[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Hyesoo] On the 23rd, Ji Seokjin-Kim Jongkook team won the final victory on SBS's 'Running Man.'
On this day, 'Running Man' held the race with only the members, without any guests. First, each member entered one of the eight rooms. The members sang one song each using the coin karaoke machines installed in the rooms, and based on the scores they received, teams were formed. Then, they had to open the locked doors on both sides and calculate the average score with the members in those rooms.
Kim Jongkook teamed up with Lee Kwangsoo. Song Ji-hyo first teamed up with Jeon So-min, and while trying to join Ji Seokjin next door, she ended up joining Haha on the other side, then combined with the already formed team of Yang Se-chan and Yoo Jae-suk, making five members in total. As a result, Ji Seokjin was left alone as a team.
The karaoke scores revealed were Haha 72 points, Jeon So-min 86 points, Song Ji-hyo 80 points, Yoo Jae-suk 87 points, and Yang Se-chan scored zero. Kim Jongkook and Lee Kwangsoo scored 75 and 44 points respectively. Ji Seokjin, who was left alone, had the highest score of 88 points. Having earned the highest score, Ji Seokjin gained the authority to reorganize the teams and separated Kim Jongkook and Lee Kwangsoo one by one.
The production team announced that for each mission, the last place would receive a penalty ball, and after the race ended, a draw would be held to select the member who would receive the final penalty.
The next mission was a game where members had to climb onto a roughly 4-meter-high platform made of styrofoam and stick stickers as far as possible. The first player, Lee Kwangsoo, trembled and delayed his turn but ultimately failed.
Yoo Jae-suk took off his glasses and challenged himself to stick the sticker. He was so scared that he told the members, "Hit me on the cheek, hyung," which led to concentrated attacks from Yang Se-chan and Haha, causing laughter. Especially, whenever Ji Seokjin and the production team spoke to Yoo Jae-suk, he shouted, "Who are you!!" making the members burst into laughter.
With the music of Rain's 'Gang' playing, Yoo Jae-suk eventually succeeded. Next, Yang Se-chan failed because the styrofoam broke. Fearless Song Ji-hyo succeeded in sticking the sticker far away in one go, and Jeon So-min, though quite scared, also managed to stick the sticker far.
While everyone else crawled, Haha succeeded with a novel method of jumping, earning admiration from the members. Kim Jongkook, who challenged next, also jumped boldly and easily succeeded in sticking the sticker. Ji Seokjin used various tricks and barely succeeded.
The results of this mission were Kim Jongkook in first place, Ji Seokjin in second, Yoo Jae-suk, Haha, Yang Se-chan, Jeon So-min, and Song Ji-hyo tied for third, and Lee Kwangsoo in fourth. Following the members' wishes, Kim Jongkook divided Yoo Jae-suk, Yang Se-chan, Haha, Jeon So-min, and Song Ji-hyo into two teams.
Next, they started a rock-paper-scissors game inside the car for lunch. The game was to play rock-paper-scissors against the production team, and if they lost, they won the game. Yoo Jae-suk and Kim Jongkook, who showed unusual confidence in this game, failed repeatedly and received scolding from the members. Surprisingly, Lee Kwangsoo performed well in this mission and took first place.
Lee Kwangsoo, who could change the team composition, grouped Kim Jongkook and Ji Seokjin into one team. When the production team said the next mission category was survival skills, Ji Seokjin said, "I'm good," and was rather pleased.
After lunch, they proceeded to the final race, a game to collect ping pong balls. If the balloons attached to the body popped, the player was eliminated. Yang Se-chan was the first to be eliminated after Haha popped his balloon. After a fierce chase, only the Ji Seokjin-Kim Jongkook team and Lee Kwangsoo remained.
Meanwhile, Ji Seokjin went on a rampage by popping the balloons of his teammate Kim Jongkook. Then, he eliminated Yoo Jae-suk, who had formed an alliance with him, prompting Yoo Jae-suk to say, "This hyung is really crazy."
In the end, due to Lee Kwangsoo rolling down the stairs, the final winners were the Ji Seokjin-Kim Jongkook team. The first-place team could either remove all their penalty balls or share the prizes among the team members. Kim Jongkook removed all his penalty balls without hesitation and was exempted. Lee Kwangsoo and Ji Seokjin were selected as the two members to receive the penalty, which was to retrieve uncollected bullet casings.
SBS variety show 'Running Man' airs every Sunday at 5 p.m.
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