Variety Review: Running Man Episode 561

Guests: Han Chaeyoung (actress) and Heo (or Hur) Youngji (singer, formerly of girl group Kara)


My Entertainment Score: 6 out 10 laughs


This was undoubtedly funny. I enjoyed it a lot, but two days after I first watched it, I couldn’t tell you a thing about it. I laughed watching it through again for this article, but I had to read through my notes to remember why for the purposes of this score analysis. Not a bad episode, but it does not stick in my mind. 


What Happened


Theme:  Charming Men and Women Race


Opening and Guests Introductions (start of episode- 10:55)

Opening (start of episode- 3:00)

This is the usual greeting chatter and playfulness. 


Guest Introductions (3:00- 10:55)

These guests jumped in with both feet and it is easy to get an idea of their variety personalities in this introduction.

Race Explanation and Team Split (10:55- 16:43)

Race Explanation (10:55- 12:40)

There will be various missions to play. The teams are going to be split up 4 vs 4 vs 1. The one will be determined through a random game after each mission and will be able to choose how to split the other two teams. After each mission, everyone will be able to vote for the least charming person (the person on the team alone gets 4 votes instead of 1). At the end of the day, the two people with the most votes against them will get the punishment. 


Each member will start with $50 ‘vacation funds’. First place in the missions will triple the amount they have. Second place will double their amount and last place will remain the same. At the end of the day, they will spin a roulette for the 7 people that are not getting the punishment. The winner of that spin will get their total ‘vacation funds’ in real cash as a prize. 


First Team Split (12:40- 16:43)

The team split game is the same throughout the show. A toy train designed to follow black lines on a paper is set in motion and it can choose to follow any on the lines that split off toward a member’s name. The member it lands on becomes the team of 1 who can split the teams for the next mission as they like. 


I’ll put the results of this round’s team of 1 in the spoilers because the actual game was very amusing. The team split after that was boys versus girls.


First Mission (16:43- 37:00)

Two teams at a time will battle it out in a JustDance type game. The 4 person teams can change dancers as often as they want during the song, while the 1 person team has to dance the entire song. At the end of three rounds (so each team battles both others), the team with the most wins comes in first and so on. 


27:05- Vote for Mr. Unpleasant and New Teams created for the next game.


29:23- Travel to the next location site as teams.


Second Mission (37:00-)

Game Explanation (37:00- 37:50)

The show called this game “Majority Rules Truth or Dare”. Each person has a paddle with which to vote on option 1 or 2 in a situation. As an example, the first question was “when I shower, I scrub the bottoms of my feet with soap every time. Yes or No”. Everyone votes at the same time. Anyone who voted with the majority earns a point for their team. If everyone votes for one option, the single player gets 10 points. At the end of the questions, the team with the most points wins and triples their funds and so on. 


Oversharing Game (37:50- 53:32)

This was pretty funny. 


Team Switch/Mr. Unpleasant/Lunch (53:32- 59:46)

They announce that one member has already earned enough votes that he is locked into last place for Mr. Unpleasant and he will be receiving punishment. They also let them know how many votes everyone else has so that they group can plan accordingly, which they do as they travel to the last location.

Third Mission (59:46- end of show)

Game (59:46- 1:15:20)

The final game is ‘Nerve-Wracking Quiz’. In turn, each member of a team is shown a symbol or abbreviation that represents a measurement (lb for pound for example). They have three seconds to say what the measurement is. The team of 1 will have to answer all four questions on their own. The team with the most correct answers at the end wins.


Last Vote/Results (1:15:20- end of show)

The punishment is to sit in a cold pool for the closing of the show. 


Preview: Dried Pollack Race. I’m not totally certain about this...leave me a comment if you are better at Korean and know the connection...but it seems there is a link between chit-chat and Dried Pollack. Next week, the members are going to be talking a lot, according to the preview. 


















!!!Spoilers!!!


First Team Split

Seokjin becomes the team of one.


First Mission 

The girls team wins--they each triple their funds

Jihyo $150

Somin $150

Youngji $150

Chaeyoung $150


Boys team comes in second--they each double their funds

Jaesuk $100

Jongkook $100

Haha $100

Sechan $100


Seokjin remains at $50


Second Mission

‘Team Green’ wins--they each triple their funds.

Jongkook $300

Jaesuk $300

Haha $300

Chaeyoung $450


‘Team Orange’ comes in second--they each double their funds.

Seokjin $100

Jihyo $300

Somin $300

Sechan $200


Youngji comes in last--remains at $150


Seokjin is announced to be a confirmed loser for the day.



Third Mission

Jongkook wins alone--triples his funds. $900


‘Team Green ' comes in second--they each double their funds.

Seokjin $200

Chaeyoung $900

Haha $600

Somin $600


The rest remain the same.

Jihyo $300

Youngji $150

Sechan $200

Jaesuk $300


Final Results

The final vote made Somin the second loser for the day. Seokjin and Somin have to sit in the cold pool for the closing of the show.


The winner that got to take home their funds in cash was Youngji. She had $150 earned in the game...the lowest amount.

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Variety Review: Running Man Episode 560