowed to sleep, so this was the first of many episodes where we got to see the members right after waking up.
The chasers were dressed as pirates..this amuses me. Jongkook, Haha, and Gary.
The hiding team had to find pieces of a map.
My rating: 6--I didn’t remember this episode at all and after watching it again, I know why. The making couple game held little to no interest for me and that was most of the episode.
Penalty: Hot Pants at the port.
Episode 19
Guests: Nickhun, Lizzy
Location: Korea House
Games: 1 vs 9 (Haha’s Knowledge Battle), Cooking Korean Food For Foreigners Battle, 1 vs 9 (Jongkook vs members bell chase)
Highlights or notes:
The Knowledge Battle is one of my top 5 quizzes in Running Man. Haha made up the questions and chose which member would have to answer them. A majority had to answer correctly in order to beat him.
In Bell Chase, the 9 members had to find the 10 symbols of longevity from a famous work of Korean art.
This bell chase is one of the ones I remember best...not because of the 1 vs 9 (totally forgot that part), but because they had to take off their shoes every time they went into a building and that had some funny ramifications
This episode, the running ball issues made for some betrayals.
My rating: 7. Solid and amusing, but not one of my all time favorites.
Penalty: Hot Parts outside in winter, giving out free hugs near a subway station.
Episode 20
Guests: Lizzy, Kim Heechul (Super Junior) *Joongki absent* 9 members for the episode.
Location: Korean Meteorological Administration
Games: Give a Weather Report, 1 vs 8 (Make Jaesuk lie), Bell Chase
Highlights or notes:
Being an over organized nerd, I used to keep a notebook that tracked my favorite running man episodes so that I could go back to them easily later. This was the first one I have listed in that book.
Give a Weather Report, had groups of 3 race to get a cue card, and clothing so that they could give a weather report in front of a blue screen. The catches being, there were weather machines making things tough at the blue screen and there were only 2 jackets and 2 pants. The first in each group of 3 to correctly give the weather report got a running ball.
In ‘Make Jaesuk lie’, Jaesuk was hooked up to a lie detector. They tested it first on Seokjin and Jihyo.
In Bell Chase, the hiding team needed to find umbrellas marked as running man umbrellas.
Jihyo, Haha, and Gary made the Bell Chase segment into a mini-drama.
My rating: 10- it may be a slightly nostalgic ranking, but I’ll stand by it.
Penalty: Jogging in hot pants.
