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Running Man: Episode 226

Merry Christmas, Running Man! A veteran actress comes to play with the cast this week, brightening up the set with her sparkling eyes and her sweet words. It really feels like the show invited an adoring mother to join them on the festivities this year. And if that means it’ll bring more laughs our way for the hour, then more the merrier, I say.

EPISODE 226. Broadcast on December 21, 2014.

We start off this Christmas special by introducing our three guests who are here to promote their upcoming film How to Steal a Dog: actress Kang Hye-jung, Chunderella—… I mean, Lee Chun-hee and Korea’s “Mother” Kim Hye-ja.

We’ve seen Chun-hee here on this show before, although this would be a rare, if not first variety appearance for Hye-ja. If the preview clips are any indication, she ought to be a hoot and game for anything. Always a good indication in my book.

Anyhow, Hye-ja has such beautiful sparkling eyes that just pull you in, and a soft voice that still commands your attention. She’s adorably worn sneakers for today’s appearance, too, and Kwang-soo makes his first misstep by suggesting the veteran actress wears sneakers all the time. I love how Haha whispers, “You’ve met her for the first time today…”

Jae-suk recalls Hye-jung as the wife of his insect cousin, Tablo aka the bush cricket (If I recall, Tablo appeared in the radio show special on Infinite Challenge). And of course, Chun-hee is best known as the original klutz.

Hye-ja recognizes Ji-hyo as co-stars on Goong, remarking on how pretty she was then. When Jong-kook tries to play off the statement (“She was pretty then,”), Hye-ja firmly clarifies that Ji-hyo’s still pretty.

She’s definitely witty—at Haha’s mention that he thought that she and veteran actor Choi Bool-am were a real-life couple back in the day, she returns, “Your words are so old-fashioned.” Lol.

It’s sweet how she asks if she has to run at all today, wondering if she only has to talk her way through today. She seems rather excited about nametag ripping, although she gets confused again when Kwang-soo says she’ll end up in jail if her nametag is ripped off.

In today’s Santa Lottery Race, everyone will work collectively as one team. They’ll draw a ball after each round—succeeding the mission will provide an advantage and failing will provide a disadvantage. And on this joyous special, it sounds like there are big prizes on the line.

I love how Hye-ja waves her hand to indicate the difference between us (the cast) vs. them (the staff). And then Kwang-soo slips up again by referring to the staff as “bad guys.”

Aw, the Christmas animations are adorable. For their first game, they must find items scattered throughout the place and return to complete their mission. Right off the bat, they must find the animal masks and take a group selfie.

The group runs to find a mask for eldest Hye-ja first, though she’s eager to help out and find some more. She asks the VJ for help, and they’ve got less than a minute left once everyone has found a mask. Gary trickles in last, and they all squuueeeezzze together for a photo.

Unfortunately, not everyone’s faces show up in the photo. Hye-ja jokingly asks what took Gary so long. Hahaha.

Next up, the group must find R-stickered items that weigh over a total of 150 kg. But some of the items (e.g. toilet paper, a jug of water) seem rather light, and Chun-hee carries what looks like a heavy blanket. Does that have a R sticker on it?

Hye-ja feels bad about not finding anything, but the other ladies have got her covered. Hye-jung flies down the hall with a planter, and it must be because she’s a mom ’cause she’s incredibly strong, too.

They weigh each of their findings, and Kwang-soo comes yelling that Jong-kook is carrying a person. He means a mannequin, of which the staff surprisingly knows its weight already. Still, you have to give them points for pressing down on the lay figure as if it weighs more than it does.

Unfortunately, their total weight is well below the limit. When Haha gives Kwang-soo flack for not bringing back something heavy enough, Hye-ja points out that Haha didn’t either.

So it’s onto the next round, where the cast will break into pairs and toss dice that make up two-digit numbers. Each pair must roll a number that exceed the pair before them, so basically if anyone “rolls” a 66, they’re done for.

They decide to pair up the unlucky ones together (Chun-hee, Kwang-soo, Jae-suk, and Suk-jin), and there’s this long argument of what order those unlucky couples should roll. Then they decide to pair each Very Unlucky with a Just Unlucky to counterbalance the effect.

That’s how Jae-suk and Chun-hee and the Easy Brothers are paired together. Suk-jin somehow gets the idea that taking the elevator is faster, and then he and Kwang-soo run into Hye-ja, who’s already found a die. So they decide on a practice roll, though Hye-ja just makes the die land on her favored number. Heh.

What’s even better is that she practically throws down her die when they’re all gathered together again so it lands on 1. Too bad it lands on 5, but they hurry so that she can toss again. It lands on 1, and so does Jong-kook’s.

Hye-jung and Ji-hyo get a 25, but then Gary and Haha get a 54. Pointed out as the unluckiest one by Hye-ja, Kwang-soo rolls a 1. He gets chewed out for tossing his die, and he takes it back, calling it a moment to let out his anger.

The pressure’s on for Jae-suk when his teammate gets a 4. He lands a 6, which means the Easy Brothers must roll a 65 or 66. Kwang-soo gets the first 6, and now they need the other one… only that Suk-jin rolls a 1. Aw, that won’t do.

Adding salt to injury, he tosses the die twice for kicks, only for those to both land on 6. Now they’re down to their last attempt, where the cast must find hula-hoops and last for more than three seconds.

Hye-ja is too embarrassed to try and hula hoop in front of everyone. She’s adorably terrible at it too, and even hits herself by accident when twirling the hoop on her arm. They all succeed by a hair, and then run to the lottery zone. It’s cute how Haha and Hye-jung exchange high fives for arriving first (thanking their speediness for having young kids).

Again, the group will have a chance after every round to draw balls towards a seven figure number with a top prize of 9,990,000 won (about 9,990 USD). They’ll start off in the ten thousandth won place (increments of 10 USD) and draw an 8. That’s 80,000 won (80 USD), which isn’t a bad start.

Hye-ja sticks by Jae-suk’s side while they walk towards their next mission. Here, they’ll be playing Bingo Quiz, where they must answer nine consecutive correctly to get a bingo. Some sneaky glances are exchanged, and when Gary is asked what he wants for Christmas, Hye-ja perks up, thinking that the dog Gary is here.

Ha, it turns out that the dog in the movie is also named Gary. What are the chances? Chun-hee mentions that he’d like a laptop, to which Hye-ja asks almost pitifully, “… you don’t have one?”

Just before the game begins, there are some more suspicious glances. Ji-hyo gets her trivia question correct right off the bat—pretty specifically at that, which sets off my suspicion radar. Seeing as Hye-ja is placed last in line, is the cast playing a bit of 1 vs. 9 Hidden Camera with her?

Even Jong-kook gets his question correct and everyone else’s affected reaction and praise is mighty suspicious. Sure enough, we rewind to two hours before the opening where everyone expect Hye-ja is told of the secret mission.

They must make sure that Hye-ja doesn’t catch on or guess the correct answer. Furthermore, they must answer their own questions correctly, lest they fail in this mission. So they get to studying, and Hye-jung admits that Hye-ja likely won’t know any of these answers like a series six-cylinder engine.

Kwang-soo and Jong-kook joke that Hye-ja could have a surprisingly keen interest in cars or sports, but what they need is a plan. Haha gets upset when he doesn’t get heard (“Who doesn’t have a brain here?”) which sparks a bickering round with Jae-suk.

Kwang-soo gets confused on the rules for their mission, but he isn’t alone because Chun-hee doesn’t know what’s going on either. Jae-suk: “You didn’t know on Family Outing and you don’t know now. When do you wanna know?”

As they study the 81 answers, all I’m thinking is why don’t they decide on a few lines and an order and memorize the answers in that line? Chun-hee looks like he’s legitimately studying, and Jae-suk points out that everyone’s grouchiness suggests that no one likes studying in the first place.

Thankfully, Suk-jin comes up with that very idea. So Haha presents the questions in their rehearsal that looks remarkably like the real thing. Everyone studies on their way to their opening, even writing little cheat sheets on their arms and fingers.

Hahaha, they were even sneaking glances of their sheets whilst Taek PD was introducing the bingo game. With that, we pick back up on the present, where Hye-ja looks amazed by everyone’s knowledge banks. Caption: “To be honest, these guys don’t really know, either.”

Her eyes grow wide as more of the members answer correctly, but the we land on Suk-jin, whose panicked expression suggests that he’s forgotten his answer. He remembers, and I must say it’s pretty funny watching everyone give very specific answers, like Kwang-soo replying that a 25-year-old ginseng from Jirisan is the best.

Gary rattles off his answer, and then it’s up to (or is it down to) Hye-ja. Following their plan to make the question super difficult, Haha tosses out phrases that barely string together. Hye-ja runs out of time to answer and she sweetly says she wouldn’t have known the answer anyway.

Hye-ja remains optimistic though, and the group places her in front of the line. That’s still a part of their plan, and Chun-hee is thrown in to explain the questions. If only he could explain the first one because he stands there staring at the card for a good twenty seconds.

Getting impatient, Hye-ja tells him to skip the formalities, but Chun-hee keeps stumbling over his words. He resorts to just making noises, and then uses these pained facial expressions to indicate syllables. The others yell that he’s horrible at explaining, and either that’s true or Chun-hee’s just really could about making this look real.

So naturally Chun-hee runs out of time, and even Hye-ja admits that the answer was way too hard. If you only knew that that was the point. She pulls Chun-hee aside to whisper that doing it this way is what makes it entertaining on TV.

It’s a comment that has him freeze up, but thankfully Hye-ja is talking about the difficulty of the questions. Phew.

In their next round, Hye-jung rattles off the questions so quickly that you can hardly tell what she’s asking. Nevertheless, the members keep answering correctly, and I swear there’s a little swag in how Gary answers “hybrid anti-aging cream.”

Haha has forgotten his answer, so he bends down to check his cheat sheet right out of Hye-ja’s view. Then it’s back to Hye-ja, who has to guess a standing air conditioner and heater. Hye-jung tries to buy some time and remains vague, but then Hye-ja guesses, “standing air conditioner?” Er oh.

It turns out the crew had practiced with a PD beforehand, though they worried that Hye-ja might be able to guess. To their luck, they run out of time. With one attempt left, Suk-jin remarks that “we’re almost there,” a phrase that sparks Hye-ja’s curiosity once more. Whoops.

Thankfully, Hye-ja doesn’t dwell on the moment and now it’s up to Kwang-soo to bring it home. He gets confused and explains the wrong question at first, much to Ji-hyo’s confusion.

Despite the others putting him back on track, Kwang-soo’s still pretty frazzled. Both Chun-hee and Hye-jung fall to their knees, dying of laughter. Confused about what a buckled cot bed is, Kwang-soo says it’s something from the Joseon era. Thankfully, Jong-kook has his back and points him in the right direction.

I’m seriously starting to think that Kwang-soo’s explanations make no sense, forcing the cast to do this backwards way of feeding him the explanation in their answers. Seeing how everyone gets their answers right ought to raise some suspicious eyebrows, but bascially Hye-ja looks on with an amazed expression her on face.

They run out of time just as Hye-ja steps up again, which means they fail the bingo game but succeed in their secret mission. They all get down on their knees in apology like misbehaved children, showing her their cheat sheets and scribbles.

Through it all, Hye-ja honestly believed that the cast was just that smart and happy that they succeeded in their own mission. That makes them feel even worse, and yet she says, “But it’s entertaining!” Aw, that’s sweet. And then with a wide smile she says she won’t ever be fooled again.

As expected of the unlucky one, Suk-jin draws a 1, bringing their total to 180,000 won (or 180 USD). And as always, Hye-ja says that’s quite all right because life doesn’t always go your way.

For their final mission, Hye-ja must succeed lest the other nine face punishment: a downpour of flour. Here she must send a text message within 30 seconds and it won’t be easy because she’ll need to be exact with adding emoticons and the like. It would be a great twist if Hye-ja is well-versed in the smartphone age.

She is, as she confidently tells Taek PD that she texts all the time. However, she admits that she doesn’t use specific punctuation like commas in her text messages (…and neither do I, I’ve realized).

Still, her thumb’s pretty quick in typing out the characters. She runs out of time for the first round, and down comes the first shower of flour. And although the cast doesn’t mind getting floured upon again and encourages her to relax, they remind her not to relax too much since there’s money on the line.

The next text just contains characters, and I’m impressed at how quick Hye-ja is. She has one word left in the final five seconds… and finishes with one second to spare. Woot!

Now they have one last chance at the lottery (with an extra 9 ball tossed in), and Taek PD reminds them that the worst-case scenario would be to draw a 0. Hye-ja squeals with excitement… and it’s a 6, bringing up the total to 6.18 million won, a solid number.

And for this festive occasion, the prized money will be donated to less fortunate children under Hye-ja, Chun-hee, and Hye-jung’s names. Hye-ja offers some final words expressing her happiness to be a part of today’s episode, and then Kwang-soo asks if she could re-enact one of her famous catchphrases for them.

So she rips off Jong-kook’s nametag and says with a wide smile: “This is what I’m talking about!”

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Thank you Gummi. I have always love reading your recaps of Running Man. If you or anyone can answer my question, I would be truly grateful. I am interested in buying the yellow coat the cast was wearing at the end but I can't find it online.
Would have any idea on what Korean site I could purchase it? It looks so warm. thanks.

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I love old people, and im not hating that old lady, but seriously, RM it's not a program for 74 years old lady, and this christmas special its really boring, the worst christmas special for RM.

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She was funny but this episode was boring. I was going: "Is that all? There has to be more games." I was hoping for a Running Man Xmas special with no guests and see if Gary wins again. Lol. I don't hate this episode but I don't like it. I'm just meh about it. I hope the next episode is alot better than this.

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I sorta agree. While I do appreciate some of the brilliance that comes from just the cast chatting or interacting with guests, the episode does drag a bit without the added pace from games. I don't have a problem with it, since other episodes are so game-centric the cast and guests barely get to speak. So long as they keep that balance over time I think it's fine.

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Too much focus on one guest. The other two barely had screen time. At least the one with Rain as guest still gave the rest of the cast more screen time. That's my biggest peeve. Second would be that she had to be helped with all missions. =( Hope the next one is more interesting.

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Yes, i completely agree with you on this. I watch RM for the running and action, not to see them helping a senior citizen hobble down the stairs... sorry if it sounds mean, I have nothing against the old lady personally but I just thought the programme could have been better planned.

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I agree. They are sacrificing the quality of the program for doing show promotions again. Looks like they haven't learned their lesson. It's just barely a few weeks since the ratings climb up from single digits.

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I like RM for its rough games, name tag ripping,running and so on,too but after watching this ep I didn't have bad feeling, it wasn't hilarious but was sweet,and in comparison to some eps with young guest who aren't active and just care about themselves, that old lady was sweet and tried as much as she could. I don't want RM repeat such eps but somehow I am proud of RM cause it was able to make happy time for their precious old actress and also make sweet moment for some.CANDID CAMERA PART WAS REALLY FUNNY.I REALLY LIKED IT.

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I agree with your comments, it's pretty boring when they need to take care the old lady first

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sure the games were a bit boring esp since they had to cater to kim hye ja, but i still enjoyed it because she was sooo cute haha shes like the grandma everyone wants!

thanks for being so faithful w the RM recaps btw!!!! :0)

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It was a sweet episode & there were some really funny moments. I enjoyed it more than the previous "Technicans" episode. That was the first time I ffwd through an episode; even Kang Gary parts!

I hope they have Hye-jung back in the future; I think she would be an active & fun guest in more strenuous missions.

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I actually really enjoyed this episode despite of the games. The guessing game was really funny, I LOL'ed a lot with all the scheming. And Lady Kim was very sweeeetttt.

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The Queen grandma on Goong?? She was so funny and lovable on that drama, make me miss that drama

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I didnt watch it yet.... it looks funny. I need to download it.

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I was dying in laughter when Kwangsoo gives Ji Hyo wrong explanation n then Ji Hyo directs him to explain baby food... LMAO

The games are not particularly interesting but the Bingo Quiz 1 vs 9 brings back my old memories of RM when SJK still in the cast. If I'm not mistaken they also have done the same to Yuri SNSD and SJK, I forget which ep.

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As much as I love the guests,I had to stop midway.came to read comments to see if it gets better, looks like it didn't.I'm going to check out family outing to see if that guy is really like Kwang soo.
thanks for the recap.

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He's not like kwangsoo but he is hilarious, watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI2dVBRMMaY

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Kwangsoo seems more the betrayer and active gagman now.

Chunderella was more of the early Kwangsoo. Just really really hilariously unfortunate when it comes to drawing lots or doing chores.

You should still watch FO as is. It's a great show. (Eat beforehand!) And it ended while it was good. There were only 5 out of 80+ eps that I found really boring. The rest were very fun. :D

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I was so cracking up during the Bingo Quiz game, specially when it was Kwangsoo's turn to ask the questions and the members had to make sense of it all.
Thanks for the recap gummimochi!

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I was expected FUNNY and CRAZY moment when i saw guest lists like "Lee Chun hee" awww, i miss him so much! and "Kang Hye Jung" awww, haru's swag omma! then this EP gives me warm feeling instead by sweet omma. it's not that bad but i think overall is a bit boring. Chun hee nad Hyejung barely get screen time bc RM is too focus on omma. I know that she's the main (like woobin in last ep) but i think the two join with RM well. Pls bring them back in next ep.

today, the bingo game save ep.

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I just LOVE the fact that they're bringing back one vs X mission in this episode with the Bingo game. That mission was one of my favorites from the good old RM days. When Haha asked what Jaesuk gave his wife on her birthday and he answered the 16 carat diamond ring, it reminded me of the mission with Yuri SNSD when someone asked Gary what he gave Jihyo for her birthday and the answer was also a something-carat diamond ring, the shocked look on Yuri's face at that time was priceless :D
And I knew Kim Hye Ja was familiar, but it wasn't until she greeted Jihyo that I finally realized that she's the Queen Mother from Goong! And she's just as adorable here as she was in Goong! :)
And last but not least, it's really good to see Chunderella again. I know this is a wishful thinking, but wish I would get to see at least one RM episode of Chunhee and Yejin together, oh and with Stepmom Kim as well! :D

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Hye-Jung looks like a female nichkhun

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Lady Kim Hye Jung reminded me so much of my grandmother, both in looks and personality. :) I really enjoyed this episode.

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I'm going to watch the whole thing just to hear Gary's “hybrid anti-aging cream.”.

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10 minutes into this episode, it became rather obvious that this was going to be one of those less-than-stellar episodes that I usually just FF through. however, Kim Hye-ja seemed so nice and so determined to do her best, I just couldn't bring myself to turn off my TV.

There were some funny moments (Ha-ha's "cute" reactions, LKS's stumbling, mind-addled questions during the Bingo quiz), but basically this episode just lacked several important things.

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Yup I only manage to bring myself to finish watching it because the old lady had such a good attitude.

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You wrote 'die' instead of dice a lot, which confused me lol.

This episode was more relaxed then normal, I thin it was aimed at kids because of the movie promotion and the older actress there. no worries I think running man cast should rest and have a relaxed episode once in a while to recharge.

I'm sure the new years episode is going to make up for it! remember last year they did a 'Idol Special'. Hope they next month they have an episode where they invite a lot of idols like they did in ep 162, that was one of their best ep's!

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Idols are always boring, the actors/actress are better for Running Man.

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Die is singular but dice is plural! :) so you would go "one die" and "many dice"!

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Aww, I wish there had been more screen time on Chun Hee and Kang Hye Jung. This is definitely not an episode I will watch again.

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Boring ep, I was looking forward to this because I adore Kang hye Jung but she was wasted in this. And, as for the next ep, are they really gonna have the baseball player back, (Hyu Jin?). I thought it was gonna be Seung gi and Moon Chae Won's ep.

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Me too,. Maybe it will air next-next week.

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Not a great ep. But still much much better than last year's utterly crap and boring Xmas special.
So I consider it a huge improvement.

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That part where it's LKS turn to ask questions was hilarious and SukJin almost forgot the answer. Hurray for cheat sheets! Hahaha!

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