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Running Man: Episode 257

It’s that time of the year where the strong will go up against the strongest in a game of mastery. Our cast will need the help of their heroes and their subsequent superpowers to try and come out on top this week. Becoming a master at anything takes lots of hard work, drive, and passion, but winning here will require their wits, strength, and brains.

EPISODE 257. Broadcast on July 26, 2015.

It’s a hot summer a hot hot summer day where our cast will be paired with today’s heroes—er, guests: professional basketball player Hyun Joo-yeob, retired soccer player Song Jong-kook, volleyball player Kim Yeon-kyung, former rhythmic gymnast now professional bowling player Shin Soo-ji, and former Starcraft player Hong Jin-ho.

However, since we’re two guests short of an even 1:1, Gary and Suk-jin are today’s guy-guy pairing. Needless to say, they’re looking disappointed (“Why is Suk-jin my hero?!”). Suk-jin asks for a high-five from Yeon-kyung, which leaves him with a few bruised finger bones.

Today marks the 4th Strongest Running Man Games using the hero’s “special powers” in a nametag ripping mission to be the last team standing. Those powers are currently inactive, and even the guests don’t even know what those might be. So it’s up to them to find the masters who will help them uncover these hidden abilities.

Jae-suk and Yeon-kyung arrive at their first stately house, home of professional baduk master Jo Hoon-hyun. Over at a cafe, webtoon artist Jo Seok greets Kwang-soo and Jin-ho, while top profiler Pyo Chang-won sits Suk-jin and Gary down.

The graceful pansori singer Song So-hee greets Jong-kook and Soo-ji, while Ji-hyo is surprised to see Chef Mihal Ashminov. Rounding out the masters is sound engineer Professor Bae Myung-jin.

Jae-suk is hesitant when told to win at least one match against the master. But these challenges aren’t just baduk matches, but rather involve baduk pieces like baduk jacks.

It appears the other games are just as loosely related to the master’s fields of knowledge as well. Given three minutes to draw ten images, the team whose drawings get most recognized wins.

Kwang-soo keeps badgering Jin-ho with questions about trademark features to the animals they’re supposed to be drawing, to the latter’s frustration. At the end, Jo Seok’s drawings are simple but recognizable, especially compared to Kwang-soo and Jin-ho’s drawings.

Meanwhile, Jong-kook and Soo-ji are left to sing children songs against their master. Soo-ji doesn’t know their selection, and then raises her leg so that the lid crashing above their heads (for each time they get it wrong) hits her leg, not her noggin’.

Haha and Joo-yeob must find a person whose voice is quite similar to the recording they hear. Astounded by the absurd concept, Joo-yeob says the cast and crew must not get along.

Basically they just need to find someone who can imitate the voice, then Haha and Joo-yeob venture out onto campus to find anyone who can do an imitation of actor Yoon Moon-shik. Haha pits two competitors against one another, and it just gets weirdly funnier each time they say the phrase.

Unfortunately they also have to capture the mannerisms in the voice as well as a similar intonation. So at one point, when a possible Kim Jong-kook imitator sings for them, Haha asks if he’s only good at playing the guitar.

Over at the restaurant, Ji-hyo and Song Jong-kook are told to try and best the chef in identifying three foods blindfolded and without their sense of smell. Chef Mihal guesses correctly in the first round without breaking a sweat.

In that darkened room, Suk-jin and Gary will be playing a card game where they’ll discard matching cards. The one left with the “thief” card in the end, loses. Neither Suk-jin nor Gary can trust the master to deal the cards, and the latter praises their sense of doubt.

Gary’s the one starting out with the Thief card, and Profiler Pyo supposes that that person will try to place that card towards the middle so that it’s easy to take… just as Gary moves that card to the middle. Hahaha.

He also gets edgy when Suk-jin tries to engage the profiler in a battle of wits, telling him that it’s pointless. Profiler Pyo keeps a sharp eye out, noting that Gary’s eyes keep shifting to the left. Gary: “I did that even when I had a girlfriend!”

After teasing him about the sides, the profiler goes straight for the middle and picks the Thief card. Whoops, so much for decades of forensic psychoanalyzation.

Supposing that the profiler will do the exact opposite of his words, Suk-jin sees him nod when hovering over the middle. We then skip ahead to when all of them have two cards each (plus one for Profiler Pyo, who still hasn’t managed to rid himself of the Thief card).

Suk-jin happens to choose the right card, which also allows Gary to pick up the card he needs. That ultimately means Profiler Pyo has lost the game.

Back at Master Jo’s place, the man fans himself faster each time Yeon-kyung catches the pieces. She gets through the first four rounds, but fails in catching all five pieces. He can feel his blood rising with each failed attempt, contrary to the “indifference” written on his fan.

He asks his lovely wife to help him out (she’d been adorably spying on their game), and her quick hands pick up the pieces easily. But in the end, Jae-suk catches all three pieces to best the couple.

Outside the cafe, Kwang-soo and Jin-ho pull aside a passersby to guess the various sports drawings. She guesses 8 out of 10. The student artist Jo Seok ends up with halts at the weightlifting category, but only ultimately guesses six.

Elsewhere, Soo-ji switches in after Jong-kook keeps getting confused over the similarly-sounding melodies. Haha and Joo-yeob succeed at their mission, as well as the other teams, and now they all have their superpowers back.

Which brings us to the final mission, where each of our cast members enter the arena to call upon their superheroes. Of course Haha trips up over the word “hero” for “soul,” and Taek PD has to interrupt the epic moment to correct him.

Gary: “But do you know anything about the rules of this game, hyung?” Suk-jin: “No.” Hahaha.

The rules are simple: the cast members will utilize their heroes’ powers to tear off the other Running Man member’s nametags. The guests, I mean, heroes cannot be eliminated and cannot tear off the cast members’ nametags, which frankly seems like sapping the fun out of this game for them.

Furthermore, the cast members are linked to their heroes—so if they do, so do their heroes. Time to listen to their powers: For Yeon-kyung, she must find her golden glove, place it on the target’s back and call out their name. That nametag will be placed on Jae-suk for one minute, in which time they must have someone else tear off that nametag. Only when there are two teams left can Jae-suk tear off that nametag himself.

Ji-hyo and Song Jong-kook will hunt down a red card, which they’ll use to place on another member’s foot. Doing so will freeze the opposing hero for fifteen minutes. Kwang-soo and Jin-ho must find the “ctrl + alt+ delete” keys, and track down the one computer that accepts the command of typing in someone’s name to eliminate them.

For Jong-kook and Soo-ji, they can use up to 10 “ribbon” chances that will allow them to escape safely from their captors. And when Taek PD means they won’t be “seen or heard,” Jong-kook knows that means their captors will just be playing along.

Suk-jin and Gary have a nifty power to themselves too: they can use a “fart bomb” to erase people’s short-term memories and jump back in time. So if Gary is eliminated, they can use the bomb to go back to the moments before his elimination. Suk-jin: “Give us about 20,000 of those!”

Haha and Joo-yeob can switch nametags up to three times for a time limit of three minutes each, but that puts Joo-yeob at risk. Joo-yeob: “You can’t even go to the bathroom in that time!”

And this switch doesn’t come for free: the two must do an embarrassing dance to call upon the switch. When Haha does the SISTAR’s “Shake It” dance, Joo-yeob warns him to be articulate (because it could easily be misheard as ssekki or “jerk”).

The teams head out to track down the cases containing their powers, but they keep discovering the wrong-colored cases. Kwang-soo and Jin-ho get offended when Jae-suk infers that they’re the weakest team here. When Jin-ho offers to use his keyboard as a weapon, Jae-suk says he’ll replace those missing keys with Jin-ho’s teeth.

Jae-suk adds that Yeon-kyung’s spike could be enough force to switch out Kwang-soo’s teeth for Jin-ho’s. This bluff battle ends with Kwang-soo and Jin-ho trying to show off their spiking skills, only for Kwang-soo to involuntarily flinch when Yeon-kyung flies into the air.

After tossing back and forth about each other’s powers, Song Jong-kook makes everyone jump when he blows his whistles. He threatens not to make him blow that whistle another time.

Having way too much fun, Song Jong-kook takes on Kwang-soo and Jin-ho next, who start running as soon as he blows the whistle. Really half the fun comes from tapping into people’s fears and whipping out an instrument the others have no idea how one will use it, like how Jin-ho starts chasing Haha and Joo-yeob while trying to attach the alt key.

And when they finally do, both Jin-ho and Kwang-soo jump back at the “power.” Hahaha. Haha and Joo-yeob stop in their tracks when they see a few teams converse in the hallway. He wonders if they should take the opportunity, and then the big man starts shaking his butt in place. Heee.

Now switched, the two head out, keeping their nametags hidden. Joo-yeob reaches over to Jae-suk’s nametag but fails to tear it off. They play off the moment lightheartedly, and then Joo-yeob leans over… to massage Jae-suk’s shoulder.

A little later, Haha grabs hold of Suk-jin so that Joo-yeob can target Gary. It doesn’t quite register to Gary until it’s too late and the speakers announce his elimination. Upon learning the truth, Gary lets his jaw drop in awe…

… and Suk-jin grabs a fart bomb. O you know it’s coming. As the putrid smell fills the air, the clocks turn back by a few minutes. But doing so also uses up Haha and Joo-yeob’s available three minutes.

After discovering all three keys, Kwang-soo and Jin-ho start searching for the computer. They make an immediate U-turn upon seeing Jong-kook and plead for mercy. Jong-kook leads them to the exact computer they need and even takes out their keyboard for them.

When they hesitate, Jong-kook grabs Kwang-soo’s back threateningly. Ha, Jin-ho’s hand legit trembles as he reaches to connect the keyboard. Jong-kook: “You think it’ll be faster for you to write ‘Kim Jong-kook’ or for me to eliminate Kwang-soo?”

Yeon-kyung puts on the golden glove and hides, but she gets discovered by two other teams. She smacks Haha’s back to duplicate his name and Jae-suk clamors for Ji-hyo to help him out.

Ji-hyo does, and a bewildered Haha has no idea why he’s been eliminated. Back at the computer, the teams hear of Haha’s elimination—good thing they didn’t finish typing out his name. So naturally, Gary would be the next possible target.

At the same time, Song Jong-kook uses the red card on Gary and bends down to grab his foot. He manages to do it to send Suk-jin away, and then Gary willingly lets Ji-hyo rip off his nametag, since he figures he can just use a fart bomb.

Problem is, with Suk-jin temporarily out, so is the usage of his powers. And so Ji-hyo tears off that nametag off of a crying Gary.

Kwang-soo and Jin-ho gets the chills once they hear of Gary’s announcement. Jae-suk arrives just as Jin-ho starts typing his name, so he pulls him away. They compromise by agreeing to send Ji-hyo away, but that’s when Kwang-soo uses his tongue to point it at Jong-kook.

So Jin-ho starts typing out Jong-kook’s name but has to try again multiple times to account for his typos. In the end, he types out Ji-hyo’s name and presses the Enter key.

With three teams left in the game, Jin-ho throws himself in as the sacrificial lamb to hold onto Jong-kook. As Yeon-kyung reaches over to Jong-kook’s back, Soo-ji uses that ribbon chance.

She and Jong-kook immediately teleport to a safe location, and Kwang-soo and Jin-ho hurry to find more keys. The hunt is on with Jae-suk and Yeon-kyung helping them out. They run back to the room before Jong-kook arrives, but then unintentionally locking Jae-suk and Yeon-kyung out.

Realizing that they could just wait it out until the other two teams eliminate one another, Jin-ho doesn’t finish out the sequence to eliminate Jong-kook. “I don’t have anything scheduled tomorrow!” he adds. Just outside the door, Jae-suk turns to Jong-kook for help.

Kwang-soo’s feeling pretty anxious though, mostly because he has to pee. Jin-ho tells him to use the empty bottle sitting next to him. It’s eerily silent outside, and as soon as Jin-ho cracks open the door, Jong-kook jumps to try and get inside.

It’s like a moment straight out of a horror movie, and Kwang-soo tells him to finish the sequence. Jin-ho hurries over and calls it out to eliminate him. Then Jin-ho charges into Yeon-kyung so that Kwang-soo can flee to the bathroom.

She’s waiting for him as soon as he exits, and Kwang-soo calls out for Jin-ho. Too bad he’s preoccupied at the moment, unable to get out of Jae-suk’s clutches. She smacks his back so that Kwang-soo’s nametag duplicates onto Jae-suk’s back.

So then Jae-suk reaches behind his back to eliminate Kwang-soo and secure the win. And for Jin-ho, the man who’s always been known to come in second place, this day is no different. So close and yet so far.

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Final race was quite boring. The mini games were more interesting but were largely edited out.

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Jin-ho and Kwang-Soo were so funny together. Hopefully they can pair up again soon.

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yeah. Sadly,they didn't win :(

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I never got passed the first 15 minutes.

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u missed a good episode then. fail

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jinho / kwangsoo pairing saved this episode!

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I only watch Kwang Soo and Jinho's scenes since they're my bias (it's a dream come true for me that my biases are on the same team)! <3 A betrayer Kwang Soo and the loyal Jinho (due to The Genius, he never betrays anyone in the game, i laughed a bit that he got influenced by Kwang Soo a bit, haha i hope more people to watch TG.

and Kwang Soo is the next that on my list that Jinho shared some bromances. ㅋㅋㅋ.

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The editing was a bit off or something, this could have been a really good episode. It would be better not to have the guests on this typenof episode just because there are too many things going on. Maybe they should have extend to 2 eps and give more interactions between members n teams.
Jong kook never wins these battle of the strongest. I was actually rooting for Gary to win again hahahaha.
Yay for the grasshopper!

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I only watched the jinho scenes hahaha he was unexpectedly funny with ks!!! I hope he'll be on running man even more hehe ^^ and the crime investigator guy was as fail here as he was in crime scene HAHAHAHA he's cute xD HONG JINHO MY BAE I really wanted him to win tho

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Lol! "The Genius" player in The Running Man show..what a weird but funny combination! So happy to see JinHo being physical here! But he's gotten a little boring on the genius during these past episodes though.

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Jinho was great in this! I loved how he played along with Kwangsoo :D I'm a big Starcraft/The Genius/Crime Scene fan and I'm happy he's getting more opportunities to be on TV. also the guests were into the superpowers and were good sports. I love how Song Jongkook tried to bluff, the basketball player was so embarrassed with the spell. The volleyball player had a great attitude too!

Nice to see Professor Pyo again after Crime Scene 2 - but for all his experience he doesn't win games on variety shows, hah.

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Kong!heeee~~~xD

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I really loved this episode, but as a huge fan of Hong Jin-ho, maybe I'm a bit bias. Him and Kwang-soo worked really well together, and if Kwang-soo hadn't needed to use the bathroom so badly, I have a feeling it would've been a true show-down and they might've won.

Of course, I realize the superpowers were pretty uneven, and a few of the minigames at the beginning could've been more creative, but I thought the final game more than made up for it. Seeing them use their lame/ridiculous powers was so funny, especially the reactions they got out of the other teams.

Still sad Jin-ho came in second AGAIN (lol) but hopefully they have him return later, and he can have another go at it - or even better, maybe he'll pull off another win in Season 4 of The Genius! *fingers crossed*

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This episode will be better without guest... this PD is the worst PD i've seen in my life, please SBS fire him, and put a good one. He's killing Running Man.

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Whoa. I liked this episode. (Watching people run from a referee's whistle was LOL funny, I thought.) And I liked how Yoo Yeob was disgusted at having to do the theatrics associated with his power.

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It's so funny how everybody just freaked out every time the other Jong Kook blew the whistle :D

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I am glad I am not the only one who found this episode unbelievingly boring. HJH/KS cuts were entertaining though.

I Love when there are guest and guest episodes are my favorite to watch, but I wish they would stop splitting up the RM members individually, they are funnier when together because they feed off of each other.

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Man... guess I'm watching this one for hong jinho. I missed Crime Scene tbh.

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Who won the third round? I know Gary won the first two superpower running man but I can't remember who won the third one

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Haha. it's on episode 130 the one about reincarnation. remember?

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Kwang so n his partner very cute . I like both of him .hhehehe kwang soo daebakk .

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it started out slow but then it got funnier, overall a decent episode

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Am i the only one who thoroughly enjoyed this episode?? I laughed so hard at so many parts. Maybe it's cuz I love Hong Jinho and he was the funniest this episode, but I thought it was a hilarious ep!

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Second half (superpower nametag ripping) is great, but the first half is too boring. No wonder there were not many viewer have enought patience to endure til the second half, resulting rating 7.7%.

Again, please stop being an ad-fest show for no name celebrities (some are not even considered celebrity). RM has no standard for guest nowaday. As long as you have some fame in your field, you are good to join as guest even when most of viewers don't give a damn care about your field.

This ep shouldn't be called "4th greatest RM". Other 3 were all solo. This 4th one brought a bunch of not entertaining guests (except Hong Jin Ho) which the RM cast are not familiar with. Somehow YJS won the fight. He is considered the 4th strongest, but will you remember his partner's name? And Ji Suk Jin was not even considered a contender, he was just a sidekick.

The current RM PD is full of shit.

SBS let their main PD leave for Chinese RM, so SBS is full of shit too (i don't watch Chinese RM at all).

SBS, keep thinking international fans still support RM, then one day those fans try IC or 1N2D (many have already done that) and they will find your show suck badly nowaday and stop supporting. Your RM tour won't be able to save it.
Talk about RM tour. Please, concentrate on making good show, please. Each cast member are too busy with their own schedule but they still have to save some time for fan-service tour. RM was great because of their content, not because of their fan-service.

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Tbh, I actually liked the card game with Profiler Pyo, Suk Jin and Gary. I found that quite entertaining. P'haps RM should do more of these card games, ha

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they made YJS couple too powerful. Why? Because they could use their power as many times as they wanted to.
The others could use their power only a few times (one team could use theirs just once).

Otherwise, a very good episode and a lot like the good old episodes where teams went to do missions in different places and then got together for a nametag ripping contest!

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LOL, i think you are wrong the most powerfull abilty hero are Kwang so. that too easy you just go find ctrl alt del then go to specific computer and just type person that you want to OUT. More insane is that, them can still go find another ctrl alt del to do their power again lol. Too obvious this game scripted. Kim jong Kook can easily rip off Kwang so nametag but he didnt. Another scripted is when them find others scroll, they didnt bother to hide others scroll.. and seeing how YJS can go help find Kwang so scroll to help them..

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Also, thumbs up to Kwangsoo’s hero. That guy was very good at variety!

While the other heroes seemed really uncomfortable doing silly things, kwangsoo’s hero did it all and even acted things out with LKS to make it funny for the viewer.

Good job!

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lee kwang soo taller than kim yeon koung

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I enjoyed the card game with Profiler, how Gary was ousted and Jin-Ho and Lee Kwang Soo cuts.

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