Don't Walk, Run! Running Man Variety Show!
I thought I would start out my KPOPular posts with something that I feel everyone can enjoy and fall in love with, whether or not you like K-pop or if you can't stand it! :) Running Man is a hilarious Korean variety show, which means it's a show with a set cast and occasional celebrity guests that do a variety of entertaining activities/acts. This particular kind of variety show is called "Real Variety Show", as in it has set activities, but it is also unscripted. Running Man is actually the longest running program on Korean television, at five years as of 2015. The show is widely popular not only in South Korea, but also around the world with fans volunteering to subtitle the show in other languages. The consists of games and missions at different landmarks either individually or in teams to achieve some kind of reward or prize. The biggest part of the show is usually the ending big race mission where teams or individuals are faced against each other, and usually have to rip off each other's nametags while using clues or information to find the reward. All of the show though is hilarious and highly entertaining- from the game show type games, to the cast interaction, to the final race! Game missions have now been more focused on traveling throughout a city to different locations to complete a variety of missions, teams or individuals are racing through these to try to be first to the final location (final race), which usually gives them an advantage. The smaller mission games can really be anything, sometimes they are so random and ridiculous like using heart rate monitors to dance to a certain heart rate, or having to perform karaoke while riding a rollercoaster! ^^ There are always lots of twists, surprises, and even betrayal with spies! Running Man is good, light-hearted fun that will cheer you up, and the cast themselves and their interactions definitely add to the hilarity! The set cast as of now includes:
The nation's MC Grasshopper, Yoo Jae Suk (host of the show)
The Lion Commander, Sparta Kim Jong Kook (toughest competitor)
Ace, Blank Song Jihyo
Peaceful, Go Straight Kang Gary
Haroro, Movie Actor HaHa (formerly Playboy HaHa before his marriage ^_~)
Jaesuk's Sunflower, Big Nose Hyung Ji Suk Jin
Betrayer, Giraffe Lee Gwangsoo
This show is so much fun to watch, and I laugh throughout the entire show (it's hard to watch in public place haha)! I recommend you to check out the over 200 episodes (I'm working to catch up on them all ^^)!
These are links to watch the episodes with English subtitles:
Here are some other links that tell you a little bit more about Running Man!
Let me know what you think! Have you seen Running Man before? Who are your favorite cast members and alliances? What are some of your favorite missions/games? Let me know if you check out Running Man, come back and share what you thought! :)
xoxo, Ashley
