Running Man: Episode 275

by gummimochi

Both old and new rivalries will be put to the test this week as the numerous games will require our cast and guests to tap into their unique areas of expertise. Or adapt to completely new challenges that put them outside of their element. Hyung-dongsaeng relationships will be tested, inner competitive spirits will burst forth, a few people will be knocked off their pedestals, and someone will be taking a catnap.

EPISODE 275. Broadcast on November 29, 2015.

For today’s Rival Battle, We waste no time in finding out who our cast members’ notorious rivals are—and no, Jong-kook, it isn’t Kim Soo-hyun or Lee Min-ho. He does, however, guffaw upon seeing a more familiar face: Jae-suk.

Offended, Jae-suk poses: “What else do you have besides your brute strength?” It’s without a doubt that these two will be bickering until the closing.

What’s more is that the power dynamics will be in flux all day: regardless of age, the winner will be treated with respect and gets to order the loser around. Told to think of a game here in the gym, Jae-suk knows full well that he’s at a disadvantage, so he suggests that they see who can balance on top of an exercise ball the longest.

Jae-suk gets a little nervous when he can’t balance himself, but he smiles when Jong-kook unintentionally rolls toward him on his knees. “That’s right, that’s the way it should be!”

Settling for a hand slap balancing game, Jong-kook feigns for a minute before making the first move. Jae-suk responds by pushing his face. Suffice it to say, the match devolves pretty quickly.

Next up, they decide on who can drink water the fastest while a belt machine runs around their neck. Er, that can’t be safe. As expected, Jae-suk’s face wobbles around until he downs the water. As for Jong-kook, the water spritzes out until he finally gives up.

Victorious, Jae-suk ends up on the Hyung-nim Team whereas Jong-kook must show deference as part of the Little Sibling Team. Jong-kook can’t bring himself to call Jae-suk “hyung-nim” since they’ve been super close for years, but eventually says it without looking Jae-suk in the eye.

When they get into the car, Jae-suk freely climbs into the backseat so he can be chauffeured around town. Heh.

Time to meet our next rival match-up: former pro-gamer Lim Yo-hwan laughs to find himself matched up with his old rival Hong Jin-ho. Quick recap: Lim and Hong were Starcraft legends who often ranked first and second in the league, respectively. Since their respective retirements from the game (both as players and coaches), Lim is now a professional poker player and Hong coaches for the MMO game League of Legends, and both appear onscreen as TV personalities.

Like his gaming record, Jin-ho came in second in his last Running Man appearance, but he’s determined to change all of that today. So it’s a given that these former players engage in a friendly game of Starcraft today. Both players are quick to display their frantic actions per minute rate, though at one point, Jin-ho accidentally clicks out of the game.

Since neither Jae-suk nor Jong-kook (or myself for that matter) are well-versed in the game’s jargon, the commentary is a bit clumsy. Like how Jong-kook likens one of the units to a moth and calls the other units “cute.” Ha, sounds exactly like how I’d describe the match.

So although I wouldn’t be able to tell you who is winning at any given moment, I can revel in Jong-kook calling another unit “a crab” and going on about how the units are spawning. And then we’re told that Yo-hwan has won the game, sending him to the Hyung-nim Team.

Our third rival match-up is between Ji-hyo and EXID’s Hani. Both ladies love to slumber, so this ought to be interesting. The guys are just in time for their game—tossing a straw into a cup—and Ji-hyo’s pops in… and out again.

Hani isn’t afraid to adjust her pants on-camera, but when both ladies fail again, the guys give it a go. When Jin-ho tries tossing his straw in, Yo-hwan kicks it away. Lol. Coach Kookie can’t help but offer tips from the sidelines, and he’s thrilled when Ji-hyo wins since that means Hani’s on his team.

Next, our Super Junior boys need no introduction, but let’s give ’em one anyway: Leeteuk vs. Kim Heechul. The latter really hopes he loses because he knows Leeteuk won’t let it go if he becomes the “hyung-nim” today. Though not exactly rivals, both do admit that their personalities land on opposite ends of the spectrum.

Leeteuk: “If we’re being honest… we just don’t get along.” And if things weren’t awkward enough, Heechul adds that this the very first time he and Leeteuk have been on TV together without their other SuJu members.

They’ve decided on the following: see who can get a call back after texting their close female friend celeb. Heechul: “And I was going to call Hani, but she’s here!”

Both guys decide on SNSD’s Yoon-ah (and Leeteuk has to double-check that he’s got the right number, ha) and send their texts simultaneously. All of a sudden, Leeteuk says “Hello?” only to confess that he was only joking. Just as Heechul says this is why they can never banter off one another, he yelps at the incoming call.

Jae-suk takes over the call immediately, and asks why she chose to call Heechul over Leeteuk. She explains that she received Heechul’s text first, and when Leeteuk takes over, she addresses him in jondae, which pretty much tells us how close they actually are.

It’s possible that she was just teasing (since she guessed that those texts meant that the oppas were filming something), and when Leeteuk takes the phone again, she can immediately tell that he’s upset. Hahaha.

Over at the playground, Gary doesn’t like Haha’s idea of seeing how many children will gather around them. “You’re Haroro! Of course they like you!” There’s also the fact that Haha’s a father to a young child, so the kids naturally flock towards him.

Gary bribes the children with sweets and food, and it works like a charm. Suk-jin beats Kwang-soo in the picture-in-picture Easy Brothers match, and now all the little siblings must bow in respect to their hyung-nims.

Leeteuk looks like he’s in physical pain before bowing to Heechul, and Gary makes sure he gets the proper respect he deserves.

Both teams arrive at their first location and are met with a giant yutnori board (a traditional game played on New Year’s Day). The Little Siblings Team has a chance to turn the tables here, but the hyung-nims won’t have that.

Here the players will act as game pieces as they travel across the board, but whenever the opposing teams land on the same space (up to three per team), a nametag ripping match will take place. Whoever wins that match gets to stay.

The Hyung-nim Team wonders if a 3:1 match against Jong-kook will be enough, so I suppose we’ll just have to find out.

It looks like we will, because Jong-kook is sent out to where Gary is just two spaces away. Spartakooks happily jogs over, and after a quick struggle, rips off Gary’s nametag. A little later, Haha doubles up on Jong-kook while Leeteuk advances toward the middle.

And then, the Hyung-nim Team has Suk-jin advance two spaces. When the Little Siblings Team casts a geol (three spaces), Suk-jin calls Jin-ho out. Although Jin-ho tries to pounce, it’s Suk-jin who grabs his nametag.

Both teams add a player to their space before the Hyung-nim Team advances across the board. When Hani casts another geol all three Little Siblings head over to engage the mat hyungs. Jin-ho gets some help in eliminating Jae-suk before he runs over to exact his revenge on Suk-jin.

Next, Kwang-soo is sent out to advance seven spaces (since a mo [five] earns an extra cast) and is promptly scolded when he slips and falls. We skip ahead to when Kwang-soo and Leeteuk are close to completing their courses the Hyung-nim Team has a double and triple on the board.

After sending Leeteuk out, the Hyung-nim team hope to engage Kwang-soo in a 3:1 battle. Wow, that would really suck if Kwang-soo loses that hypothetical match. Hani casts a total of eight, which the Little Siblings Team consider using to send the trio out of the board. But… that would leave Kwang-soo all by his lonesome.

So they all agree to do to press their luck rather than waste a good mo to send Kwang-soo out. All the Hyung-nim Trio needs is a yut (four) to catch up to Kwang-soo… and that’s exactly what happens.

Even though the odds are against him, Kwang-soo goes for it anyway. He loses, which means he has to start all over. Thankfully a few good casts makes sure he stays out of harm’s way and in contention to win.

The Hyung-nim Team groups take the lower left-hand corner of the board, which means Hani must throw a geol or higher to make sure Kwang-soo leaves the board safely. She throws a geol which means the Little Siblings are now the new Hyung-nims.

Now for the final mission: Our teams are called into the octagon arena for six unique 1:1 rounds. HA, between Ji-hyo and Hani in Round 5, whoever can fall asleep the fastest will be declared the winner. Yo-hwan admits that he might not be a Tetris expert, but he asserts that he can at least beat Jin-ho.

Both teams have 250 points to bet over six rounds, and Jae-suk says they’ll go all in with Round 5 and bank on Ji-hyo’s ability to fall asleep instantly. Hey if she can sleep atop a giant Jenga tower, that girl can fall asleep anywhere.

Points are not transferable between rounds, and whichever team has the highest total will be declared the victor. Leeteuk and Heechul will face off in Round 1 to see who has the quicker hand at plucking out 33 cards.

Our commentators for the night build up the rivalry, and Heechul tells the hyungs that he’s got quick fingers. Both are feeling pretty confident though, and excuse me while I watch Oppa do some impromptu pull-ups.

HAHAHA—all the “cards” have the other’s faces on them. Leeteuk is up first, and it takes a few tries for him to remove the second card. Every slip-up counts against him, but we’ll have to see by how much.

Heechul, on the other hand, sets up all of his “cards” so that they’re easier to grab. Smart thinking. Despite a small hiccup, Heechul’s looking pretty smooth down the line and gets into a rhythm. So it’s no surprise that Heechul takes Round 1 with 13.24 seconds.

The commentators note that whilst a win is important, it’s the total number of points that ultimately matter. Round 2 will pit Jae-suk against Jong-kook where the first person to make five baskets will win. Oh, and those baskets will be worn on their heads.

Noting the Grasshopper and Tiger’s longtime rivalry, the commentators refer to the times when Jong-kook used brute strength to overtake Jae-suk. Jong-kook scores his first point on his very first try, and Jae-suk hits the backboard (and indirectly Jong-kook).

That riles Jong-kook up, so he returns the favor and his next throw is short, hitting Jae-suk on the chest. Another hit to the backboard makes Jae-suk happy as a clam, and he scores a point with his next attempt. After Jae-suk makes another basket, Jong-kook evens up the score.

But soon Jae-suk is leading 4:2, and Jong-kook makes another basket. No matter because Jae-suk gets his fifth and final basket a minute later. We see that Gary won Round 3, which means things aren’t looking good for the Little Siblings Team.

They aren’t too worried though because they believe that the hyung-nims are probably banking on Round 5. Round 4, however, will have Kwang-soo and Suk-jin tap into their betrayal skills. In this rock-paper-scissors match, they gain one point by winning the round by throwing something different than their original declaration and two if the stick with the same move. First to get to three points, wins.

When Suk-jin says he’s going to go with paper, Kwang-soo replies that he’ll go with scissors and even gets on his knees to convey his earnestness. But then both throw a rock. LOL, as if we expected anything less.

Both stick to the same choices, but the hyung-nims are quick to point out that Kwang-soo said “scissors” while putting out a rock. This time, Suk-jin and Kwang-soo stick to their original choices, which means Kwang-soo’s scissors beats Suk-jin’s paper, earning him two points.

Kwang-soo gives himself a hard punch to pull himself together before dipping back into this battle of wits. He tells Suk-jin that he’ll go with a scissors but also tells him that he’s lying. Suk-jin counterattacks by replying that he’ll go with paper…

… and then Kwang-soo throws out scissors against Suk-jin’s paper which earns him another two points and the win.

Everyone cracks up at the production crew bringing in the mattresses for the upcoming sleeping battle. Both ladies are hooked up to machines to record their brain wave patterns, and while Heechul says that there’s a good chance Hani will fall asleep right away, the Little Siblings Team decides to pool their luck into this round.

Both ladies are instructed to get into bed and whereas Ji-hyo pulls the covers over her head, Hani plugs in earphones. The guys fall silent so the ladies can sleep and soon we see the spikes in each of their graphs settle down.

However, it does seem like they’re a bit uncomfortable as the readings waver. Haha mentions that Hani needs to open her mouth slightly to fall asleep, and as if on cue, Hani’s lips part.

A little while later, it looks like both ladies have fallen asleep when the doc declares Hani the winner. Both ladies awake slightly dazed, and although Ji-hyo fell asleep as well, it was Hani who hit Stage 2 first.

Now it’s up to Yo-hwan or Jin-ho to bring it home for their teams in an old-school arcade Tetris battle. Jin-ho appears to be better at strategizing his pieces and clearing his lines than Yo-hwan is, and wins the first round.

However, Yo-hwan learns from his mistakes in the second round while Jin-ho chokes under the pressure. In the third round, Jin-ho misplaces a piece, but another piece saves it and he picks up another point.

The difficulty increases with the fourth round, and Jin-ho is able to save his board once more. They’re neck and neck for most of the round until Jin-ho eliminates his final line, winning the crucial Round 6 for his team.

Now it’s time to tally up the points and we see that Jong-kook’s team lost 100 points in Round 1. In Round 6, Jae-suk’s team bet 40 points, but Jong-kook’s picked up 70 points. Jae-suk’s team picked up 20 points in Round 2 and lost 30 in Round 5, but Jong-kook’s team only one 10 points for Hani’s victory.

With just a 10-point difference, it all comes out to how Rounds 3 and 4 fared. Jae-suk’s team picked up 70 points and Jong-kook’s team… won merely 10 points. So although Jae-suk’s team are the ultimate victors, Jin-ho takes heart that he beat the champion today.

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