Physical 100: Are K-reality shows the next Korean cultural trend?

"Try again," yells pistillate wrestler Jang Eun-sil to her exasperated teammates.

They request to propulsion a 1,500kg woody vessel done soil and up a ramp, but the vessel won't budge. Jang knows her squad is the weakest connected paper.

Then, to the tune of her rallying cries, the vessel begins to inch forward. Over the adjacent 8 minutes, her team, grunting and crying, manages to resistance it up the ramp to implicit the task. Stunned, the contestants crumple to the floor, their ripped bodies soaked successful sweat.

If you haven't been watching this show, this is my favourite infinitesimal from Netflix's latest blockbuster - Physical 100. The endurance amusement brings unneurotic 100 of South Korea's champion athletes, from each backgrounds, to vie for the rubric of astir awesome body. There are Olympians, fittingness influencers, a firefighter, and a situation guard. One of the show's astir refreshing features is that men and women vie together.

It is simply a real-life Squid Game, but - spoiler - no-one dies. However, contestants person suffered breached ribs during filming.

Physical 100 has stormed Netflix's charts, becoming its most-watched non-English connection amusement worldwide. It is the archetypal world amusement to ever instrumentality this apical spot. It is presently the 3rd astir fashionable Netflix programme successful the UK.

Given the domination of K-pop and K-dramas, this occurrence mightiness look expected. But it isn't. Reality shows - oregon assortment shows arsenic they are known successful Korea - person been fashionable for decades, but person ne'er truly breached done abroad.

Caught off-guard by the show's popularity, Netflix hastily pulled unneurotic 50 of its contestants to conscionable their fans on the stream successful Seoul earlier this month.

"I thought it would beryllium popular, but not this big," laughed Jo Jin-hyeong, the colossal 41-year-old car trader who stormed into the last 5 competitors by balancing a 50kg boulder connected his enarthrosis for much than 2 hours.

"It was 1 of the hardest things I've done successful my life," helium admitted. "My full assemblage went numb, and my full beingness passed successful beforehand of me. I conscionable thought I cannot fto go; I cannot lose."

It was the accidental to vie against the likes of Jo that convinced wrestler Jang Eun-sil to instrumentality part. "Having men and women enactment unneurotic was novel," she said.

Throughout the afternoon, the stars entertained their fans with backflips, portion often shedding their tops to flex their biceps. They cognize their audience.

"I ticker due to the fact that determination are tons of blistery people," said 25-year-old Hari. "Me too, that's the main reason," laughed her person Da-hyun. But hotness aside, the brace are excited by the show's planetary success.

"Everyone knows Korea now, it's truly cool. And it is not conscionable astir K-pop anymore, this is showing different broadside of our country," they agreed.

Fans overseas person been charmed by the camaraderie. At 1 point, the last 2 contestants spur each different connected to implicit the gruelling task of tugging a seemingly never-ending rope.

"I deliberation our overseas fans recovered these moments beautiful," said Jang. "It's the Korean way," said Jo.

Variety shows person agelong been indispensable viewing successful Korean homes, uniting children, parents and adjacent grandparents. The networks vie fiercely to marque theirs the astir unsocial and entertaining, continuously pumping retired caller ideas.

The quirky genre consists of crippled shows, endowment contests and fly-on-the-wall entree to people's lives. It is light-hearted viewing, served up with celebrities and, much often than not, an opinionated but witty sheet of guests. In the amusement "My Little Old Boy" celebrities' mothers supply commentary connected their sons' behaviour.

The shows are unashamedly made for Korean audiences, and, according to award-winning director-producer Heo Hang, they are often "too Korean" - determination is excessively overmuch talking and words connected the screen, which makes them hard to construe and digest.

Heo has invited maine down the scenes of her deed accumulation "I Live Alone", which has been moving for 10 years. The amusement follows a personage for the day, who lives alone. A sheet of arsenic celebrated radical are past invited into the workplace to ticker the footage, portion providing cutting commentary.

On this juncture histrion Lee Jang-woo spends his time cooking Vietnamese food, watched implicit by a star-studded panel, including Key from the K-pop set Shinee. Lee past unexpectedly pulls retired the barroom they person conscionable watched him hole - lone it is filled with meat.

I can't enactment retired why, but it is hilarious. The formed and unit are successful pieces.

"People emotion our amusement due to the fact that they spot that celebrities' regular lives are not that antithetic to theirs. And we person nary scripts, truthful it is precise real," Heo says.

In a state wherever much than a 3rd of households are radical surviving alone, the amusement taps into thing uniquely Korean. "I conjecture it is not arsenic casual for foreigners to subordinate to our lives" Heo adds.

The shows mightiness not construe well, but the ideas do, meaning for years Korean companies person sold their formats overseas to beryllium remade. The US hit, The Masked Singer, which has celebrities conceal their identities portion they perform, is simply a South Korean export. Its producers person sold the rights to much than 50 countries.

With Physical 100, Netflix has flipped the script, investing successful the Korean mentation of the amusement instead.

Netflix knew it had a captive audience, thirsty to larn much astir Korea, their appetites whet by the likes of Squid Game and Extraordinary Attorney Woo. Last twelvemonth an astonishing 60% of each Netflix members watched a Korean programme.

Streaming platforms besides person a exemplary TV channels cannot vie with. By filming full shows up of release, they tin subtitle and dub the episodes, and propulsion them retired to viewers astir the satellite simultaneously, creating a planetary buzz.

Korean world is "shaping up arsenic the adjacent large K-content trend," says Yoo Ki-hwan, the unscripted contented manager for Netflix successful Korea.

South Korea's amusement manufacture is besides watching with excitement. The networks present erstwhile viewed Netflix and the different streaming platforms suspiciously, arsenic competitors. Now they are imaginable partners.

Last week Amazon Prime bought its archetypal K-reality show, Jinny's Kitchen, which follows a radical of celebrities arsenic they effort to acceptable up a Korean thoroughfare nutrient edifice successful Mexico.

Its creator, Nah Yung-suk, is 1 of South Korea's astir acclaimed world TV producers, from the media elephantine CJ Entertainment. Nah said helium had ne'er thought astir overseas viewers before. With Jinny's Kitchen helium simply acceptable retired to marque the astir entertaining amusement for his Korean audience.

But Physical 100 has changed the mode helium thinks. Suddenly helium sees opportunities. The concealed to capturing planetary fans helium thinks is utilizing celebrities. Jinny's Kitchen stars V from BTS arsenic the edifice intern.

"Honestly, present I truly privation overseas audiences to emotion my show. If they don't find it amusive oregon entertaining, past I volition look astatine changing my formats. Maybe I'll person to marque a subsister show," helium joked.

The manufacture is primed for a planetary breakthrough. At CJ Entertainment determination are 200 producers scratching their heads regular to travel up with caller ideas. If the streaming platforms bargain into those ideas, it means much money, which volition construe into bigger and amended shows. At slightest that is the promise.

"For the archetypal clip we're reasoning huh, this is truly possible, overseas audiences tin bask Korean world shows," said Nah.